1516 - Don Diego Miruelo was thought to be the first to sail into Pensacola Bay.

1519 - Alonzo Alvarez de Pineda believed to have entered bay and traded with the Indians.

1528 - Panfilo de Narvaez and Alvar Nunez de Vaca, with about 240 followers, entered the bay. They may have fought local Indians who used slings and darts.

1540 - Captain Diego de Naldonado returned to Pensacola Bay each summer until 1543 in search of survivors from the Hernando de Soto expedition. He was the first European to stay any length of time.

1693 - Rev. Dr. Carlos de Siguenza y Gongora and Adm. Andrés de Pez explored Pensacola Bay, drew a map and selected settlement site.

1722 - French burned the town and fort when they departed. Restored to Spain by treaty after War of Quadruple Alliance. Don Alejandro Mauchope named to reclaim Pensacola and act as governor. Rebuilt on Santa Rosa Island, Pensacola's second site.

1743 - Dom Serres sketched the earliest surviving picture of the city. Site has been identified and archaeological studies made.

1750 - Small fortification, San Miguel, built near present Seville Square to protect the friendly Indians.

1752 - Nov. 3. Hurricane raged, destroying Santa Rosa settlement. Town rebuilt near present downtown Pensacola. Most of the people moved to the mainland.

1757 - Colony called "Panzacola" by royal order of King Ferdinand VII.

1761 - Hurricane destroyed one half the structures and took roofs off the others.

1763 - England took possession of Pensacola at the close of the French & Indian War. Some 772 people, including 100 Catholic Indians, evacuated to Spanish territory.

1763-1781 - Pensacola was made the capital of British West Florida. More progress and growth took place in Pensacola during the 18 years of British occupation than in the previous 65 years. Elias Durnford, surveyor and engineer, laid out the town in the Seville Square district, much as it is today.

1781 - Battle of Pensacola, Spain recaptured Pensacola from the British as a turning point in the American Revolution.

1783 - The Treaty of Paris at the close of the Americen Revolution gave all of "the Floridas" to Spain.

1814 - During the War of 1812 British ships sought refuge in Pensacola bay. With 3,000 soldiers and Indians, General Andrew Jackson stormed and captured Spanish Pensacola. With the retreat of the British, Pensacola was restored to Spain. Fort San Carlos was blown up by the departing English. There were fewer than 1,000 men, women and children in Pensacola at the time.

1815 - Major Uriah Blue and Davy Crockett drove Red Stick Creeks (warriors) from the land between Escambia and Yellow Rivers.

1817 - Fort San Carlos de Barrancas rebuilt east of old fort.

1818 - Jackson again made an unauthorized invasion of Pensacola and demanded the Spanish surrender the fort and West Florida territory. After a short conflict, Pensacola surrendered.

1819 - Pensacola returned to Spain, ending American provisional government. Realizing that the United States could capture Pensacola, negotiations between Spain and America were begun.

1821 - February 19, the Senate ratified the Adams-Onis Treaty providing for the transfer of all of Florida to the USA. Jackson took possession of Florida in Plaza Ferdinand VII on July 17; 695 people lived in the town. A Methodist circuit rider came in December.

1822 - Congress created the Territory of Florida from Spanish West and East Florida. The first Territorial Legislature met in Pensacola, and was interrupted by a yellow fever epidemic.

1825 - Navy Yard designated. Congress appropriated $6,000 for the Pensacola lighthouse.

1827 - Episcopal Congregation organized; first permanent Protestant congregation.

1829 - Ft. Pickens construction begun; completed in 1834. Capt. William H. Chase, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, supervised building this and other coastal forts in Pensacola.

1837 - Ft. McRea completed; construction began in 1834.

1844 - Ft. Barrancas completed; construction began in 1839. Army assumed control of the Barrancas area.

1845 - Mar. 3. Florida admitted as the 27th state. Advanced Redoubt of Ft. Barrancas begun; it was not completed in the 19th century.

1860 - Population of Pensacola was 2,876 the last year before the war.

1861 - Jan. 8. Col. William H. Chase ordered to seize the Pensacola forts. First shots at Barrancas about 11 p.m. Fort Sumter fired upon April 12; Oct. 9. Battle of Santa Rosa Island, first major Civil War battle in Florida. In November, federal guns bombarded Forts McRee and Barrancas and the Navy Yard, and did extensive damage to the villages of (Old) Warrington and Woolsey. These were near the Navy Yard on the present Naval Air Station. Federal troops held Ft. Pickens the entire war.

1862 - Confederate troops began evacuation of Pensacola. Pensacola surrendered to the Union Army on May 10.

1863 - Civilians and Military both evacuated from Navy Yard. By July only 82 people remained in Pensacola. The city government was exiled in Greenville, Ala.; recognized by State of Florida.

1865 - May 20. Florida formally surrendered to Union Troops. Some 15,000 Floridians served the Confederacy. About 1,000 killed in action; 5,000 wounded and 5,000 died from various diseases.

1868 - Florida readmitted to the Union on June 25. Dr. Robert Hargis and Dr. J. C. Whitney established a hospital.

1870 - Lumber boom began. Yellow fever continued to be almost annual threat to the city. The Germania Hose Co. #1 was the first fire company to be formed after the war.

1876 - Tarragona Hall was built. The Weather Bureau was established and Beth El Congregation founded. The Masons opened St. John's Cemetery, but for a time people continued to use the old city cemetery (St. Michael).

1877 - Nationally Reconstruction ends. Unrest continued in Pensacola.

1878 - Pensacola Fire Department secured a steam engine.

1880 - The Knights of Labor organized in Pensacola. Florida's first Bell Telephone in operation Sept. 1. Fire destroyed downtown district.

1883 - Main streets lit by gas lights. P & A railroad completed. Rail service to Jacksonville began. A building boom launched, under construction or completed were the Opera House, Custom House & Post Office, Court House, and new Methodist & Catholic churches.

1884 - The Street Railway Co. organized. Four miles of tracks laid; horses used until tracks completed and electrified in 1898. Continental Hotel established in Capt. William Chase's old mansion, Gen. E. A. Perry first Pensacolian elected Florida's Governor.

1886 - October 25. Apache Geronimo began his imprisonment at Fort Pickens. Public School #1 erected across from Lee Square; later site of old Pensacola High School. Waterworks, near Palafox and Cervantes Streets, began operation.

1887 - Florida's first Chamber of Commerce established in Pensacola.

1888 - Apaches removed from Fort Pickens to Mount Vernon, Ala. Dec. 10 at 7 p.m., electric lights were turned on.

1891 - June 17. Confederate Monument in Lee Square dedicated with many out of town visitors present, many of them veterans. The newspaper claims 10,000 attended; 1890 population was 11,750.

1892 - Goulding Fertilizer Co. was founded, it was one of Florida's earliest.

1893 - By this year, some streets paved with vitrified brick made by Tennessee Brick Co.

1895 - Pensacola received a new charter with a mayor and city council government.

1903 - Lillie James, mother of Gen. Daniel James, USAF, opened school for Black children.

1904 - In 1904 & 1905 $600,000 worth of red snapper shipped from Pensacola. 1906 & 1916 hurricanes hurt the fishing industry.

1905 - In March 34 Navy ships of the "Great White Fleet" arrived for maneuvers in the Caribbean Sea. The North Atlantic Squadron rendezvous was Pensacola bay for several years. The last cases of Yellow Fever diagnosed Aug. 29; medical science had conquered the dreaded disease. Nov. 1, fire destroyed entire business section on Palafox Street, Garden to Romana; damages at $250,000.

1908 - New building boom began. Spanish Renaissance City Hall constructed on Jefferson across from Plaza. In 1988 it opened as T. T. Wentworth Jr. Florida State Museum.

1910 - Ten story American National Bank building, called Pensacola skyscraper,. completed. Now Seville Towers office building. San Carlos Hotel completed. Wooden bridge across Bayou Texar opened; replaced in 1921 with concrete bridge.

1912 - L & N Depot completed; now part of Hilton Hotel. Cudahy & Armour Packing Co. built. Property value up from $6,764,430 in 1902 to $15,676,840 in 1912. 21 miles of street paved with wooden blocks.

1914 - Banks collapsed Feb. 2. The lumber industry declined. The Navy Yard reopened as the United States Aeronautical Station with Commander Henry C. Mustin as commanding officer. The new station had 3 instructors, 12 mechanics and 8 sea planes.

1915 - Daughters of Charity opened Pensacola Hospital on 12th Avenue; Pensacola's first modern hospital. Name changed to Sacred Heart ca. 1950, moved to Ninth Avenue in 1965.

1916 - Newport Turpentine and Resin Co. began Pensacola operation. Fire Department received its first motorized equipment, a 55 gallon tank. By 1924 all horse-drawn equipment replaced. A destructive hurricane damaged the wharf and ships in town.

1925 - Sanger Theater built, for $500,000; used some material from Opera House. John H. Perry bought Pensacola News Journal and combines Daily News & Journal.

1926 - Escambia River Bridge to Milton opened; 10,000 cars crossed in first 12 hours. Private library established. Newport Industries developed new division; Armstrong-Newport; later Armstrong Cork. Scenic Highway, Gulf Beach Highway and Lillian Bridge completed during 1927-30. Another destructive hurricane on Sept. 26.

1930 - Navy expansion moves Warrington across Bayou Grande.

1931 - Last Trolley car ran. Santa Rosa Sound & Pensacola Bay bridges and Casino on the Beach opened June 13; Pensacola Beach reached by vehicles. City government now 10 member Council City Manager form, J. J. Sullivan was first city manager.

1933 - Pensacola Historical Society formed.

1936 - Spearman Brewing Company began operation.

1938 - Pensacola Public Library opened in Old Christ Church.

1939 - New Custom House and Post Office opened Oct. 31 at Palafox and Chase Streets, old Court House site.

1941 - Florida Pulp & Paper Co. opened; later St. Regis Paper Co..

1947 - Hurricane damaged Palafox Street Wharf. Plans began for the Municipal Auditorium. Pensacola population now 42,000.

1948 - Escambia General Hospital opened, renamed University Hospital.Pensacola Junior College opened in the I. H. Aiken home. Washington Junior College opened in 1949; the two merged in 1965.

1951 - Baptist Hospital opened. Chemstrand plant construction began; operations begin in 1953. Monsanto acquired plant in 1962.

1953 - Annexation expanded city limits from those set in 1821 by Andrew Jackson, increasing size from 9.75 to 17.2555 square miles.

1954 - Pensacola Art Center Organized in 1953; opened Museum in 1954.

1955 - Fire destroyed Muscogee Wharf, ends coal exports.

1957 - New Public library at Spring & Gregory Streets; now West Florida Regional Library, it has several branches. "Old Frisco Engine" 1355 given to city, sits on Garden Street grass median. 16 new manufacturing firms opened in area.

1958 - Fire damaged waterfront, crippling port & shipping. Only Frisco Dock unhurt. Plans begun for new Port of Pensacola facilities.

1960 - Pensacola Historical Society Museum opened Aug. 15.

1961 - City of Gulf Breeze incorporated Aug. 10.

1963 - University of West Florida founded; first students in 1967.

1966 - Pensacola Sister City Program received Reader's Digest "Beat Town Award."

1967 - The Historic Pensacola Preservation Board was established. Between January & August 189 vessels docked in Pensacola, and 178,175 tons of cargo handled through port.

1968 - Twenty old Pensacola buildings submitted to Library of Congress Historic Building Survey. Westinghouse opened Pensacola plant to produce commercial nuclear reactor internals.

1971 - Pensacola celebrated Florida Sesquicentennial. Rueben 0'D. Askew second Pensacolian to be Florida Governor. Gulf Islands National Seashore established by Congress Jan. 8; Ft. Pickens park opened in May 1972.

1973 - The Charter National Bank opened, the city's tallest building; now Sun Bank.

1975 - West Florida Hospital opened.

1976 - Fort George Park dedicated Sept. 15. Ground broken for Inter-governmental Center.

1981 - Galvez Celebration marked Battle of Pensacola bicentennial. Restored Ft. Barrancas opened in May.

1980s - A building boom included 15 story Hilton Hotel(1984); Pensacola Civic Center (1985); New City Hall (1986); Wentworth Museum in old city hall (1988); New Regional Airport (1990).