Timeline of Odesa

The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Odesa, Ukraine.

13th to 17th century

1240 – Tatars begin settling herds in the region.
1415 – A settlement of Kachibei was first mentioned.
15th century – Khadjibey ceded to Lithuania.
1529 – Ottoman conquest.

18th century

1764 – Fortress Yeni Dünya built at Khadjibey by Turks.
1789 – Russian forces take fortress.
1791 – Khadjibey annexed to Novorossiya.
1794 – Odesa founded by decree of Catherine II of Russia.
1795
* Population: 2,250.
* Cathedral of the Transfiguration founded.

19th century

1802 – Population: 9,000.
1803 – Duc de Richelieu in power.
1804 – Commercial school founded.
1805
* Odesa becomes administrative center of New Russia.
* Theatre opens.
* Russian Orthodox church built.
1808 – Troitzkaya Church active.
1809
* Cathedral built.
* Opera house built.
1812 – Plague.
1814 – Population: 25,000.
1816 – Louis Alexandre Andrault de Langeron in power.
1817 – Richelieu Lyceum established.
1819 – Odesa becomes a free port.
1821
* Church of the Dormition built.
* Pogrom against Jews.
1824 – Odesa becomes "seat of the governors-general of Novorossia and Bessarabia".
1825 – Archeological Museum founded.
1826
* Fyodor Palen in power.
* Jewish school established.
* Richelieu Monument unveiled.
1828 – Imperial Rural Association for Southern Russia founded.
1830
* Public library established.
* Vorontsov Palace built.
1838 – Plague.
1841 – Giant Staircase constructed.
1846 - Londonska Hotel opens.
1847 – Novobazarnaya Church built.
1850 – Population: 100,000.
1853
* Crimean War begins.
* Roman Catholic Church rebuilt.
1854 – Anglo-French fleet attacks Odesa.
1856 – Russian Steam Navigation and Trading Company established.
1857 – August 15: Free port status revoked.
1859 – Pogrom against Jews.
1862
* Odesa Military District established.
* Vorontsov Lighthouse built.
1865 – Imperial Novorossiya University established.
1866 – Odesa–Balta railway begins operating.
1871
* Pogrom against Jews.
* Russian Technical Society, Odesa branch, founded.
1873 – Population: 162,814.
1874 – Theatre Velikanova built.
1875 – Tzar visits Odesa.
1876 – Turkish forces attack Odesa.
1880 – Horse tramway begins operating.
1881
* Steam tramway begins operating.
* Pogrom against Jews.
1882 – Population: 217,000.
1887 – Theatre built.
1894 – Odesa Committee of the Social Democratic Workers Party organized.
1895 – St. Panteleimon church consecrated.
1897 – Lutheran Church built.
1899
* General Post Office built.
* Exchange built.
* Bristol Hotel opens.
1900 – Population: 449,673.

20th century

1902 – Cadet School active.
1905
* June: Potemkin uprising.
* Pogrom against Jews.
1906
* Uprising.
* Municipal Library built.
1907 – Myrograph film studio in business.
1910
* Electric Tram begins operating.
* Trade fair held.
1913
* Conservatoire founded.
* Sergiyev Artillery School active.
* Population: 631,040.
1917 – City occupied by Ukrainian Tsentral'na Rada, French Army, Red Army, and White Army following the Bolshevik Revolution.
1918
* 13 March: Odesa occupied by Central Powers.
* Odesa becomes capital of Odesa Soviet Republic.
* Polytechnic University established.
* December: Odesa occupied by the French Army
* Consulate of Poland opened.
1919 – Odesa Film Studio founded.
1920 – Red Army in power.
1921 – Odesa State Economics University established.
1922
* Odesa State Medical Institute established.
* Odesa Zoo opens.
1924 – Odesa Philharmonic Theater opens.
1926 – [Odesa Oblast Academic Drama Theater|State Odesa Russian Empire|Russian Drama Theatre] established.
1928 – Spartak Stadium opens.
1933 – School of Stolyarsky established.
1935 – Kosior Memorial Stadium built.
1936
* The Filatov Institute of Eye Diseases & Tissue Therapy founded.
* Dynamo football club formed.
1937 – Mass murder of around 1,000 Poles during the Polish Operation of the NKVD.
1941
* August 8-October 16: Siege of Odesa.
* October 17: Axis occupation begins.
* October 22–24: 1941 Odesa massacre.
* Odesa becomes capital of Romanian-administered Transnistria Governorate.
1944
* April 10: Red Army takes city; Axis occupation ends.
* ODO Odesa football team active.
* Odesa State Maritime Academy founded.
1945 – Odesa designated a Hero City of the USSR.
1952 – Railway Station rebuilt.
1961
* Odesa International Airport built.
* Pushkin Museum opens.
1963 – Avangard rugby club formed.
1965 – Population: 735,000.
1973 – April 10: Humorina festival begins.
1979 – Population: 1,072,000.
1984 – Deribasivska Street pedestrianized.
1985 – Population: 1,126,000.
1989 – Outdoor market relocates to Odesa-Ovidiopol highway.
1992 – BIPA-Moda basketball club formed.
1994
* Eduard Gurwits becomes mayor.
* New music festival begins.
1998 – Rouslan Bodelan becomes mayor.
1999 – Odesa Numismatics Museum established.
2000 – Quarantine Pier designated free economic zone and port.

21st century

2001 – Al-Salam Mosque opens.
2003 – Rebuilt Odesa Cathedral consecrated.
2005 – Eduard Gurwits becomes mayor again.
2007 – Pryvoz Market rebuilt.
2010 – Odesa International Film Festival begins.
2011
* Chornomorets Stadium built.
* FC SKA Odesa formed.
* Aleksey Kostusyev becomes mayor.
* Population: 1,003,705.
2014 – 2014 Odesa clashes.
2014 – after Crimea annexation by Russia, Odesa become the main naval base of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
2018 – Population: 993,831.
2022 – Odesa is being constantly shelled by Russian missiles and the Odesa port is blocked.
2025 – On 15 October 2025 on Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy decreed that Odesa had been placed under a city military administration headed by Serhiy Lysak. This happens after Mayor of Odesa Hennadii Trukhanov is removed from office due to him having a Russian passport.