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| 1875 | First hydraulic lift elevator installed in an U.S. government building (in the Department of State wing). |
| 1875 | First Department of State employees to work in the building moved in on July 14. |
| 1876 | First Treaty signed in the building was with Mexico |
| 1879 | First telephone and telegraph lines installed in the building by the Army Signal Corps. |
| c. 1890 | First light bulb used in the south wing in the State Department Diplomatic Reception Room. |
| 1905 | First high-ranking female in any organization to have an office was Miss Mabel Boardman who served as secretary of the American Red Cross in room 341 until 1913, but was in fact the organization's chief. |
| 1910 | First lighter-than-air craft to touchdown on the streets of any city in the world lands on West Executive Avenue when English pilot Claude Graham-White lands to have lunch with the Secretary of War Jacob Dickinson. |
| 1911 | First refrigerator plant installed at the EEOB; makes ice for the White House. |
| 1918 | First Department to outgrow space in building and leave was the Navy |
| 1920 | First electric elevators installed to replace hydraulic elevators. |
| 1929 | First President to have an office in the building (Rm. 274) was President Hoover following West Wing fire, December 24. |
| 1930 | First name change to building to become The Department of State Building. |
| 1939 | First Executive Branch agency to move in was the Bureau of Budget, precursor of the Office of Management and Budget. |
| 1955 | First televised press conference ever made by a president (Eisenhower) occurs in room 474 on January 19. |
| 1960 | First Vice President to have an office in the building (Rm. 274) was Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson. |
| 1969 | First historical designation when building listed as a National Historic Landmark, highest recognition possible. |
| 1988 | First wife of a Vice President to have an office in the building was Marilyn Quayle. (Rm. 269) |
| 1994 | First White House web site unveiled. |
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