Overview

Although there are minor contradictions or inaccuracies, there is a fairly accurate timeline that can be deduced from The Wire.

Timeline

Pre-Show

Date	Event
September 17, 1969	Russell Bell is born.
August 15, 1970	Avon Barksdale is born. ("The Buys")
1974	Howard Colvin joins the Baltimore Police Department.
August 3, 1999 [1]	James McNulty marries Elena.
Summer 2000	Roland "Wee-Bey" Brice shoots Maurice Scroggins twice in the back of the head. ("The Target")
May 4, 2001	D'Angelo Barksdale shoots and kills Pooh Blanchard. ("The Target")
May 13, 2001	Nakeesha Lyles allegedly calls Frank Barlow twice to identify another shooter. ("The Target")
June 3, 2001	William Gant identifies D'Angelo Barksdale in a photo array. ("The Target")

Season 1

Date	Event
February 14, 2002	D'Angelo Barksdale is acquitted for the murder of Pooh Blanchard; Homicide Unit Detective McNulty approaches Judge Phelan to discuss the Barksdale Organization; McNulty and Detective Greggs type up reports on Barksdale for their unit commanders; Avon reprimands D'Angelo
February 15, 2002	D'Angelo is transferred to "The Pit"; Foerster and Rawls submit their briefings to Burrell, who instructs Daniels to assemble a detail to investigate Avon Barksdale
February 16, 2002	McNulty meets with Fitz; the Barksdale detail assembles; "The Pit" crew assaults Johnny; Bubbles meets with Kima to provide information on Johnny's assailants; D'Angelo and Stringer debate the necessity of Johnny's beating
February 17, 2002[2]	Bunk investigates the murder of William Gant; Frazier performs Gant's autopsy; the Barksdale Detail arrives at their basement office; Daniels complains to Assistant State's Attorney Rhonda Pearlman about the incompetent Barksdale Detail; Greggs, Herc, and Carver begin taking photographs of Barksdale Organization members; Bunk and McNulty arrest D'Angelo; Daniels meets with Lieutenant Cantrell to request Detective Sydnor; Burrell, Rawls, Foerster, and Daniels discuss Gant's murder; Daniels confronts McNulty; D'Angelo writes an apology letter to Gant's "family" and Maurice Levy retrieves D'Angelo
February 18, 2002[3]	Sydnor joins the Barksdale Detail; Daniels outlines the detail's organization and goals; Greggs and McNulty show Daniels D'Angelo's letter; Bubbles identifies key Barksdale Organization members for Greggs and McNulty; Avon hosts a community church gathering
March 9, 2002	Prez assaults a fourteen-year-old in an early morning altercation at 771 Franklin; the Sun releases an article about Gant's identity as a state's witness; Daniels provides Prez with a cover story; McNulty confronts Phelan; Marla and Daniels discuss the incident; Daniels discover Prez blinded the boy
March 10, 2002	Burrell, Foerster, Daniels, Southeastern Commander Stanislaus Valchek, and IID Commander and Major Robert "Bobby" Reed discuss the boy's blinding; Bodie, Wallace, and D'Angelo play chess; Santangelo asks Rawls to be transferred back to Homicide; Polk and Mahon pick up a photo of another Avon Barksdale; Freamon stops by Golden Gloves
March 11, 2002	Greggs and McNulty visit Fitzhugh; Omar stakes out the Pit; D'Angelo talks to Shardene;
March 12, 2002	Freamon delivers the Barksdale photo; Bubbles assesses Sydnor's attire and takes him to the low-rises; Daniels informs the detail they're conducting a raid on Wednesday; McNulty asks Pearlman how to clone a pager beeper; Omar robs "The Pit"
March 13, 2002	The Barksdale Detail does search and seizures; Freamon notices a number on the wall; Mahon is injured; Fitzhugh tells McNulty that BPD brought concerns to the FBI concerning Daniels
March 14, 2002	Bodie breaks out of a youth detention center; Landsman gives McNulty the Deidre Kresen case; Bubbles tells Greggs Omar robbed the Barksdales; Omar redistributes heroin to the community; Avon orders a hit on Omar; McNulty takes Bubbles to his son's soccer game
March 15, 2002	Bodie returns home and D'Angelo details Kressen's murder to Bodie, Poot, and Wallace; Phelan informs Burrell that the search and seizures are not sufficient; Herc and Carver look for Bodie at his mother's; Landsman advocates for McNulty to Rawls; Greggs notices Cheryl's cell phone bill (dated Wednesday, March 13, 2002); Burrell mentions Phelan's qualms to Daniels
March 16, 2002	Freamon pages D'Angelo with the number found on the wall in the raid; McNulty and Greggs discuss cloning pagers, cell phone calls, and Omar; Freamon explains the pager system and Daniels agrees to a wiretap affidavit; Bunk and McNulty review Kressen's crime scene; Freamon explains how he ended up in the pawnshop unit and McNulty drunkenly thanks Greggs
May?	Forty days after the wire is approved. ("Lessons")
May	McNulty requests another twenty days. They've been on Barksdale for three months. ("Game Day")
June 25 or 26	Cedric and Marla Daniels go to a $500 a plate fund raiser. Cedric meets "Day Day"[4]
August 12, 2002 [5]	Wendell Blocker is killed and Kima is shot during an undercover operation. ("The Cost")
September 17, 2002	D'Angelo Barksdale is arrested for transporting drugs in Essex County, New Jersey

Season 2

Date	Event
January 22, 2003	Season 2 starts.
January 23, 2003	The Atlantic Light arrives in Baltimore, Maryland.
February 5, 2003	The Atlantic Light arrives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ("Collateral Damage")
February 23, 2003	Frank meets Senator Clay Davis during a political meeting; Prez informs Valchek that Burrell sabotaged the Barksdale case; Stringer sleeps with D'Angelo's girlfriend; McNulty tells Bunk he will 'find the name' of the female corpse he spotted. ("Collateral Damage")
February 24, 2003	Valchek threatens Burrell, demanding to be provided with a competent team to investigate Frank Sobotka; Avon asks D'Angelo to cut down on his heroin consumption; Nick and Ziggy sell a stolen container of cameras to George "Double G" Glekas. ("Hot Shots")
March 1, 2003	A photograph of the police surveillance van is mailed from New Orleans, Louisiana to Valchek's office; Daniels speaks to Valchek about Frank Sobotka; McNulty identifies the corpse he found as a certain "Nadya". ("Hard Cases")
March, 2003	Calendar in Stringer's office. ("Hard Cases")
April 13th, 2003	Herc and Carver register "Fuzzy Dunlop" as a CI for the BPD. ("Duck and Cover")
May 23rd, 2003	Kristos Koutris inspects Patapsco Cargo Terminal. ("Stray Rounds")
June 12, 2003	Lester peruses automobile registration dates. ("Storm Warnings")
June 23, 2003	Frank Sobotka arrives at the International Brotherhood of Stevedores union hall to work. ("Bad Dreams")
June 24, 2003	Frank Sobotka turns himself in, meets with The Greek, and is murdered by Spiros Vondopoulos. ("Bad Dreams")
June 25, 2003	Frank's body is discovered. Nickolas Sobotka turns himself in. ("Bad Dreams")
July 13, 2003	A photograph of the police surveillance van is mailed from Brisbane, Australia to Valchek's office. ("Port in a Storm")
July 21, 2003 [6]	D'Angelo Barksdale is killed. ("All Prologue")

Season 3

Date	Event
May 5, 2004 [7]	McNulty and Bunk watch the Baltimore Orioles play the Chicago White Sox. ("Time after Time")
May 24, 2004 [8]	Thomas Carcetti asks Valchek to help broker a meeting with Burrell. ("All Due Respect")
May 2004	Calendar in Stringer's office. ("Dead Soldiers")
September 24, 2004 [9]	Avon Barksdale is released from Maryland Correctional Institute - Jessup. ("Straight and True")
October 2004 [10]	Mayor Royce threatens to remove Burrell from his post if he fails to reduce Baltimore's homicide rate. ("Homecoming")
October 10, 2004 [11]	Bernard purchases batches of disposable phones. ("Back Burners")
Shortly after November 2, 2004	The presidential election is discussed. ("Slapstick")
December 19, 2004	Russell Bell is murdered. ("Middle Ground") The Barksdale Crew is arrested. ("Mission Accomplished")

Season 4

Date	Event
August 22nd, 2006	Curtis Anderson murders Fruit. The 2006 mayoral primary is a "month away". ("Boys of Summer")
September 10, 2006[12]	Carcetti attends a service in a black church. ("Margin of Error")
September 12, 2006	Carcetti wins the Democratic primary in the 2006 Baltimore mayoral election.[13] ("Margin of Error")
September 22, 2006	Laetitia cuts Chiquan. ("Home Rooms")  ("Refugees")
September 25, 2006	A girl identifies Lex in a photo array to Bunk. ("Refugees")
October 25, 2006	Thomas Carcetti wins the 2006 Baltimore mayoral election.[14]
November 6, 2006	Thomas Carcetti begins his first term as mayor of Baltimore.[15]
November 20, 2006	Little Kevin's missing persons report is filed.
December 12, 2006[16]	Preston Broadus is murdered. ("Final Grades")

Season 5

Date	Event
Early March	Carcetti closes the Major Crimes Unit due to lack of budget. ("More with Less")
March 30, 2008[17]	Scott Templeton is assigned an article on the Orioles' opening game. ("Unconfirmed Reports")
March 31, 2008	Marlo speaks to Avon in jail; Scott struggles to get an interview for his Orioles' opening day piece; Fitzhugh tells McNulty and Freamon that no other agency can help on the vacant case; Burrell warns Clay Davis that he can't halt the investigation against him. ("Unconfirmed Reports")
April 1, 2008	Snoop, Chris and Michael murder Junebug and two members of his family; McNulty decides to invent a serial killer case to get more funding. ("Unconfirmed Reports")
April 2, 2008	Carcetti struggles to deal with rising crime rates; McNulty comes up with the idea of tying red ribbons on corpses to fake his serial killer case; buyouts of The Baltimore Sun begin. ("Not for Attribution")
Week of April 14, 2008[18]	Carcetti approves unlimited overtime and a two-detective team for McNulty's "serial killer" case. ("React Quotes")
Sunday, May 25, 2008.[19]	Bubbles' story is published in the Baltimore Sun. ("-30-")
November 4, 2008	Thomas Carcetti is elected governor of Maryland. ("-30-")
January 16, 2009.[20]	Thomas Carcetti begins his first term as governor of Maryland. ("-30-")

References