CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE.

 

1716 – September – Spotswood visits the Valley – East Rockingham.

1727 – Adam Miller settles on the Shenandoah River.

1738 – November – Act of Assembly passed creating Frederick and Augusta Counties.

1745 – September 23 – John Sevier born in Rockingham.

1749 – August 27 – James Madison, first Protestant Episcopal bishop of Virginia, born at Port

 Republic.

1751 – Thomas Lewis and Gabriel Jones buy land in East Rockingham.

1753 – May 11 – Valentine and Joannah Sevier sell land to Andrew Byrd, on or near Smith’s

 Creek.

1758 – April 28 – Massacre at Fort Seybert.

1763 – April 18 – Valentine Sevier sells his personal property to Andrew Byrd.

1769 – Lutheran and Reformed congregations at Peaked Mountain agree to build a union church.

1773 – August 15 – Valentine and Joanna Sevier sell land in Long Meadow to Michael and David

 Holsinger.

1775 – October – John Alderson installed as pastor of the Linville Creek Baptist church.

1777 – October – Act of Assembly passed creating Rockingham County.

1778 – April 27, 28 – First court held for Rockingham County

1779 – August 5 – Thomas Harrison sells lot for county buildings.

1780 – May – Act of Assembly passed establishing Harrisonburg.

1780 – First Presbyterian preaching in Harrisonburg, according to tradition.

1782 – Abraham Lincoln goes from Rockingham County to Kentucky.

 

 

1784 – First court house for Rockingham completed.

1787 – December – Act of Assembly passed creating Pendleton County.

1789 – October 29 – Rockingham Union Lodge, No. 27, A. F. & A. M., chartered.

1791 – December – Act of Assembly passed establishing Keezletown.

1794 – Bishop Asbury organizes Methodist school in Harrisonburg.

1801 – McGaheysville named for Tobias Randolph McGahey.

1802 – January 14 – Port Republic established by Act of Assembly.

1804 – January 5 – New Haven established by Act of Assembly.

1805 – Robert Gray locates at Harrisonburg.

1807 – November 16 – Henry Tutwiler, first M. A. of University of Virginia, born in

 Harrisonburg.

1807 – December – Dr. Peachey Harrison writes of Rockingham for Philadelphia Medical

 Museum.

1809 – George Rockingham Gilmer of Georgia visits Rockingham.

1809 – Bishop Newcomer (U. B.) confers with Bishop Asbury (M. E.) at Harrisonburg.

1811 – February 20 – Dr. Asher Waterman sells 35,000 acres of West Rockingham land for

 $13,125.

1813 – Daniel Bryan publishes the “Mountain Muse.”

1816 – Rockingham Methodists prepare memorial against slavery.

1818 – Brown’s “Circular” published.

1820 (?) – Garber’s Church built.

1822 – Trissel’s Church built.

1822 – Rockingham Register founded by Lawrence Wartmann.

1824 – January 26 – Timothy Funk born at Mountain Valley.

1825 – Mt. Crawford established by Act of Assembly.

1826 – February 18 – Act of Assembly passed chartering Rockingham Academy.

 

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1828 – Linville Creek Church (of the Brethren) built.

1831 – March – Act of Assembly passed creating Page County.

1832 – Dunker Annual Meeting held in Rockingham County.

1832 – First edition of Joseph Funk’s “Genuine Church Music.”

1833 – January 7 – Great Anti-Nullification meeting held in Harrisonburg

1833 – January Court – Old courthouse sold.

1833 – March  - Dayton established by Act of Assembly.

1834 – Valley Turnpike Company authorized to construct toll road from Winchester to

 Harrisonburg.

1835 – February – Bridgewater established by Act of Assembly.

1839-40 – Extraordinary snows in Rockingham County.

1840 – December 19 – Joseph Salyards advertises the resumption of school at McGaheysville.

1844 – Sons of Temperance organize at Harrisonburg.

1844 – Liberty Springs Company buys land.

1847 – Joseph Funk and Sons open printing office at Mountain Valley.

1847 – October 5 – Cyclone near Friedens Church.

1848 – Mt. Vernon Furnace in Brown’s Gap built.

1850 – Rockingham Parish reorganized and put in charge of Rev. James B. Goodwyn.

1850 – Death of Judge Daniel Smith.

1858 – Jed Hotchkiss publishes description of Northwest Rockingham.

1861 – Dunker Annual meeting held in Rockingham.

1862 – May 8 – Col S. B. Gibbons killed at McDowell.

1862 – June 6 – Gen. Turner Ashby killed near Harrisonburg.

1862 – June 8 – Battle of Cross Keys.

1862 – June 9 – Battle of Port Republic.

1862 – December 24 – Joseph Funk dies at Singer’s Glen.

1864 – May 5 – Col. E. T. H. Warren and Maj. I. G. Coffman killed in the Wilderness.

 

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1864 – June 15 – John Kline killed in Rockingham.

1866 – John W. Taylor begins teaching at Lacey Springs.

1866 – School for colored children organized in Harrisonburg by Misses Martha Smith and

 Phoeby Libby, of Augusta, Maine.

1868 – February – Lutheran Church in Harrisonburg rededicated.

1868 – July 13 – Old Waterman home near Harrisonburg burns.

1868 – Thurman movement in Rockingham culminates.

1869 – Rockingham Home Mutual Fire Insurance Company organized.

1869 – First railroad opened to Harrisonburg.

1869 – New stage line opened from Harrisonburg to Shenandoah Iron Works.

1870 – January – Musical Million established at Singer’s Glen.

1870 – January - Navigation opened on Shenandoah River in Brock’s Gap.

1870 – October – Destructive Floods.

1870 – December 25 – Destructive fire in Harrisonburg, south side of Public Square.

1871 – Harrisonburg graded school organized under new public school system – J. S. Loose,

principal.

1871 – U. S. District Court located at Harrisonburg.

1872 – January 6 – West Rockingham Mutual Fire Insurance Company organized.

1872 – April – Redivision of Rockingham County into 5 townships.

1872 – John Cover builds tannery near Conrad’s Store.

1873 – September 29 – Valley Normal School at Bridgewater opened.

1874 – March – First train over Valley Railroad from Harrisonburg to Staunton.

1874 – November – Grading on Narrow Gauge completed from Harrisonburg to Bridgewater.

1874 – Third Court House erected.

1875 – Shenandoah Collegiate Institute at Dayton founded.

 

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1876 – May – Catholic church in Harrisonburg consecrated.

1876 – Monument to soldiers erected in Woodbine Cemetery by Ladies’ Memorial Association.

1877 – November – Destructive floods.

1878 – Ruebush-Kieffer printing house moved to Dayton.

1879 – June – Dunker Annual Meeting at Broadway.

1879 – August-September – Sidney Lanier at Rockingham Springs.

1879 – New Market Endless Caverns discovered.

1880 – Bridgewater College started at Spring Creek.

1880 – March – Broadway established by Act of Assembly.

1881 – April 18 – First through trains from Hagerstown to Waynesboro on Norfolk & Western Railway.

1881 – September – A. C. Kimler begins teaching at McGaheysville.

1881 – A. S. Kieffer publishes “Hours of Fancy.”

1885 – Lake’s Atlas of Rockingham County published.

1885 – G. F. Compton begins history of Rockingham in the Register.

1887 – Shenandoah Normal College located at Harrisonburg.

1889 – Dunker Annual Meeting at Harrisonburg.

1892 – February – Shendun established by Act of Assembly.

1892 – March 1 – Old Folks’ Home at Timberville opened.

1892 – Harrisonburg synagogue dedicated.

1892 – Emma Lyon Bryan publishes “A Romance of the Valley.”

1893 – Massanutta Cave, near Keezletown, discovered.

1894 – February – Timberville established by Act of Assembly.

1895 – July 31 – Chesapeake & Western Railway completed to Dayton.

1895 – September 13 – C. & W. Railway completed to Bridgewater.

1897 – Fourth Court House erected.

1897 – Cross Keys Home Mutual Fire Insurance Company organized.

1898 – New water system for Harrisonburg put in operation.

1898 – Harrisonburg Daily News established.

 

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1899 – April 18 – Valley Telephone Company absorbed by the Rockingham Mutual System.

1899 – May 20 – President McKinley in Harrisonburg.

1899 – July 1 – Rockingham County Medical Association organized.

1903 – Nettie Gray Daingerfield publishes “That Dear Old Sword.”

1905 – Harrisonburg Daily Times established.

1906 – April – Fravel Sash and Door Company moved to Harrisonburg.

1906 – J. C. Paxton builds lime kiln at Linville.

1907 – J. W. Wayland publishes the “German Element of the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.”

1911 – Harrisonburg and Rockingham County adopted compulsory education law.

1908 – March – Elkton incorporated.

1909 – June – Great Dunker Annual Meeting at Harrisonburg.

1909 – September – State Normal School at Harrisonburg opened.

1911 – Waterman School opened.

1911 – Rockingham Memorial Hospital built.

1911 – L. J. Heatwole publishes his perpetual calendar.

1911 – Rockingham Daily Record established.

1912 – Legislature changes the name of Shendun to Grottoes.

1912 – State Sunday-School convention held in Harrisonburg.

1912 – E. U. Hoenshel publishes the “Crimson Trail.”

 

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