1620—Pilgrims land at Plymouth.

1635—The Latin Grammar School opens in Boston, Massachusetts. It is America’s first organized education outside the home.

1638—The first printing press in America is set up. This happens at Harvard College in Newtowne, Massachusetts. Harvard is another first—the first place of higher education in America.

1642—Massachusetts Bay Colony makes a law: Parents and employers must teach youngsters to understand laws and religion. And another law is made, called the Old Deluder Act. It says every town of more than 50 families should hire a schoolmaster to teach reading and writing. Every town of 100 families should have one to teach Latin.

1683—William Penn, writing about the Pennsylvania Colony, says the government should organize and run all public schools.

1690—The New England Primer textbook teaches that knowledge without righteousness is worthless.

1698—The first publicly supported library is established in Charles Town, South Carolina.

1775-1776—American Revolution.

1776—Pennsylvania’s Constitution says schools should be set up in each county.

Teachers begin using The McGuffy Reader.

1801—James Pillans hangs a slab of slate and invents the blackboard.

1804-1806—Lewis and Clark.

1821—First high school paid for and organized by the government opens in Massachusetts.

1828—Noah Webster completes his dictionary. The Christian scholar says, “The heart should be instructed with more care than the head.”

1834—Pennsylvania law says taxes may be used to pay for public schools.

1848—California Gold Rush.

1856—German immigrant Margarethe Meyer Schurz starts the first American kindergarten.

1857—Teacher groups from 10 states start an organization called the National Teachers Association.

1861-1865 Civil War.

1866—Union General O.O. Howard says freed slaves must be educated.

1887—The U.S. government forms the Department of Education. The New York College for Training Teachers is organized.

1903—The Wright Brothers make their first flight.