17th Century Timeline

• 1614 - First recorded European contact with Norwalk by Dutch navigator Adriaen Block.
• April 20, 1640 - Daniel Patrick purchased the land west of the Norwalk River and east of the Five Mile River
• February 26, 1641 - Roger Ludlow purchased the land east of the Norwalk River.
• 1649 - The first settlers arrived from Hartford.
• 11 September 1651 - Norwalk was incorporated as a town.
• 1677 - Thomas Hyatt House was constructed.

18th Century Timeline

• 1737 - St. Paul's Episcopal Church founded
• 1755 - Yankee Doodle is written mocking the Norwalk regiment commanded by Col. Thomas Fitch.
• 1776 - Nathan Hale embarks on his spy mission from Norwalk.
• 10 July 1779 - British General Tryon lands at Calf Pasture Beach and burns Norwalk to the ground the next day.
• 1787 - First Methodist sermon delivered in Norwalk.

19th Century Timeline

• 1836 - Borough of Norwalk founded.
• 1849 - New York and New Haven Railroad begins operation through Norwalk.
• May 6, 1853 - First major U.S. railroad bridge disaster occurs in Norwalk. The engineer did not see an open drawbridge signal. The train crashed into the open drawbridge and plunged into the Norwalk River. There were 46 deaths, and 30 others were severely wounded.
• 1871 - Old Well, the historical name of South Norwalk, was granted a charter by the state legislature as the City of South Norwalk.
• 1893 - Borough of Norwalk was reincorporated as the City of Norwalk with both cities wholly within the jurisdiction of the Town of Norwalk.

20th Century Timeline

• 1913 - The cities of Norwalk, South Norwalk , the East Norwalk Fire District, and the remaining parts of the surrounding Town of Norwalk consolidated into the present day City of Norwalk.
• May 19, 1921 - Norwalk split into six taxing districts and Rowayton is formally annexed.
• October 14-17, 1955 - Norwalk's downtown area was devastated by a tropical storm which caused the Norwalk River to severely flood.
• 1988 Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk founded.

21th Century Timeline

• May 25, 2008, final service of First United Methodist Church of Norwalk.