18th century

1701	A municipal orphanage opens in the Bamberg Vorwerk at the western end of Mittel- (later Bach-) gasse.
1702	The Weigel pupil Johann Philipp Treiber publishes the first engraved music (copperplate engraving). The previous music printing process with movable type, which had characterized the heyday of music printing in Jena in the 17th century, thus loses its significance.
1705	Johann Franz Budde(us) is appointed Professor of Theology at the University of Jena. Budde, who mediated between Lutheran orthodoxy and the reform movement of Pietism as well as between theology and philosophy , became an important pioneer of the Enlightenment in Jena.
1713	With the production of his masterpiece, Johann Christian Heringlays the foundation for the almost three hundred years of activity of the Hering pewter foundry dynasty in Jena.
1714	The Duke of Eisenach imposes bans on pietistic activities in Jena, including the establishment of schools for the free education of poor children in the pietistic spirit. September 7: A new ducal brewing ordinance for Jena comes into force. It leads to a considerable increase in the number of people entitled to brew and to a division of the brewing commune. One part of the community uses the Nollendorf brewery ("Neuwerk"), which is subordinate to the office, while the other uses the old municipal brewery in Leutragasse.
1717	The number of newly enrolled students at Jena University reaches a record high of 778. From the end of the 17th century until around the middle of the 18th century, Jena was one of the Protestant German universities with the highest student numbers (between 1,500 and 1,800).
1719	The number of inhabitants of Jena (excluding students) is around 4,300. This means that the number of inhabitants has risen significantly again after the end of the Thirty Years' War (by around 800), but is still below that of the mid-16th century (around 4,500 inhabitants).
1723	March 15: Johann Christian Günther, one of the most important German lyricists, dies completely impoverished in Jena.
1728	July 22-August 19: Count Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf, head of the Herrnhut Pietists, visits Jena again (after a first visit in November 1727). His daily house devotions and singing sessions held in Danz's garden house (Wagnergasse) are very popular with students and citizens. July 31: "Die der teutschen Sprache beflissene Gesellschaft zu Jena" (the "German Language Society of Jena", confirmed by the university in 1730 as the "Teutsche Gesellschaft") is founded to promote the use of the German language in free speech and poetry.
ca. 1730	A town house with a (preserved) late Baroque façade (Trebitz'sche Haus, after its owner from the end of the 19th century) is built in Saalstraße (today's no. 5).
1731	Pubs on the Rasenmühleninsel are documented. The serving of coffee and tea and the setting up of billiard tables is permitted in the castle cellar.
1732/33	Around 1,900 "Salzburger Exulanten" pass through Jena in a total of six trains on their way to East Prussia. The religious refugees are housed and fed in the city for one to two days. Collections are held for their benefit.
1733	April 30: A new ducal shooting regulation for the Jena Shooting Society allows an annual shooting of birds.
1734	June 4: The "Societas Latina Jenensis" (Latin Society of Jena), whose members cultivate the Latin language in speech and writing, is founded. December 13: An inspection of the fountains reveals a total of 30 fountains, 7 of which are publicly accessible on streets or squares.
1735	The Duke of Eisenach invites tenders for all concessions, privileges etc. in return for high fees. The highest sums in Jena are paid by the guilds of booksellers, butchers, bakers, Peruquiers and the new Kramer guild, which have a large number of members.
1739	Summer: The philosopher Anton Wilhelm Amo is the first black African scholar to teach at Jena University.
1741	July 26: After the childless death of the last Duke of Eisenach, Jena falls back to Saxe-Weimar.
1742	45 master hosiery workers are registered in Jena. At the same time, there are over 100 in the small town of Lobeda and 40 in the village of Isserstedt near Jena. Hosiery knitting is a state-sponsored, export-oriented industry in the Duchy of Saxe-Weimar, outside the traditional guild system.
1743	August 4: The Johann-Georgs-Kirche, which was given to the town's garrison community as a garrison church by ducal decree, is consecrated as such.
1744	Joachim Georg Darjes is appointed professor of morals and politics and also lectures on cameralism (economics). The popular university lecturer attracts numerous students to Jena. In 1763 he moves to Frankfurt/Oder.
1745	February: The first Masonic lodge in Jena, "Zu den drei Rosen" (later "Zu den drei goldenen Rosen"), founded in 1744, seeks permission from the sovereign. From 1746, it is led byJoachim Georg Darjes as "Master of the Chair". Jena's role as a center of freemasonry ends in the 1750s, also in connection with two impostor scandals. April 27: The von Ziegesar family comes into possession of the Drackendorf manor by marriage. Members of the von Ziegesar family (on Drackendorf) subsequently hold top positions in the Weimar and Gotha civil service.
1751	In addition to the owners and their family members, a total of seventeen journeymen are employed in the nine printing works registered in Jena.
1752	October 17: The Peruvian guild is confirmed by the sovereign, the number of guild members is limited to sixteen.
1753	The cameralist Johann August Schlettwein founds the "Gesellschaft nützlicher Wissenschaften" (Society of Useful Sciences), a student study group aimed at the practical application of scientific knowledge.
1755	The town hall tower is erected on the market side between the two gabled roofs during the town hall reconstruction. The town hall clock with the figure of "Schnapphans" is given its current location under the tower roof.
1759	April: Matthias Claudius, poet of the famous "Abendlied", begins studying theology at the Salana (until 1762).
1762	January 18: The "Rose School" founded by Joachim Georg Darjes, one of the first German "industrial schools", opens in the building of the later "Grüne Tanne" inn in Wenigenjena . Following Darjes ' departure from Jena and the dissolution of the Masonic lodge "Zu den drei Rosen", which financed the project, the school is forced to close in 1764. December 2-3: King Frederick II of Prussia spends the night incognito in Jena.
1763	May 1: The end of the Seven Years' War, the effects of which had also affected Jena to a great extent, is celebrated with a peace festival.
1767	The market fountain is framed with stones and decorated with a lion at the expense of the merchants. (current location of the lion fountain: "Am Breiten Stein")
1770	Christoph Gottlieb Pflug, court coppersmith from 1780 and inventor, takes over the management of the family business with workshop in Wagnergasse; Pflug develops numerous utensils, such as the well-known balloon furnace in the shape of an urn for Friedrich Schiller's garden house. January 13: A first concert establishes the tradition of academic concerts.
1775	June: The appointment of Johann Jakob Griesbach as Professor of Theology heralds the turn of Jena's theology towards the Enlightenment.
1779	The acquisition of the natural history cabinet of Professor Johann Ernst Immanuel Walch by Duke Carl August von Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach leads to the founding of the Mineralogical Collection. November: The construction of one of the first maternity clinics in Germany, the Accouchierhaus in Jenergasse, is completed under the direction of Professor of Medicine Justus Christian Loder. Loder, the outstanding figure of the Jena Medical Faculty as an anatomist and surgeon, leaves Jena in 1803.
1780	Johann Jakob Heinrich Paulßen, a member of a respected Jena merchant and trading dynasty, has promenades laid out in "Paradise" at his own expense. The name "Paradise" for the area in front of the city to the left of the Saale has been in use since the second half of the 16th century.
1781	The physician Johann Christian Stark the Elder (also known as Stark I; associate professor from 1779), later personal physician to the ducal family and Goethe, founds a medical institute (polyclinic), which becomes a public institution in 1789 as the "Ducal Clinical Institute".
1784	The student Christian Friedrich Mylius founds a reading library. Numerous other reading and lending libraries established in the following decades form an essential basis for the spread of education and sociability in the city. The theologian Johann Jakob Griesbach acquires the land to the north of the town and has a villa built here as a summer residence. In addition to Goethe and Schiller, numerous personalities from the university and the city's public life spend time here. March 27: In collaboration with the anatomist Loder,Johann Wolfgang Goethe is able to demonstrate the intermaxillary bone in humans through comparative anatomical studies in the ducal collections of the Jena City Palace.
1785	January 3: The first issue of the Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung, founded by the Weimar publisher Friedrich Justin Bertuch and the professor of poetry and eloquence Christian Gottfried Schütz, is published. Published daily (except Sundays), it quickly develops into the leading philosophical and literary review organ in Germany and contributes above all to the dissemination of Kant's philosophy. October 28: A ducal rescript allows people who do not profess the Augsburg Confession (including Jews) to study and gain a doctorate at Jena University for the first time.
1786	The previous communal education and care of orphans in the municipal orphanage is abolished and replaced by individual placement with private individuals.
1787	Autumn: With the appointment of the philosopher Karl Leonhard Reinhold (full professor from 1791), the University of Jena develops into a center of Kantian philosophy in Germany. Autumn: A commission set upby the ducal government under the leadership of Griesbach, a professor of theology , attempts to reorganize the city's ailing financial system. November 3: A first Rose Hall is inaugurated with an academic concert as a representative two-storey hall building on the grounds of the Rosengrundstück on the city wall.
1789	May 26: Friedrich Schiller, appointed Professor of Philosophy in Jena , gives his inaugural lecture "What does universal history mean and to what end does one study it?" June: The rationalist theologian Heinrich Eberhard Gottlob Paulus takes over the professorship for "Oriental Languages" (from 1793 a professorship for theology). He moves to Würzburg in 1803.
1790	February 22: Schiller marries Charlotte von Lengefeld in the church of Wenigenjena ("Schiller Church").
1793	July 14: The botanist August Johann Georg Karl Batsch founds the "Naturforschende Gesellschaft zu Jena". April: Christoph Wilhelm Hufeland, an extremely successful academic teacher, practicing physician and publicist , is appointed professor at the Faculty of Medicine, a position he holds until 1801.
1794	February: Wilhelm von Humboldt and his wife Caroline, née von Dacheröden, move to Jena (until 1797). A close friendship develops between the couple and Schiller. February 11: Goethe submits plans to the Duke of Weimar for the redesign of the Botanical Gardens in Jena. Under the directorship of August Johann Georg Karl Batsch, this is created in the following years at the new location in the Fürstengarten (today: Fürstengraben) according to the latest botanical findings. May 23: Johann Gottlieb Fichte begins teaching in Jena, where he succeeds Reinhold in the Chair of Philosophy. June 1: An association of students called the "Literary Society of Free Men" is formed. The term "literary society" is used several times around 1800 for such associations. July 20: Goethe and Schiller meet during a meeting of the "Naturforschende Gesellschaft" in Jena, marking the beginning of their legendary friendship and working alliance. November: The poet Friedrich Hölderlin comes to Jena, where he lives until early summer 1795.
1795	Above Rasenmühleninsel, a river loop is cut through again after 1789 to straighten the course of the Saale.
1796	The mineralogist Johann Georg Lenz (professor since 1794) founds the "Societät für die gesammte Mineralogie zu Jena", the world's first geoscientific society. May/August: With the relocation of the brothers August Wilhelm and Friedrich Schlegel and their wives Caroline and Dorothea to Jena, the circle of early Jena Romantics (Novalis, Ludwig Tieck, Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling, Clemens Brentano, Johann Wilhelm Ritter, Henrik Steffens) is formed. It disbanded in the spring of 1800.
1797	March-May: Alexander von Humboldt uses his stay in Jena to attend Loder's anatomy lectures and dissection courses . He experiments together with Goethe and intensifies his contacts with Schiller. May 2: Schiller and his family move into a garden plot on the Leutra at the gates of the city ("Schiller's Garden House").
1798	Beginning of the year: The publisher and bookseller Friedrich Frommann settles in Jena, where he also runs a print shop together with his brother-in-law Carl Wesselhoeft. Frommann's estate on Fürstengraben develops into a center of intellectual sociability in the city. October: At the age of twenty-three, the philosopher Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling receives an extraordinary professorship in Jena on Goethe's recommendation. He leaves the city for good in 1803.
1798/99	Summer 1798: Publications by Friedrich Karl Forberg and Johann Gottlieb Fichte trigger the "Atheism Controversy", one of the most sensational philosophical and political disputes of the 18th century to shake the University of Jena. At the end of the debate, which revolved around the problem of the mediation of faith and reason, Fichte, suspected of atheism , left Jena in March 1799. He was followed by other renowned Salana scholars in the ensuing university crisis.