Time Line 1800-1850

1800 - Innes Academy opened at Third and Princess Streets on land willed by Col. James Inees before the Revolution for a free school. U. S. Federal Census gives the total of 1,689 people living in Wilmington.
1803 - Wilmington inhabitants petitioned the U.S. House of Representatives concerning the "peace and safety of the people" after the arrival of Negroes and mulattoes from the French island of Guadaloupe, which had recently been shaken by a slave rebellion. However, fear could scarcely be pacified by an act of Congress.
1804 - The cornerstone for St. Johns’s Masonic Lodge on Orange Street was laid.
1810 - A map of Wilmington was drawn by J. T. Belanger.
1817 - The steamboat, "Prometheus," arrived at Wilmington. The "Henrietta" arrived the following year.
1818 - Judah P. Benjamin arrived in Wilmington to live. He later served as the Confederate States Attorney-General, Secretary of State and Secretary of War. The first steam saw mill established in Wilmington.
1819 - A terrible fire destroyed 300 buildings in Wilmington, including the Presbyterian church, a yellow fever epidemic struck killing many citizens, and John C. Calhoun, U. S. Secretary of War, was entertained by Dr. A. J. deRosset, Sr. in Wilmington. James Monroe, fifth President of the U.S. visited Wilmington.
1820 - 2,600 people lived in Wilmington, ranking it the fourth largest city in the state.
1821 - The Canova statue of George Washington, weighing 2 ½ tons, arrived in Wilmington en route to Raleigh. John England, the first bishop of the Charleston Diocese arrived and found 22 Catholics.
1823 - The first improvement of the Cape Fear River was begun by the State of North Carolina. Work was taken over by the Federal government in 1829.
1825 - The First Presbyterian church located on Front Street, between Dock and Orange, destroyed by fire.
1828 - The newspaper Wilmington Herald discontinued. On May 18^th, Catherine Ann McKay, born July 1822, a founder of St. Thomas Church, was baptized at St. James Church.
1831 - Construction of a bridge across the Northeast Cape Fear River at Hilton plantation advocated.
1833 - The First Baptist Church organized. A new newspaper appeared in Wilmington called The People’s Press. Aaron Lazarus, Jewish merchant, established the first planing mill in North Carolina at Wilmington.
1834 - The Wilmington and Raleigh Railroad (later Wilmington & Weldon) chartered.
1836 - Edward Bishop Dudley, born in New Hanover County, was elected governor of North Carolina serving until 1841. Dudley was known for his hospitality and genial generous disposition. After an 1843 fire in Wilmington left disastrous results, Dudley pledged his whole estate for alleviation of the losses.
1838 - Wilmington Iron Works founded. Still in operation as of 2001.
1839 - The newspaper The Wilmington Chronicle was established. Cornerstone laid for the new church of St. James, southeast corner Third and Market streets. Bishop John England, of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston, while visiting, was denied the use of the courthouse in Wilmington, the magistrates explained that a rule had been made in order to keep out juggling exhibitions, singing companies, and the like. They instructed the sheriff that henceforth whenever the Bishop was in town, he should be accorded the privilege of preaching from the bench.
1840 - Population was 4,744. A "Log Cabin" erected as a political gimmick on Market Street to honor William Henry Harrison was blown up. A disastrous waterfront fire destroyed 150 or more buildings, including the Custom House and the last spike was driven for the Wilmington & Weldon Railroad line, completing 161 ½ miles of track, making it the longest in the world.
1842 - The first lodge of Odd Fellows was organized in Wilmington.
1843 - Disastrous fire on waterfront, which destroyed railroad offices, warehouses and shops.
1844 - Henry Clay, famous American statesman, visited Wilmington. Wilmington Journal, a weekly Democratic newspaper, established in opposition to the Whig party, was first issued on September 21^st, editors David Fulton and Alfred Price.
1845 - Wilmington was boasting nine steam saw mills which cut 30 million feet of lumber annually. Thomas Murphy (1806-1863), Wilmington’s first full time priest, was appointed Vicar-Forane of the newly organized St. Thomas the Apostle Roman Catholic Parish. The founders for the purchase of the church lot were William Berry, Bernard Baxter and Catherine McKay.
1846 - On August 10^th, David Fulton and Catherine Anne McKay were married by Rev. Murphy of St. Thomas Parish in Wilmington. (St. Thomas Marriage Register)
1847 - The Gothic Revival style Church of St. Thomas Apostle was completed at 203 Dock Street, continuing Wilmington’s longtime Roman Catholic history. Daniel Webster, American Statesman, visited Wilmington and resided with Governor Edward Dudley on south Front Street.
1848 - On January 9^th, Mary Catharine Fulton, born 21^st of November 1847, was baptized at St. Thomas Church. Her father David Fulton, editor of the Wilmington Journal died December 17^th in Charleston after a long illness. He was born in 1821 in Ireland and his brother James Fulton took over as editor of the newspaper. (St. Thomas Baptism & Death Registers)
1849 - Wilmington was host to ex-President James Knox Polk, a native north Carolinian. In less than three months he died at his Tennessee home.
1850 - The remains of John C. Calhoun passed through Wilmington with great ceremony from the railroad station to the steamer "Nina" bound for Charleston. A committee of Wilmingtonians accompanied the remains to that city. Jenny Lind, the famous "Swedish Nightingale," visited Wilmington briefly while on a tour of southern cities.