| 3000 to 1100 before Christ | Settlement features in the town center - discovery of soil staining of a well (Copper Stone Age/Bronze Age). |
| 6th century | Discovery of Frankish grave finds in the center of Kevelaer (southern part of the "Luxemburger Galerie"). |
| 9th century | Frankish settlement finds from the foundation trenches of the St. Antonius parish church in Kevelaer, which burned down in 1982. |
| 1144 | First mention of the north-western part of today's Kevelaer urban area, Kaylaer (today Keylaer), in a document of Archbishop Arnold I of Cologne, which summarizes the foundations and donations in favour of the Fürstenberg monastery near Xanten. |
| 1300 | The first written reference to a settlement area in the Duchy of Geldern called Keuelar Kevelaer is found in a deed of sale of the Uppendyke farm in Keuelar dated May 10, 1300. |
| 1369 | According to the oldest surviving tax list, there are 31 houses, farms or taxpayers in Kevelaer. |
| 1472 | With the consent of the Archbishop of Cologne and the Duke of Cleves (patron saint) through the canon Johann ten Have in the presence of the Xanten notary Johannes van Tygelen, the de-parishization of Weeze is completed on June 23, 1472 and the St. Anthony's Chapel, located on the current site of the parish church, is elevated to the status of parish church. |
| 1575 | According to an interest tax list of the Gelderse Rekenkamer (Gelderner Rechenkammer) dated November 25, 1575, 54 male persons and widows had to pay for their farm or Katstatt. |
| 1590 | On January 24, 1590, the magistrate of Geldern reported that the entire Drostamt had been plundered by soldiers. During the 80 years of the Spanish-Dutch Wars of Independence (1586 to 1648), the inhabitants of Kevelaer often sought shelter for years in small wooden huts in mostly square fortifications surrounded by bushes, often with a moat, the so-called entrenchments. The redoubt in today's town center was located in the area of today's Schanzstraße, Kroatenstraße and Theodor-Heuss-Ring. |
| 1635 | On August 1, 1635, 100 Kevelaers are massacred in their redoubt by a troop of Croatian mercenaries on their way to the Spanish Netherlands. |
| 1642 | Start of the Kevelaer Marian pilgrimage (June 1, 1642). |
| 1643 to 1645 | Construction of a pilgrimage church (later known as the Candle Chapel) next to the place of grace. |
| 1647 | At a synod convened by the episcopal authorities of the diocese of Roermond in the monastery ter Weide in Venlo (February 13, 1647), Hendrik Busman is questioned under oath by twenty clergymen and four doctors. After a thorough investigation of the events and their approval, Kevelaer is granted approval as a place of pilgrimage. The Oratorian priests move into their new monastery opposite the place of grace (June 15, 1647). |
| 1654 | Cladding of the sanctuary. The result is a six-sided domed building clad in marble - today's Chapel of Grace (the pilgrimage church in Scherpenheuvel in miniature). |
| 1675 | On January 26, 1675, during the Second Franco-Spanish War (1672 to 1679), King Charles II (1665 to 1700), who was heavily in debt due to the burdens of war, sold the Drost of the Amt Geldern, Arnold Adrian Freiherr von Hoensbroech, the high, middle and low jurisdiction of all the villages in the bailiwick and the Neeramt Geldern for the services he had rendered to the crown on several occasions for a sum of 10,000 pounds to forty groats.000 pounds at forty groats Flemish as a hereditary geldrisches fief of the high, middle and lower jurisdiction of all the villages of the bailiwick and the Neeramt of Geldern, including the farming community of Kevelaer. |
| 1702 | During the Austro-Spanish War of Succession (1701 to 1703), French soldiers plunder every house in Kevelaer (May 6, 1702). |
| 1714 | Visit of the Prussian King Frederick William I to the pilgrimage site of Kevelaer (July 16, 1714). |
| 1738 | Visit by the Prussian King Frederick William I and his son, Crown Prince Frederick, who later became King Frederick II of Prussia (July 26, 1738). |
| around 1750 | Foundation of a Latin school (dissolved in 1789/1790). |
| 1756 to 1763 | The French also impose a high war tax on the population of Kevelaer during the Seven Years' War. The locals are ordered to quarter soldiers in their homes. |
| 1756/1757 | According to tradition, Kevelaer experiences a "severe earthquake". 167 families and individuals live in the center of Kevelaer in het dorp (excluding the farming communities). In addition, 162 maids and 76 farmhands work in het dorp. |
| 1792 | A troop of French revolutionary soldiers invades Kevelaer on December 17, 1792 and demands 100 pounds of meat and 200 pounds of bread from the Oratorians. On December 19, 1792, the revolutionary soldiers blackmailed the superior of the Oratorian monastery into paying 15,000 pounds with the threat of taking four Oratorians hostage to France. |
| 1794 | Occupation of the Lower Rhine by republican Northern, Sombre and Meuse armies. The people of Kevelaer are also heavily burdened by war taxes and maintenance costs for the military. |
| 1802 | Due to the Napoleonic Conular Decree of June 9, 1802, all ecclesiastical institutes, monasteries and abbeys are dissolved. The Oratorian monastery in Kevelaer is evacuated. |
| 1815 | As part of the political reorganization of Europe, the Congress of Vienna finally awards the Rhineland to Prussia. Kevelaer becomes Prussian again. |
| 1816/1817 | Due to the eruption of the Tambora volcano on the island of Sumbawa in Indonesia, Europe also experiences a wet and cold spring and summer, which destroys the harvest. Mayor Heuvens of Kevelaer saves the locals from a famine. |
| 1833 | Crown Prince of Prussia, later King Frederick William IV, visits Kevelaer on October 25, 1833. He promises the President to abolish the laws preventing pilgrimages. |
| 1848 | Due to the revolution that broke out in France in February of that year, the municipal council in Kevelaer approves the establishment of a security guard to protect the population of Kevelaer (according to the population list of 1843, approx. 2,400 inhabitants). Completion of the new elementary school (market school). |
| 1858 | Start of construction of the Marienbasilika with paintings by Friedrich Stummel. |
| 1859 | Foundation of a private Catholic rectorate school in the west wing of the priest's house (this school existed until 1872). |
| 1863 | Kevelaer is connected to the Cologne-Kleve railroad line. New houses are built not far from the station to accommodate the railroad staff. |
| 1864 | Consecration of St. Mary's Church in Kevelaer (July 3, 1864) on Kapellenplatz (elevated to basilica status in 1923). The tower of St. Mary's Church is completed in 1883. |
| 1866 | Establishment of a hospital in the Kevelaer poorhouse (Pinders Foundation). In 1881, a new, larger hospital is built on the same site (old part of today's hospital building). |
| 1874 | During the Kulturkampf (the struggle of the Protestant state authorities against the Catholic Church from 1872 to 1878), a large-scale Way of the Cross is inaugurated in Kevelaer between Geldern'sche Chaussee and Twistedener Dyk (March 29, 1874). |
| 1876 | On May 26, 1876, the Protestant mayor of Kevelaer, Brügelmann, forcibly enters the Kevelaer monastery on Kapellenplatz on the orders of District Administrator von Eerde and has all the residents of the monastery taken to private quarters. |
| 1879 | Kevelaerer Volksblatt ("Kävels Bläche") is founded. |
| 1880 | The clergy, who had been evicted from their apartments in the Priests' House in 1876, return. |
| 1881 | Fires in the center of Kevelaer (11 houses and barns burn down for unknown reasons). |
| 1884 | The parish priest of Kevelaer is granted the privilege of giving the papal blessing on the Marian high feasts (this is still the case today). |
| 1892 | 250 years of pilgrimage; the Pope awards the picture of grace a golden crown. |
| 1892 | Foundation of a convent of Poor Clares at the corner of Venloer Straße and Twistedener Straße (the sisters moved in on October 25, 1892). |
| 1893 | Completion of the secondary school for boys opposite the Poor Clares convent . |
| 1897 | Electricity is introduced in Kevelaer on September 3, 1897. |
| 19th century - last third | Since the connection to the Krefeld-Kleve railroad line, Kevelaer has expanded alongside agriculture, tourism and the food and beverage industry, especially since the 1990s: textile processing, clothing, leather processing, wood processing, metal processing, paper processing and the construction industry. The population of Kevelaer rises to 5,268 inhabitants by 1895. |
| 1901 | Completion of the St. Hubertus School (elementary school). |
| 1903 | Inauguration of the Kevelaer town hall (June 24, 1903). |
| 1905 to 1909 | After the construction of a water tower and a waterworks (1905), the water network is put into operation in 1906. In 1909, a sewer system is built in Kevelaer. |
| 1910 | The Lower Rhine Museum of Folklore and Natural History is founded. |
| 1913 | The population has risen to around 8,240 inhabitants. |
| 1914 to 1918 | With the outbreak of the First World War, pilgrimage numbers stagnate. 250,000 pilgrims are counted. In 1913, 600,000 pilgrims still came to Kevelaer. In the last year of the war, the pilgrimage increases again with 302,000 pilgrims and 180 processions. |
| 1926 | The withdrawal of the Belgians (Belgian occupation from 1923 to 1926) is celebrated everywhere, including Kevelaer, as a liberation. |
| 1940 | During the Second World War (1939 to 1945), the President of the Rhine Province (May 17, 1940) issued a decree banning all processions and processions. In Kevelaer itself, a single procession is formed, which enters the basilica on Kapellenplatz in unison. |
| 1944/1945 | Destruction of the Poor Clares convent, the old pastorate (local museum from 1910 to 1938) and the rectorate school (September 27, 1944). The St. Antonius parish church, badly damaged by a bombing raid on November 10, 1944, is reduced to rubble by an aerial bomb on March 1, 1945, as are the district home museum and the post office building. |
| 1945 | Kevelaer is forcibly evacuated on January 2, 1945. Dean Holtmann is arrested. On March 3, 1945, a French prisoner of war, Irenee Hypolite Aguillon, informs the enemy that Kevelaer is free of defenders. British Allied troops then take Kevelaer. |
| 1949 | On May 25, 1949, Kevelaer is granted city rights by decree of the Minister of the Interior. International pilgrimage congress in Kevelaer. |
| 1952 | The reconstruction of the St. Antonius parish church in Kevelaer is completed (June 21, 1952). |
| 1955 | Foundation of the Protestant congregation in Kevelaer. Completion of the municipal grammar school. |
| 1955/1956 | The pastoral district of St. Marien in Kevelaer is finally separated from the mother parish of St. Antonius and elevated to a parish. |
| 1957 | The town of Kevelaer and the parish of St. Mary's take over the sponsorship of the South African Marian pilgrimage site of Kevelaer. |
| 1961 | Completion of the new Protestant Martin Luther School. |
| 1962 | Final completion of St. Antonius School with the opening of the new girls' school. Demolition of the market school. |
| 1963 | Dedication of the new Protestant church, Jesus-Christus-Kirche (July 3, 1963). |
| 1968 | Inauguration of the new Rhenish Provincial Motherhouse of the Clemens Sisters on Sonnenstraße in Kevelaer (May 3, 1968). |
| 1969 | Municipal reorganization: The town of Kevelaer, the municipalities of Kleinkevelaer, Twisteden and Wetten (Amt Kevelaer) and the municipalities of Kervendonk, Kervenheim and Winnekendonk (Amt Kervenheim) are merged to form an independent municipality. The new municipality is given the name Kevelaer and is known as the "town". The offices of Kevelaer and Kervenheim are dissolved. |
| 1973 | Completion of a new town hall (October 20, 1973). |
| 1974 | Opening of the new indoor pool. |
| 1976 | Commissioning of the waterworks. |
| 1978 | Opening of the new school and sports center. |
| 1981 | Town twinning with Bury St. Edmunds (Great Britain). |
| 1985 | The first motorcyclist pilgrimage takes place. |
| 1985 | Municipal youth center "Kompass" is founded. |
| 1982 | Burning down of St. Anthony's parish church. Dedication of the new parish and pilgrimage center (June 5 and 6, 1982). |
| 1987 | Dedication of St. Anthony's Church, which burned down in 1982 (January 17, 1987). |
| 1987 | Visits by Pope John Paul II, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger and Mother Teresa. |
| 1990 | Opening of the new secondary school on Hüls. |
| 1991 | Opening of the new concert hall and stage. |
| 1992 | 350th anniversary of the pilgrimage. |
| 1996 | First community bus route is set up. |
| 2000 | 700 years of Kevelaer. |
| 2000 | First award of the title "State-recognized resort" (7 May 2000). |
| 2001 | Our city is flourishing (Gold). |
| 2003 | Redesign of Gelderner Strasse and Markstrasse (Roermonder Platz). |
| 2006 | The thermal spring on the Hüls is recognized as a healing spring. |
| 2014 | Opening of the Kevelaer-Weeze comprehensive school. |
| 2015 | Town hall inauguration after the core renovation (August 21, 2015). |
| 2016 | Awarded the European Energy Award on April 28, 2016. |
| 2017 | 375th anniversary of the pilgrimage. |
| 2017 | Council resolution on the naming "Pilgrimage town of Kevelaer" (April 6, 2017). |
| 2018 | Kevelaer city center renewal. |
| 2018 | Development of the St. Jakob brine garden and start of construction of the graduation house. |
| 2020 | Completion and opening of the St. Jakob brine garden with graduation tower.
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| 2023 | Start of the redesign of Peter-Plümpe-Platz as part of the urban development program. |
| 2023 | Completion and opening of the inhalatorium at Solegarten. |
