- The earliest church in Nigeria, Cathedral Church of St. Peter, was completed in 1898 and is located in Ake, Abeokuta, Ogun State.
- Abeokuta is home to West Africa’s first Baptist Church and Nigeria’s first local administrative division (Abeokuta South).
- The oldest hospital in Nigeria, Sacred Heart Hospital, is in Abeokuta and remains operational.
- The Sokori Bridge (1903), the first bridge in Nigeria built independently by a Nigerian (John Adenekan) without European oversight, is in Abeokuta.
- Nigeria’s earliest Newspaper, Iwe Iroyin, was established in Abeokuta in 1859.
- The first leader of the Nigerian Union of Teachers and the first woman to drive a car in Nigeria both hailed from Abeokuta and were married to each other, Mr. and Mrs. Ransome Kuti. They were also the first male and female students admitted into Abeokuta Grammar School.
- Nigeria’s first indigenous Chief Justice, Justice Adetokunbo Ademola, was from Abeokuta. His father, Alake Gbadebo I, was Egbaland’s longest-reigning King and the first Nigerian Monarch to embark on an official visit to England, spending 20 days at Sea (May 5–25, 1904).
- The arrival of the first European to Abeokuta on January 4, 1843 caused a sensation, as residents abandoned their homes and market stalls to catch a glimpse of Henry Townsend.
- During the American Civil War (1861–1865), which disrupted U.S. Cotton exports to Europe, Abeokuta became a Supplier of Cotton to England.
- The most influential female figure in Egbaland’s history, Madam Tinubu, was the first Iyalode of Egbaland. She passed away in 1887, and Tinubu Square in Lagos and Ita Iyalode in Abeokuta were named in her honour.
- In 1893, the Egba United Government was officially recognised by Britain as an independent entity, with its own laws and developments until Nigeria’s unification in 1914.
- First woman to buy a car in Nigeria, Efunroye Tinubu.
Additional milestones in Abeokuta’s history include:
- Since the discovery of Olumo Rock, nobody has fallen from it.
- Sokori Bridge construction by indigenous engineer in 1903
- Abeokuta Grammar School establishment on July 16, 1908
- Josiah Jesse Ransome-Kuti (1855–1930), Fela Kuti’s grandfather, becoming the first Nigerian to release a music album in 1925 after recording several Yoruba hymns on gramophone through Zonophone Records.
First of many things;
- First Quarry used to construction of railway at Onikoko, Abeokuta.
- The first woman to drive a car; Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, was from Egba, Abeokuta
- Abeokuta remains one of the most intellectually advanced communities within the Yoruba ethnic group.
- First government was recognised here, hence we have the premier local government (Abeokuta South).
*Partly Sourced from Historical Africa Yoruba.
