1525: Estevao Gomes sails up Penobscot River to Bangor
1604: Champlain Sails up Penobscot to mouth of Kenduskeag Stream
1754: British declare war on Penobscot Nation and other Maine American Indians
1769: Conduskeag Plantation settled
1791: Bangor incorporated as a town
1814: British occupy Bangor duing War of 1812
1816: Maine Charity School, now Bangor Theological Seminary, opens in Hampden
1820: Maine becomes a state
1827: Bangor establishes a poor farm
1832: Covered toll bridge links Bangor and Brewer
1833: Anti-Irish riot
1834: Steamship service between Boston and Bangor begins; Bangor House opens; Bangor incorporated as a city
1836: Mount Hope Cemetery, nation’s second landscaped cemetery, dedicated; Bangor & Piscataquis Canal and Railroad Company, state’s first railroad, begins service; St. Michael’s Catholic Church built
1849: Cholera epidemic
1851: Maine prohibition law passed
1855: Maine Central Railroad comes to city; Norombega Hall opens
1859: Bangor Cornet Band, now Bangor Band, forms
1861: Second Maine Regiment volunteers leave Bangor to join Civil War
1862: Maine State College, now University of Maine, opens
1864: Bangor Historical Society founded
1869: Bangor Children’s Home dedicated
1871: President Ulysses S. Grant in Bangor for opening of European and North American Railroad; Tin Bridge collapses.
1872: Smallpox epidemic; Peak year for lumber exports; Bangor Daily Commercial founded; Mary Phillips leads group to start home for aged women
1874: Bangor Dam built; home mail delivery begins in city
1882: Opera House opens; Eastern Steamship Co. starts run of famous Boston boats.
1883: Bangor Public Library incorporated; Eastern Maine Fair held at what is now Bass Park
1884: Bon Ton I launched.
1888: Bangor Street Railway system begins laying track. Trolley service ends in 1945.
1889: Bangor Daily News starts publication
1891: Hannibal Hamlin stricken at Tarratine Club; Mary Beal establishes a business school; King’s Daughters Union forms to help indigent women
1892: Bangor General Hospital (now Eastern Maine Medical Center) opens; A.L. Freese opens men’s clothing store
1896: First Bangor Symphony Orchestra concert; construction begins for Eastern Maine Insane Hospital (now Dorothea Dix)
1897: First Maine Music Festival in newly constructed Bangor Auditorium; Bangor Jews consecrate state’s first synagogue; Bangor’s standpipe built.
1898: University of Maine Law School opens in Bangor; Shaw School of Business, now Husson College, opens.
1902: Flood in Penobscot River carries away Bangor-Brewer covered bridge
1903: Penobscot County Courthouse completed
1907: Union Station completed
1909: First silent movies shown in downtown theaters.
1911: The Great Fire
1912: Steel bridge connects Bangor and Brewer; tradition of sending first salmon caught in Penobscot River to White House initiated
1913: Bangor Public Library moves to new building
1915: Federal Building and post office open on Post Office Square
1923: WABI Radio begins broadcasting; Eastern Orthodox congregation establishes church organization
1928: John Bapst High School opens
1932: voters adopt council-manager form of government
1935: Final trip of the Boston ends steamship travel to Bangor
1937: Brady Gang ambushed on Central Street by FBI agents
1939: Fire destroys Bon Ton III ending ferry service
1942: Dow Air Force Base opens
1947: St. Joseph Hospital established
1955: New Bangor Auditorium opens.
1959: Joshua Chamberlain Bridge dedicated; Paul Bunyan statue unveiled for city’s 125th anniversary
1964: Bangor citizens vote in favor of Urban Renewal
1965: Bangor High School moves to new building on Outer Broadway
1968: Dow Air Force Base deactivated; Bangor International Airport opens on former Dow Field; Margaret Chase Smith Federal Building completed
1976: Kenduskeag Stream floods Kenduskeag Parkway
1978: Bangor Mall opens in former cow pasture on Stillwater Avenue; President Jimmy Carter holds town meeting in city
1983: Morse covered Bridge destroyed by arson
1985: Freese’s downtown department store closes
1986: Veterans Remembrance Bridge dedicated
1998: Ice storm immobilizes state; renovated and expanded Bangor Public Library opens.
2001: Maine Discovery Museum opens in Freese’s building.
2002: 64th National Folk Festival comes to Bangor.
2004: Fire Guts 1870 Masonic Hall.
2005: Hollywood Slots, Maine’s first racino, opens temporary facility in former Miller’s Restaurant on Main Street.
2007:Penn National razes two hotels and some houses on riverfront and builds permanent Holly Slots facility across from Bass Park.
Comments
comments for this post are closed