| Date |
In Newport |
In America |
| 1639 |
Newport
founded by dissenters
of the Puritan Church
|
The
colonies' first constitution, the Fundamental Orders, is adopted |
| 1680 |
Newport
becomes one of America's leading ports
|
New
Hampshire separates from Massachusetts |
| 1748 |
The
Redwood Library, an early Newport cultural center, opens
|
Coffee
houses become popular in the colonies |
| 1807 |
Slave
trade abolished; Newport economy shifts to tourism
|
Robert
Fulton's steamboat Clermont travels from New York City
to Albany in 32 hours |
| 1840 |
Ocean
House, one of Newport's first large hotels, opens |
Americans
discover hydrotherapy; Saratoga Springs, New York, becomes
gathering place for upper-class families
|
| 1841 |
Richard
Upjohn designs Kingscote, one of Newport's first summer estates,
for George Noble Jones |
In
America: Historical, Statistical, Descriptive, James
Buckingham describes New York City as "speculative, extravagant,
and loaded with nouveaux riches"
|
| 1844 |
Atlantic
House Hotel opens |
The
New York Hotel becomes the first American hotel to offer private
baths |
| 1847 |
Fall
River Line established |
The
Astor Place Opera House is a popular meeting place for New
York society
Musical satires and tableaux vivants become popular
|
| 1850s |
Samuel Ward McAllister, creator of "the Four Hundred"
social list, purchases Bayside Farm
|
Baseball
becomes a national pastime |
| 1870 |
Wickford
Railroad and Steamboat Company begins steamboat service |
First American boardwalk appears in Atlantic City, New
Jersey
Vaudeville becomes popular
|
| 1873 |
Reverend Mahlon Van Horne helps desegregate Newport School Committee
Newport Hospital established
|
America suffers economic depression
First cable car used in San Francisco
|
| 1875 |
Old
Colony Railroad establishes network of lines between New York,
Boston, and southeastern Massachusetts
|
The traveling circus becomes popular
First public zoo opens in Philadelphia
|
| 1880 |
Rear Admiral Stephen B. Luceestablishes Naval Training Station on Coasters Harbor Island
|
Metropolitan
Museum of Art in New York City opens, funded by New York society
|
| 1881 |
James Gordon Bennett Jr. opens Newport Casino, built from
designs by Stanford White
U.S. Lawn Tennis Association established; national championship
held in Newport
|
William K. Vanderbilt's home on Fifth Avenue and 52nd Street in New
York City completed at a cost of $3 million
Coney Island, New York, becomes middle-class playground;
features museums, sideshows, and rides
|
| 1884 |
Rear Admiral Stephen B. Luce establishes Naval
War College on Coasters Harbor Island |
Andrew
Carnegie builds mansion on Fifth Avenue and 91st Street in
New York City; Gilded Age wealth on display |
| 1888 |
"Dumplings"
steamer put into service to carry visitors to and from Jamestown
Island |
Edward
Bellamy publishes Looking Backward, 2000-1887, a novel
about social problems in industrial society
George Eastman introduces the Kodak camera; Americans can
now capture vacation moments on film
|
| 1889 |
Upper-class
summer residents file injunction opposing construction of
trolley system in Newport; Supreme Court of Providence denies
injunction
Newport Street Railway opens Rhode Island's first electric
street car on Commercial Wharf
|
Thomas
Edison develops first movie film |
| 1892 |
Richard
Morris Huntcompletes Marble House for William K. Vanderbilt |
Samuel Ward McAllister publishes a list of "the Four Hundred"
in the New York Times |
| 1893 |
Richard
Morris Hunt completes The Breakers for Cornelius Vanderbilt II; the largest of Newport's summer estates
Electric trolleys run from Commercial Wharf and Broadway
to Easton's Beach, Morton Park, and Middletown
French author Paul Bourget visits Newport; writes of upper-class
leisure in Outre-Mer
|
Chicago's World's Columbian Exposition opens, featuring
transportation, electric, arts, and technology buildings;
and a Midway featuring working-class entertainments
Stephen Crane publishes Maggie: A Girl of the Streets,
a naturalistic novel about a working-class American girl
|
| 1897 |
Upper-class
summer residents oppose trolley system between Newport and
Fall River |
The
Bradley Martins of New York City give a lavish party, transforming
the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel into the Palace of Versailles. The
media criticizes the excess |
| 1898 |
Newport and Fall River Street Railway Company open trolley
line between Newport and Fall River
Providence, Fall River, and Newport Steamboat Company establish
additional steamers between Newport and Narragansett Pier
|
Amusement
parks become popular; many built by trolley lines to stimulate
business |
| 1899 |
Horace Trumbauer designs The Elms for coal magnate Edward J. Berwind
|
Economist Thorstein Veblen publishes Theory of the Leisure
Class, critiquing the excesses of the rich
|
| 1904 |
Newport and
Providence Street Railway connect Newport with Providence
via Bristol Ferry
|
William K. Vanderbilt sponsors the Vanderbilt Cup Race, the first organized
auto race in America |
| 1912 |
Newport
Civic League conducts study of winter unemployment; recommends
establishing manufacturing industries to create more jobs
and redistributing workers in slow months
New England Steamship Company purchases Fall River Line
|
The
R.M.S. Titanic, carrying Americans of all classes,
hits an iceberg and sinks off the coast of Newfoundland
Calbraith Rodgers makes the first cross-country flight,
from New York to California, in 82 hours
|
| 1913 |
Boardwalk and
amusements added to Easton's Beach |
Henry Ford
begins production of the
Model T |
