The following is a timeline of the history of Brussels, Belgium, in the 19th century.
1801–1813 – French period 1801 8 July: The Brussels Stock Exchange is founded by decree of First Consul Napoleon. 1 September: The Museum of Fine Arts is founded by decree of Napoleon. 1802 – 26 August: The city becomes one of the twenty-four . 1803 – Napoleon visits the city. 1804 – 8 May: The city becomes one of the . 1805 – D'Ieteren is established by the master coachbuilder Joseph-Jean D'Ieteren. 1806 – 25 March: The , an academy of the Imperial University of France, is established. 1808 – The Laeken Gate is demolished. 1810 Emperor Napoleon officially visits the city. 19 May: An ordinance is issued to demolish the city's fortifications and build the Small Ring. 14 December: The is established by imperial decree.
1811 – 4 November: The first Brussels Salon is held. 1812 – The goldsmiths from Linden, modern-day Germany, establish themselves in the city, continuing their jewellery practice there. 1813 – The Royal Conservatory of Brussels is founded.
1814–1829 – Dutch period 1814 30 March: Prince William of Orange-Nassau enters the city. 31 July: Enthronement of King William I of the Netherlands.
1815 22 May: Hanoverian and Brunswicker troops are stationed in to prepare for the Battle of Waterloo. 15 June: The Duchess of Richmond's ball takes place. 24 August: The city becomes the joint capital of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. September: The States General of the Netherlands meets at the Town Hall, chaired by the King. 1816 The Imperial and Royal Academy, suppressed under the French regime, is restored.Frans Van Kalken, Histoire du royaume des Pays-Bas et de la révolution belge de 1830 (in French), Brussels, 1910, p. 59–60 Lord Byron stays in the city, where he writes portions of Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. 25 September: Athenaeums (secondary schools) are established in the city.Frans Van Kalken, Histoire du royaume des Pays-Bas et de la révolution belge de 1830 (in French), Brussels, 1910, p. 57–59
1817 19 February: King William III of the Netherlands is born in the Palace of the Nation. 6 December: Manneken Pis is returned following public outcry after Antoine Licas or Lycas, a freed convict, stole it on the night of 4–5 December. 1819 The city takes control of Jean-Baptiste Van Mons' experimental orchard, once the city's largest, in order to parcel it out. 24 August: The first gas works in continental Europe open on the /, built by the Brian and Fischer Company, lighting the new boulevards from the Willebroek Canal to the Schaerbeek Gate. 25 May: The new Theatre of La Monnaie is inaugurated.
1821 De Wijngaard is integrated into . The liberal newspaper starts publication succeeding Vrai Libéral. 1822 The Algemeene Nederlandsche Maatschappij ter Begunstiging van de Volkvlijt is established by King William I. The is reestablished as the Société de Flore. 1823 – The Société des douze is established as a continuation of the Société de littérature de Bruxelles. 1826 – 8 June: The Royal Observatory of Belgium is founded by King William I under the impulse of Adolphe Quetelet. 1827 The Grand Hospice Pachéco is built. 7 May: The first kindergarten in the city opens. 1828 The Academy Palace is built. The Place des Barricades/Barricadenplein, then called the /, is laid out. 21 October: The is established by the lawyer Jean Pauwels. 1829 The Delvaux leather luxury goods brand is established by Charles Delvaux. Maison Dandoy biscuiterie is established on the / by Jean-Baptiste Dandoy. 1 September: The Botanical Garden of Brussels opens.
1830–1900 – Post-independence
1830 Population: 98,279 city; 120,981 metro. The is founded by Philippe Vandermaelen. The Royal Theatre Toone is founded. The first Exhibition of Products of Belgian Industry is held. 25 August: The Belgian Revolution begins in the city when riots break out after a performance of La muette de Portici at the Theatre of La Monnaie. 26 August: Lucien Jottrand and Édouard Ducpétiaux design the first Belgian flag, with samples made by Marie Abts-Ermens. 27 August: The is established to contain the revolt and restore public order. 3 September: Prince William arrives in the city, agrees to the separation of the North and the South under the House of Orange-Nassau, but the king and States General hesitate as independence sentiment grows among Belgian dissidents. 7 September: Volunteers arrive from Liège. 22 September: Prince Frederick informs the city's people that King William I acknowledges their grievances but order needs to be restored, announcing his plan to enter the city the next day, prompting the revolt's leaders to flee from the army. 23 September: Prince Frederick leads the Dutch Army into the city to quell the rebellion. 24 September: The Provisional Government is formed and gives command of the Belgian Army to Juan Van Halen. 27–26 September: The Dutch Army retreats from the city under Prince Frederick's orders. 4 October: The Provisional Government declares Belgium's independence from the Dutch. 22 October: Nicolas-Jean Rouppe is appointed the first Mayor of Brussels in an independent Belgium by royal decree. 3 November: Elections for the National Congress take place. 1831 7 February: The Constitution of Belgium is ratified and Article 126 proclaimes the city as "capital of Belgium and seat of the Belgian Government". 25 February: Érasme-Louis Surlet de Chokier takes the constitutional oath at the Palace of the Nation. 21 July: King Leopold I takes the constitutional oath at the Place Royale/Koningsplein. 2–12 August: King William I's troops, sent to recapture the city, only reach Leuven before retreating after the Belgian Government appeals to France for military support, prompting France to send reinforcements under Marshal Étienne Maurice Gérard. 8 September: The inaugural elections for the Belgian Parliament take place, leading to the dissolution of the National Congress. 1832 A cholera epidemic kills over 3,000. The School of Veterinary Medicine and Rural Economics is established by King Leopold I. 22 September: The Brussels–Charleroi Canal opens. 1833 – 23 February: The Grand Orient of Belgium secedes from the Grand Orient of the Netherlands. 1834 7 February: The Royal Military Academy is founded. 5–6 April: The city's nobility by pro-Belgian protesters on the Orangist nobility. 20 November: The Free University of Belgium is founded.
1835 Former members of the establish . 5 May: The first passenger train on a public railway in continental Europe departs from the Allée Verte/Groendreef railway station. 1836 – 22 February: The is installed in the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula. 1837 The Bollandist Society is reestablished under the patronage of the Belgian Government. 19 June: The Royal Library of Belgium is founded. 1838 – 13 September: Guillaume-Hippolyte van Volxem is appointed mayor by royal decree. 1841 – 14 April: François-Jean Wyns de Raucour is appointed mayor by royal decree. 1842 Charlotte and Emily Brontë enroll at the boarding school run by Constantin Heger, located at what is now the Centre for Fine Arts. 8 February: The Cercle du Parc private club is established when a group of Belgicist noblemen left the Orangist Cercle de l'Union. 3 April: The Flemish-minded is established. 1843 Richard de Querelles publishes , the first comic to be published in the city. 29 May: A guestbook starts to be kept for official visits to the Town Hall, with King Leopold I as the first to sign it. 1844 – The Belgian-Bavarian friturist , also known as Monsieur Fritz, opens Fritz à l'instar Paris, the first friterie in the city. 1845 Saint Mary's Royal Church begins construction. The first telegraph line links the city with Antwerp. 1846 Population: 123,874 city. 31 March: The Museum of Natural Sciences is founded. 24 September: The is founded by Antoine Schayes.
1847 The Avenue Louise/Louizalaan is commissioned. May: Systematic construction of sidewalks begins. 1 January: The begins publication. 20 June: The Royal Saint-Hubert Galleries open alongside the Théâtre royal des Galeries. August: The German Workers' Society is founded in the city by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.
1848 4 March: Karl Marx is arrested and expelled after spending three years in the city, where he wrote The Communist Manifesto and contributed to the . September: The second International Peace Congress is held in the city. 5 October: Charles de Brouckère becomes mayor. 23 November: The artist collective is established with Adolphe Quetelet as its first president.
1850 Population: 142,289 city; 222,424 metro. 5 May: The National Bank of Belgium is established by Minister Walthère Frère-Orban, replacing the Société générale de Belgique as fiscal agent of the Belgian Government. 1851 30 August: The is founded to manage the Brussels Zoo. 6 October: The École moyenne A is founded within the Free University of Brussels. 1852 – The Tooneel der Volksbeschouwing is established as a permanent Flemish theatre company in the city. 1853 and his wife move from Ternat to Schaerbeek. 21 August–4 September: Bullfighters from Spain perform in a purpose-built arena on today's . 7 April: The European Quarter is annexed from Saint-Josse-ten-Noode, Etterbeek and Schaerbeek by the City of Brussels.
1855 The last public execution is held at the Halle Gate. 21 January: A fire at the Royal Theatre of La Monnaie results in the deaths of three firefighters, leaving only the exterior walls and portico standing. 4 June: The opens to carry water from Braine-l'Alleud to the city. 24 August: Leopold Quarter railway station opens.
1856 28 March: The reconstructed Royal Theatre of La Monnaie opens. 11 June: The Société royale belge des aquarellistes is founded under the chairmanship of Jean-Baptiste Madou.
1857 The Ancienne Belgique opens. Saint-Louis University moves to the city from Mechelen. The first municipal water service is established. 1859 The Congress Column is erected. The first National Shooting Range is established on the . 3 October: Multatuli completes Max Havelaar after only a month of writing, while residing in the city. 1860 Population: 185,982 city; 300,341 metro. is established by François Vaxelaire. 21 April: André-Napoléon Fontainas becomes mayor. 21 July: Taxes and tolls at city gates are abolished under Walthère Frère-Orban, sparking celebrations but also causing financial shortfalls, which lead to a new system managed by national and provincial authorities. 1861 – The Bois de la Cambre/Ter Kamerenbos is laid out. 1862 The Russian Orthodox is founded by Nikolay Alexeyevich Orlov, establishing the city's first Russian Orthodox community. 28 November: The Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary is established in Scheut by Théophile Verbist. 1863 – 15 December: Jules Anspach is appointed mayor by royal decree. 1864 The Avenue Louise and Bois de la Cambre are annexed from Ixelles by the City of Brussels. The first Luizenmolen is built. 26 September: Nadar launches the hot air balloon Le Géant from the Botanical Garden. To ensure the crowd's safety, Jules Anspach erects mobile barriers, thereby inventing crowd control barriers. 3 October: The Isabelle Gatti de Gamond Royal Atheneum is established as the first non-denominational educational institution for girls in Belgium. 1865 St. Mary's Market is constructed by Gustave Hansotte. 17 December: King Leopold II takes the constitutional oath at the Palace of the Nation. 1866 – Population: 157,905 city.
1867 The covering of the Senne begins. The Legend of Thyl Ulenspiegel and Lamme Goedzak is published by Charles De Coster. The is established as a continuation of the Grand Serment des Arbalétriers de Bruxelles and Serment de Saint-Georges schutterijen.