History of Charleston Timeline

In protest of the Tea Act of 1773, which embodied taxation without representation, Charlestonians confiscated tea and stored it in the Exchange and Custom House.

Image source: Boston Tea Party

Representatives from all over the colony came to the Exchange in 1774 to elect delegates to the Continental Congress, and South Carolina declared its independence from the crown on the steps of the Exchange.

Image source: Exchange and Provost

On June 28, 1776, Admiral Peter Parker and General Henry Clinton failed to capture a partially constructed palmetto palisade defended by Colonel William Moultrie's militia. The spongy palmetto-and-sand defenses neutralized British bombardment and gave the Royal Navy its first defeat in a century.

Image source: Battle of Sullivan's Island

Following the capture of Savannah in late 1778, British forces under Prevost sent 2500 men towards South Carolina in April 1779, forcing Moultrie's militia to fall back towards Charlestown.

Image source: Siege of Charleston

Clinton left Charles Cornwallis with thousands of men to rally Loyalists, build forts across the state, and demand oaths of allegiance. South Carolinians lost faith in the restored royal administration long before the British departure in late 1782.

Clinton returned with about 14,000 troops and 90 ships, approaching via James Island. General Benjamin Lincoln surrendered his entire 5400-man force, making the Siege of Charleston the greatest American defeat of the war.

With the British and Loyalist leaders gone, the city officially changed its name from Charles Town to Charleston in 1783.

By 1788, Carolinians met at the Capitol building for the Constitutional Ratification Convention, where support for the Federal Government was tempered by division over the location of the new state capitol.

Image source: Constitution of South Carolina

The invention of the cotton gin in 1793 revolutionized cotton production, making it quickly become South Carolina's major export and reshaping Charleston's economy.

Image source: Cotton gin

Free black Charlestonians and slaves helped establish the Old Bethel United Methodist Church in 1797, and the Emanuel A.M.E. congregation stems from a religious group organized solely by free and enslaved African Americans in 1791.

Image source: Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church

The Bank of South Carolina, the second oldest building constructed as a bank in the nation, was established in 1798; branches of the First and Second Bank of the United States were also located in Charleston in 1800 and 1817.

Image source: Citizens & Southern National Bank

Benevolent societies formed by different ethnic groups included the Hibernian Society, founded by Irish immigrants in Charleston in 1801.

Image source: Hibernian Hall (Charleston, South Carolina)

In 1807, the Charleston Market was founded; by 1840 the Market Hall and Sheds, where fresh meat and produce were brought daily, had become the commercial hub of the city.

Image source: City Market (Charleston, South Carolina)

While the First Bank branch was converted to City Hall by 1818, the Second Bank proved vital as the only bank equipped to handle international transactions crucial to the export trade.

Image source: Charleston City Hall

When a massive slave revolt planned by Denmark Vesey, a free black man, was discovered in 1822, hysteria among white Charlestonians led to severe restrictions on the activities of free blacks and slaves.

Image source: Denmark Vesey

Reflecting growing devotion to states' rights, South Carolina passed an ordinance of nullification in 1832, effectively attempting to repeal Federal tariff laws.

Image source: Nullification crisis

In 1849, the Charleston Workhouse Slave Rebellion, in which 37 enslaved people escaped jail, intensified policing of the Black population.

Image source: Charleston Workhouse Slave Rebellion

Prior to the 1860 election, the National Democratic Convention convened in Charleston, a gathering marked by deep sectional divisions over slavery.

Image source: 1860 Democratic National Conventions

On December 24, 1860, the South Carolina General Assembly voted to secede from the Union, making it the first state to do so.

Image source: South Carolina in the American Civil War

On January 9, 1861, Citadel cadets fired on the merchant ship Star of the West as it entered Charleston's harbor with supplies for Fort Sumter.

Image source: Star of the West

On April 12, 1861, Confederate shore batteries under General Pierre G. T. Beauregard opened fire on Fort Sumter, beginning the American Civil War.

Image source: Battle of Fort Sumter

A massive fire burned 164 acres of Charleston, destroying the Cathedral of St John and St Finbar, South Carolina Institute Hall, the Circular Congregational Church, and many of the city's finest homes.

Image source: Battle of Fort Sumter

Charleston was the site of the first successful submarine attack when the H.L. Hunley sank the USS Housatonic off the coast on February 17, 1864.

Image source: H. L. Hunley

Union troops moved into the city in 1865, taking control of sites such as the United States Arsenal; the Citadel grounds were confiscated and used as a federal garrison for over 17 years before reopening as a military college in 1882.

Thousands travelled to Charleston to watch Brevet Major General Anderson raise at Fort Sumter the same flag he had lowered four years earlier on April 13, 1861.

In 1867, Charleston's first free secondary school for blacks was established, the Avery Institute, advancing education during Reconstruction.

Image source: Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture

On August 31, 1886, Charleston was nearly destroyed by an earthquake that damaged 2,000 buildings and caused $6 million worth of damage, enormous relative to the city's total building value of approximately $24 million.

Image source: 1886 Charleston earthquake

The William Enston Homes, a planned community for the city's aged and infirmed, was built in 1889.

Image source: William Enston Home

An elaborate public building, the United States Post Office and Courthouse, was completed in 1896 and signaled renewed life in the heart of the city.

Image source: United States Post Office and Courthouse (Charleston, South Carolina)

In the early 20th century strong political machines emerged in the city, reflecting economic, class, racial, and ethnic tensions; upstate politicians routinely attacked Charleston's aristocratic tone.

The Charleston riot of 1919, violence of whites against blacks, was the worst violence in Charleston since the Civil War, part of a broader wave of racial unrest across America.

Image source: Charleston riot of 1919

From 1920 to 1940 the city became a national leader in the historic preservation movement, culminating in the introduction of the nation's first historic district zoning laws by the city council in 1931.

Image source: Historic preservation

Peak employment of 26,000 workers was reached in July 1943 at the Charleston Naval Shipyard during World War II; naval presence, shipyards, medical industry, and tourism helped the city grow economically through the 20th century.

Image source: Charleston Naval Shipyard

Since his election as mayor in 1975, Joe Riley was a major proponent of reviving Charleston's economic and cultural heritage, presiding over major reinvestment and municipal improvements during the last thirty years of the 20th century.

Image source: Joseph P. Riley Jr.

Hurricane Hugo hit Charleston in 1989; though the worst damage was in nearby McClellanville, the storm damaged three-quarters of the homes in Charleston's historic district.

Image source: Hurricane Hugo

A mass shooting took place at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in downtown Charleston on the evening of June 17, 2015, killing nine worshippers and shocking the nation.

Image source: Charleston church shooting

Joe Riley did not run for reelection in 2016, ending his decades-long tenure as mayor of Charleston.