A Timeline for The Jackson Laboratory
| 1888 | Birth of Clarence Cook Little in Brookline, Massachusetts, October 6. |
| 1923 | CCL, President of U. of Maine, holds first summer laboratory session on MDI with six students. (Camping trip for a field study project in natural history.) |
| 1924 | |
| 1929 | May 4th, C.C. Little, President of the U. of Michigan, founds The Roscoe B. Jackson Memorial Laboratory in Bar Harbor; eight employees and $50,000, "For research in cancer and the effects of radiation." Land donated by George B. Dorr, family friend. |
| 1930 | Staff consists of CCL, Fekete, J. Murray, Cloudman, Strong, C. Green, Bittner |
| 1931 | First summer students, including Caroline Silence. |
| 1932 | |
| 1933 | First mouse sales. |
| 1934 | |
| 1935 | Snell arrives; 1st successful transfer of fertilized ova by Fekete |
| 1936 | |
| 1937 | Staff consists of Woolley, Russell and Russell, CCL, Snell, Fekete, Cloudman. First annual report. |
| 1938 | First grants from National Cancer Institute to Bittner. Earl Green a summer student. Rockefeller wing added to Unit 1. First post-docs taken on. |
| 1939 | |
| 1940 | |
| 1941 | U.S. government requests mice for research. Biology of the Laboratory Mouse, 1st Edition. |
| 1942 | |
| 1943 | Aldersea estate given to the laboratory for faculty housing by the heirs of Mary Coles of Philadelphia. |
| 1944 | |
| 1945 | Unit 2. Rockefeller Foundation funds dog research at Hamilton Station. |
| 1946 | Federal funds enable expansion and building addition, Unit 3. Conference on Genetics and Social Behavior Hamilton Station animal barns donated by Mr./Mrs. Hamilton [actually in 1941 & 1942] Snell & Gorer publish H-2 discovery. |
| 1947 | October 19-23, Bar Harbor fire, TRBJML and 90,000 mice destroyed. |
| 1948 | Newly rebuilt from donations and mice from around the world. Unit 3 and student quarters built. Board of Trustees created. |
| 1949 | Formation of lab chapter of Sigma Xi August 21, Dedication of Unit 4 and the new laboratory complex. Formation of The Jackson Laboratory Corporation Board of Trustees; Richard W. Jackson, President (son of Roscoe B. Jackson) Board of Scientific Directors; Dr. Leslie Dunn, President First donation from Ladies Auxillary of Veterans of Foreign Wars (LAVFW). |
| 1950 | Unit 4 completed and slate-tiled courtyard added. |
| 1951 | Morris / Hawkes estate donates Highseas Arrival of mouse box washer, bottle washer, and bottles filler. Margaret Dickie discovers the obese mutation. Dedication of Lochner Quadrangle by LAVFW. Conference on the Effects of Early Experience on Mental Health. |
| 1952 |
Eosinophil Conference |
| 1953 | |
| 1954 | 25th anniversary, William E. Castle as guest. Woodlands buildings donated by Curt Reisinger. Foundation Stocks building added. |
| 1955 | Formation of the Alumni Association |
| 1956 | Retirement of C. C. Little & appointment of Dr. Earl Green as new director. Acquisition of Morrell Park from Louise Drexel Morrell. [Built in 1898 as Robin Hood Park; used for carriage, harness and flat racing; changed to Morrell Park as a memorial to Louise Morrell's husband in 1919.] |
| 1957 |
Plastic mouse boxes introduced at Foundation Stocks Laboratory. |
| 1958 | Live Linkage map created for Montreal Conference by M. Green. |
| 1959 | Morrell Park animal facility finished on November 8th. Filters for the tops of the stainless steel mouse cages introduced - built by MDI Workshop. |
| 1960 | New animal rooms in rabbit laboratory. Ethylene oxide gas sterilizer at Morrell Park Laboratory. First Medical Genetics Short Course, organized by Victor McKusick & John Fuller. Mrs. J.J. O'Brien (Louise Webber Jackson) dies. Animal Health Research Laboratory construction begins. |
| 1961 | Unit 5 finished. 5th Woodlands cottage opened. John Joseph Bittner dies, December 14. |
| 1962 | IBM punch cards for Biometrics Laboratory, Gunther Schlager; new bottle washer in Radiobiology Lab, Dr. C.K. Chai to Formosa. (Dr. William Castle dies, see June Quarterly) |
| 1963 | Name change to The Jackson Laboratory, September 18; 35th Anniversary Symposium (on radiation). Tax case brought by Kendall Young. Aldersea sold. |
| 1964 | 6th Woodlands cottage built. |
| 1965 | |
| 1966 | The Jackson Reporter begins (newsletter). Capital Fund drive for Mammalian Genetics Lab & Library Conference Center 375 employees. 2nd edition of Biology of Laboratory Mouse. |
| 1967 | Temporary mouse breeding in the old Otter Creek school house. |
| 1968 | End of dog behavior program at Hamilton Station. (Jackson Reporter, July 5th) Grants reach $2 million a year. |
| 1969 | Construction starts on Morrell Park addition. Radioactive waste incinerator added. |
| 1970 | |
| 1971 | Construction begins on Mammalian Genetics Laboratory and Library-Conference Center. Clarence Cook Little dies December 22. |
| 1972 | Move into new library (2nd floor of C.C.Little Library and Conference Center) |
| 1973 | |
| 1974 | National Research Act becomes law. MGL dedicated & named for Earl Green on his retirement. |
| 1975 | Earl Green retires, Doug Coleman appointed interim director. 2nd ed. of Biology reprinted. Morrell Park annex built. |
| 1976 | Richmond Prehn appointed third director (of the world's largest center of mammalian genetics research, 450 employees and 700,000 mice, $9 million budget) |
| 1977 | |
| 1978 | Construction begins on biomedical and research animal laboratories. Frozen Embryo Repository established. |
| 1979 | 50th anniversary National Ladies Committee formed/Jannecke Neilson |
| 1980 | Biomedical Research and Animal Research Laboratories completed.(Snell wing) Charity Waymouth appointed interim director. Dr. George D. Snell, Senior Staff Emeritus, accepts Nobel Prize for medicine. Adoption of PIV rodent caging system designed by Senior Staff Scientist Dr. Ed Les. |
| 1981 | Barbara H. Sanford named new director. |
| 1982 | End of rabbit research at Hamilton Station, property for sale. |
| 1983 | CORE Grant from NCI (TJL the only mammalian laboratory so designated) |
| 1984 | 25th anniversary of Short Course. VIM by Jane Weinberger. |
| 1985 | Oral History Project by Susan Mehrtens. First alumni reunion |
| 1986 | |
| 1987 | H-2 Conference |
| 1988 | Frank Clark dies. (first lab employee) |
| 1989 | Ken Paigen becomes new Director in May. (May 10th) Fire in mouse production facility (Morrell Park) 500,000 mice lost. (1/4 of stock) Foundation Stocks building completed, to be dedicated to Elizabeth Russell & Margaret Dickie. |
| 1990 | Clean Process Facility opens |
| 1991 | Publication of Encyclopedia of the Mouse Genome software. |
| 1992 | New Morrell Park opens |
| 1993 | North Research Building completed. (NRB) |
| 1994 | New decoration and furniture in library |
| 1995 | Earl Green dies January 18, Margaret Green dies January 16. |
| 1996 | Deaths: George Snell, Ed Birkenmeier |
| 1997 | Deaths: Allen Salisbury, Marianna Cherry |
| 1998 | Doug Coleman elected to National Academy of Sciences |
| 1999 | Director, Kenneth Paigen anounces resignation |
| 1999 | Warren C. Cook joins the Lab in January. named pres. of JAX Research Services (JAX Notes Winter 1999, no 476) Work begun on the Genetics Research Building (GRB) |
| 2000 | July, GRB opened |
| 2001 |
Ken Paigen announces new research facilities expansion February 26. |
| 2002 | Richard Woychik named director. (JAX Notes Fall 2002, no. 487). |
| 2004 | Institute for Molecular biophysics (IMB) opens May 5 |
| 2004 | Laboratory Celebrates its 75th Anniversary. |
