What was the first chartered town in the united states

The Dutch first settled in Lewes in , according to its Chamber of Commerce. It calls itself "The first town in the first state, " since Delaware was the first to ratify the Constitution. According to many historians, St. Augustine is the oldest city in the US , having been established by the Spanish in General James Oglethorpe and passengers traveling on a ship named "Anne" docked along the Savannah River in , and the city of Savannah was born.

It became the British colonial capital of the Province of Georgia. Hilo's history dates back to AD. Christian missionaries arrived in , and it became a center of whaling and trade. Franklin was founded in by a small group of Mormon settlers and was named for Apostle Franklin D.

Soon, a village grew around it. Vincennes was a French fur trading post when it was established in along the Wabash River , according to the city's official website. Dubuque was established in by Julien Dubuque , a French-Canadian fur trader. He worked with the local Mesquakie Indian tribe to manage lead mines in the area. Fort Leavenworth was established in and is still in use today, making it the third-oldest continuously active military base in the US.

It was the largest city on the Missouri River during the Civil War , according to the city's official website. Harrodsburg, which was originally called Harrodstown , was established by James Harrod in Natchitoches, founded in by French explorers , resembles New Orleans' French quarter, and is sometimes referred to as "little New Orleans.

English settlers first arrived in Kittery in , and it was incorporated in Mary's City was founded in by English Catholics who were escaping religious persecution. Many consider it the birthplace of religious freedom in the US. Plymouth is referred to as " America's hometown " for its famed Plymouth Rock, where the Mayflower landed in though Jamestown, Virginia, also begets the title as the oldest settlement.

Sault Ste. Marie celebrated its th anniversary this year , having been founded by French missionaries and fur traders in Wabasha was established in , though it has been continuously occupied since Some believe Stillwater, Minnesota, is the state's oldest town because it was incorporated in , while Wabasha wasn't incorporated until But according to the year of first settlement, the Second Treaty of Prairie du Chien drafted in establishes that Wabasha preceded it.

Natchez was founded in , by French colonists. It was the state's most active slave trading city. The exact year that St. Genevieve was founded is unclear, but French-Canadian settlers could have established it as early as , according to Encyclopedia Britannica.

Mary's Mission — the Northwest's first church and school. The town is celebrated during Western Heritage Days as the oldest town in Montana. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, Bellevue is the oldest continuously inhabited settlement in Nebraska. It was first established as a trading post in , and moved to its current location in Genoa is a tiny town — according to its website, just people live there.

It was settled in , as a trading post by a group of Mormon traders from Salt Lake City. Dover's website states that it's the oldest continuous settlement in New Hampshire and the seventh oldest in the entire US. It was originally settled in fishermen and traders.

One Pueblo village, founded around A. Indigenous groups expelled the Spanish from the region from to , but the rebellion was eventually put down. Santa Fe remained in Spanish hands until Mexico declared its independence in , and then became part of the Texas Republic when it pulled away from Mexico in Today, Santa Fe is a thriving capital city known for its Spanish Territorial style of architecture.

Hampton, Virginia, began as Point Comfort, an English outpost established by the same people who founded nearby Jamestown. Located at the mouth of the James River and the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay, Hampton became major military outpost after American Independence.

Jamestown's founders first encountered the region's Indigenous people at Kecoughtan, Virginia, where members of the Kikotan People lived. Although that first contact in was largely peaceful, relations had soured within a few years, and by , the Indigenous communities had been driven from the town and murdered by colonists.

In , the town was incorporated into part of the larger town of Hampton. Today, it remains a part of the larger municipality. Like its neighboring city of Hampton, Newport News also traces its founding to the English. But it wasn't until the s when new rail lines began bringing Appalachian coal to the newly founded shipbuilding industry. Today, Newport News Shipbuilding remains one of the largest industrial employers in the state, producing aircraft carriers and submarines for the military.

Albany is the capital of New York state and its oldest city. The English, who took control in , renamed it in honor of the Duke of Albany. It became the capital of New York state in and remained a regional economic and industrial power until the midth century when much of upstate New York's economy began to decline.

Many state government offices in Albany are located at Empire State Plaza, which is considered a prime example of Brutalist and International Style architecture. Present-day Jersey City occupies the land where Dutch traders established the settlement of New Netherland in or around , although some historians trace Jersey City's beginnings to a Dutch land grant in The Lenape People originally occupied it. Although its population was well established by the time of the American Revolution , it wasn't formally incorporated until as the City of Jersey.

Eighteen years later, it would be reincorporated as Jersey City. As of , it is New Jersey's second-largest city behind Newark. Plymouth is known as the site where the Pilgrims landed on December 21, , after crossing the Atlantic aboard the Mayflower. It was the site of what most of us know as the first Thanksgiving and the capital of the Plymouth Colony until it merged with the Massachusetts Bay Colony in Located on the southwestern shores of Massachusetts Bay, present-day Plymouth had been occupied by Indigenous peoples for centuries.

Were it not for the assistance of Squanto and others from the Wampanoag tribe during the winter of , the Pilgrims may not have survived. Weymouth today is part of the Boston metro area, but when it was founded in , it was only the second permanent European settlement in Massachusetts. However, this early promise soon turned sour as proximity to the sea meant trouble with pirates.

Additionally, the Tuscarora Indians — who suffered enslavement and disease at the hands of their invaders — waged a four-year war with the Europeans, bringing terrible bloodshed to the town before Bath was even ten years old. Natchitoches was built just four years ahead of nearby New Orleans, so it is no surprise that parts of the respective towns closely resemble each other. It began as a mere outpost from which the French could keep an eye on challenges to their territory along the Red River.

The oldest city on the Mississippi River was founded by the French in and later ceded to the Spanish. Sadly, the fortunes of Natchez are founded on its status us a slave-trading hub serving the nearby cotton and sugarcane empires. Vincennes was established by Francois Marie Bissot—Sieur de Vincennes to protect the thriving local fur trade from the British. Floods again threatened the historic center in and , but improvised levees were constructed and most of the older buildings were saved.

The explorer and soldier James Harrod took 30 men to the area near the Salt and Kentucky Rivers in and divided the land between them. Today, it has become a quaint little old town with a population of not much over 8, people; both the living areas and the preserved historical spots retain that frontier look.

Missionary work intended to convert and subdue the locals often led to rebellions by tribes such as the Pima Indians in Previously occupied by Caddo Indians, the area has passed beneath nine different flags since the Spanish missions arrived — three more than the rest of Texas: Spanish, French, Gutierrez-Magee Rebellion, Dr.

Just people live in Georgetown today — keeping it alive as the oldest continuously inhabited settlement in Arkansas.

And no, they are not all called George. George was the surname of three men who bought and redeveloped the town some decades after it was founded. The first capital of Russian Alaska, Kodiak was established by Russian fur hunters and traders keen to exploit the North Sea otter. Today, the city is one of the largest fishing ports in the US. Pembina was first inhabited by Chippewa Indians. Of course, today it is most celebrated as the shooting location of s classic The Goonies.

Original 19 th century buildings still dot Fort Gibson, which grew from the settlement of military families, local Native Americans, and freed slaves.

The fort had originally been established to protect both European and migrating Cherokee settlers from indigenous tribes such as the Osage Nation. Before , the area that became Wabasha was occupied by the Sioux. As such, the city of Leavenworth was established in and quickly boomed — despite regional uprisings by local and forcibly relocated Native Americans whose land treaties were trashed as whites expanded into the area.

Julien Dubuque, a French-Canadian fur trader, arrived in the region in , and formed close friendships with the local Mesquakie Indians, who revealed to him the location of valuable lead deposits nearby.