| Date | Event |
|---|
| 1737 | Attempt to make Soar navigable blocked by land & mill owners |
| 1751 | Leicester Journal newspaper first published |
| 1776 | Loughborough obtains act to improve Soar navigation |
| 1778 | Loughborough sections of Leicester Navigation opened |
| 1780 | Campaign begins to extend Soar navigation back to Leicester |
| 1786 | Leicester Navigation Act defeated in Parliament |
| 1791 | Leicester and Melton Navigation Acts passed in Parliament |
| 1792 | Leicester Chronicle newspaper first published |
| 1793 | Oakham Navigation Act passed in Parliament |
| 1794 | Leicester Navigation opened |
| 1794 | Lock keepers cottage built at Pillings Lock, north of Barrow |
| 1796 | Blackbrook reservoir completed to supply Forest Canal |
| 1799 | Blackbrook Dam burst (20 Feb) |
| 1805 | Dispute over Sileby Mill floodgates |
| 1819 | Forest Canal railway link taken up and sold |
| 1824 | Navigation Company buys Barrow Mill |
| 1832 | Leicester to Swannington Railway opened |
| 1835 | First Ordnance survey map published |
| 1836 | Leicester Theatre Royal opens in Horsefair Street |
| 1840 | Midland Counties Railway from Derby to Rugby opened, with a station at Campbell Street, Leicester |
| 1845 | Barrow Bridge re-built |
| 1853 | Rowe's Circulating Library in business |
| 1857 | Hitchin to Leicester railway begins operating |
| 1857 | Leicester Guardian newspaper first published |
| 1860 | Navigation Company buys Thurmaston Mill |
| 1860 | Echo Bridge built at Mountsorrel |
| 1864 | South Leicestershire Railway (Hinckley-Leicester) begins operating |
| 1868 | Leicester Haymarket Memorial Clock Tower erected |
| 1871 | The Free Library opens in Wellington Street, Leicester |
| 1872 | Belgrave Mill purchased by borough of Leicester for flood prevention |
| 1874 | Leicester's first horse-drawn tram service begins operating, from the Clock Tower to Belgrave |
| 1874 | Leicester Mercury newspaper first published |
| 1876 | North Mill purchased by borough of Leicester for flood prevention |
| 1876 | Soar Lane Bridge built |
| 1877 | Melton Navigation abandoned |
| 1883 | Charnwood Forest railway opened |
| 1891 | Pumping station near Belgrave Lock opened (now Museum of Technology) |
| 1896 | Leicester Corporation purchases Gilroes and begins laying out a cemetery there |
| 1897 | Empress Works (craneworks) of Herbert Morris & Bastert Ltd built at Moor Lane |
| 1899 | London & North Eastern Railway (LNER) opened |
| 1904 | Conversion of Leicester's horse-drawn trams to electric trams is completed |
| 1913 | Leicester's De Montfort Hall opens |
| 1932 | Leicester and Loughborough Navigations bought by Grand Union |
| 1938 | Leicester Navigation toll house at Chainbridge, Loughborough, demolished |
| 1948 | Nationalisation of canals |
| 1951 | Lock keepers cottage at Pillings Lock, north of Barrow, demolished |
| 1992 | Leicester Polytechnic becomes De Montfort University |
| 2012 | The remains of King Richard III are discovered beneath a Council car park |
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