Here are a few highlights of Newburyport history and beyond.

Year	Event
1614	Northeast Massachusetts visited by Captain John Smith
1634	William Woods' New England's Prospect published in London
1635	Newbury settled on Quascacunquen (Parker) River
1636	First record of selectman chosen in Newbury
1638-1852	There were at least 64 earthquakes recorded in Newburyport and the surrounding communities
1639	Rowley incorporated, part of which had belonged to Newbury
1639	Colchester, shortly after named Salisbury, settled
1639	New land laid out by Newbury, including what is now West Newbury
1643	Massachusetts divided into counties
1644	"New town" or what is now Newburyport laid out
1649	Plum Island divided by the General Court, to Ipswich two-fifths, Newbury two-fifths, Rowley one-fifth
1656	First wharf built in Port of Newbury
1688	French and Indian War or Castine's war
1697	Name of Quascacunquen River changed to Parker River

1706	January 17, Benjamin Franklin is born in Boston
1710	Byfield parish incorporated
1719	Cottle's Lane (Bromfield) laid out
1719	Potatoes and tea come into use
1720	The population of American colonists reaches 475,000. Boston (pop. 12,000) is the largest city, followed by Philadelphia (pop. 10,000) and New York (pop. 7000).
1720	By the 1720s, burials begin in a burying ground now known as Belleville Cemetery
1725	First meeting house raised in the Port of Newbury or "Waterside," location of Market Square
1729	Old Hill Burying Ground established behind the Frog Pond
1731	Newbury town house built on Merrimac/Country Road, near head of Marlborough
1732	February 22, George Washington is born in Virginia
1742	First burial at St. Paul's Church graveyard
1755	50 slaves in Newbury, including "Indians and negroes," and 25 Quakers in Newbury
1761	A fire engine imported arrives from England funded by Michael Dalton and other citizens
1762	Town house built on corner of Essex and State Streets
1763	Dummer Academy opens in Byfield
1763	Newbury voted on October 20th, that they were opposed to the division of Newbury
1764	Port of Newbury now Newburyport, incorporated January 28
1764	Newburyport population - 2,882; 357 houses
1767	First distillery in business
1769	Town agrees to the non-importation of English goods
1772	The Newburyport Marine Society established
1773	First newspaper in Newburyport
1775-1783	American Revolution or American War of Independence
1775	Minute-men raised by Town
1775	Company marches for Lexington, at midnight, April 19
1775	Fort built on Salisbury and Plum Island
1775	Benedict Arnold's detachment for Canada bivouac in Newburyport, 16th of September; embark on the 19th
1776	Town of Newburyport anticipates the Declaration of Independence, and approved May 31
1776	Declaration of Independence read in the meetinghouses, August 11
1777	Town in August musters one-sixth of all her able-bodied men for the Continental Army
1779	Trees first set out by order of the town
1780	First school committee chosen
1780	Town approves Massachusetts Declaration of Rights, May 15
1780	Town accepts State constitution
1781	Green Street laid out, given by individual land owners
1783	Two beacons erected on Plum Island
1785	Laird and Ferguson's Brewery opens at bottom of Green Street
1787	Federal constitution approved by the town
1787	Two lighthouses built on Plum Island
1789-1797	President of the United States George Washington
1789	President George Washington visits Newburyport
1790	Lighthouses ceded to Federal Government. President George Washington appointed Abner Lowell as first Superintendent of lighthouses on Plumb (sic) Island
1790	Newburyport population - 4,837; houses 616; Boston population - 18,320
1791	Schools for young female children established by town
1791	United States Revenue Cutter Massachusetts built in Newburyport - first revenue cutter to enter active service
1792	Essex Merrimac Bridges open - Newbury to Deer Island to Salisbury Point
1793	Public stocks removed
1793	Small pox hospital built in common pasture
1794	Woolen factory incorporated, machinery all made in Newburyport
1794	Newburyport library in operation
1794	By-laws enacted - forbidding owners of water fowl to allow them to frequent Frog Pond
1797-1801	President of the United States John Adams
1799	George Washington dies; funeral services observed

1800	Newburyport Population - 5,946; houses 806
1800	Captain Edmund Bartlet gave fourteen hundred dollars to improve Mall, which then received the name of "Bartlet Mall"
1800	Town purchases land under Reverend Carey's meetinghouse for $8,000, now Market Square; new meetinghouse completed on Pleasant Street in 1801
1800	Four stage coaches employed between Boston and Newburyport
1800	Public bathing house opened
1800	New Hill Cemetery established, now known as Highland Cemetery on the corner of Hill and Pond Streets
1801	First Religious Society, Unitarian Church completed on Pleasant Street; meetinghouse in Market Square razed
1801-1809	President of the United States Thomas Jefferson
1805	Court house built on Bartlet Mall
1805	Newburyport turnpike opened
1805	Plum Island turnpike and bridge opened to public
1808	Lighthouses on Plum Island blown down by violent tornado
1809-1817	President of the United States James Madison
1809	Soup houses for relief of poor established in winter
1809	Old wooden Town House, corner of State and Essex Streets, torn down in May
1810	Newburyport population - 7,634
1810	Brick Town House built on same site - corner of State and Essex Streets
1810	Essex Merrimac Bridge rebuilt, being the first in New England with chain draw
1811	Great Fire May 31, destroying downtown Newburyport
1811	June, Act passed by Town against erecting wooden buildings over ten feet high
1812	War declared June 18, with Great Britain and ends in 1815
1813	Observatory erected on Lunt's Hill, now March's Hill, to watch the shoreline for enemy ships
1813	Temporary fort erected on Plum Island, summer
1813	Selectmen give notice that a hearse is provided for use of town
1813	British ships of war lying off the harbor, November
1815	Peace with Great Britain announced
1817-1825	President of the United States James Munroe
1817	President Munroe visits Newburyport
1818	Howard Benevolent Society formed; still exists today
1819	West Newbury incorporated
1820	Newburport population - 6,852
1820	Maine separated from Massachusetts and admitted to Union
1820	Institution for Savings Bank incorporated
1823	Market Hall (firehouse) built
1824	General Marquis de Lafayette visits
1829-1837	President of the United States Andrew Jackson
1826	Caleb Cushing's The History and Present State of the Town of Newburyport published
1827	Special survey of harbor ordered by United States completed; water temporarily deepened on the bar
1827	Newburyport Bridge to Salisbury opened
1830	Newburyport population - 6,375
1832	Coal coming into general use
1832	William Lloyd Garrison refused a second opportunity of speaking on slavery in Newburyport
1832	Town vote that the law forbidding the erection of wooden buildings (downtown) over ten feet high "is prejudicial to the interests of the town," and ought to be repealed
1832	Plum Island Bridge washed away; 1837 rebuilt
1835	Custom House on Water Street built and designed by Robert Mills
1835	Society for Relief of Aged Females organized; later managed the Wheelwright Home for Aged Women
1837-1841	President of the United States Martin Van Buren (first President of the United States to be born an American citizen, rather than a British subject).
1838	Notifications for town meetings advertised in the Newburyport Herald instead of being "nailed on the First Parish meeting-house," (location now Market Square)
1839	Water pipes laid from Frog Pond to Brown's Square
1840	Newburyport population - 7,161
1840	Female schools established during the winter season
1840	Band music on Bartlet Mall during the summer evenings
1840	Eastern Railroad opened to Newburyport
1841	President of the United States William Henry Harrison (Harrison delivered a marathon inaugural speech, caught a cold, and died a month later)
1841-1845	President of the United States John Tyler
1842	Oak Hill Cemetery consecrated
1845	Joshua Coffin's History of Ould Newbury, West Newbury, and Newburyport, published
1845-1849	President of the United States James K. Polk
1846	Steamboats on Merrimac in operation
1846	First Directory of Newburyport published, containing 2,162 names
1847	Houses first numbered
1847	Magnetic Telegraph office opened December 25
1847	A Relic of the Revolutionn, a diary by Charles Herbert of his stay in Mill Prison, Plymouth, England, 1776-1779
1849-1850	President of the United States Zachary Taylor (died in office)
1850	Newburyport population - 9,572; Boston population - 136,881
1850	Cornerstone of the new Town Hall (City Hall) on Pleasant Street, laid July 4; completed 1851
1850-1853	President of the United States Millard Filmore

1851	Parts of Newbury annexed to Newburyport, west of Oakland Street, Grasshopper Plains, and Joppa.
1851	Newburyport City Government organized June 24
1851	Caleb Cushing elected as first Mayor of Newburyport
1853-1857	President of the United States Franklin Pierce
1854	Newburyport Five Cents Savings Bank incorporated
1854	Mrs. E. Vale Smith publishes History of Newburyport
1857-1861	President of the United States James Buchanan
1860	Newburyport population - 13,538
1861-1865	President of the United States Abraham Lincoln (assassinated just five days after Confederate armies surrendered).
1861	Civil War begins and ends in 1865
1865-1869	President of the United States Andrew Johnson
1869-1877	President of the United States Ulysses S. Grant
1870	Newburyport population - 12,595
1871	A U.S. Life Saving Station was built on Plum Island in 1871, about a mile below Plum Island Center.
1876	St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery consecrated
1877-1881	President of the United States Rutherford B. Hayes
1879	The Noyes family moves their comb business to Chestnut Street from Water and Pike Streets
1879	Sarah Anna Emery publishes, Reminiscences of a Nonagenarian.
1880	Newburyport population - 13,538
1880	Towle Manufacturing established on Merrimac Street
1881	President of the United States James A. Garfield (shot and died eleven weeks later)
1881-1885	President of the United States Chester A. Arthur
1881	Bartlet Steam Mills on Pleasant Street destroyed by fire
1881	Caleb Haskell's Diary, May 5, 1775-May 30, 1776, published
1881	Plum Island U. S. Life Saving Station was moved near the lighthouse and a second station was added at Knobbs Beach in 1891.
1882	Shipbuilder John Currier, Jr. launches the ship, Mary L. Cushing, 1573 tons, the last vessel of that class built in Massachusetts
1886	Atkinson Coal Company opens on Water Street
1886	Statue of Liberty dedicated
1885-1889	President of the United States Grover Cleveland
1890	Newburyport population - 13,934
1897	Dalton Club, (private) organized, former home to the Dalton family and Moses Brown
1898	Spanish American War begins and officially ends in 1899 with Treaty of Paris
1889-1893	President of the United States Benjamin Harrison (grandfather was President of the United States William Henry Harrison)
1891	A second Plum Island U. S. Life Saving Station was added at Knobbs Beach, now in the area of the wildlife refuge
1893-1897	President of the United States Grover Cleveland (only President to be elected to two non-consecutive terms)
1896	John J. Currier publishes OULD NEWBURY Historical and Biographical Sketches.
1897-1901	President of the United States William McKinley (only moments after handing a girl his "lucky" red carnation, President McKinley was shot and died six days later).
1898	William and Edward Safford of Safford Jewelers journey to Canada to find their fortune in the Klondike gold rush
1898	Present Plum Island Lighthouse completed
1900	Newburyport population - 14,478; Boston population - 560,892