Delaware

By cline6
  • The 1600s

    The 1600s

    Origin of the State name - Named after the Delaware River whose name was given by Captain Samuel Argall from that of Sir Thomas West (Lord de la Warr) who was Virginia Company's first governor.
  • The 1609

    The 1609

    Henry Hudson, an Englishman, under commission the Dutch East India Company and seeking a Northwest passage to China and Japan, discovered Delaware Bay
  • The 1651

    The 1651

    the Dutch West India Company sold the region to the city of Amsterdam.
  • The 1655

    The 1655

    • The Dutch defeat the Swedes on the Delaware, ending the New Sweden Colony. Delaware becomes a part of New Netherland
  • The 1655

    The 1655

    Sep 26, Peter Stuyvesant recaptured Dutch Ft. Casimir from Swedish in Delaware
  • The 1644

    The 1644

    England took over the area in 1664, and it was transferred to William Penn as the lower Three Counties
  • The  1682

    The 1682

    Aug 24, Duke James of York gave Delaware to William Penn
  • The 1682

    The 1682

    Oct 26, William Penn accepted the area around the Delaware River from Duke of York
  • The 1703

    The 1703

    Delaware was so called, in 1703, from Delaware Bay, on which it lies, and which received its name from Lord De la War.
  • The 1763

    The 1763

    Legal battles were settled by a survey, which resulted in the Mason-Dixon line, surveyed by Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon
  • The 1787

    The 1787

    Dec 7, Delaware became the first state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.
  • The 1787

    The 1787

    John Dickinson served as Delaware’s delegate to the Constitutional Convention
  • The 1812

    The 1812

    The War of 1812 between U.S. and Great Britain, ended in a stalemate but confirmed America's Independence
  • The 1861

    The 1861

    Jan 3, Delaware rejected a proposal that it join the South in seceding
  • The 1861

    The 1861

    Jun 5, Federal marshals seized arms and gunpowder at Du Pont works in Delaware
  • The 1861

    The 1861

    Jun 5, Federal marshals seized arms and gunpowder at Du Pont works in Delaware
  • The 1893

    The 1893

    Jan 17, A state record temperature of 17F, -27C, was recorded in Millsboro,
  • The 1903

    The 1903

    John Dickinson served as Delaware’s delegate to the Constitutional Convention
  • The 1903

    The 1903

    Du Pont established the Experimental Station for research in Wilmington.
  • The 1912

    The 1912

    Louisa d’Andelot du Pont Copeland spearheaded the founding of the Delaware Art Museum
  • The  1939

    The 1939

    Oct 24, Nylon stockings were sold publicly for the first time, in Wilmington, Del.
  • The 1983

    The 1983

    A tanker ran aground near Claymont, Del., spilling 300,000 gallons of heating oil into the Delaware River.
  • The 2001

    The 2001

    Jan 3, In Delaware a fire at an Oak Orchard rural home killed 11 Wright-Shelton family members including 7 children.
  • The 2001

    The 2001

    Jan 3, In Delaware a fire at an Oak Orchard rural home killed 11 Wright-Shelton family members including 7 children.
  • The 2013

    The 2013

    May 7, Delaware’s state senate voted 12-9 to allow same-sex marriage. Within an hour Gov. Jack Markell signed it into law making Delaware the 11th US state to support same-sex marriage.