Ethnic Bangor Bangor through the years

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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.