1178     Abbey is founded & is given the freedom to found a burgh, build a harbour & hold a weekly market.

1194     A wooden pier exists.

1233    The Abbey is complete.

1250     Spedalfield hospice founded.

1320     The Declaration of Arbroath - an underlining of Scottish independence.

1331     First mention of Marketgate.

1350     English sea raiders leave the Abbey badly fire damaged.

1394     The Abbot's harbour is built at Danger Point.

1445     A number of the town's core streets are named as 'crofts or thoroughfares'.

1446     The Battle of Arbroath between the Ogilvies & Lindsays.

1457     The Brothock Burn is dammed to form the Mawkin Pool.

1517     Aberbrothock is described as a town of 'about 200 hearths'.

1529     By this date Ladybridge has been constructed.

1580     The Parish Church is built at Kirk Wynd.

1590     Post reformation, the Abbey's status is gone & it's stone is now being used for town building.

1599     King James V1s charter confirms Aberbrothock as a royal burgh.

1608     The Abbey is formally 'dissolved'.

1653     Almerlieclose House is built. Newgate House is also built sometime this century.

1663     The Fraser Family arrive in the town.

1682     Arbroath is trading with Holland, Sweden, Prussia & France.

1706     Most of the harbour is destroyed in a great storm.

1724     Arbroath's first Provost is John Lamb.

1725-    A new harbour is constructed. St Mary's Chapel is demolished to accomodate this.

1738     A coarse linen is first made from yarn in the town. Linen thread manufacture will prosper for almost 50 years.

1742     Arbroath is trading with Baltic ports & bringing flax back to it's harbour.

1750-    The town's boatbuilding increases in importance.

1772     St John's Wesleyan Church is built.

1783     The harbour area is attacked by a French Privateer. Little damage is done.

1790     Arbroath is the main sailcloth producer in Scotland.

1795     Francis Webster & Sons (flax producers) is established in Arbroath.

1799     Auchmithie fisher families are being offered incentives to relocate to Arbroath's safer harbour.

1803     The Town House is built, containing a courtroom, meeting rooms & a large elegant hall.  A Lifeboat Station is established.

1806     James Watt inaugurates Brothock Mill as the first steam mill in Arbroath.

1808     The foundation stone of the Bell Rock Lighthouse is laid.

1813     The Signal Tower is completed.

1815     Conservation work begins on the Abbey.  The Trades Hall is erected.  A savings bank opens in the town.

1817     Seaforth House is built.  The town this year produces 2 million yards of Osnaburg & brown linen.

1821     The Academy (later the Library) is built.

1823     James Keith opens a tinsmith business. It will grow into a leading maker of heating, ventilating & hydraulic equipment.

1826     Thirty Three shoemakers are trading in the High Street area.   Gas is first supplied to the town.

1827     A patent slipway is laid at the harbour.

1832     Frasers is established. Douglas Fraser & Sons will produce jute mill machinery.

1838     The town's first railway station opens near the Signal Tower.  The Arbroath Herald is first published.

1839     The Arbroath & Forfar Railway opens.

1840     Brothock Bridge is built.

1842     The Arbroath Guide is published.

1843     The 'Disruption' of this year leads to the opening of Free Churches.

1845     Arbroath Infirmary opens.

1849     Corsars become the town's first fully operational power loom factory.

1850     Hospitalfield House is extended by Patrick Allan-Fraser.  Arbroath has 150 registered vessels.

1854     Arbroath's three tanneries are  producing 500 skins per week.

1855     The Corn Exchange is built.

1856     The largest ship ever built in Arbroath, the 800 ton 'Neville', is launched.

1857     The Dundee & Arbroath Railway is completed.  The town boasts ten churches.

1871     The Nolt Loan water supply is turned on.

1871     (-1877) The harbour is reconstructed.

1878     Arbroath FC is founded.  21,187 tons of coal is unloaded at the town's harbour this year.

1880     The Arbroath-Montrose Railway is opened.

1881     The town's population peaks at 24,475.  The Guildry building is erected.

1884     The Mortuary Chapel is built in the Western Cemetery.

1885     Arbroath FC beat Bon Accord 36-0, an unbeaten world record.  The Water Tower is constructed.

1887     Lochlands Cricket Ground is laid out.

1893     Keiths are the first company in Scotland to reduce the working day to 8 hours with no reduction in wages.

1896     The present Parish Church is built at Kirk Square.

1897     Victoria Park opens.

1898     The Public Library opens in Hill Terrace.      

1900     Keith & Blackman amalgamate.

1901      Russian flax crop fails - 9 Arbroath mills close & 1,500 jobs lost.

1906     The Elliot train disaster.

1908     A new water supply (from Noran Water) is now operational, making the Water Tower redundant.

1911     The present railway station opens in Keptie Street.

1912     The Olympia Cinema opens (in the former Corn Exchange).

1915     The Public Baths open in Marketgate.

1918     The Webster Hall is gifted to the town.

1920     Most Auchmithie fisher folk now live in Arbroath around the Fit O The Toun.

1921     The Arbroath Cinema opens in High Street.  The War Memorial is erected.

1925     The current Gayfield football park is laid out.

1928     Forfarshire becomes Angus.

1930     The Picture House opens in High Street.

1931     Almerlieclose House is demolished.

1932     Springfield Park opens.

1933     The White Hart Hotel at the Kirk Square/High Street corner is sold to F W Woolworth who open in September.

1934     The Seaforth Hotel opens.  The Bathing Pool opens.

1935     Kerr's Miniature Railway runs for the first time.  Kings Drive & Queens Drive construction starts.

1937     Land around Keptie Pond is gifted to the town as a public park. West Links Paddling Pool opens. The Marine Ballroom opens.

1938     The Condor opens as a Fleet Air Arm facility.

1940     The New Palace Theatre is built in James Street.  HMS Condor is commissioned.

1946     Prefabricated houses (the Prefabs) are being built at Cairnie.

1947     Arbroath's first Abbey Pageant takes place.

1948     The first houses in the Hayshead scheme are built.

1950     Benedict Road & St Murdochs Crescent are built.

1951     The Stone of Destiny, missing from Westminster, pops up at Arbroath Abbey.  Gayfield has a record attendance of 13,510.

1952     Television is watched in Arbroath for the first time.  Lamley Terrace & Gedy Place are built.

1953     The Arbroath Lifeboat disaster. Six die when the 'Robert Lindsay' capsizes.

1954     The Red Lion caravan site opens.  Hayshead School opens.

1955     60,000 people use Kerr's Miniature Railway this summer.  Gerrards Boatyard opens.  The last passenger train Arbr. to Forfar.

1956     Angus College is established.

1959     Last steam train arrives at Arbroath.  New Fire Sta. at Ponderlaw opens.  Olympia Cinema closes.  Arbr. FC reach 1st Division.

1960     St Vigeans Pictish Museum opens.  Yule's newsagents open in High Street.

1961     Metal Box Factory starts production.  Harbour rail line closes. Westway constr. begins.  Maternity Wing at Infirmary opens.

           Demolition clears part of Millgate Loan for the new telephone exchange.  Grampian TV start broadcasting to Arbroath.

1962     Westway is completed.

1963     Abbey Theatre is founded.  Pitch 'n' Putt opens in Springfield Park.  Houses are being built on both sides of Westway.

1964     Wardmill Bleachfield closes.

1965     Traction engine 'Jinglin' Geordie' retires.  Arbroath's last gas street lamp is extinguished in Long Row off Guthrie Port.

1966     Keith & Blackman's foundry is demolished.  Mackays Boatbuilders established.  Braemar Knitwear opens at Elliot.

1967     Ladyloan Church demolished.  Arbroath to Forfar rail line closes.  Elliot Junction Station closes.

1968     GEC Woods take over Keith & Blackman. The Charles Avenue housing scheme construction begins. Arbroath FC win promotion to Scottish 1st Division.

1969     Ladyloan demolition in progress to make way for the new dual carriageway from Dundee Road to Grant Road.  Shanks is taken over by Giddings & Lewis              Fraser.   Vandona (Bell Rock) Restaurant opens on Ladyloan.   Black Shed fishmarket opens.

1970     Briggs asphalt works at Elliot closes.  Webster Theatre opens.

1971     HMS Conder becomes RM Condor.

1973     Parkhouse School in Lordburn is demolished.  Part of High Street pedestrianised.  1-way traffic system introduced.  New dual carriageway (Dundee                   Road to Grant Road) opens.  Silverwells Garden Centre opens.  

1974     Ladyloan Primary School opens at Millgate Loan.  Picture House closes.  Signal Tower opens as Arbr Museum.  1st traffic lights Keptie St.

1975     Last 'Arbroath printed' Herald.  Braemar Knitwear closes.  Pleasureland opens.  Tayside Region formed - Angus is 'dissolved'.

1976     Halliburton open at Elliot.  

1977     Catherine Street Railway Station closes.

1978     Arbroath Guide ceases publication.

1980     Radio North Angus broadcasts from Arbroath Infirmary.

1981     'The Old Brewhouse' opens as a restaurant.  Burnside Drive Bus Station opens.  The Bathing Pool closes.

1982     The sold off section of the Bathing Pool opens as 'Smokeys' Night Club.

1983     Marine Ballroom closes.

1984     Jim Reid & Foundry Bar Band members record the album 'I Saw The Wild Geese Flee'.  Abbeygate Shopping Centre opens.

1985     New High School opens at Keptie Rd.  GEC Woods close.  John M Henderson open.  Presto's open at Gravesend.  Public Baths close.

1986     Pringle open at Elliot.  Marketgate given new layout.  Lifeboat Station boathouse extension built. New car park laid out alongside inner harbour.

1987     Bell Rock Lighthouse is automated.  Town's first cashpoint machine opens at Halifax BS, High Street.  Mackintosh Structures open.

1990     Parish Church closes on amalgamation with Abbey Church.  

1991     Red Lion new facilities complex built.  Saltire Centre built.  Safeway move into Gravesend premises.

1992     The 'Palace' building is demolished.

1993     The last two thirds of the Bathing Pool is demolished.  H.O.P.E. Garden Trust established.

1994     West Links refurbished.  Angus is politically re-established.

1995     Gerrards Boatyard closes.  Miniature Formula 1 opens.  Road Train starts.

1996     C.A.F.E. Project starts.  Alma building is now homes.  Angus Business Centre opens in Keptie Road.

1997     Fishing boat 'Whitehaven' lost - 4 die.  First Sea Fest.  Danger Point bridge replaced.

1998     New post office opens in Abbeygate Shopping Centre.

1999     Andy Stewart Court sheltered housing opens.

2000     First phase of Focus/McDonalds development is complete.

2001     Abbey Visitor Centre opens.  'Corn Exchange' opens as pub/restr.  Robt Bruce/Bernard de Linton statues erected in West Common.

2002     Condor Marines in Afghanistan.  Old established firm DT Wilson (furniture) close.  

2003     Work on dualling A92 Arbroath-Dundee Road begins.

2004     Harbour Gates installed.  Smokies name protected.  Marina pontoons installed.  Herald has news on page 1.  First Seafront Spectacular.

2005     Inshore Lifeboat in service.  Old sailcloth store restored.  Pageant filmed & DVD produced  Dualled A92 Arbroath-Dundee opens.

2006     Work begins on Harbour Visitor Centre.  Cliffburn Community Park opens.  First Tutties in the Park Day.  Seaforth destroyed by fire.

2007     Mayfield Terrace regeneration begins.  Jill Kerr takes over Kerr's Miniature Railway.  The Harbour Visitor Centre opens.

2008     Webster Theatre re-opens after 22 months refurbishment.  The 'Linies' housing development (off Millgate) rises.  Wm. Glover sails Atlantic solo.

2009     Construction begins on 4.9 hectare housing development site at Cliffburn.  Jim Reid, folk singer/songwriter & Foundry Bar Band member dies.

2010     Arbroath Bus Station improved.  Movies return to Arbroath courtesy of Webster Theatre.  Westway Retail Park adds KFC.

2011      Bicentenary of Bell Rock Lighthouse, celebrated in many events throughout the year. Arbr FC win first league ch'ship since being founded in 1878.

2012      West Links new playpark opens.