Monmouth Timeline

What Happened On This Day In Monmouth County History?

Photo of Holmdel horn antenna at Bell Telephone Laboratories in Holmdel. (1962). United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), public domain.
October 17, 1978

Bell Labs’ Arno Penzias & Robert Wilson Are Nobel Prize Laureates

On October 17, 1978, Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson, researchers at Bell Labs in Holmdel, were recipients of the Nobel Prize in Physics for their discovery of cosmic microwave background radiation. Using the powerful “Holmdel horn antenna” (pictured), Penzias and...
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Featured Monmouth County History Timelines & Stories

Photograph of Project Diana at Camp Evans, ©InfoAge Science & Technology Museums, used with permission.
January 10, 1946

Project Diana: The Beginning of the Space Age

January 28, 1915

The Legacy of the U.S. Life-Saving Service: The United States Coast Guard

Wreck of the ship John Minturn, Currier & Ives lithograph. (1846). N. Currier. Created January 1, 1846. Library of Congress. Public Domain.
February 15, 1846

The Wreck of the John Minturn: A Horrible Tragedy Implicates, but then Vindicates the Wreckers of Monmouth County and Inspires the First Federal Funding for Life-Saving Services

Original illustration of Vito and Anna Genovese by Scott Zelazny, commissioned by MonmouthTimeline.org.
December 8, 1952

Anna Genovese vs. Vito Genovese

John R. Barrows
Thomas Edison and his original dynamo, Edison Works, Orange, N.J. b&w film copy neg. of half stereo by H.C. White Co., created / published c1906. Library of Congress image, public domain.
March 7, 1917

A Brief Timeline of Thomas Alva Edison in Monmouth County

Marlpit Hall, one of five historic houses maintained by the Monmouth County Historical Association (MCHA). Image courtesy MCHA, used with permission.
November 4, 1762

Marlpit Hall, c. 1762

October 24, 1936

Albert Einstein Visits Monmouth County’s New Utopian Community

by Dr. Yvette Florio Lane
Samual-Johnson-Project-FINAL-1000
March 5, 1886

Samuel Johnson, Victim of a Lynching

By Gary Saretzky
Manasquan High School yearbook photo of Jack Nicholson.
April 22, 1937

Jack Nicholson

May 4, 1902

Booker T. Washington Comes To Red Bank For Historic Meeting with T. Thomas Fortune

Camp Little Silver, first home of the U.S. Army Signal Corps, photo courtesy Library of Congress, public domain.
June 3, 1917

U.S. Army Signal Corps Arrives In Little Silver To Begin Construction Of Fort Monmouth

Annotated map of Coopers Ferry, June 1778.
May 3, 1778

Battle of Monmouth – How It Begins

Photograph of men in a rowboat in Matawan Creek looking for sharks while women look on holding a shotgun.
July 12, 1916

The Jersey Shore Shark Attacks of 1916

Official White House portraits of U.S. Presidents Grant, Hayes, Garfield, Arthur, Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison, McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, Taft, Wilson, Nixon. Public domain.
September 4, 1931

The Curious Origin of the “Seven Presidents” of Monmouth County

by John R. Barrows
August 21, 1904

The Legendary William “Count” Basie

The Fatal Showdown Between Colonel Tye and Joshua Huddy, original illustration. Commissioned by Monmouth Timeline, ©2021, Charlie Swerdlow, History Depicted.
September 1, 1780

The Fatal Showdown Between Colonel Tye and Joshua Huddy

The removal of President Garfield, with his physicians and attendants, from the White House to the Francklyn Cottage, at Elberon by the sea, September 6th. Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, September 24, 1881, Library of Congress. Public domain.
September 19, 1881

U.S. President James A. Garfield Dies in Elberon

John R. Barrows
Composite image of Time/Newsweek Springsteen covers. Single image composite of two cropped images to illustrate story consistent with Fair Use Doctrine.
October 27, 1975

Bruce Springsteen Appears on Covers of Time & Newsweek on the Same Week

Photo of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. speaking at Monmouth University. Photo from Monmouth Magazine, courtesy Monmouth University, used with permission.
October 8, 1966

Dr. Martin Luther King’s 1966 Speech at Monmouth College

CPL Horace Marvin Thorne. U.S. Army image courtesy Congressional Medal of Honor Society. Public Domain.
December 21, 1944

Medal of Honor: Horace Marvin “Buddy” Thorne