The following is a timeline of the history of the borough of the Bronx in New York City, New York, United States.
Prior to the 19th century Prior to European settlement: The Indian Siwanoy tribe of the Wappinger Confederacy roamed the eastern portion of the area that became the Bronx. 1639 - Jonas Jonasson Bronck settles and establishes a farm (which he named Emmaus) on 500 acres in what will become known as the Bronx. 1642 - Summer: Anne Hutchinson and family move to a location near Split Rock. 1643 - August: Anne Hutchinson and others are massacred in an Indian raid during Kieft's War. Anne's daughter Susanna was the only survivor. 1646 Adriaen van der Donck gets a land grant from the Director of New Netherland Willem Kieft. van der Donck names the estate Colen Donck. Thomas Cornell granted a four square mile patent which encompasses what is now Clason Point. 1654 Thomas Pell bought a large tract of land from Chief Wampage and other Siwanoy Indian tribal members under Treaty Oak. Westchester Village was founded by English settlers who left New Haven Colony for Dutch New Netherland, on land purchased by Thomas Pell in 1654.Robert Bolton. A History of the County of Westchester, from Its First Settlement, Volume II. New York: Alexander S. Gould, 1848 The settlement was called Oostdorp, or East Towne, and called Westchester by the English settlers. 1655 - September 15: Farms in what is now the Bronx were attacked during the Peach War between the Munsee and New Netherlands. 1664 - The Province of New York, a British colony, is created by the acquisition of the Dutch colony of New Netherland as part of the treaty ending the Second Anglo-Dutch War. 1683 - Westchester County, is created. It contains all of the lands that would eventually become the Bronx. 1748 - Van Cortlandt House is built. 1758 - Valentine–Varian House is built. 1761 - Benjamin Palmer buys an island and renames it City Island.History of City Island 1776 Battle of Pell's Point (Battle of Pelham) takes place in what is now Pelham Bay Park. The Bronx area becomes part of the Neutral Ground of Westchester County. Two rival Loyalist military units, New Jersey Volunteers, and De Lancey's Brigade began operating in the area between Morrisania and the Croton Rivers. De Lancey's Brigade had three battalions stationed in Kingsbridge. 1777 - March: The Loyal American Regiment was raised and joins two other Loyalist military units that operate out of Morrisania and Kingsbridge. 1781 - January 22: Lieutenant Colonel William Hull led a part of the 2nd Canadian Regiment in raiding De Lancey's Brigade in Morrisania. The 2nd Canadian Regiment burned the enemy's barracks, captured 52 prisoners, and took large supplies of ammunition and forage.
19th century 1800s-1880s 1833 - Fort Schuyler is constructed. 1840 - St. Ann's Episcopal Church (Bronx), is constructed. 1841 - Fordham University established as St. John's College. 1844 - Grace Church, an Episcopal church in West Farms, Bronx was incorporated. The founding rector of the church was Washington Rodman. 1846 - Town of West Farms was created from the town of Westchester, New YorkRobert Bolton, A history of the county of Westchester, from its first settlement to the present time vol. II (New York, 1848) pp 259ff is the source for this section. 1848 - Gouverneur Morris Jr. sells 200 acres to create Morrisania Village. 1852 - July 28: The steamboat Henry Clay, travelling from Albany, catches fire on the Hudson river. The crew beached the steamboat in Riverdale where it continued to burn down. Forty-seven bodies were recovered.The Henry Clay Catastrophe. – Forty-seven Bodies Recovered Several Passengers Missing. Additional Particulars From the Wreck. Meeting of Survivors at Astor House. 1855 Gouverneur Morris Jr. sells additional land to be combined with Morrisania Village to form the Town of Morrisania. Fonthill Castle purchased to become the campus of the College of Mount St. Vincent. The Union of Morrisania baseball team was founded in Morrisania. 1856 - The Haffen Brewing Company is founded by Matthias Haffen in the area of Melrose that is today known as "The Hub". 1857 - The foundry of Janes, Fowler, Kirtland & Company, owned by Adrian Janes moves to facilities in the Bronx in order to cast the second United States Capitol dome. 1860 The Robert Colgate House is constructed. The Sunnyslope building is built. 1865 - The St. James' Episcopal Church and Parish House is consecrated. 1866 - St Barnabas Hospital founded. 1873 - The state legislature annexes three towns from Westchester County to New York City as of 1874. The three annexed towns of this "Annexed District" (later known as the West Bronx) were the Town of West Farms, the Town of Morrisania, and the Town of Kingsbridge. 1884 Montefiore Medical Center founded in Manhattan. In 1913 it moved to the Bronx. Pelham Park and City Island Railway are both incorporated on August 30. 1888 - The Washington Bridge connects the Bronx and Manhattan island. 1889 - The Keeper's House at Williamsbridge Reservoir is built.
1890s 1890 The Lebanon Hospital, a precursor to the Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center, is founded. Construction of the Webb's Academy and Home for Shipbuilders building began in 1890 of land on a bluff overlooking the Harlem and Hudson rivers. 1891 - New York Botanical Garden established. 1892 Union Railway Company of New York City, a streetcar franchise is chartered. Fordham Hospital became the first public (municipal) hospital to be located in the Bronx. 1893 - The building for the Webb's Academy and Home for Shipbuilders was completed on the former Fordham estate of William Henry Webb. The building was "a romantic version of a medieval castle", with turrets, fanciful carving, and other flourishes. 1894 Bronx Chamber of Commerce founded. Hall of Fame for Great Americans is built on what was then New York University's campus, which is now the Bronx Community College campus. 1895 The East Bronx, (including City Island) is transferred to New York City from Westchester County. Van Cortlandt Park public golf course opens, the oldest public course in the United States. 1896 - The first United States marathon (40 km), ran from Stamford, Connecticut, to Columbia University's Columbia Oval athletic field in Norwood. 1897 Morris High School opens. Jahn's ice cream parlor in business. Bronx Borough Hall is constructed. 1898 January 1: The Bronx established as a borough in the City of Greater New York. Louis F. Haffen becomes the first borough president. Lincoln School for Nurses founded. 1899 April 29: The Colored Home and Hospital dedicated its new home at the corner of 141st Street and Southern Boulevard. Bronx Zoo opens. Calvary Hospital opens.
20th century
1900s
1900 - The first class of the Lincoln School for Nurses graduated. 1901 - The first City Island Bridge opens. 1904 - IRT subway begins operating. 1905 New York Public Library Mott Haven branch opens. Bronx Society of Arts and Sciences founded. 145th Street Bridge opens. 1906 Jerome Park Reservoir built. The 52nd Police Precinct Station House and Stable is completed. Randall Comfort writes History of Bronx Borough, City of New York, which was published by the North Side News Press, of the Bronx. Ota Benga is exhibited in the Bronx Zoo's Monkey House. The Howard Colored Orphan Asylum in Brooklyn later provided housing for him. 1907 The Bronx Home News begins publication. Thomas Edison's Edison Studios moves to the Bronx. 1908 - Pelham Bridge opens. 1909 Grand Concourse begins operating. John F. Murray, the Commissioner of Public Works, becomes the second borough president. after governor Charles Evans Hughes removes Louis F. Haffen from office. 1909 South Brother island became uninhabited when the summer home of Jacob Ruppert, a brewery magnate and early owner of the New York Yankees, burned down.
1910s 1910 Cyrus C. Miller becomes the third borough president. The first motion picture adaptation of Mary Shelley's 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is filmed in the Bronx by Edison Studios. 1911 - Bronx Hospital established. 1912 Bronx County created (effected in 1914). Design of the Bronx flag adopted. The New York Knickerbockers of the United States Baseball League played in the Bronx Oval. December 3: Borough President Miller proposed the creation of terminal markets in New York City, including the seeds of the original Bronx Terminal Market. December 16: The first suffrage hike in America, organized by Rosalie Gardiner Jones, goes from the Bronx to Albany. 1913 Montefiore Medical Center moves to its current location in the Norwood neighborhood of the Bronx. Bronx Opera House opens. 1914 January 1: The parts of New York County which had been annexed from Westchester County were newly constituted as the County of the Bronx, the 62nd and last county to be created by the state, effective in 1914.New York. Laws of New York. 1912, 135th Session, Chapter 548, Section 1. p. 1352. Bronx Board of Trade established. October 28: Birth of Jonas Salk. Kingsbridge Armory built. Douglas Mathewson becomes the fourth borough president. Francis W. Martin takes office as the first Bronx County District Attorney. 1916 - Radio 2XG begins broadcasting. 1917 March 3: New York City transit stations for the IRT White Plains Road Line, including Allerton Avenue, Bronx Park East, Burke Avenue, East 180th Street, Gun Hill Road, Nereid Avenue, Pelham Parkway, 219th Street, 225th Street, and 233rd Street were opened for service. The Bronx Terminal Market built. Portions of the IRT Jerome Avenue Line opened. The Pelham Bay Naval Training Station was constructed. Columbia University turns over the Columbia War Hospital, to the United States Army. It is renamed U.S. Army General Hospital No. 1. The Haffen Brewing Company is purchased, and closed down by Jacob Ruppert, Sr. 1918 Bronx Rotary Club formed. Henry Bruckner becomes the fifth borough president. IRT Jerome Avenue Line fully opened. Portions of the IRT Pelham Line are opened. The Bronx International Exposition of Science, Arts and Industries takes place in Exposition Park (Starlight Park)
1920s 1920 Population: 732,016. Final part of the IRT Pelham Line is opened. 1921 - May: The Bronx Board of Trade honors James L. Wells as the "Father of the Bronx". 1922 - Manhattan College moves to the Riverdale section of the Bronx. 1923 - Yankee Stadium opens. 1924 - The Andrew Freedman Home opens. 1925 - Bronx River Parkway built. 1927 - Amalgamated Dwellings housing project built. 1928 - Alexander's department store in business. 1929 Loew's Paradise Theatre in business. June 26: Birth of Jules Feiffer.
1930s 1930 Loehmann's shop in business. December 10, 1930: A bank run at the 1254 Southern Boulevard branch leads to the financial collapse of the Bank of United States. Population: 1,265,258. 1931 Hunter College Bronx campus opens. Stella D'oro bakery in business. 1933 IND Concourse Line opens. Monroe College established in the West Farms section of the Bronx. July 7: The Industrial Union Party DeLeonist political party is formed at 1032 Prospect Avenue. 1934 James J. Lyons becomes the sixth borough president (in office until 1962). Bronx County Courthouse built. 1935 - Construction of the Mosholu Parkway begins. 1936 The Triboro Bridge and Henry Hudson Bridge open. June 19, 1936: In Yankee Stadium, German ex-heavyweight champion boxer Max Schmeling defeats American and not-yet-champion Joe Louis, in an upset that was used as propaganda by the Nazi regime. p. 90-91 1937 Bronx General Post Office built. Bronx County Jail built. Mosholu Parkway is completed. Williamsbridge Oval Park is opened. 1938 Bronx High School of Science established. SUNY Maritime College moves to its present Throggs Neck campus in Fort Schuyler.