1733 -- The City's Common Council announces that Bowling Green, originally part of the Dutch cattle market, shall henceforth be enclosed and improved for the Recreation and  Delight of its residents.  Legend has it that Bowling Green is the place where Peter Minuit transacted with the Indians for the purchase of Manhattan Island.       

1735 -- The trial and acquittal of Peter Zenger take place U.S. Federal Hall.  He and his supporter founded the New York Weekly Journal, which was opposed to the administration of Governor Cosby.   Zenger was arrested for seditious libel, and defended by the brilliant Philadelphia lawyer Andrew Hamilton who argued that truth and libel cannot be the same thing.

1750 -- Chelsea is staked out by Captain Thomas Clarke for an estate that will range from 14th Street to 24th Street.  Clarke was the grandfather the famous author of "'Twas the Night before Christmas," Clement Clarke Moore.

1754 -- King's College -- now Columbia University -- is chartered.  As stipulated in the Charter, he first president of the College is an Anglican, Samuel Johnson, D. D..  The College was the Alma Mater of several of the American Republic's founders and leaders , including Alexander Hamilton,  John Jay and Governor Morris.   Also in this year the City's now-oldest library, the New York Society Library,  is founded in City Hall and chartered by George III.

1762 -- At public expense, the City installs whale-oil lamps to illuminate its streets.

1765 -- British Parliament passes the Stamp Act to provide funds its soldiers stationed in the colony.    But upon clamorous protest by the colonists the Act is repealed.  In this same year the Sons  of Liberty is founded by prominent colonists.

1766 -- The First St. Patrick's Day Parade takes place in New York City, with Irishmen parading in British uniforms, soldiers placed here by the crown to preserve their noticeably weakening grip on a restless colony.  Also British troops land in Kips Bay, on the East River,  and commence a long occupation of New York City.  And St. Paul's Chapel, another of the City's       Georgian-styles masterpieces, is completed on Broadway and Fulton Street for the convenience of Anglican residents who find that  the walk to Trinity is too far away.   St. Paul's Chapel is the City's oldest building in continuous public use.

1767  -- The Townsend  Acts are passed, as a measure to collect duty taxes on American imports.  However,  the colonies again protest, and organize boycotts of British products.   After confrontations in Boston, New York, and other cities, Parliament is forced to rescind the acts.  Also this year, King's College establishes the College of Physicians and Surgeons, becoming the second new world institution to grant an M.D.  And Mulberry Street appears on a New York City  map for the first time,  taking its name from  mulberry grove that once stood along its course.

1770  -- Blood is shed on Golden Hill, near John and Gold Streets, when British Troops clash with the Sons of Liberty and others.  The incident was provoked by the soldiers success in cutting down the liberty  pole  that the Sons of Liberty had erected, but it followed months of simmering antagonism and baiting.    The incident occurred shortly before the Boston massacre. 

1771 -- A medical groups granted a charter by George III to found New York Hospital.  It is decided to construct a hospital building on Anthony Street (now Duane Street) and Catherine Street  (now Worth Street).  Established as a voluntary general hospital, the hospital finally opens in 1991  and treats mostly charity cases and mental patients, whom the governors recognize as treatable.

1776  -- In  summer of 1776,  British fleets under the brothers Howe, Lord William Howe and Admiral Richard Howe, arrive at Sandy Hook. Soldiers are first landed on Staten Island.  On July 9th, General Washington reads the Declaration of Independence to his assembled troops.  A second reading takes place on July 16th,  following which patriots pull down the statue of George III on Bowling Green.  Subsequently the royal statue is melted down to make musket bullets.  The battle of Long Island begins on August 27,  and Washington is sorely  defeated by some 25,000 British regulars.  But the Americans escape back  to Manhattan on the night of August 29th.   In  September of 1776, also, the British enter New York, overcome a couple of week so resistance, and begin  a 7-year occupation.   After the British begin their occupation a fire nearly destroys  Lower Manhattan; and a second fire occurs two years later.               

1783 -- The British depart from New York on November 25th, ending their long occupation. Evacuation Day is celebrated for years thereafter as one of the City's most important holidays.  The remains of thousands of patriots who perished in Revolution are interred in a crypt in Fort Greene.  As the last of the British departed from the Battery, Washington enters the City from the north.

1784 -- The Bank of New York is organized by Alexander Hamilton and others and opens for business  on June 9th.  The bank's headquarters are still at the original location at 48 Wall Street.   Also  this year, the Empress of China sets sail for Canton, thereby initiating a lucrative oriental trade that would have been unimaginable before the Revolution because trading with the Chinese then  was the exclusive privilege of the British East India Company.

1786 -- St. Peter's Catholic Church, an edifice in Greek Revival style, on Barclay and Church Streets, is consecrated on November 4th.   It is the City's oldest Catholic Church and still standing intact.  The bells of St. Peter's resounded all during the crisis of 9/11, and it is now known as the "Church of the Bells."  Also, in 1786, a directory of New York was published for the first time.

1787 -- The Federalist papers of Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and James Madison began appearing in  the City's newspapers.     

1788 -- 5000 New Yorkers, including many from trade guilds, march in huge federal parade, in order  manifest their approval of New York's ratification of the Constitution of the United States. On September 17, the Common Council determines to permit the federal government use City Hall.  New York therefore effectively becomes the first capital of the new nation.

1789 -- Washington's inauguration is witnessed by cheering crowds.  Chancellor Robert R. Livingston reads the oath according  to the form prescribed by the new Constitution, and Washington repeats it with his hand upon the Bible and then stoops to kiss the Holy Book.  Also in 1789, the New York Tammy Society,  a social and political club opposed to the Society of Cincinnati whose membership consisted largely of  New York's elite,  is founded by William Mooney.  Named after a Delaware Indian Group, the main purpose of Mooney's Tammany society is to oppose property qualifications required for suffrage.  Such qualifications are finally repealed in 1821, henceforth assuring the growing population of Irish immigrants  a predominant  place in New York politics.  Tammany Hall subsequently dominates New York Politics for well over a century.

1790 -- Federal Hall is officially opened as the seat of the new Federal Congress, and Washington addresses both houses for the occasion.  But later that year, following a deal between the Republic's founders regarding representation, Congress adjourns in New York for the last time on August 12th and prepares to reconvene in Philadelphia before moving on to newly constructed quarters in Washington  D.C. Also in this year, the  second Trinity Church is consecrated,  the first having been devastated in the great fire of 1776.

1791 -- Another epidemic of yellow fever strikes New York in August, rages for three months and decimates some 2000 City residents .  Many people flee northward to Greenwich Village, hoping to put themselves out of the range of the the mosquito-borne disease..      

1792 -- The Stock Market takes shape under a buttonwood tree on Wall Street, on May 17th, when some two dozen men agree to trade, on a regular basis, both government and private bonds and stock.  Prior to this moment, trading was usually carried on at the Tontine, a coffee house at Wall and Water Streets.

1793 -- The Tontine Association of prominent merchants completes a fabulously expensive building at Wall and Water Streets.  The association derives its name from the Neapolitan "Tonti,"  Italian bankers who introduced into public finances the "Tontine System,"  a method of borrowing through floating life annuities.

1794 -- Almost a 1000 more of the City's residents perish from small pox and spotted fever.  In response, the city establishes a contagious diseases facility at Belle Vue farm.

1796 -- The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church is formed to accommodate the City's first black congregation.  

1797 -- The City's first-known potter's field is opened in Washington Square.