1608

Portsmouth first explored by Capt. John Smith from Jamestown.

1620

July 12th - Site recognized as suitable shipbuilding location by John Wood, a shipbuilder, who petitioned King James for a land grant. Also beginning of regional land grants and settlement as a plantation community.

1637

May 15th - County government established.

1659

June 15th - Site first patented by Captain William Carver, a patriot in Bacon’s Rebellion, who was hanged in 1676 for opposing autocratic government. Carver’s second patent was dated 15 September 1664.

1716

Site re-patented by Col. William Crawford.

1752

February 27th - established as the Town of Portsmouth by act of General Assembly and named for Portsmouth, England, by its founder – Col. William Crawford – who dedicated the four corners of High and Court Streets for a church, a market, a courthouse, and a jail.

1761

March 5th - Portsmouth Parish established by Act of General Assembly and Portsmouth Parish Church, now Trinity Church (corner of High and Court Streets), built in 1762.

1763

May 19th - First annexation by Town of Portsmouth.

1767

November 1st - Gosport Shipyard, adjoining Portsmouth, established by Andrew Sprowle.

1775-1776

Lord Dunmore, last Royal Governor, driven from Williamsburg, sought refuge at Gosport with Sprowle, a Tory. After his defeat at the Battle of Great Bridge, his ships bombarded Norfolk. He made his final stand at Hospital Point, Portsmouth, before being driven from the harbor. Portsmouth was then occupied by the 4th Virginia Regiment, and Fort Nelson was built at Hospital Point.

1779

May 11th - Fleet of Sir George Collier with 1,800 British troops under Gen. Matthews invaded Portsmouth, captured Fort Nelson, burned 137 vessels and the Gosport Shipyard, "The Most Considerable in America."

1780

Gen. Leslie, with 3,000 British troops and 60 ships, invaded and fortified Portsmouth.

1781

January 2nd - Benedict Arnold, the traitor, with 2,500 British troops occupied and fortified Portsmouth. He was reinforced by Gen. Phillips with 2,000 troops, and later by the Army of Lord Cornwallis, who assumed command, and in August evacuated Portsmouth for Yorktown, where he surrendered to American and French forces on October 19th.

1784

October 18th - Second annexation (Gosport) by Town of Portsmouth.

1798

December 10th - Keel of U.S. Frigate CHESAPEAKE, sister ship of the CONSTITUTION, laid at Gosport Shipyard. First ship built here for the U.S. Navy.

1801

January 20th - Portsmouth authorized as seat of Norfolk County.

1813

June 22nd - Portsmouth and Navy Yard attacked by British under Adm. Sir John B. Warren and Brigadier Gen. Sir Sydney Beckwith, who were defeated at the Battle of Craney Island.

1815

May 24th - First steamboat entered Portsmouth harbor.

1820

July 14th - the first lightship in the U.S. was stationed off Craney Island.

October 20th - Navy Yard launched its first 74-gun ship-of-the-line, the U.S.S. DELAWARE.

1824

October 25th - Portsmouth welcomed General LaFayette.

1827

May 9th - First Portsmouth newspaper established

1827-1830

Portsmouth Naval Hospital built and commissioned; oldest in the United States.

1832

March 8th - Portsmouth and Roanoke Railroad, Incorporated, one of the first railroads in the South, was established; was predecessor of the Seaboard Airline Railway (now CSX Transportation).

1833

June 17th - U.S.S. DELAWARE was first ship drydocked in the United States. She entered Drydock No. 1 at the Portsmouth (Gosport) Navy Yard. This drydock is still in use at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, and is a National Historic Landmark and National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.

1839

April 2nd - Ferry landing changed from foot of North Street to High Street.

1845

February 17th - Portsmouth public schools authorized by law; opened in 1847.

1846

July 20th - First court held in new court house.

1852

February 17th - Portsmouth authorized to elect Mayor and council in place of board of trustees.

1853

April 14th - ship NEPTUNE’S CAR launched in Portsmouth and Page and Allen Shipyard, the only clipper ship built in the South.

1856

Ocean House, later named Hotel Monroe, built by Col. Watts and Arthur Emerson. President Franklin Pierce was entertained here. The hotel has served as quarters for Confederate officers and as a Federal Hospital. It was destroyed by fire 9 August 1957.

1858

March 1st - Portsmouth separated from county government and chartered as an independent city.

1861

April 20th - Navy Yard and 11 warships burned by evacuating Federal forces. Navy Yard and city occupied, first by Virginia forces, followed by Confederate forces. Portsmouth, with only 900 voters, gave 1,400 men to the Confederate armed forces.

1862

March 8th - CSS VIRGINIA, built from the burned U.S.S. MERRIMAC at Navy Yard from designs of Portsmouth Naval Constructor John L. Porter, attacked and defeated the Federal Squadron in Hampton Roads, the world’s first ironclad ship to engage in a naval battle. She engaged the U.S.S. MONITOR the following day. This two-day battle by a Portsmouth ship changed the course of Naval history and pronounced the doom of the world’s wooden navies.

May 10th - Navy Yard burned and Portsmouth evacuated by Confederate forces. The beginning of eight years of bayonet rule under Federal occupation.

1892

June 28th - First Navy battleship launched at Navy Yard.

1894

February 23rd - Third annexation (Park View) by Portsmouth.

1898

Portsmouth sent volunteer companies to the Spanish-American War.

1902

Dr. George H. Carr is the first Portsmouth automobile owner.

1909

Fourth annexation (Scottsville and Prentis Place).

1916

February 19th - Portsmouth adopted city manager form of government.

1917-1918

World War I. Navy Yard greatly expanded; three new drydocks and 24 ships built. National Guard units from Portsmouth joined the A.E.F. in France.

1919

Navy Yard built the Navy’s first airplane carrier, U.S.S. LANGLEY, converted from collier JUPITER.

March 21st - Fifth annexation (Port Norfolk and Prentis Park)

1940

World War II. Naval Shipyard doubled in size: 43,000 at peak employment and 101 new ships were built for the fleet. National Guard units and men and women from Portsmouth served in all theatres of war.

1942

Radio broadcasting began in Portsmouth with station WSAP, which was succeeded in 1953 by WAVY.

1948

January 1st - Sixth annexation (Westhaven and Waterview)

1952

Portsmouth celebrated her bi-centennial.

May 23rd - Elizabeth River Tunnel opened for operation.

1955

August 31st - Portsmouth-Norfolk ferries made last crossing after more than 300 years of continuous operation.

1956

Portsmouth’s Curtis-Dunn Marine Shipyard built the first full-scale replicas of SUSAN CONSTANT, GODSPEED and DISCOVERY, the three ships which came to Jamestown, Virginia in 1607, the first permanent English colony in America.

Naval Shipyard’s largest drydock, No. 8, was altered to enable docking the largest ships afloat, passenger or naval.

1957

September - First Portsmouth television station (WAVY TV 10).

1960

January 1st - Seventh annexation (Cradock, Alexander Park, Simonsdale, Elizabeth Manor and other developments)

April 22nd - Portsmouth’s new $15 million Naval Hospital building was dedicated.

1961

April 29th - Portsmouth’s new Federal Building and Post Office was opened. Houses headquarters of the Fifth Coast Guard District.

1962

The Naval Shipyard began repair work on nuclear submarines.

September 6th - Midtown Tunnel opened

1963

The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Museum, founded in the Shipyard in 1949, was transferred to the Portsmouth waterfront at the foot of High Street.

1967

The Lightship PORTSMOUTH was placed on exhibit as a museum on the waterfront near the Naval Shipyard Museum. The Lightship was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1989.

September 20th - Portsmouth Marine Terminal began operation.

1968

January 1st - Eighth annexation (West Norfolk, Craney Island, parts of Churchland and Western Branch district of old Norfolk County).

1969

Work began on the seawall and concrete walk along the eastern waterfront of downtown Portsmouth.

1980's

Revitalization of downtown business district, many capital improvement projects, including new streets and lighting, a new waterfront park and renovated City Park with boat ramp, landscaping and several beautification projects.

1994

December 10th - newly expanded Children’s Museum of Virginia opened. With over 60 interactive exhibits, the museum is the largest of its kind in the state.

1995

Portsmouth is selected by the State’s Dept. of Historic Resources as one of four regional preservation offices strategically located throughout the Commonwealth. The office will focus on historic preservation, restoration and economic development projects. The service area includes Hampton Roads, the Eastern Shore, the Northern Neck, the Peninsula and parts of Southside.

1997

July 18th - High Street Landing opened, celebrating construction of the new permanent ferry portal and docking facility.

1998

Children’s Museum of Virginia expanded to 63,000 square feet, with more than two dozen interactive exhibits and an antique toy and train collection.

2000

April 30th - Naval Regional Medical Center dedicated new building

2001

Opening of the nTelos Pavilion at Harbor Center, an outdoor cultural arts amphitheater, comparable in size and quality to Wolf Trap in Northern Virginia, and Chastain Park in Atlanta.

Located just 18 miles from the Atlantic Ocean, Portsmouth’s Ocean Marine Yacht Center weighs in with a 1,250-ton syncrolift, an 80-ton marine travelift and a state-of-the-art indoor repair and paint facility, where the engines, shafts and propellers of the world’s largest pleasure ships can be repaired. Additional amenities include 122 floating slips, indoor dry storage for 320 boats and more than 1,000 of alongside dockage. Completion of the center is scheduled for the first quarter of 2002.