St. Augustine Timeline
| Year | Event |
| 10,000 BC | At the end of the last Ice Age, humans, the Paleoindians, first inhabit Florida. |
| AD 700- 1600 | Timucua tribes inhabit northeast Florida. |
| 1513 | Juan Ponce de León explores Florida. |
| 1528 | Pánfilo de Narváez explores Florida. |
| 1539 | Hernando de Soto lands in Florida and explores southeastern North America. |
| 1564 | French under Jean Ribault establish Fort Caroline on the River of May (St. Johns River) |
| 1565 | Sept. 8: Pedro Menéndez de Avilés founds St. Augustine at the Timucuan town of Seloy.
Sept. 20: Menéndez captures Fort Caroline. Sept. 29 and Oct. 12: Menéndez eliminates threat to Spanish rule in Florida by destroying the remaining French at Matanzas Inlet. |
| 1567 | Mission of Nombre de Dios is established. |
| 1573 | Spain adopts a model town plan for its American colonies. |
| 1583 | Spanish discover coquina stone on Anastasia Island. |
| 1586 | St. Augustine is sacked and burned by the English admiral Sir Francis Drake. |
| 1598 | Governor Gonzalo Méndez de Canzo establishes present city plan in accord with the royal plan of 1573. |
| 1606 | Bishop Juan de las Cabezas Altamirano reports 3,000 Indians converted to Christianity. |
| 1668 | English pirates under Robert Searles sack and burn St. Augustine. |
| 1672 | Spanish begin constructing Castillo de San Marcos in response to the pirate threat and the English establishment of Charles Town (Charleston) in Carolina. |
| 1689 | Construction of coquina houses in St. Augustine begins. |
| 1693 | Spanish government grants sanctuary and freedom to fugitive slaves reaching Florida. |
| 1695 | Castillo de San Marcos is judged complete. |
| 1702 | English under Governor James Moore of Carolina besiege Castillo unsuccessfully but destroy the town when they withdraw. |
| 1704-1705 | Cubo Line earthwork is built from Castillo westward to the San Sebastian River to strengthen the city’s defenses. The palisaded Hornabeque Line is built from Nombre de Dios west to the San Sebastian River to secure farming area for Indian refugees |
| 1718-1719 | Rosario Line earthwork is constructed at city’s west and south limits. |
| 1726 | Francisco Menéndez, a black man, is appointed captain of St. Augustine’s slave militia. |
| 1738 | Governor Manuel de Montiano establishes the town of Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose for free black people. Francisco Menédez is appointed captain of the town’s free black militia. |
| 1739 | Fort Mose is built at Gracia Real, the free blacks’ town. |
| 1740 | British under General James Oglethorpe arrive from Georgia to destroy Fort Mose and besiege St. Augustine. |
| 1740-1742 | Fort Matanzas is constructed. |
| 1746 | A second Hornabeque Line replaces the earlier one. |
| 1752 | Fort Mose is rebuilt |
| 1752-1756 | Additions and improvements to Castillo de San Marcos continue to be made. |
| 1763 | Florida is ceded to England by the Treaty of Paris at the conclusion of the Seven Years War. Spanish residents leave for Havana, Cuba, and elsewhere. Florida is divided into two British provinces: East and West Florida. |
| 1768 | Indentured Minorcans, Greeks and Italians arrive to work Andrew Turnbull’s plantation at New Smyrna. |
| 1775-1783 | American Revolution. East Florida remains loyal to British crown. St. Augustine fills with refugees from the rebellious colonies to the north. |
| 1777 | Six hundred Minorcans, Greeks and Italians seek asylum in St. Augustine from Turnbull’s plantation. |
| 1780 | Three signers of the Declaration of Independence (South Carolinians Arthur Middleton, Edward Rutledge and Thomas Heyward, Jr.) are among American rebels held prisoner in St. Augustine. |
| 1783-1784 | The Second Treaty of Paris, ending the American Revolution, returns Florida to Spain. |
| 1786 | Spanish royal edict permits British and other groups to remain in East Florida if they swear loyalty to Spain and adopt the Catholic faith. |
| 1792 | Construction begins on new Catholic church (now the Cathedral Basilica). |
| 1808 | City Gate coquina pillars are constructed. Cubo Line is rebuilt. |
| 1812-1813 | In the Patriot Rebellion, aggressive Americans, aided by U.S. troops, threaten St. Augustine and Spanish rule in East Florida. |
| 1813 | A monument is erected in the plaza to commemorate the new Spanish constitution of 1812. |
| 1817 | In West Florida General Andrew Jackson leads invading U.S. troops against Indians in the first Seminole War. |
| 1819 | In the Adams-Onís Treaty, Spain cedes East and West Florida to the United States. |
| 1821 | United States assumes control over East and West Florida. They are joined to form the Territory of Florida. |
| 1823 | Under the Treaty of Moultrie Creek, Seminoles move to central Florida. |
| 1825 | Castillo de San Marcos is renamed Fort Marion after Revolutionary War hero Francis Marion. |
| 1835 | The Second Seminole War begins. |
| 1837 | Osceola and other Seminoles are captured and imprisoned in Fort Marion. |
| 1842 | The Second Seminole War comes to an end. Seminoles remain in south Florida. |
| 1845 | Florida is admitted to the Union as the 27th state. |
| 1847-1853 | Very Rev. Father Félix Varela y Morales, called “the founder of Cuban nationalism,” returns to live in St. Augustine, his boyhood home, until his death. |
| 1858 | As bishop of the Vicarate of Florida, Augustin Verot inaugurates a program to establish schools and churches throughout the state. |
| 1861 | The Civil War begins. Florida joins the Confederate States of America on January 10. Three days before, Fort Marion had been taken over by St. Augustine’s local militia. |
| 1862 | St. Augustine surrenders peacefully to U.S. forces and remains a Union enclave throughout the war. |
| 1865 | The Civil War ends. |
| 1865-1872 | St. Augustine is headquarters for the military occupation of Florida during Reconstruction years. Blacks enter politics for the first time. |
| 1866 | Sisters of St. Joseph arrive from France and open schools for freed men and both white and black children. |
| 1870 | Catholic Diocese of St. Augustine is established, with Augustin Verot its first bishop. |
| 1872 | Free Public Library is established. |
| 1874 | New lighthouse completed |
| 1875-1878 | Indians from the Kiowa, Comanche, Cheyenne, Caddo and Arapaho tribes are imprisoned in Fort Marion. |
| 1883 | St. Augustine Historical Society is founded. |
| 1885 | Florida School for the Deaf and Blind is opened. |
| 1886-1887 | Apache Indians are imprisoned in Fort Marion. |
| 1887 | Casa Monica Hotel opens and is soon renamed the Cordova Hotel. |
| 1888 | Ponce de Leon Hotel opens. |
| 1889 | Alcazar Hotel opens. |
| 1892 | Florida Memorial College opens. José Marti, rallying for Cuban independence, visits St. Augustine. |
| 1898 | The Spanish-American War. Cuba liberated from Spanish rule. |
| 1914 | Fire destroys five blocks of downtown St. Augustine, including the Historical Society’s first museum. |
| 1914-1918 | World War I. |
| 1918 | St. Augustine Historical Society purchases and opens the González-Alvarez House as the “Oldest House.” |
| 1920s | Florida’s real estate boom sweeps the state. |
| 1924 | Fort Marion, including the City Gate, and Fort Matanzas are declared National Monuments. |
| 1927 | Florida real estate boom crashes. The Bridge of Lions is built. |
| 1936 | The movement to preserve and restore historic structures in St. Augustine begins. |
| 1941-1945 | World War II. |
| 1942 | Fort Marion is returned to its original name, Castillo de San Marcos. |
| 1947 | Lightner Museum established in the former Alcazar Hotel. |
| 1959 | The historic preservation movement revived with the establishment of the St. Augustine Historical Restoration and Preservation Commission. |
| 1962 | National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) files a school integration suit against the St. Johns County School Board. |
| 1964 | Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Andrew Young, and other civil rights activists assist local leaders in St. Augustine for months of marches and sit-ins. |
| 1965 | St. Augustine celebrates its 400th anniversary. |
| 1968 | Flagler College opens in the former Ponce de Leon Hotel. |
| 1970-1971 | St. Johns County public schools are integrated. |
| 1973 | St. Augustine’s City Hall moves to the north portion of the former Alcazar Hotel. |
| 1986 | City of St. Augustine adopts first archaeological ordinance. |
| 1990s | St. Johns County offices move to Lewis Speedway complex. |
| 1995 | The St. Augustine Historical Society opens expanded research library in the Seguí- Kirby Smith House, 6 Artillery Lane. |