ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY, MARYLAND

HISTORICAL CHRONOLOGY

1649. Town of Providence (later Annapolis) founded.

1650, April. Anne Arundel County created (Chapter 8, Acts of 1650); named for Lady Anne Arundell (1615-1649), wife of Cecelius Calvert, 2nd Lord Baltimore.

1652, July 5. Susquehannocks made treaty at Severn River, ceding Eastern Shore and Western Shore lands (except Kent Island & Palmer's Island) to English.

1655, March 25. Puritans from Virginia defeated Gov. William Stone's forces at Battle of the Severn.

1672, Oct. George Fox, founder of Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), preached at West River. Friends formed Baltimore Yearly Meeting.

1682, Dec. 13. William Penn met at Harwood with Charles Calvert, 3rd Lord Baltimore.

1694/5, Feb. Capital moved from St. Mary's City to Anne Arundel Town. Governor Francis Nicholson (1655-1727/8) laid out plan for capital city.

1694, Dec. Anne Arundel Town renamed Annapolis.

1696. Construction began on new State House and probably on St. Anne's Church, Annapolis.

1698. Construction completed on new State House, Annapolis.

1698-1704. County Court met at State House.

1704. Construction completed on St. Anne's Church, Annapolis.

McDowell Hall, St. John's College, Annapolis, Maryland, April 2005. Photo by Diane F. Evartt.

1708, Nov. 22. Annapolis incorporated as a city (Chapter 7, Acts of 1708).

1709. Second Annapolis State House completed.

1709-1769. County Court continued to meet at State House.

1727, Sept. Maryland Gazette, first newspaper in the Chesapeake, published by William Parks at Annapolis (until 1734).

1737, Sept. 19. Charles Carroll of Carrollton (1737-1832), signer of Declaration of Independence, born in Annapolis.

1745. Jonas Green (1712-1767) revived Maryland Gazette.

1745. Tuesday Club formed in Annapolis.

1749, Feb. 7. Benjamin Ogle (1749-1809), Governor of Maryland, born in Annapolis.

1759. Curtis Creek Furnace established.

1764, March 17. William Pinkney (1746-1822), who served as U.S. Attorney General, 1811-14, born in Annapolis.

1767. Annapolis merchants sent Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827) to London to study painting with Benjamin West.

1767-1775. Anne Catherine Green (c.1720-1775) continued publication of Maryland Gazette and became first women publisher in the colonies.

1769-1824. County Court met in small building adjacent to State House.

1770-1772. Second Annapolis State House demolished.

1772, March 28. Cornerstone laid for new State House in Annapolis.

1773, Jan. 7 - July 1. Maryland Gazette published debate between Daniel Dulany, Jr. ("Antilon") and Charles Carroll ("First Citizen") on Governor's right to set fees without legislative consent.

1774, June 22. First Provincial Convention (an extralegal body) met at Annapolis, and sent delegates to First Continental Congress.

1774, Oct. 19. Mob burned Peggy Stewart in Annapolis harbor.

1776, June 26. Departure of Robert Eden (1741-1784), Maryland's last colonial governor.

State House (from Francis St.), Annapolis, Maryland, May 2003. Photo by Diane F. Evartt.

1776, July 6. Maryland Convention declared independence from Great Britain.

1776, Aug. 14-Nov. 11. Constitutional Convention of 1776 (meeting of Ninth Provincial Convention).

1776, Nov. 3. Declaration of Rights (Maryland's Bill of Rights) adopted by Ninth Provincial Convention. Church of England disestablished.

1776, Nov. 8. First State Constitution adopted by Ninth Provincial Convention.

• "Writing It All Down: The Art of Constitution Making for the State and the Nation, 1776-1833"

1781, March-April. Marquis de Lafayette with Continental Light Infantrymen encamped at Annapolis on route to Yorktown.

1781, Sept. 16-17. Comte de Rochambeau's French troops encamped at Belvoir on route to Yorktown.

1781, Sept. 21. Encamped at King William's School, French troops sailed from Annapolis to Yorktown.

1783, Nov. 26-1784, Aug. 19. Annapolis served as capital to newly forming American nation when Continental Congress met in the State House.

1783, Dec. 23. George Washington resigned commission as commander in chief of Continental Army in Old Senate Chamber at State House in Annapolis.

1784, Jan. 14. Treaty of Paris, ending Revolutionary War, ratified by Congress at Annapolis.

1784, Dec. 30. St. John's College established at Annapolis and merged with King William's School. General Assembly designated it, with Washington College, as University of Maryland.

1786, Sept. 11-14. Annapolis Convention of delegates from several states met at Mann's Tavern, Annapolis, to discuss revisions to Articles of Confederation. Maryland sent no representatives.

1789, Nov. 21. George Howard (1789-1846), Governor of Maryland, born in Annapolis.

1795, May 19. Johns Hopkins (1795-1873), financier and philanthropist, founder of The Johns Hopkins Hospital and The Johns Hopkins University, born in Whites Hall, Gambrills.

1796, May 21. Reverdy Johnson (1796-1876), who served as U.S. Attorney General, 1849-50, born in Annapolis.

1801-1803. John Francis Mercer (1759-1821) of Anne Arundel County served as Governor of Maryland.

1813, June 13. Chesapeake, first steamboat on Chesapeake Bay, traveled between Baltimore and Annapolis.

1842, Jan. Slaveholders' convention met in State House in Annapolis.

1845, Oct. 10. Naval School founded at Annapolis, when Department of the Navy established officers' training school at Fort Severn.

Anne Arundel County Courthouse, Church Circle, Annapolis, Maryland, April 2005. Photo by Diane F. Evartt.

1850, Nov. 4-1851, May 13. Constitutional Convention of 1850-1851 met in Annapolis.

1851, Sept. 11. William Parker, former slave from Anne Arundel County, resisted efforts of Edward Gorsuch of Baltimore County, Maryland, to recapture fugitive slaves at Christiana, Pennsylvania.

1852, Oct. 9. James Booth Lockwood (1852-1884), arctic explorer, born in Annapolis.

U.S. Naval Academy grounds, Annapolis, Maryland, May 2000. Photo by Diane F. Evartt.

1864, April 27-Sept. 6. Constitutional Convention of 1864 met in Annapolis.

1867, May 8-Aug. 17. Constitutional Convention of 1867 held at Annapolis; Democrats rewrote constitution.

1873, April. William H. Butler, Sr. (c. 1829-1892), elected as Annapolis Alderman, first African American to hold elected office in Maryland.

1875, June 13. John Simms lynched at Annapolis.

1879. Maryland House of Correction opened at Jessup.

1884. Evening Capital newspaper founded by William Abbott at Annapolis.

1884, Nov. 26. George Briscoe lynched at New Bridge, Magothy River.

1898, Oct. 5. Wright Smith lynched at Annapolis.

1899, March 28. Architect Ernest Flagg began building program at U.S. Naval Academy with construction of Dahlgren Hall, first building of "new" Naval Academy.

1902, July 18. Annapolis Emergency Hospital opened at Franklin and Cathedral Sts.

1906, Nov. "Anchors Aweigh" composed by Charles A. Zimmerman, Naval Academy bandmaster, and midshipman Alfred Hart Miles; performed at Army-Navy football game that year; later dedicated to Class of 1907.

1906, Dec. 21. Henry Davis lynched at Annapolis.

1910, Dec. 5. New building for Annapolis Emergency Hospital dedicated on Franklin St.

1911. U.S. Navy used Greenbury Point, Annapolis, as air station.

1911, Dec. 26. King Johnson, lynched at Brooklyn.

1917, June 23. Federal government selected site for Camp Meade, initially known as Camp Annapolis Junction and Camp Admiral.

1922, July 1. Highland Beach incorporated.

1922, Oct. 10. Ku Klux Klan rallied in Annapolis.

1928, March 2. Camp Meade redesignated as Fort Leonard Wood.

1929, March 5. Fort Leonard Wood redesignated as Fort George G. Meade.

1935. Hall of Records opened, Annapolis.

1937. St. John's College adopted Great Books curriculum.

1939. Ritchie Highway opened, a scenic route connecting Baltimore and Annapolis.

1940, April 27. First divided highway in Maryland dedicated (MD Route 2 from Annapolis to Baltimore).

1941. Women's Prison of the State of Maryland (now Maryland Correctional Institution for Women) opened at Jessup.

1943. Slot machines allowed by law in Anne Arundel County (Chapter 321, Acts of 1943).

1944. New Baltimore municipal airport near Linthicum Heights in Anne Arundel County recommended by Baltimore Aviation Commission.

1949, Nov. Annapolis Emergency Hospital renamed Anne Arundel General Hospital.

1950, June 24. Friendship International Airport, named for the razed Friendship Methodist Church upon which land the facility was built, began service.

1952. Historic Annapolis, Inc., founded by Anne St. Clair Wright.

1952, June 25. Sandy Point State Park opened on northwestern shore of Chesapeake Bay.

1952, July 30. Chesapeake Bay Bridge (now eastbound span) opened.

1952, Sept. First Anne Arundel County Fair held at Labrot Race Track near Sandy Point State Park.

1958, Oct. 1. James W. Rouse's Harundale Mall, Glen Burnie, opened; first enclosed shopping center in State.

1961, Jan. 2. Anne Arundel Community College founded as Anne Arundel Junior College.

1961, Sept. First classes of Anne Arundel Junior College held at Severna Park High School.

1963. Legislation passed to outlaw slot-machine gambling.

1963. Glen Burnie Mall opened.

1964. County Charter provided for elected County Council and County Executive.

1965, July 1. Chesapeake Bay Center for Field Biology founded near Edgewater.

1966. Second Chesapeake Bay Bridge authorized.

1966, Sept. Anne Arundel County schools desegregated.

1967, Sept. Anne Arundel Community College moved to its present Arnold campus.

John A. Cade Center for Fine Arts, Anne Arundel Community College, Arnold, Maryland, January 2004. Photo by Diane F. Evartt.

1969. Chesapeake Bay Center for Field Biology near Edgewater renamed Chesapeake Bay Center for Environmental Studies.

1973. Annapolis Mall opened.

1973, June 28. Second parallel Chesapeake Bay Bridge (now westbound span) opened.

1973. Friendship Airport reopened as Baltimore-Washington International (BWI) Airport.

1974-1982. Robert A. Pascal (Republican), County Executive.

1982-1990. O. James Lighthizer (Democrat), County Executive.

1983, July 1. Chesapeake Bay Center for Environmental Studies merged with Radiation Biology Laboratory to form Smithsonian Environmental Research Center near Edgewater.

Charles McC. Mathias Laboratory, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, Edgewater, Maryland, April 2018. Photo by Diane F. Evartt.

Edward C. Papenfuse State Archives Building, 350 Rowe Blvd., Annapolis, Maryland, 1997. Photo by James Hefelfinger (Hefelfinger Collection, MSA SC 1885-734-7, Maryland State Archives).

1989. Anne Arundel General Hospital renamed Anne Arundel Medical Center.

1990-1994. Robert R. Neall (Republican), County Executive.

1994-1998. John G. Gary (Republican), County Executive.

1998-1999. Harundale Mall, Glen Burnie, demolished.

1998, Dec.-2006, Dec. 4. Janet S. Owens (Democrat), County Executive.

2004, March 2. Electronic voting system used during primary elections at polling places and for absentee ballots in all counties and Baltimore City.

2006, Dec. 4-2013, Jan. 29. John R. Leopold (Republican), County Executive.

2007, March 19. Maryland House of Correction closed at Jessup.

2007, Nov. 27. Middle East Peace Conference held at U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis.

2008, June 17-18. U.S.-China Strategic Economic Dialogue IV held at U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis.

2011. Deconstruction of Maryland House of Correction at Jessup began, which, at the time, was the largest project in the nation using inmate labor, as well as in the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services' Public Safety Works program.

2012, June 6. Maryland Live! (now Live! Casino & Hotel), the third gambling facility in Maryland with video lottery terminals [slot machines], opened at Arundel Mills.

2013, Feb. 22-2014, Dec. 1. Laura A. Neuman (Republican), County Executive.

2014, Dec. 1-2018, Dec. 3. Steven R. Schuh (Republican), County Executive.

2018, June 28. Targeted shooting by gunman of Capital Gazette newspaper employees in Annapolis; five killed.

2018, Dec. 3-. Steuart L. Pittman, Jr. (Democrat), County Executive.

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