Maryland History Timeline

• 1633-06-20 Charter for Maryland is given to Lord Cecil Baltimore
• 1634-03-25 Under charter granted to Lord Baltimore and led by his brother Leonard Calvert first settlers found Catholic colony of Maryland
• 1648-01-24 Lord Baltimore's representative Margaret Brent ejected from the Maryland Council after requesting right to vote

• 1649-04-21 Maryland Toleration Act passed in the American colony, allowing freedom of worship for Christians but sentencing to death anyone who rejected the divinity of Jesus
• 1656-01-24 1st Jewish doctor in North American colonies, Jacob Lumbrozo, arrives in Maryland
• 1656-09-22 All female jury hears case of Judith Catchpole, accused of killing her child (acquit her) in Patuxent County, Maryland
• 1657-09-24 1st autopsy and coroner's jury verdict is recorded in Maryland
• 1664-09-20 Maryland passes 1st anti-amalgamation law to stop intermarriage of English women & black men
• 1701-09-28 Divorce legalized in Maryland
• 1738-05-25 A treaty between Pennsylvania and Maryland ends the Conojocular War with settlement of a boundary dispute and exchange of prisoners
• 1763-11-15 Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon begin surveying Mason–Dixon line between Pennsylvania and Maryland
• 1765-11-23 People of Frederick County, Maryland, refuse to pay British Stamp tax
• 1767-10-18 Boundary between Maryland and Pennsylvania, the Mason–Dixon line is agreed upon
• 1773-10-14 American Revolutionary War: The United Kingdom's East India Company tea ships' cargo are burned at Annapolis, Maryland

• 1783-11-23 Annapolis, Maryland, becomes US capital (until June 1784)
• 1784-11-01 Maryland grants citizenship to Lafayette and his descendants

• 1788-12-23 Maryland votes to cede a 10 square mile area for District of Columbia
• 1830-05-24 1st regular passenger rail service on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad line, horse-drawn rail cars connect Baltimore to Ellicott's Mills
• 1847-02-04 1st US telegraph company established in Maryland

• 1849-12-06 Harriet Tubman escapes from slavery in Maryland for the 2nd and final time
• 1861-04-29 Maryland's House of Delegates votes against seceding from Union (US Civil War)
• 1862-05-09 US Naval Academy relocated from Annapolis Maryland to Newport, Rhode Island
• 1862-06-02 Raid at Early's: Maryland towards Washington, D.C.

• 1862-09-05 Confederate General Robert E. Lee crosses the Potomac and enters Maryland

• 1862-10-12 Skirmish at Monocacy, Maryland
• 1863-06-02 Harriet Tubman leads Union guerrillas into Maryland, freeing slaves
• 1863-06-06 Battle of Milliken's Bend, Louisiana and Williamsport, Maryland
• 1863-06-29 Battle at Westminster or Corbitt's Charge, Maryland: small unit of Delaware cavalry charge Confederate cavalry numbering nearly 6,000, crucially delaying their arrival at Gettysburg
• 1863-07-14 Battle of Falling Waters, Maryland (Beaver Creek)
• 1864-07-09 Battle of Monocacy, Maryland, confederate forces led by Lieutenant General Jubal Early
• 1864-10-11 Slavery abolished in Maryland
• 1864-10-13 Maryland voters adopt new constitution, including abolition of slavery
• 1873-05-23 1st Preakness Stakes: G. Barbee aboard Survivor wins in 2:43 at Pimlico Race Course, Baltimore, Maryland
• 1895-10-22 David Belasco's "Heart of Maryland" premieres in NYC
• 1897-07-26 37.5 cm rainfall at Jewell, Maryland (state record)
• 1897-07-27 14.75" (37.5 cm) of rainfall, Jewell, Maryland (state 24-hr record)
• 1912-01-13 -40°F (-40°C), Oakland, Maryland (state record)
• 1924-02-25 Marie Boyd scores 156 points in Maryland HS basketball game (163-3)
• 1927-09-12 Sigmund Romberg's musical "My Maryland," premieres in NYC
• 1935-11-05 Maryland Court of Appeals orders University of Maryland to admit Donald Murray, a black man
• 1936-07-10 109°F (43°C) Cumberland & Frederick, Maryland (state record)

• 1946-06-13 1st transcontinental round-trip flight in 1-day, California-Maryland
• 1948-11-12 The first mobile betatron (particle accelerator) begins operation at the U.S. Naval Ordnance Laboratory, White Oak, Maryland
• 1955-08-15 Hurricane Connie dissipates after killing 77 in the US eastern seaboard and mid-atlantic states
• 1956-07-04 US most intense rain fall (1.23" in 1 minute) at Unionville Maryland
• 1961-06-19 US Supreme Court struck down a provision in Maryland's constitution requiring state office holders to believe in God
• 1963-09-19 Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Inc. is founded at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland.
• 1963-12-08 Pan Am Flight 214 crashes outside Elkton, Maryland with 81 killed
• 1966-11-30 Radio time signal WWV moves from Greenbelt, Maryland
• 1966-12-01 Radio time signal WWV moves from Greenbelt, Maryland to Boulder, Colorado
• 1967-07-24 Race riots in Cambridge, Maryland
• 1968-03-08 6-year-old Tommy Moore scores hole-in-one in golf (Hagerstown, Maryland)

• 1973-12-02 Capital Centre (USAir Arena) opens in Landover Maryland; NBA's Washington Bullets beat Seattle SuperSonics, 98-96 in opening game; arena demolished 2002
• 1988-05-23 Maryland stops sale of cheap pistols on Jan 1, 1990
• 1991-04-21 NFL Draft: University of Miami defensive tackle Russell Maryland first pick by Dallas Cowboys
• 1993-08-02 Maryland investors led by Baltimore attorney Peter Angelos buy the MLB Baltimore Orioles team at auction in New York for $173M, nearly $50M more than ever paid for a baseball team
• 1994-12-31 1st snowless December in Baltimore Maryland
• 1995-06-28 NBA draft: Maryland power forward Joe Smith first pick by Golden State Warriors
• 1996-05-06 The body of former CIA director William Colby is found washed up on a riverbank in southern Maryland, eight days after he disappeared.
• 2012-06-30 Mid-Atlantic storms in the United States kill 13 and leave millions without power in Ohio, Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia
• 2012-11-07 Voters in Maine, Maryland and Washington approve measures for same-sex marriage
• 2015-08-16 'Batman' samaritan Lenny B. Robinson is killed in a car accident in Maryland

• 2018-03-26 US soldier receives world's first penis and scrotum transplant at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland
• 2018-06-28 Lone gunman attacks offices of Capital Gazette newspaper in Annapolis, Maryland, killing nine
• 2018-09-20 Woman shoots seven people, killing three and herself at a Rite Aid distribution center near Baltimore, Maryland
• 2019-05-02 Drone delivers a kidney for transplant surgery in Baltimore, Maryland, for the first time
• 2019-07-13 After Atlantic League-MLB partnership rule changes, Southern Maryland Blue Crabs' outfielder Tony Thomas becomes first player in professional baseball history to steal first base in 7-2 win v Lancaster Barnstormers

Birthdays 1 - 100 of 318

• 1605-08-08 Cecilius Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore, British colonial Governor of Maryland (d. 1675)
• 1637-08-27 Charles Calvert, 3rd Baron Baltimore, Governor of the Province of Maryland, born in Salisbury, England (d. 1715)
• 1715-04-03 John Hanson, Continental Congressman, 1st US President under Articles of Confederation, born in Maryland (d. 1783)

• 1733-09-18 George Read, American judge and signer (Declaration of Independence), born in Cecil County, Maryland (d. 1798)
• 1737-09-19 Charles Carroll, Wealthy Maryland planter who was the last signer of the Declaration of Independence to pass away, born in Annapolis, Province of Maryland, British America (d. 1832)
• 1740-10-31 William Paca, American judge and signer (Declaration of Independence), born in Abingdon, Maryland (d. 1799)
• 1741-04-15 Charles Willson Peale, American painter remembered for portraits of leading American Revolution figures (George Washington), born in Chester, Province of Maryland (d. 1827)
• 1741-04-17 Samuel Chase, American judge (signed US Declaration of Independence), born in Somerset County, Maryland (d. 1811)
• 1741-05-05 John Archer, American Congressman who received the 1st medical diploma issued on US continent (1768), born near Churchville, Maryland (d. 1810)
• 1745-03-10 John Gunby, Maryland Soldier in the American Revolutionary War (d. 1807)
• 1752-07-27 Samuel Smith, American politician, Senator and Representative from Maryland, born in Carlisle, Pennsylvania (d. 1839)
• 1752-12-06 Gabriel Duvall, Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1811-35), born in Marietta, Maryland (d. 1844)
• 1754-09-19 John Ross Key, American lawyer, commissioned officer in the Continental Army and the father of Francis Scott Key, born in Redland, Frederick County, Maryland (d. 1821)
• 1779-01-05 Stephen Decatur, American naval hero (War of 1812), born in Sinepuxent, Maryland (d. 1820)
• 1779-08-01 Francis Scott Key, American lawyer, poet and composer of the lyrics to "Star-Spangled Banner", born in Carroll County, Maryland (d. 1843)
• 1786-10-11 Stevenson Archer, American judge and Congressmen from Maryland, born in Churchville, Maryland (d. 1848)
• 1788-09-21 Margaret Taylor (née Smith), wife of Zachary Taylor and 1st lady of the United States (1849-50), born in Calvert County, Maryland (d. 1852)
• 1798-03-04 John Joseph Abercrombie, American Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Baltimore, Maryland (d. 1877)
• 1800-09-17 Franklin Buchanan, American first superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, born in Baltimore, Maryland (d. 1874)
• 1802-08-20 Cadwalader Ringgold, American Commander (Union Navy), born in Washington County, Maryland (d. 1867)
• 1809-09-27 Raphael Semmes, American Rear Admiral (Confederate Navy), born in Charles County, Maryland (d. 1877)
• 1810-05-08 James Cooper, American lawyer, politician and Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Frederick County, Maryland (d. 1863)
• 1811-03-01 Robert Christie Buchanan, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Baltimore, Maryland (d. 1878)
• 1811-09-07 William Hemsley Emory, American Major General (Union Army), born in Queen Anne's County, Maryland (d. 1887)
• 1813-01-20 Jacon Gartner Lauman, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Taneytown, Maryland (d. 1867)
• 1813-12-20 Samuel Jordan Kirkwood, American politician (Gov-Iowa)/US Sect of Interior (1881-82), born in Harford Country, Maryland (d. 1894)
• 1815-01-13 William Henry French, American Major General (Union Army), born in Baltimore, Maryland (d. 1881)
• 1815-03-09 David Davis, Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, born in Cecil County, Maryland (d. 1886)
• 1815-08-29 Anna Ella Carroll, American politician and civil war writer (Reconstruction), born in Pocomoke City, Maryland (d. 1894)
• 1815-12-23 Henry Highland Garnet, American minister, abolitionist and diplomat, born in Maryland (d. 1882)
• 1817-08-16 Henry Winter Davis, American politician and unionist, born in Annapolis, Maryland (d. 1865)
• 1817-10-17 Samuel Ringgold Ward, American Black abolitionist, minister and orator (Autobiography of a Fugitive Negro), born in Maryland (d. 1866)
• 1818-01-11 John Reese Kenly, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Baltimore, Maryland (d. 1891)

• 1818-10-18 Edward Otho Cresap Ord, American engineer and Major General (Union Army), born in Cumberland, Maryland (d. 1883)
• 1821-06-12 Henry Moses Judah, American Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Snow Hill, Maryland (d. 1866)
• 1822-08-15 Virginia Clemm Poe, American wife of writer Edgar Allan Poe, born in Baltimore, Maryland (d. 1847) [1]
• 1825-09-24 Frances Harper, African-American abolinist, suffragist and writer (Iola Leroy), born in Baltimore, Maryland (d. 1911)
• 1828-08-24 George Hume "Maryland" Steuart, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Baltimore, Maryland (d. 1903)
• 1828-08-28 William Alexander Hammond, American military physician and Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Annapolis, Maryland (d. 1900)
• 1830-12-14 Allen Thomas, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Howard County, Maryland (d. 1907)
• 1832-09-21 Samuel S. Carroll, American Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Takoma Park, Maryland (d. 1893)

• 1833-12-20 Samuel Mudd, American physician (imprisoned for conspiring with John Wilkes Booth), born in Charles Country, Maryland (d. 1883)
• 1834-07-23 James Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore, born in Baltimore, Maryland (d. 1921)
• 1837-01-23 Amanda Smith, American former slave, singer and evangelist, born in Long Green, Maryland (d. 1915)

• 1845-12-12 Bruce Price, American architect, born in Cumberland, Maryland (d. 1903)
• 1850-07-11 Annie Armstrong, American missionary leader, born in Baltimore, Maryland (d. 1938)
• 1857-01-02 Martha Carey Thomas, American educator, suffragist, linguist and second President of Bryn Mawr College, born in Baltimore, Maryland (d. 1935)
• 1860-08-25 Henrietta Vinton Davis, African-American elocutionist, dramatist, impersonator and public speaker, born in Baltimore, Maryland (d. 1941)
• 1860-12-21 Henrietta Szold, U.S. Jewish Zionist leader and founder of Hadassah, born in Baltimore, Maryland (d. 1945)
• 1862-06-10 Mrs. Leslie Carter, American actress and writer (Rocky Mountain Mystery, The Heart of Maryland), born in Lexington, Kentucky (d. 1937)
• 1867-06-06 David Abercrombie, Abercrombie & Fitch founder, born in Baltimore, Maryland (d. 1931)
• 1867-08-14 Cupid Childs, American baseball player, born in Calvert County, Maryland (d. 1912)
• 1869-10-03 Clara Noyes, American nurse (head of the American Red Cross WW1), born in Port Deposit, Maryland (d. 1936)
• 1872-08-28 Alfred Baldwin Sloan, American composer, born in Baltimore, Maryland (d. 1925)
• 1872-10-27 Emily Post, American authority on social behaviour and writer (Etiquette), born in Baltimore, Maryland [or Oct 3rd, 1873] (d. 1960)
• 1873-10-02 Stephen Warfield Gambrill, American politician (Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Maryland), born in Savage, Maryland (d. 1938)
• 1874-11-25 Joe Gans, American boxer (world lightweight champion 1902–08; International Boxing HOF), born in Baltimore, Maryland (d. 1910)

• 1880-06-15 Mahlon Hamilton, American actor (Honky Tonk, High School Girl, Mississippi), born at Baltimore, Maryland (d. 1960)

• 1883-01-10 Francis X. Bushman, American silent film actor (Sabrina; Ben-Hur), born in Baltimore, Maryland (d. 1966)
• 1883-07-12 Joseph Crehan, American actor (The Roaring Twenties, Meeting at Midnight), born in Baltimore, Maryland (d. 1966)
• 1886-03-13 John 'Home Run' Baker, American Baseball HOF third baseman (World Series 1910, 11, 13; AL HR leader 1911–14; AL RBI leader 1912, 13; Philadelphia A's), born in Trappe, Maryland (d. 1963)
• 1886-07-03 Raymond A. Spruance, U.S. Navy admiral (Battle of Midway), born in Baltimore, Maryland (d. 1969)
• 1887-02-07 (James Hubert) "Eubie" Blake, American ragtime composer and pianist ("Memories of You"; "I'm Just Wild About Harry"), born in Baltimore, Maryland (d. 1983) [1]
• 1887-03-14 Sylvia Beach, American publisher and bookseller (Shakespeare and Company), born in Baltimore, Maryland (d. 1962)
• 1889-10-14 Clarence Muse, American actor, screenwriter and director (Casablanca, Black Stallion), born in Baltimore, Maryland (d. 1979)
• 1891-09-12 Adolph Weiss, American bassoonist and composer, born in Baltimore, Maryland (d. 1971)
• 1892-03-27 Thorne Smith, American sci-fi author (Topper, Rain in the Doorway, Stray Lamb), born in Annapolis, Maryland (d. 1934)
• 1892-05-28 Minna Gombell, American actress (Bad Girl, Thin Man, Hello Sister), born in Baltimore, Maryland (d. 1973)
• 1894-05-27 Dashiell Hammett, American detective novelist (Sam Spade, Maltese Falcon), born in St. Mary's County, Maryland (d. 1961)

• 1896-11-07 Herbert O'Connor, 51st Governor of Maryland and TV narrator (Crime Syndicate), born in Baltimore, Maryland (d. 1960)
• 1899-07-30 John Woods Duke, American composer, born in Cumberland, Maryland (d. 1984)
• 1900-01-25 Mildred Dunnock, American actress (Baby Doll, Nun's Story), born in Baltimore, Maryland (d. 1991)
• 1901-11-02 Paul Ford, American actor (Phil Silvers Show), born in Baltimore, Maryland (d. 1976)
• 1902-01-23 Benny Waters, American jazz saxophonist & clarinetist, born in Baltimore, Maryland (d. 1998)
• 1903-05-30 Countee Cullen, African American poet of the Harlem Renaissance (The Black Christ; Copper Sun), born in Baltimore, Maryland (d. 1946) [1]
• 1903-07-24 Robert Mills Delaney, American composer, born in Baltimore, Maryland (d. 1956)
• 1904-12-24 Herbert D. Riley, US Navy vice-admiral (WW II, Guadalcanal, Okinawa), born in Maryland, United States (d. 1973)
• 1905-01-12 James Bennett Griffin, American archaeologist, born in Atchison, Kansas (d. 1997)
• 1905-06-19 Mildred Natwick, American actress (Barefoot in the Park, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon), born in Baltimore, Maryland (d. 1994)
• 1906-04-06 Virginia Hall [Goillot], American spy with British Special Operations during WWII (1940-66), born in Baltimore, Maryland (d. 1982)
• 1907-08-02 Mary Hamman, American writer and editor (Pictorial Review, Good Housekeeping), born in Baltimore, Maryland (d. 1984)
• 1907-09-14 A. Cecil Snyder, American lawyer and Chief Justice of Puerto Rico, born in Baltimore, Maryland (d. 1959)

• 1908-06-20 Billy Werber, American baseball third baseman (World Series 1940; AL stolen base leader 1934, 35, 37; Cincinnati Reds), born in Berwyn Heights, Maryland (d. 2009)

• 1909-07-07 Eddie Mayehoff, American actor (Hour Glass, That's My Boy, How to Murder Your Wife), born in Baltimore, Maryland (d. 1992)
• 1910-06-18 Avon Long, American actor (Roots: Next Generation, The Sting, Harry and Tonto), born in Baltimore, Maryland (d. 1984)
• 1910-11-20 Pauli Murray, African American poet and civil rights activist, born in Baltimore, Maryland (d. 1985)
• 1911-02-11 Ben Carter, American actor (Crash Dive, Dark Alibi, Maryland), born in Fairfield, Iowa (d. 1946)
• 1912-06-14 E. Cuyler Hammond, American epidemiologist (first to link smoking with lung cancer), born in Baltimore, Maryland (d. 1986)
• 1914-04-26 James Rouse, American builder (founder of The Rouse Company), born in Easton, Maryland (d. 1996)
• 1914-09-19 Rogers Morton, American politician (Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Maryland), born in Louisville, Kentucky (d. 1979)

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