1796
Christian Frederick Martin is born on January 31, 1796 in Markneukirchen, Germany.

Early 1820s
C.F. Martin learns guitar building in Vienna from the famed guitar maker Johann Stauffer. (Violin virtuoso Paganini played a Stauffer guitar and composed music on it and for it.) C.F. Martin weds Ottilie Lucia Kühle, harpist and daughter of another well-known Viennese guitar maker, Karl Kühle.

1825
C.F. Martin, Jr. is born in Vienna on October 2, and the Martin legacy begins.

1833
C.F. Martin, Sr. leaves Germany with his family and sets up his luthier shop in New York City. He is the first guitar maker to craft the Stauffer style headstock in America.

1839
C.F. Martin, Sr. moves his family and business to Nazareth, Pennsylvania.

1840s
C.F. Martin, Sr. creates and perfects X-bracing to give strength to the guitar top to handle the pressure of taut strings and heavy playing while still maintaining the very high quality Martin tone. Today C.F. Martin's X-bracing is still considered to be the best bracing pattern and is imitated by luthiers around the world.

1850s
C.F. Martin introduces the 0 model.

1866
Frank Henry Martin is born to Lucinda and C.F. Martin Jr.

1873
C.F. Martin, Sr. dies and C.F. Jr. takes command. · Sales records of the 00 guitar begin to appear on the books.

1887
C.F. Martin Jr. builds the first addition to the North Street factory.

1888
C.F. Martin, Jr. dies and his son Frank Henry Martin assumes control at 22 years of age.

1890s
Martin begins production of mandolins as the mandolin craze hits America.

1894
Christian Frederick Martin III is born on September 9, and a year later his brother Herbert Keller Martin arrives.

1902
Frank Henry Martin introduces the size 000, the largest Martin to date. This size body is made to compete with mandolins and banjos. The company designs its first Style 45 guitar.

1916
Martin uke production takes off as the ukulele boom begins. · Martin also begins to design and build for Oliver Ditson Co. of Boston and New York. The first "Dreadnought" is produced and is named in honor of the huge battleships of the day.

1917
Martin builds its first steel-string Hawaiian guitars that are played with a steel bar. Martin Hawaiian guitar sales soar.

1918
Martin discontinues use of elephant ivory and instead uses celluloid ("ivoroid").

1922
Martin introduces its first line of guitars crafted for steel strings.

1928
Martin makes the "Blue Yodel" 000-45 for Jimmie Rodgers known as "The Singing Brakeman" who had come to be America's favorite entertainer.

1929
Martin modifies its production 000 guitar for star player Perry Bechtel who wants to change from the 15-fret plectrum banjo to the guitar. This new model with 14 frets clear of the body instead of 12 would later named the OM-28. It is the first regular Martin guitar specifically designed for steel strings and it proves so popular that guitar makers copy it and it becomes the industry standard.

1931
The Ditson Co. is sold and Martin begins the unrestricted sale of its D-18 and D-28 Dreadnought guitars. Other guitar makers begin to borrow both the design and the name.

1933
Frank Herbert Martin, son of C.F. Martin III, is born. · Martin creates the first D-45 for cowboy star Gene Autry-#53177.

1940s
Country music sweeps the land, and big country stars, including Hank Williams, Ernest Tubb, Lester Flatt and Hank Snow, show up on stage playing Martins.

1945
C.F. Martin III takes the helm.

1948
Frank Henry Martin dies.

1950s
Folk music captures America and folkie artists appear on stage, TV and their album covers playing Martins. Among them: The Weavers, Josh White, The Kingston Trio, Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul and Mary, and Woody Guthrie. · Elvis Presley erupts in the music world, almost always playing his D-28, and records all of his famous Sun sessions with a Martin.

1955
Frank Herbert Martin joins the Company. · His son C.F. "Chris" Martin IV is born July 8, 1955.

1964
Martin moves to its new Sycamore Street factory.

1968
Martin brings back the famed D-45 guitar with its now highly prized pearl- decorated look, to the applause of the many players who have long craved these beautiful guitars.

1969
Martin discontinues hard-to-obtain Brazilian rosewood for most stock models and replaces it with rosewood from East India.

1971
Frank Herbert Martin becomes President. C.F. Martin III remains Chairman.

1979
Martin opens the doors of its Custom Shop. Now Martin players can design the guitars of their dreams. In 1980 Neiman-Marcus features a special gold-laden D-45 Custom in their Christmas catalog at three times the price of the standard version.

1984
Martin starts its "Limited Edition" and "Special Edition" programs as "Guitars of the Month" to an eager reception. First offerings include the now-coveted 00-18V.

1986
C.F. Martin III passes away. Chris Martin-C.F. IV-takes leadership.

1990
Martin Guitar celebrates the completion of guitar #500,000 which is an HD-28 signed by all employees and proudly displayed in its factory museum. C. F. Martin IV marries Diane S. Repynick.

1991
Martin brings out the compact Backpacker travel guitar.

1993
Martin introduces the D-1 with A-frame bracing. · Frank Herbert Martin dies.

1994
The crew of the Columbia Space Shuttle STS-62 packs a Backpacker on its orbit around the earth. · Martin launches the "Signature Series" Limited Editions with a reissue of Gene Autry's trail-blazing D-45.

1995
Martin introduces the Eric Clapton "Signature" 000-42EC and adds 18,000-sq. ft. onto its Nazareth factory to produce strings.

1996
With the HD-28V, Martin inaugurates the Vintage Series that pays tribute to the much admired legendary Martin guitars of the pre-World War II period.

1997
Martin debuts the DM and Road Series and launches its superior SP® strings.

1999
Martin completes another new addition to the factory that almost doubles its size and builds Martin guitar #700,000.

2000
Martin ends the millennium with serial number #780,500.

2001
Martin introduces the "D-50 Deluxe Edition" guitar and "SP+ Extended Life" strings.

2003
Martin introduces the "Little Martin."

2004
Martin builds guitar #1,000,000. · Claire Frances Martin, the seventh generation Martin is born to Chris Martin IV and his wife Diane on September 13, 2004.

2006
Grand Opening of the Martin Guitar Museum and Visitors Center, February 22, 2006.