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| Timeline | 1600s |
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| 1800 | Apr | 12 | First London District Quarter Session held at James Monroe's Tavern at Vittoria, established first municipal government, courts, laws for area |
| 1800 | May | 18 | Jennet Thomson become first recorded white child born in Scarborough |
| 1800 | Jun | 08 | Canada's first lending library was opened to "disffuse knowledge" |
| 1801 | Jun | 04 | First recorded town meeting in Upper Canada held in Pickering Township |
| 1803 | Mar | 24 | Egerton Ryerson, architect of Ontario public school system, born in Norfolk County |
| 1804 | Mar | 15 | Rev. Jabez Culver became the first local non-Anglican minister authorized to perform marriages |
| 1806 | Oct | 26 | John Graves Simcoe, 54, died in Exeter, Devon, England |
| 1807 | Nov | 24 | Chief Joseph Brant died at Wellington Square (now Burlington, Ontario) |
| 1809 | Feb | 12 | Father of evolution
Charles Darwin born U.S. President Abraham Lincoln born |
| 1811 | Jan | 08 | Long Point painter/naturalist/diarist William Pope born |
| 1812 | Jun | 12 | Port Ryerse founder and Norfolk pioneer Lt.-Col. Samuel Ryerse died |
| 1812 | Jun | 19 | U.S. president James Madison declares war on Britain and Canada |
| 1812 | Jul | 14 | Daytime public bathing in Lake Ontario banned |
| 1812 | Jul | 22 | Militia ordered to
attack invading Americans at Sandwich/Windsor; most from Norfolk desert. |
| 1812 | Aug | 16 | Isaac Brock & Tecumseh lead 6,000 Indians to capture of Fort Detroit |
| 1813 | Apr | 17 | 1,700 invading American
seize York (Toronto), hold it until 8 May 1813, looting & burning many buildings |
| 1813 | Jun | 06 | Laura Secord hiked 32 km to warn FitzGibbon the Americans were coming |
| 1813 | Jun | 06 | 700 British soldiers repulsed 3,000 invading Americans at Hamilton, Ontario |
| 1813 | Aug | 01 | U.S. invaders loot & burn homes, then order York (Toronto) evacuated |
| 1813 | Nov | 13 | Battle of Nanticoke. Militia led by Norfolk County's Henry Boswick defeated American invaders |
| 1814 | May | 14 | American invaders under John Campbell burn Port Dover, Port Ryerse |
| 1814 | Jul | 25 | Near Niagara Falls, Canadian win of Battle of Lundy's Lane all but ends War of 1812. Each side lost over 800 men in the six-hour battle. Both sides claimed victory, but the Americans withdrew the next day, ending their invasion of Upper Canada. |
| 1814 | Dec | 24 | Treaty of Ghent signed in Belgium, formally ending the War of 1812 |
| 1816 | Sep | 07 | Frontenac, the first steamer to sail the Great Lakes, launched |
| 1817 | First road between York (Toronto) and Montreal completed | ||
| 1817 | Nov | 03 | First bank in Canada opens for business in a rented house. |
| 1818 | Jun | 13 | 200 Irish settlers sailed for Upper Canada, they eventually founded St. Thomas, Ontario |
| 1818 | Aug | 22 | Boston, Ontario Baptist minister Peter Fairchild expelled from his church over his second marriage |
| 1818 | Sep | 15 | Young Phoenix became first recorded Long Point shipwreck |
| 1826 | Jun | 20 | Nicholas Sparks bought 200 acres for 95 pounds. Today they are downtown Ottawa, Ontario (Canada's capital city) |
| 1826 | Walpole and Rainham Townships annexed from Norfolk County to Haldimand County | ||
| 1827 | Apr | 31 | First college in Upper Canada chartered; later renamed University of Toronto |
| 1828 | Feb | 14 | Aaron Culver sells Lynnwood Park to Simcoe merchant Duncan Campbell |
| 1828 | Jun | 10 | Upper Canada's first temperance society established in Leeds County |
| 1828 | Aug | 14 | Sir John Colborne appointed lieutenant governor of Upper Canada |
| 1829 | Jul | 05 | Simcoe's first Post Office opened by post master Duncan Campbell |
| 1829 | Nov | 21 | Norfolk-native Methodist Egerton Ryerson published first issue of Christian Guardian newspaper |
| 1829 | Dec | 07 | Norfolk and Haldimand Counties ceded by Mississauga Indians |
| 1830 | Nov | 03 | First Long Point Lighthouse begins operation |
| 1831 | May | 01 | Teacher and Physician Dr. Emily Howard Stowe (nee Jennings) born at Norwich, Ontario |
| 1832 | Aug | 13 | Notorious Townsend Township murderer Henry Sovereen hanged |
| 1832 | Even the best Upper Canada homes were so cold in winter that water froze in bedrooms | ||
| 1833 | Jun | 05 | Kingston (Ontario) Penitentiary opened |
| 1833 | Jun | 13 | Ontario's last fatal duel. In Perth, one law student killed another over the woman he later married |
| 1834 | Mar | 06 | York was declared a city (the first in Canada), and renamed Toronto (its original Indian name) |
| 1834 | Aug | 01 | Slavery abolished in British possessions. Estimates put the number of slaves in Canada at less than 50 |
| 1835 | May | 23 | Toronto's Recorder newspaper reports current economic depression in the city is the worst ever seen |
| 1838 | Jun | 20 | American Brotherhood of Hunters unsuccessfully tried to invade Canada |
| 1838 | Jun | 28 | Queen Victoria's coronation celebrated throughout Upper Canada |
| 1839 | May | 11 | College of Physicians and Surgeons established in Upper Canada |
| 1840 | Jul | 23 | British Act of Union joins Upper and Lower Canada as Province of Canada; Upper Canada renamed Canada West, then Ontario |
| 1840 | Canada abolished the death penalty for stealing cows | ||
| 1840 | Oct | 22 | William Mercer Wilson published first issue of Norfolk Observer newspaper |
|
1841 |
First regular census taken. Lower Canada's population: 625,000 | ||
| 1841 | Sep | Provincial House of Assembly announces intent to build a plank road between Port Dover and Hamilton | |
| 1841 | Jul | 12 | John Harris, son of Massey-Harris founder, born in Townsend Township |
| 1841 | Dec | 28 | Toronto (population: 16,000) became 11th North American city to get gas street lights |
| 1842 | Feb | 28 | John Troyer, the Witch Doctor of Long Point, died at Port Rowan |
| 1842 | Mar | 07 | Canada's first university, Queen's University, opened at Kingston, Ontario |
| 1844 | Mar | 05 | The Globe's first issue published in Toronto |
| 1846 | Jul | 24 | Electric telegraph first demonstrated in Toronto |
| 1846 | Aug | 22 | Cornerstone laid at 999 Queen Street mental asylum in Toronto |
| 1846 | Dec | 19 | Canada's first electric telegraph inaugurated between Toronto and Hamilton, Ontario |
| 1847 | Aug | 03 | Electric telegraph service between Toronto and Montreal began |
| 1847 | Aug | 21 | Canada Life Insurance Company established |
| 1848 | Jan | Gold discovered in California. Gold Rush begins | |
| 1849 | Jul | 26 | Tories urge annexation to the U.S. following rioting in Montreal over Rebellion losses, bill fails |
| 1849 | Upper Canada's Districts abolished, province now organized solely by Counties | ||
| 1850 | Jan | 17 | Lady Elizabeth, widow of John Graves Simcoe, died in England |
| 1850 | Dec | 17 | Children of Black taxpayers denied admission to common schools |
| 1851 | Feb | 26 | The Globe's George Brown, others formed Toronto's Anti-Slavery Society |
|
1851 |
Population of Canada West (Ontario): 952,000 | ||
| 1851 | May | 20 | First Canadian postage stamp appeared on a letter |
| 1852 | Oct | 24 | Toronto Stock Exchange opened |
| 1853 | Jul | 18 | Railway service between Brantford, Ontario and Toronto began |
| 1854 | Nov | 25 | Abigail Becker rescued crew of shipwrecked The Conductor |
| 1857 | Jun | 10 | Canada officially switched to the decimal system |
| 1859 | Mar | 13 | John Brown brought American slaves to Windsor, Ontario via the "underground railway" |
| 1859 | Oct | 01 | Toronto's Globe newspaper began publishing daily |
| 1859 | Nov | 24 | Darwin's Origins of Species published |
| 1860 | Jun | 27 | First running of The Queen's Plate, oldest continuously run turf event in North America |
|
1861 |
Canada West's population: 1,111,566 | ||
| 1861 | Jul | 25 | The Erie News changed its name to The Norfolk Reformer |
| 1862 | May | 24 | John Sandfield Macdonald became Premier of the Canadas |
| 1863 | Mar | 18 | Simcoe, Ontario's Court House burned to the ground |
| 1863 | Aug | 13 | John Sandfield Macdonald became prime minister of the United Canadas |
| 1864 | Oct | 21 | Simcoe, Ontario's re-built Court House dedicated |
| 1865 | Apr | 09 | General Lee surrenders. U.S. Civil War winds down |
| 1866 | Jun | 01 | Irish-American Fenians attacked Fort Erie, Ontario. They retreated two days later. |
| 1866 | Jun | 02 | 800 Fenians attacked
Ridgeway, Ontario. Victory cost 10 Canadian lives, 30 more were wounded |
| 1866 | Jul | 27 | First successful Trans-Atlantic telegraph cable laid; ends in Newfoundland. |
| 1867 | Jul | 01 | Canadian Confederation. Canada West re-named Ontario |
| 1867 | Oct | 20 | Ottawa named Canada's national captial |
| 1869 | Feb | 11 | A large crowd in Ottawa, Ontario, witnessed Canada's last public execution |
| 1869 | Dec | 08 | Timothy Eaton opened his dry goods store at 178 Young Street, Toronto |
| 1871 | Apr | 02 | Canada's first national census was taken. Total population was 3.6 million |
| 1871 | Octl | 7-11 | Great Fire of Chicago. 250 die. $200 million damages |
| 1872 | Oliver Mowat began his 24 year term as Premier of Ontario (1872-1896) | ||
| 1873 | May | 24 | Most of Jarvis, Ontario burns |
| 1874 | May | 01 | Classes began at the Ontario Agricultural College in Guelph, Ontario |
| 1874 | May | 11 | First horse-drawn car appeared in Hamilton, Ontario |
| 1874 | May | 26 | Dominion Elections Act instituted voting by secret ballot |
| 1874 | Jul | 26 | At his father's Brantford, Ontario home, Alexander Graham Bell first discloses his concept of the telephone |
| 1874 | Aug | 28 | Governor-General Earl Dufferin arrives at Simcoe by train |
| 1876 | Apr | 03 | Canada's first world-famous actress, Mary Margaret Anglin, born in Ottawa's parliament buildings |
| 1876 | Aug | 10 | Alexander Graham Bell made world's first long distance telephone call between Brantford, Ontario and Paris, Ontario |
| 1876 | Aug | 15 | England mandates elementary school education |
| 1876 | Sep | 04 | Toronto's Ned Hanlan won world rowing championship in Philadelphia |
| 1876 | Oct | Norfolk County's Egerton Ryerson completes 32 years as Ontario's education superintendent | |
| 1876 | Oct | 30 | Ontario College of Art opens in Toronto |
| 1877 | Jun | 20 | First commercial telephone service in Canada began in Hamilton, Ontario |
| 1878 | Jan | 08 | John West and James Peachey establish West & Peachey foundry in Simcoe; they subsequently invented and built the Alligator Warping Tug (Norfolk's most famous export) for lumberman Joseph Jackson |
| 1878 | Aug | 22 | New York Metropolitan Opera director (1935-1950) Edward Johnson born at Guelph, Ontario |
| 1880 | Mar | 25 | Globe newspaper editor George Brown shot in his office. He died 9 May 1880 from his wounds |
| 1880 | Apr | 29 | Hugh Baker of Hamilton, Ontario received charter to build a national telephone company |
| 1881 | Apr | 04 | Canada's second national census taken. Total population was 4.3 million. 1,923,228 in Ontario |
| 1881 | Jun | 17 | World boxing champion Tommy Burns born at Hanover, Ontario |
| 1882 | Feb | 19 | Norfolk-born Egerton Ryerson (minister/journalist/educator) died in Toronto |
| 1882 | Jul | 15 | Salvation Army of Canada founded in Toronto |
| 1882 | Aug | 01 | Grand & Toy stationary store founded in Toronto |
| 1883 | Sep | 06 | Maid of the Mist's maiden voyage at Niagara Falls |
| 1883 | Sep | 06 | McCall's store and factory burned in St. Williams |
| 1883 | Nov | 06 | Simcoe's Darling's Jewelry Store robbery, $10,000 worth taken |
| 1884 | Jul | 01 | Amalgamation with the Primitive Methodist Church in Canada, the Bible Christian Church of Canada, and the Methodist Episcopal Church in Canada, made the Methodist Church of Canada the largest Protestant body in the country. |
| 1884 | Aug | 21 | Britain requested 300 Canadian voyageurs to pilot relief down the Nile to Gordon at Khartoum |
| 1884 | Jul | 22 | Boundaries of Ontario defined by Imperial Privy Council |
| 1884 | Oct | 01 | First women admitted to University of Toronto |
| 1884 | Oct | 08 | Pembroke becomes first town in Ontario to get electric street lighting |
| 1885 | Mar | 06 | Former Simcoe mayor Aquila Walsh dies in Winnipeg |
| 1885 | May | 19 | Canada's first black lawyer, Delos Rogest Davis of Amherstburg, admitted to Law Society |
| 1885 | First telephone installed in Simcoe; druggist George A. Hunter, operator. | ||
| 1886 | First telephone installed in Waterford; J. F. Aitken, operator | ||
| 1887 | Sep | 21 | Simcoe's electric lights turned on for the first time |
| 1888 | Sep | 04 | Pioneer Association of Ontario -- forerunner of Ontario Historical Society -- formed |
| 1889 | First telephone installed in Port Dover; W. J. Ansley, operator | ||
| 1889 | Aug | 12 | Boundary between Ontario and Manitoba established |
| 1890 | First telephone installed in Jarvis; Benjamin Millenbacer, operator | ||
| 1891 | Apr | 05 | Canada's third national
census taken. Total population was 4.8 million people |
| 1891 | Jun | 25 | Ottawa's first horseless streetcars introduced |
| 1891 | Almonte, Ontario's James A. Nalsmith invented the game of basketball | ||
| 1892 | Toothpaste invented | ||
| 1892 | Apr | 08 | "Amercia's Sweetheart," actress Mary Pickford, born Gladys Marie Smith, in Toronto |
| 1892 | Aug | 15 | Electric streetcar finally introduced in Toronto |
| 1893 | Mar | 25 | Toronto cab driver fined $2 or 10 days for transporting a lady on Sunday |
| 1894 | Jun | 14 | Massey Hall opened in Toronto |
| 1894 | Sep | 03 | Labor Day first celebrated in Canada |
| 1897 | Feb | 19 | Adelaide Hoodless founded first Women's Institute at Stoney Creek, Ontario |
| 1897 | May | 15 | Toronto citizens vote to allow streetcars to operate on Sundays |
| 1897 | Jun | 11 | Fossilized mastodon found near Marsburg |
| 1897 | Aug | 29 | History's first meal cooked entirely by electricity prepared in Ottawa before 50 skeptics |
| 1898 | Jul | 17 | Railway track between Ottawa and Montreal finished |
| 1899 | Sep | 11 | Thomas Ahearn drove first automobile in Ottawa |
|
Norfolk County-specific events in Red |
| Copyright 1997-2016 John Cardiff |