1600: Around 100,000 people live in five tribes in Michigan: Potawatomi, Ottawa, Ojibwa/Chippewa, Miami, and Huron. The Potawatomi, Ottawa and Ojibwa speak similar Algonquin languages and are known as the “People of the Three Fires."
1607: The English settle in Jamestown, Virginia, making it the first permanent English settlement in present day America.
1609: Henry Hudson sails into upstate New York and claims the land for the Netherlands.
1609: Spaniard Pedro de Peralta establishes the settlement of Santa Fe in present day New Mexico.
1618: Samuel de Champlain, who founded Quebec, sends Etienne Brule on an exploring mission. He is considered the first European to set foot in Michigan.
1620: The Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts is established.
1625: The Dutch settle in present day New York City and call their colony New Netherlands.
1630: Samuel De Champlain sends Jean Nicolet to find a passage to China. He passes through the Straits of Mackinac and explores the shores of Lake Michigan.
1650-1700: European diseases have a powerful effect on Native Americans. As many as half of Michigan's first people die from disease in the 17th century.
1664: The English seize Dutch New Netherlands and rename the colony New York.
1668: French missionaries first settle in Sault Saint Marie.
1669: French explorer Adrien Joliet and an Iroquois guide travel from the St. Mary's River down Lake Huron and camp at present day Detroit.
1670: Sulpician missionaries René de Bréhant de Galinee and François Dollier de Casson travel from Lake Erie upriver on their way to Sault Ste. Marie.
1671: French missionaries first settle at Saint Ignace.
1679: August 10. French explorer Robert La Salle sails his ship, the Griffon, past Detroit on his way north to find a route to China.
1680: La Salle explores the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, crossing from present day Muskegon to present day Detroit, becoming the first European to travel the interior of Michigan.
1680: The French build forts near present day St. Joseph and present day Port Huron.
1682: La Salle explores the entire Mississippi River and claims Louisiana for France.
1698: The Spanish establish a settlement in present day Pensacola, Florida.
1699: The French settle New Orleans, Louisiana.
1701: July 24. Antoine de La Mothe Cadillac establishes a settlement at Detroit. He leads 100 French soldiers and 100 Algonquins to "le détroit" (the strait). They build Fort Pontchartrain du détroit from logs. The goal is to protect the French fur trade in the Great Lakes from the English and Iroquois.
1701: Fall and Early Winter. Cadillac asks Native Americans to settle in the area. He offers protection and trading opportunities. The Huron, Miami, Ottawa and Chippewa build villages in the surrounding area.
1704: February 2. The first European child is born at Detroit. Marie Therese Cadillac is the daughter of Antoine and his wife, Madame Marie Thérèse Guyon Cadillac.
1704: Cadillac reports that 2,000 Native Americans live in villages surrounding Detroit.
1706: June 6. The first major confrontation between the French and local Native Americans occurs when a French commander's dog bites an Ottawa. Fighting leaves Father Nicolas de L'Halle, Ste. Anne's priest, and 30 Ottawa dead.
1707: Cadillac begins granting lands around Detroit to French settlers. He acts as a landlord and requires settlers to pay him an annual rent plus a percentage of their crops.
1709: Count Pontchartrain, Cadillac’s French supporter, complains in a letter that Cadillac is greedy because of the amount of rent and crops he requires from his settlers.
1710: The French Government removes Cadillac from his position of commander of Detroit. He becomes the governor of the French colony in Louisiana. He does not return to Detroit.
1712: Tensions between Fox Indians from Wisconsin and the French at Detroit escalate. The Fox attack Fort Pontchartrain for 19 days. On retreat, the Fox are overtaken by Huron, Ottawa, and Potawatomi, who are loyal to the French.
1715: The French rebuild the fort at Michilimackinac to control access to the upper Great Lakes.
1720: Detroit’s population is about 200 people. Church records indicate that there were 43 baptisms, 7 marriages, and 15 deaths for the year.
1721: June. Father Pierre de Charlevoix stops at Detroit during an exploration trip of the Great Lakes. He reports that settlement is run down and suffers from neglect by the French Government.
1730: The register of Ste. Anne’s parish records 106 baptisms, 16 marriages and 44 deaths in Detroit.
1730: October 15. Antoine de La Mothe Cadillac dies in France.
1733: A smallpox outbreak in Detroit kills many residents.
1740: The first home built outside of the Fort Pontchartrain stockade is erected by farmer Jean Baptiste Baudry.
1747: Tensions in North America between the French and British increase. The French send 150 troops from Montreal to strengthen Detroit’s fort against Huron Indians, who are allied with the British.
1749: Detroit’s population is about 900. The Governor of New France offers animals and farm equipment to Frenchmen who settle in the area. Only 46 accept his offer.
1751: The French operate seven forts within Michigan to protect their fur trade in the region.
1751: Detroit's population is 483, including 33 enslaved Native and African Americans.
1751: Michael Yax begins farming in present day Grosse Pointe. He is considered the first German settler in Michigan.
1752: Smallpox and famine threaten the settlement at Detroit.
1754: The French and Indian War begins, which is part of the Seven Years' War between England and France. Detroit is a major stronghold for the war. The French send over 400 militia and supplies to the fort.
1760: British Major Robert Rogers and his troops take command of Detroit. As part of the treaty at the end of the war, Britain obtains Detroit from the French.
1760: British Major Robert Rogers and his troops take command of Detroit. As part of the treaty at the end of the war, Britain obtains Detroit from the French.
1760: The British discover that Detroit has about 2,000 inhabitants and 300 buildings.
1762: Abraham Chapman arrives in Detroit via Montreal. He is believed to be the first Jewish settler in Detroit.
1763: Chief Pontiac and his Ottawa tribe attack Detroit and other forts in Michigan in an attempt to drive out the Europeans. He fails, and eventually signs a treaty with the English.
1764: Many Detroit inhabitants leave the village for the new settlement at St. Louis in present day Missouri. Detroit’s population is greatly reduced.
1769: A British Lieutenant named George McDougall buys Hog Island – present day Belle Isle – from Native Americans for 8 barrels of rum, 3 rolls of tobacco, 6 pounds of vermilion paint, and a wampum belt.
1771: Detroit is the center of the Great Lakes fur trade. Native Americans exchange pelts and furs for European goods like guns, cooking utensils, cloth, and jewelry.
1773: Detroit’s population is about 1,400 with 280 houses.
1776: Britain’s thirteen colonies in North America demand independence as the United States of America. Detroit is not one of the colonies, and remains under British rule.
1776: The British fort at Detroit is reinforced with 200-300 British soldiers. The fort does not see battle, but it is used as a base for sending raiding parties into Ohio. Also, the Citadel is used to hold American prisoners.
1778: British Captain Richard Lernoult builds a new fort at Detroit, which is named after him.
1778: The British hold American Patriot Daniel Boone, who was captured by Native Americans, at Detroit.
1778: April 26. British census records 2,144 residents at Detroit, not including military personnel or prisoners. It does include 138 enslaved persons.
1779: General George Washington considers attacking the British at Detroit during the Revolutionary War, but he does not act.
1780: The British hold approximately 500 American prisoners at Detroit. Some are held in jail, while others live with local families and are allowed to wander freely.
1783: September 3. Michigan becomes part the United States. Major Ephraim Douglass enters Detroit on July 4. However, the British refuse to surrender the forts in Detroit and Mackinac.
1787: Representatives from 12 of the original 13 colonies meet to draft the United States Constitution. The Northwest Territory, comprised of the future states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and part of Minnesota, is created by an ordinance of the Continental Congress. They also ban slavery in the Northwest Territory.
1793: Jacob Young purchases land from a French settler and becomes the first Black person to own land in Detroit.
1794: American general Anthony Wayne defeats 50 British troops and Native Americans from Detroit at the Battle of Fallen Timbers, south of Toledo, Ohio.
1796: July 11. An advanced detachment of a regiment under the control of Colonel John Francis Hamtramck reaches Detroit. Later, the British surrender Detroit to Captain Moses Porter of United States Army.
1796: August 15. Detroit becomes a part of Wayne County, which includes nearly all of Michigan and parts of Ohio, Indiana, and Wisconsin. It is named after General Anthony Wayne.
1796: The Detroit stockade includes a wharf, fort and Citadel, 100 houses, shops, taverns, and Ste. Anne’s Church. About 500 people live within the stockade, and another 2,100 live on nearby farms. Two-thirds of Detroiters are French. Dutch, Germans and enslaved African Americans also live in Detroit.
1798: Father Gabriel Richard arrives in Detroit. He becomes one of Detroit's most influential early leaders.
1802: February 1. Territorial Governor Arthur St. Clair approves the city charter for Detroit. It is incorporated as a city of about a third of a square mile, or 213 acres.
1802: February 23. The board of trustees for the newly created city of Detroit adopts a fire code that requires all residents and business owners to sweep their chimneys often. It also provides buckets and ladders to residents, who are required to turn out to fight any fires.
1804: The United States opens a land office in Detroit.
1805: Michigan Territory is separated from the Indiana Territory, with Detroit as its capital. William Hull is made territorial governor.
1805: June 11. Detroit is destroyed by fire when baker John Harvey allegedly sets his barn ablaze with ashes from his pipe. Territorial Governor William Hull and Judge Augustus Woodward decide to build a planned community. Woodward creates a street plan based on the design of the nation's new capital, Washington, D.C.
1806: The first post office opens in Detroit.
1806: September 13. The city of Detroit is incorporated by the Michigan Territorial governor. Solomon Sibley is appointed as the first mayor.
1807: Judge Woodward rules that all enslaved persons, except those owned by British subjects, are to be freed.
1807: In a treaty with Native Americans, the United States purchases much of southeastern Michigan for 2 cents an acre, for a total of about $10,000.
1808: Father Gabriel Richard starts a school at Springwells (present site of Fort Wayne) for both Native American and white children.
1809: Father Gabriel Richard brings the first printing press to Michigan. His newspaper, called The Michigan Essay or Impartial Observer, fails, but he prints a spelling book for students at his school.
1809: February 24. The Territorial Governing Council repeals the 1806 incorporation of Detroit as a city.
1810: Detroit’s population is 770, and the Michigan Territory has 4,762 residents.
1812: The United States declares war against Britain over their interference with American shipping and westward expansion. It is known as the War of 1812.
1812: August 16. General Hull surrenders Detroit to a small British force supported by local Native Americans. The British hold Detroit for a year.
1813: September 10. Captain Oliver Hazard Perry and his fleet defeat the British during the Battle of Lake Erie. The British retreat from Detroit two weeks later.
1815: Looking for a way to reward veterans of the War of 1812 with free land, the United States sends surveyor Edward Tiffin north into present day Oakland County. He reports that most of the land is swampy and uninhabitable, which hinders settlement in Michigan.
1815: Detroit, with a population of 850, is incorporated as a city. In addition to homes, the city now has churches, businesses, shops, and schools.
1816: Construction of a road to the small settlement at Pontiac along a former Native American trail is started. It becomes today’s Woodward Avenue.
1817: The city’s first regularly published newspaper, the Detroit Gazette, is published in both French and English.
1817: August 13. President James Monroe visits Detroit, the first U.S. President to do so. Monroe city and county are named in his honor.
1817: August 26. The Catholepistemiad or University of Michigania was founded in Detroit, initially offering classes in quarters on the corner of Bates and Congress streets. It moved to Ann Arbor in 1837 and was renamed the University of Michigan.
1818: Walk-in-the-Water is the first steamboat on the upper Great Lakes. It makes water travel from Buffalo, New York to Detroit easier.
1818: July 6. The first public land auction in Michigan takes place in Detroit. The average price for land is $4 an acre.
1819: Detroit’s population is 1,100.
1819–1822: Lewis Cass negotiates a series of treaties with Native Americans that opens up Michigan for American settlement, but limits Indian rights.
1820: The first brick building in Detroit is built by shop owner Thomas Palmer.
1821: The fur trade is still a key export in Detroit and Michigan, but it is starting to decline due to overhunting.
1824: August 5. The territorial legislature reorganizes Detroit's city government, creating the Common Council and the office of mayor.
1825: April 4. Detroit elects its first mayor, John R. Williams. Present day John R. road is named after Williams.
1825: October 25. The Erie Canal is completed. It connects Lake Erie with the Hudson River near Albany, New York, making transportation of people and goods across New York State easier, faster and less expensive. Roads are improved between Detroit and Toledo, St. Joseph and Chicago.
1825: The first wave of German immigration to Detroit begins.
1826: The U.S. removes troops from Fort Shelby. Plans to demolish the fort are laid, and the government donates the land to the city.
1827: Wayne County is divided into townships: Brownstown, Bucklin, Detroit, Ecorse, Hamtramck, Huron, Manguagon, Plymouth and Springwells.
1827: Detroit adopts its city seal and motto: Speramus Meliora; Resurget Cineribus. It means, “We hope for better days; it shall rise from the ashes.” It commemorates the Fire of 1805.
1828: Detroit’s population is 1,517.
1830: Detroit’s population is 2,222. Michigan’s population is 31,639.
1830: Irish immigration to Detroit to begins. They settle west of Woodward Avenue in a neighborhood they call Corktown.
1831: May 5. Today's Detroit Free Press begins publishing as the Michigan Intelligencer and Democratic Free Press.
1831: Mail service begins between Detroit and the east coast.
1832: A cholera epidemic devastates Detroit. Father Gabriel Richard cares for the stricken before he, too, dies from the disease.
1833: March 8. The Catholic Church establishes a diocese in Detroit with Frederic Rese as bishop.
1833: June 14-15. Detroit’s first race riot occurs after Detroit’s black citizens help the Blackburns, a fugitive slave couple, escape to Canada. This event starts the anti-slavery movement in Detroit.
1834: A second cholera epidemic kills 600 Detroiters, nearly 1/8th of the city's population.
1835: November 18. Detroit's first City Hall is completed.
1835: The Michigan Territory’s population reaches 85,000, which qualifies it for statehood. Leading territorial officials develop state constitution and elect Stephens T. Mason as first governor. However, U.S. Congress refuses to grant statehood to Michigan until 1837.
1836: Detroit installs its first street signs. Most of the streets are wooden plank, but downtown streets are cobblestone.
1836: Daily stagecoaches begin running between Detroit and Chicago.
1836: Thirteen former slaves create the Second Baptist Church. It is the first African American Baptist congregation, and it plays a pivotal role in Detroit’s Underground Railroad operations.
1837: January 26. Michigan becomes the 26th state of the United States of America. Detroit is its first capital.
1837: March 18. The University of Michigan moves from Detroit to Ann Arbor.
1837: April 26. Detroit Anti-Slavery Society is created. It plays a big role in Detroit’s Underground Railroad operations.
1838: The Detroit-Pontiac railway is complete. The first cars are horse-drawn.
1839: February 18. The Detroit Boat Club, the oldest in the nation, is formed.
1840: William Lambert helps to operate Detroit's Underground Railroad with Sr. Joseph Ferguson, William Web and other abolitionists. Over 45,000 slaves pass through Detroit on the way to freedom in Canada over a thirty year period.
1840: The United States census reports that 9,192 live in Detroit and 212,267 live in Michigan.
1842: February 18. Detroit organizes its first public school system.
1843: July 4. Ongoing border problems with the British in Canada lead to the construction of Fort Wayne. It is never attacked.
1845: Detroit’s population is 13,065.
1845: Iron ore mining begins in the Upper Peninsula.
1846: Michigan becomes the first state to abolish capital punishment.
1848: The state capital moves from Detroit to Lansing.
1848: The first telegraph message is transmitted between Detroit and Buffalo.
1849: Scandinavian immigrants arrive in Michigan. Many settle in the Upper Peninsula, but some work in Detroit as toolmakers.
1849: September 25. The first annual Michigan State Fair is held in Detroit.
1850: Shipping becomes Detroit's biggest industry.
1850: The United States census reports that Detroit's population is 21,000.
1850: Bernhard Stroh founds the Stroh Brewery Company, following a family tradition he learned as a boy in Germany.
1851: Detroit's population reaches 26,000 and it has 600 brick and 4,000 wooden buildings.
1853: George B. Russel begins building railroad cars under the business name Detroit Car and Manufacturing Co.
1854: The first rail connection between Detroit and New York City is completed.
1855: The locks at Sault Ste. Marie are finished. They enable ships to bring iron and copper ore to Detroit entirely by ship.
1855: Italian immigrants begin to arrive in Detroit. They settle on the east side of the city.
1857: March 6. Detroiter Lewis Cass becomes the U.S. Secretary of State.
1857: Polish immigrants begin arriving in Detroit in large numbers.
1859: March 12. Famed abolitionists John Brown and Frederick Douglass meet at the home of William Webb.
1860: Detroit’s population is 45,619.
1860: The only high school in Detroit begins to accept female students.
1860: Detroit’s population is 45,619.
1860: The only high school in Detroit begins to accept female students.
1861: Michigan is one of the first states to send volunteers to Washington, D.C. at the outbreak of the Civil War.
1861: Detroit replaces its volunteer fire department with its first paid firefighters.
1863: August 3. Streetcars pulled by horses are first used on Jefferson and Woodward Avenues. A ride cost 5 cents.
1863: Fannie Richards opens the first private school for African Americans in Detroit.
1863: Harper Hospital is formed as a military hospital.
1863: George DeBaptiste and John D. Richard organize the first Michigan Colored Troops, which consists of 1,400 men. It is admitted into the Union Army as the 102nd U.S. Colored Troops.
1864: The first Bessemer-type steel is produced at Eureka Iron Works in Wyandotte, laying the groundwork for railroad, stove, and automobile manufacturing in Detroit.
1864: Richard Trevelick forms the Detroit Trades Assembly, the city's first central labor organization.
1865: Detroit organizes its first police department.
1865: The Detroit Public Library opens with 5,000 books.
1866: James Vernor returns from the Civil War and begins producing his unique ginger ale.
1867: D. M. Ferry Seed Company is founded.
1868: Wayne State University, originally called Detroit Medical College, is founded.
1868: Detroiter William Davis invents the railroad refrigerator car.
1869: Detroit begins admitting African American children to the public schools.
1870: Detroit’s population is 79,577. Almost half the population was born in a different country.
1870: University of Michigan begins to accept women.
1870: The 15th Amendment is ratified, giving African Americans the right to vote. Detroit's African Americans vote for the first time.
1871: Michigan passes the first compulsory school attendance law that requires all children between 8 and 14 to attend school at least 12 weeks a year.
1871: Nanette Gardner petitions Detroit's Board of Representatives for the right to vote, stating that she has no one else to look after her interests. The board votes 12-6 in favor, and she becomes the first woman to vote in the state.
1872: The Soldiers and Sailors monument is dedicated as a tribute to the courage of local troops who fought in the Civil War.
1872: Elijah McCoy, an African American inventor from Detroit, patents the first practical automatic lubricating cup for steam locomotives.
1873: James Scripps founds the Evening News. This non-partisan newspaper sells for 2 cents rather than 5 cents other newspapers charge. It becomes one of the most popular papers in Detroit.
1873: Frances Newberry Bagley organizes the Detroit Women’s Club, the first women’s club in Detroit.
1875: June 17. Frederick Sanders, the father of the ice cream soda, opens his store on Woodward Avenue.
1876: The Detroit Opera House opens on Campus Martius. The ground floor is the location of the first J.L. Hudson's store.
1877: The first telephone message to Detroit plays music from Chicago. Later that year, the first telephone exchange opens with 124 customers.
1877: Detroit College (now the University of Detroit-Mercy) is founded by Jesuit priests.
1879: April 8. Detroit purchases Belle Isle, a 985 acre island on the Detroit River, from the Campau family for $200,000. It becomes a public park.
1879: Detroit becomes the first city to assign individual telephone numbers.
1880: Detroit’s population is 116,342. It is a multicultural city, with over 40 nationalities represented.
1880: Detroit Council of Trades and Labor Unions is formed, which becomes the Detroit Federation of Labor in 1906.
1881: Joseph L. Hudson establishes a men’s clothing store on the first floor of the Detroit Opera House.
1881: Detroit is the center of the nation's stove manufacturing industry.
1881: The Detroit Baseball Company is the first professional baseball team in Detroit. It is a member of the National League.
1883: Incandescent lights are first used in Metcalf's Dry Goods store. The first electric arc street lighting is installed on Jefferson and Woodward Avenues.
1883: The Detroit Zoological Gardens opens at the corner of Michigan and Trumbull when a circus auctions off its animals. It will later move to Royal Oak.
1884: Belle Isle Park opens to the public. It is the largest island park in the nation.
1887: Detroit's professional baseball team, the Wolverines, wins the National League championship, called the "World Series."
1888: September 1. The Detroit Institute of Arts opens as the Detroit Museum of Art on Jefferson Avenue.
1889: Detroit's first skyscraper, the 10-story Hammond Building, is completed. It is demolished in 1956.
1890: Detroit’s population reaches 205,876. It ranks 15th in size among American cities.
1890: Hazen S. Pingree, a shoe manufacturer, is elected mayor of Detroit. He gains national recognition as a reform mayor.
1892: Four Detroit streets – Jefferson, Lafayette, Cass and Second - are paved with asphalt. The rest are cobblestone, cedar block or unpaved.
1893: Detroiter Mrs. Marie Owen becomes the first policewoman in the United States.
1894: Mayor Pingree establishes vegetable gardens for the poor, which come to be known as Pingree's Potato Patches.
1895: The Detroit Public Schools establish Kindergartens.
1895: Detroit’s municipal power station begins to supply power for streetlights and public buildings.
1896: March 6. Charles Brady King drives Detroit’s first gasoline powered car down Woodward Avenue.
1896: June 4. Henry Ford test drives his first car, using engine parts borrowed from Charles Brady King.
1896: The last horse-drawn street cars are replaced by electric trolleys.
1896: September 8. The new Central High School building at Cass and Warren opens. Today, it is Wayne State University’s Old Main building.
1897: Sebastian S. Kresge opens his 5 and 10 cent store with J.G. McCrory. It develops into present day Kmart.
1897: Mayor Pingree is elected governor of Michigan, forcing him to resign as Detroit's mayor.
1898: Bob-Lo Park is established as a recreational destination.
1898: Henry Ford organizes the Detroit Automobile Co. with backing from local investors. It fails three years later after only producing 2 cars.
1899: Ransom E. Olds opens Detroit's first automobile manufacturing plant on East Jefferson near Belle Isle.
1899: William Metzger and Seneca Lewis organize Detroit’s first auto show. They rent the Light Guard Armory and showcase 4 cars, 2 electric and 2 steam powered.
1900: Detroit’s population is 285,704. It is the 13th largest city in the United States.
1900: Nearly 12% of Detroit’s population doesn’t speak English, the highest percentage in the nation.
1900: The Detroit Tigers become members of the new American Baseball League.
1900: Detroit is the world’s largest manufacturer of heating and cooking stoves. Other big industries include ship building, cigars and tobacco, pharmaceuticals, beer, rail cars, and foundry and machine shop products.
1901: July 24. Detroit celebrates its bi-centennial with parades and a recreation of Cadillac’s arrival.
1901: Henry Ford establishes his second automobile company, called the Henry Ford Co.
1901: Ransom E. Olds produces the first practical American car. It can reach speeds of 18 miles per hour and costs $650.
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