Tuesday, March 15, 1887
The Boston Athletic Association was established, and construction began soon after on the B.A.A. Clubhouse at the corner of Exeter and Blagden Streets.

Summer 1896
The marathon race at the first modern Olympic Games in Athens in 1896 served as the inspiration for the B.A.A. Boston Marathon, which was held the following spring.

Monday, April 19, 1897
The B.A.A. Marathon was originally called the American Marathon and was the final event of the B.A.A. Games. The first running of the B.A.A. Road Race commenced at the site of Metcalf's Mill in Ashland and finished at the Irvington Street Oval near Copley Square. John J. McDermott, of New York, emerged from a 15-member starting field to capture the inaugural Boston Marathon.

Tuesday, April 19, 1898
In its second running, the B.A.A. Marathon welcomed its first foreign champion when 22-year-old Boston College student Ronald J. MacDonald, of Antigonish, Nova Scotia, won the race in 2:42:00. MacDonald's accomplishment foreshadowed the international appeal the race would later attract. Today, 19 countries can claim a Boston Marathon champion. The United States leads the list with 41 triumphs.

Wednesday, April 19, 1911
The legendary Clarence H. DeMar of Melrose, Massachusetts won his first of seven Boston Marathon titles. However, on the advice of medical experts, DeMar initially "retired" from the sport following his first title. He later won six titles between 1922 and 1930, including three consecutive from 1922 through 1924. DeMar was 41 years old when he won his final title in 1930.

Friday, April 19, 1918
Due to American involvement in World War I, the traditional Patriots' Day race underwent a change of format. A 10-man military relay race was contested on the course, and the team from Camp Devens in Ayer, Massachusetts, bested the field in 2:24:53.

Saturday, April 19, 1924
The course was lengthened to 26 miles, 385 yards to conform to the Olympic standard, and the starting line was moved west from Ashland to Hopkinton.

Thursday, April 19, 1928
John A. "The Elder" Kelley made his Boston Marathon debut. Kelley, who won the race in 1935 and again in 1945, has the record for most Boston Marathons started (61) and finished (58). His final race came in 1992 at the age of 84. Meanwhile, Clarence DeMar captured his second straight title (his sixth overall). To date, only nine champions have returned to successfully defend their title. DeMar is the only one to have posted consecutive triumphs on more than one occasion (1922-24 and 1927-28).

Monday, April 20, 1936
The last of Newton's hills was given the nickname "Heartbreak Hill" by Boston Globe reporter Jerry Nason. When John A. Kelley caught eventual champion Ellison "Tarzan" Brown on the Newton hills, Kelley made a friendly gesture of tapping Brown on the shoulder. Brown responded by regaining the lead on the final hill, and as Nason reported, "breaking Kelley's heart."

Saturday, April 19, 1941
Leslie Pawson of Pawtucket, Rhode Island joined Clarence DeMar as the only champion to win the men's open race three times or more. Pawson first won the race in 1933 and added a second title in 1938. The pair has since been joined by Gerard Cote, Bill Rodgers, Eino Oksanen, Ibrahim Hussein, and Cosmas Ndeti.

Saturday, April 19, 1947
For the only time in the history of the men's open race, a world-best was established at the Boston Marathon when Korean Yun Bok Suh turned in a 2:25:39 performance.

Saturday, April 20, 1957
John J. Kelley became the first and currently lone B.A.A. club member to win the Boston Marathon. In addition, from 1946 to 1967, Kelley was the only American to win the race.

Tuesday, April 19, 1966
Although not an official entrant, Roberta "Bobbi" Gibb became the first woman to run the Boston Marathon. Joining the starting field shortly after the gun had been fired, Gibb finished the race in 3:21:40 to place 126th overall. Gibb again claimed the "unofficial" title in 1967 and 1968.

Wednesday, April 19, 1967
By signing her entry form "K. V. Switzer," Kathrine Switzer became the first woman to receive a number in the Boston Marathon. By her own estimate, Switzer finished in 4:20:00.

Monday, April 20, 1970
Qualifying standards were introduced. The official B.A.A. entry form stated, "A runner must submit the certification...that he has trained sufficiently to finish the course in less than four hours…"

Monday, April 17, 1972
Women were allowed to officially run the Boston Marathon, and Nina Kuscsik emerged from an eight-member starting field to win the race in 3:10:26.

Monday, April 21, 1975
A trio of stories emerged from this race, as Bill Rodgers collected his first of four titles, Bob Hall became the first officially recognized participant to complete the course in a wheelchair, and Liane Winter of West Germany established a women's world-best of 2:42:24. Hall was granted permission to enter the race provided that he covered the distance in under three hours. Hall finished in 2:58:00, signaling the start of the wheelchair division in the race.

Monday, April 19, 1982
Alberto Salazar and Dick Beardsley became the first two runners to break 2:09:00 in the same race after dueling one another for first place over the final nine miles. Salazar emerged victorious from the thrilling final sprint to the finish, with Beardsley just two seconds behind in 2:08:54.

Monday, April 18, 1983
Joan Benoit won her second Boston Marathon in a world-best time of 2:22:43. Benoit, who won the Olympic Marathon the following summer, became the first person to win the Boston and Olympic Marathons. Greg Meyer, a resident of Massachusetts at the time, won the men's race and is the most recent American man to win the Boston Marathon.

Monday, April 15, 1985
Lisa Larsen-Weidenbach, who placed fourth at the 1984, 1988, and 1992 U.S. Olympic trials, ran uncontested to win the women's race in 2:34:06 and remains the last female American champion at Boston.

Monday, April 21, 1986
Through the generous support of principal sponsor John Hancock Financial Services, prize money was awarded for the first time, and Rob de Castella of Australia earned $60,000 and a Mercedes-Benz for finishing first in a course-record time of 2:07:51. On the women's side, Ingrid Kristiansen of Norway captured her first of two Boston Marathon titles in 2:24:55 (she won her second title in 1989).

Monday, April 20, 1987
Rosa Mota of Portugal collected her first of three Boston Marathon titles. Mota is the only Boston champion to have won the marathon at the Olympics and World Championships.

Monday, April 18, 1988
Kenya's Ibrahim Hussein finished one second ahead of Tanzania's Juma Ikangaa, and became the first African to win Boston. Hussein, who also won in 1991 and 1992, established a trend in which African runners won 14 of 16 races.

Monday, April 16, 1990
Jean Driscoll of Champaign, Illinois won her first of seven consecutive push rim wheelchair division races. Men's champion Gelindo Bordin of Italy became the third person to win the Boston and Olympic Marathons, and masters division champion John Campbell of New Zealand established a then world-best of 2:11:04 to finish fourth overall.

Monday, April 18, 1994
World-best performances were established in the men's and women's wheelchair divisions, while course records fell in the men's and women's open divisions. For the fifth consecutive year, Jean Driscoll posted a world-best to win the women's wheelchair division, while Heinz Frei of Switzerland set the men's world-best to mark the 12th time the record had been established at Boston. Cosmas Ndeti of Kenya lowered the course record to 2:07:15, while Uta Pippig set the women's standard at 2:21:45.

Monday, April 15, 1996
The historic 100th running of the Boston Marathon attracted 38,708 official entrants (36,748 starters; 35,868 finishers), which stands as the largest field of finishers in history. Uta Pippig overcame a 30-second deficit and severe dehydration, among other difficulties, to become the first woman of the official era to win the race in three consecutive years.

Monday, April 21, 1997
Fatuma Roba of Ethiopia became the fourth person to win the Boston and Olympic Marathons, and the first African woman to win the Boston Marathon. Two years later, she would become the second woman of the official era to win the race in three consecutive years.

Monday, April 20, 1998
The performances of Moses Tanui (2:07:34), Joseph Chebet (2:07:37), and Gert Thys (2:07:52) marked the first time in the history of the sport that three runners finished in under 2:08:00.

Monday, April 17, 2000
After seven consecutive victories (1990-1996) followed by three years as runner-up (1997-1999), Jean Driscoll won an unprecedented eighth title in the wheelchair division, moving her past legendary Hall of Famer Clarence DeMar for most all-time victories at Boston. Catherine Ndereba became the first Kenyan woman to win the Boston Marathon; Elijah Lagat, also of Kenya, was first to the finish in the men's race, marking the tenth consecutive year a runner from his country won the title. Both the men's and women's races were the closest in history.

Monday, April 16, 2001
After an unprecedented ten consecutive victories by Kenyans in the men's race, Lee Bong-Ju of Korea halted the streak with his 2:09:43 win. The last Korean winner at Boston prior to Lee was Kee Yong Ham, who was the men's race champion in 1950.

Monday, April 15, 2002
Two records were set in the women's race when Margaret Okayo of Kenya dethroned two-time defending champion Catherine Ndereba in 2:20:43 and Russian Firaya Sultanova-Zhdanova broke the 14-year old masters record with her 2:27:58 victory.

Monday, April 21, 2003
For the first time, Russian women finished in first and second place at the Boston Marathon and placed four among the top seven. Svetlana Zakharova led the way in 2:25:20, beating runner-up Lyubov Denisova (2:26:51) by one minute, 31 seconds. After the race, Zakharova cited Boston champion Olga Markova as inspiration for a generation of Russian women with her two victories a decade earlier in 1992 and 1993. Also, the qualifying times were adjusted for the first time since 1990, and the maximum field size was set at 20,000 official entrants.

Monday, April 19, 2004
To better showcase the women's elite field, the B.A.A. implemented a separate start for the top female runners. In a dramatic change to race format, 35 national and international caliber women began at 11:31 a.m. (29 minutes before the rest of the field and the traditional Noon start). Also, Ernst Van Dyk, of South Africa, made history in the push rim wheelchair division when he won for the fourth consecutive year in a world record time of 1:18:27. His victory was further historically significant in that he became the first person ever to crack the 1:20:00 barrier.