Timeline of Nantucket

The following is a timeline of the history of Nantucket , Massachusetts, USA.

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by editing the page to add missing items, with references to reliable sources.

17th century

• 1621 – Island granted to Plymouth Company of London. ^[1]
• 1641 – Island bought by Thomas Mayhew. ^[2]
• 1659
  • Island sold to Thomas Barnard, Peter Coffin, Tristram Coffin, Christopher Hussey, Thomas Macy, William Pike, John Swayne, and Richard Swayne. ^[3]
  • Proprietors of the Common and Undivided Land established. ^[4]
• 1660 – Island becomes part of the Province of New York. ^[2]
• 1661 – Settlers arrive from Amesbury and Salisbury, Massachusetts. ^[2]
• 1665 – Maddequet Ditch (canal) dug.
• 1671 – Town incorporated. ^[5]
• 1672 – Town relocated to Wescoe from Madaket. ^[6]
• 1673 – Town named "Sherburne." ^[5]
• 1683 – Island becomes part of Dukes County, Province of New York. ^[6]
• 1686 – Jethro Coffin house built. ^[6]
• 1692 – Island becomes part of the Province of Massachusetts Bay. ^[2]
• 1695 – Nantucket County established. ^[6]

18th century

Map of the Island of Nantucket, 1782, by Crèvecœur

• 1712 – Sperm whaling begins. ^[6]
• 1713 – Tuckernuck Island becomes part of Nantucket County. ^[6]
• 1732 – Quaker meeting house built. ^[7]
• 1746
  • Lighthouse and East Mill constructed. ^[8]
  • The Old Mill an historic windmill. ^[6]
• 1774 – Population: 4,545. ^[5]
• 1775 – Nantucket tentatively states their neutrality during the American Revolutionary War. ^{[9] [10]}
• 1779 – April: British loyalists raid island. ^[9]
• 1784 - Great Point Light established. ^[6]
• 1795 – Town of Sherburne renamed "Nantucket." ^[5]

19th century

• 1810
  • Second Congregational Meeting House incorporated. ^[11]
  • Population: 6,807. ^[12]
• 1814 – Nantucket declares neutrality in the US-British War of 1812. ^[13]
• 1816 – May: Nantucket Gazette newspaper begins publication. ^[14]
• 1817 – Fragment Society formed. ^[15]
• 1820
  • Nantucket Mechanics' Social Library Society founded. ^[16]
  • Population: 7,266. ^[17]
• 1821 – The Inquirer newspaper begins publication. ^[14]
• 1823
  • Columbian Library Society founded. ^[16]
  • United Methodist Church built. ^[18]

• 

  1853 drawing of a Nantucket shark, by Jacques Burkhardt

  1827 – United Library Association ^[16] and Lancasterian school ^[6] founded.
• 1834 – Nantucket Athenaeum incorporated. ^[18]
• 1835
  • African Methodist Episcopal Church incorporated. ^[19]
  • Silk Factory in business. ^[20]
• 1836 – Ladies' Howard Society formed. ^[21]
• 1838 - Nantucket High School established.
• 1839 – Trinity Church built. ^[18]
• 1840 – First Baptist Church built. ^[18]
• 1846 – Fire. ^[3]
• 1848 – Atlantic House hotel in business in Siasconset. ^[22]
• 1850 - Sankaty Head Light built.
• 1854 – Lightship Nantucket and Town Library ^[16] established.
• 1855 - Death of Dorcas Honorable, Nantucket's last Native American Wampanoag Indian.
• 1856
  • Nantucket Agricultural Society founded. ^[23]
  • Lighthouse rebuilt. ^[5]
• 1864 – Josiah Freeman photography studio in business. ^[24]
• 1866 – Union Benevolent Society founded. ^[15]
• 1869 - Nantucket's last whaler sailed. ^[6]
• 1873 – Nantucket Relief Association founded. ^[15]
• 1875 – Civil War monument erected. ^[5]
• 1877 – Sherburne Lyceum organized. ^[5]
• 1881 – Nantucket Railroad built.
• 1883 – Siasconset Union Chapel, ^[18] Nantucket Hotel, Surf-Side Hotel and Springfield Hotel built. ^[5]
• 1886
  • Electric telegraph installed. ^[5]
  • New Bedford, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket Steamboat Company formed. ^[25]
  • Wyer's Art Store in business (approximate date). ^[24]
• 1892 – Point Breeze Hotel in business. ^[5]
• 1894 – Nantucket Historical Association founded. ^[18]
• 1895 – Goldenrod Literary and Debating Society founded. ^[26]

Original Nantucket Railroad reaches bankruptcy, Nantucket Central Railroad Company established

• 1897 – Church of St. Mary-Our Lady of the Isle built. ^[18]

20th century

Nantucket, 1937

• 1901 – Brant Point Light rebuilt.
• 1902 – Maria Mitchell Association founded.
• 1908 – Maria Mitchell Observatory built. ^[27]
• 1910 – Population: 2,962 (county). ^[6]
• 1917 - Nantucket Central Railroad Company closes after all available trains were commandeered by the United States Army to serve in the Western Front of World War One
• 1923 – Sankaty Head Golf Club opens.
• 1925 – Nobska (steamship) begins operating in region.
• 1930 – Whaling Museum opens. ^[28]
• 1940 – Straight Wharf Theatre established. ^[15]
• 1945 – Murray's Toggery Shop in business. ^[29]
• 1956 – July 25: SS Andrea Doria wrecked offshore.
• 1966 – Nantucket Historic District established.
• 1970 – Population: 3,774.
• 1972 – Hy-Line ferry begins operating.
• 1974 – Coskata-Coatue Wildlife Refuge established (approximate date). ^[30]
• 1975 – Nantucket National Wildlife Refuge established.
• 1976 – December 15: MV Argo Merchant wrecked offshore.
• 1990 – Population: 6,012.
• 1995 – Nantucket Regional Transit Authority begins operating.
• 1997 – Bill Delahunt becomes U.S. representative for Massachusetts's 10th congressional district.
• 1999
  • October 31: EgyptAir Flight 990 crashes south of island, 217 dead.
  • African Meeting House restored. ^[18]

21st century

• 2001 – Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound organized.
• 2010
  • Cape Wind (wind farm) development approved. ^[31]
  • Population: 10,172.
• 2011 – William R. Keating becomes U.S. representative for Massachusetts's 10th congressional district.
• 2020 – Nantucket introduces COVID-19 safety measures, including travel restrictions and mask mandates. ^[32]

See also

• History of Nantucket
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Nantucket County, Massachusetts

References

1. Henry Barnard Worth (1901). Nantucket Lands and Landowners. Nantucket Historical Association.
2. Federal Writers' Project (1937), "Nantucket", Massachusetts: a Guide to its Places and People, American Guide Series, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, hdl:2027/mdp.39015014440781
3. American Experience (2010). "Timeline: The History of Whaling in America". Into the Deep: America, Whaling & the World. WGBH Educational Foundation. Archived from the original on April 29, 2010. Retrieved August 1, 2013.
4. David Lowenthal (1956). "The Common and Undivided Lands of Nantucket". Geographical Review. 46 (3): 399–403. Bibcode:1956GeoRv..46..399L. doi:10.2307/211888. JSTOR   211888.
5. R.A. Douglas-Lithgow (1914), Nantucket: a History, New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, OCLC   2989159, OL   6568122M
6. Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Nantucket"  . Encyclopædia Britannica . Vol. 19 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 166.
7. Robert J. Leach (1950). "The First Two Quaker Meeting-Houses on Nantucket". Proceedings of the Nantucket Historical Association. Retrieved August 1, 2013.
8. H. Errol Coffin (1965). "The Second Congregational Meeting House (Unitarian-Universalist)". Historic Nantucket. 12. Nantucket Historical Association. Retrieved August 1, 2013.
9. George Rogers Taylor (1977). "Nantucket Oil Merchants & the American Revolution". Massachusetts Review. 18 (3): 581–606. JSTOR   25088773.
10. "William Rotch Papers". Barnstable, Massachusetts: Sturgis Library . Retrieved August 1, 2013.
11. Sally Lamb (1970). "Mills on Nantucket". Historic Nantucket. 18. Nantucket Historical Association. Retrieved August 1, 2013.
12. Darby (1832). "Nantucket". In David Brewster (ed.). Edinburgh Encyclopædia. Philadelphia: Joseph and Edward Parker. hdl:2027/uc2.ark:/13960/t2x352b0z.
13. Reginald Horsman (1981). "Nantucket's Peace Treaty with England in 1814". New England Quarterly. 54 (2): 180–198. doi:10.2307/364969. JSTOR   364969.
14. "Digital Historic Newspaper Archive". Nantucket Atheneum. Retrieved August 1, 2013.
15. "Manuscript Collections of the Nantucket Historical Association Research Library". Nantucket Historical Association. Retrieved August 1, 2013.
16. Davies Project. "American Libraries before 1876". Princeton University. Retrieved August 1, 2013.
17. "Nantucket County and Town". Massachusetts Directory. Boston: John Hayward. 1835. hdl:2027/nyp.33433081763439.
18. Research Library. "Guide to Historical Records and Genealogical Resources of Nantucket, Massachusetts". Nantucket Historical Association. Retrieved August 1, 2013.
19. Myron Samuel Dudley (1902), Churches and pastors of Nantucket, Mass, Boston: David Clapp & Son, OL   14000106M
20. Centennial Catalogue of the Nantucket Historical Association, Nantucket: Inquirer and Mirror Press, 1895, OL   13999275M
21. Isaac H. Folger (1875), Handbook of Nantucket, Nantucket: Island Review Office, OL   14010803M
22. "Sconset 02564". NHA Digital Exhibits. Nantucket Historical Association. 2009. Retrieved August 1, 2013.
23. James D. Alsop (2004). "Island Refashioning: The Nantucket Agricultural Society, 1856–1880". New England Quarterly. 77 (4): 563–587. JSTOR   1559727.
24. Edouard A. Stackpole (1987). "Early Photography on Nantucket". Historic Nantucket. 35. Nantucket Historical Association. Retrieved August 1, 2013.
25. "New Bedford, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket Steamboat Company". LC Linked Data Service. USA: Library of Congress. Retrieved August 1, 2013.
26. William Root Bliss (1896), Quaint Nantucket, Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, OCLC   407650
27. Linda Eisenmann, ed. (1998). Historical Dictionary of Women's Education in the United States . Greenwood. ISBN   0313293236.
28. Robert Hellman (2009). "Edward F. Sanderson: Father of the Nantucket Whaling Museum". Historic Nantucket. 59. Nantucket Historical Association. Retrieved August 1, 2013.
29. "About Murray's Toggery Shop" . Retrieved August 1, 2013.
30. "About Coskata-Coatue Wildlife Refuge". Massachusetts: Trustees of Reservations . Retrieved August 1, 2013.
31. "US government approves first offshore wind farm". BBC News. April 28, 2010. Retrieved August 1, 2013.
32. "Nantucket And Provincetown Issue Stay-At-Home Orders; Nantucket Sees First COVID-19 Case". www.wbur.org. March 24, 2020. Retrieved June 4, 2025.

Further reading

Published in the 19th century

• "Nantucket". Edinburgh Gazetteer. Edinburgh. 1822. hdl:2027/yale.39002088370268.
• Jedidiah Morse; Richard C. Morse (1823), "Nantucket", A New Universal Gazetteer (4th ed.), New Haven: S. Converse
• William Darby; Theodore Dwight Jr. (1834), "Nantucket", New gazetteer of the United States of America (2nd ed.), Hartford: E. Hopkins
• Obed Macy (1835), The history of Nantucket, Boston: Hilliard, Gray and Co., OL   6905739M 2nd ed., 1880
• "Nantucket County". Massachusetts Business Directory. Boston: George Adams. 1856.
• John Hayward (1857), "Nantucket", New England Gazetteer (2nd ed.), Boston: Otis Clapp, OCLC   3441657
• "Nantucket". Lippincott's Magazine . 1868.
• Richard Luce Pease (1876), Guide to Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, Boston: Rockwell & Churchill, printers, OL   18095063M
• Frederic Denison (1879), "Nantucket", Illustrated New Bedford, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, Providence: J.A. & R.A. Reid, OCLC   22869619
• Joseph Sabin, ed. (1880). "Nantucket". Bibliotheca Americana. Vol. 12. New York. OCLC   13972268.
• Edward K. Godfrey (1882), The Island of Nantucket: what it was and what it is, Boston: Lee and Shepard, OL   22961957M
• Robert Grieve (1889), "Nantucket", Illustrated Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, Taunton, New Bedford, Fall River (2nd ed.), Providence, Rhode Island: J.A. & R.A. Reid, OCLC   10563002
• M.S. Dudley (1895). Nantucket Centennial Celebration, 1695, 1795, 1895. Nantucket: R.B. Hussey, printer.

Published in the 20th century

• Tourist's Guide to Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, Boston: John F. Murphy, 1902, OL   24158445M
• J. Hector St. John de Crèvecœur (1904), Letters from an American Farmer, New York: Fox, Duffield & Company, OL   7093278M Reprint of 1782 London ed.
  • Letters 4-5, 7-8: Description of Nantucket, etc.
• Sea-Girt Nantucket: a hand-book of historical contemporaneous information for visitors. Nantucket: H.S. Wyer. 1906.
• Flagg (1907). "Nantucket County". Guide to Massachusetts Local History. Salem, Massachusetts: Salem Press Co.
• "Nantucket"  . Encyclopædia Britannica . Vol. 19 (11th ed.). 1911. p. 166.
• John Henry Robinson (1918), Guide to Nantucket (3rd ed.), Washington, National capital press
• Samuel Eliot Morison (1921). "Newburyport and Nantucket". Maritime History of Massachusetts, 1783–1860. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. hdl:2027/uc2.ark:/13960/t3bz6407p.
• Alexander Starbuck (1924), History of Nantucket, Boston: C.E. Goodspeed & Co., OCLC   3813742
• Winston Williams (1977), Nantucket Then and Now, being an updated history and guide, New York: Dodd, Mead, OL   4904260M
• Nathaniel Philbrick (1993). ""Every Wave Is a Fortune": Nantucket Island and the Making of an American Icon". New England Quarterly. 66 (3): 434–447. doi:10.2307/366005. JSTOR   366005.
• "An Island in Time: An Overview of the NHA's Collections with Accompanying Timeline". Historic Nantucket. 49. Nantucket Historical Association. 2000.

External links

• Library of Congress, Prints & Photos division. Items related to Nantucket, various dates.
• Europeana. Items related to Nantucket
• Digital Public Library of America. Works related to Nantucket, various dates