Charleston Firsts in America
Charleston is one of America’s most historic cities and is often referred to as a living museum. Even the Museum of American History at the Smithsonian has a special exhibit featuring the Holy City. Among other things, Charleston is famous for “firsts”.
Here are a few.
America's first:
First European settlement – 1526
First slave revolt – November 1526
First American-built ship to cross the Atlantic – 1563
First public library – November 16, 1700
First professional female artist – 1707
First opera performed – February 18, 1735
First fire insurance company – February 3, 1736
First building constructed solely for use as a theater – February 12, 1736
First systematic, scientific recording of weather information – April 1737
First major slave insurrection – September 9, 1739
First musical society – 1762
First cotton exported to England – 1764
First public museum – January 1773
First black Baptist Church – 1773
Oldest municipal Chamber of Commerce in continuous operation – December 9, 1773
First business publication – July 30, 1774
First independent government in the colonies – March 1776
First major naval battle of the Revolutionary War – June 28, 1776
First treaty between two US states – May 20, 1777
First eminent architect born in America – 1781
First golf club – September 29, 1786
First cotton mill – 1789
First ice transported commercially – 1799
First tea planted – 1802
First fireproof building – 1823
First Reform Jewish Congregation – November 21, 1824
First regularly scheduled rail passenger service – December 25, 1830
First municipal college – 1836
First trial in a worker's compensation lawsuit – July 1838
First building to be used solely as a college library – May 6, 1840
First patent for a mechanical refrigerator – May 6, 1851
First state to secede – December 20, 1860
First shot fired in the Civil War – January 9, 1861
First black Civil War regiment – November 1862
First black to earn a Medal of Honor – July 18, 1863
First submarine to sink a ship in battle – February 17, 1864
First black state supreme court associate justice – February 1, 1870
First commercial tea farm – 1890
First totally electric textile plant – 1893
First textile school established in a college – 1899
First rivetless cargo ship – February 1930
First Historical Zoning Ordinance – Oct 13, 1931
First US senator elected by write-in vote – November 2, 1954
First Independent Flag of the Colonies - 1775
First Golf Course - 1786
First Music Store - 1819
First Female Pirate
First Fire proof Building
First Landscaped Gardens
First Drug Store
First Artificial Ice