History
- 800, the parish of St. Remigius was formed in connection with the Carolingian royal court
- 1000, the first official mention of Weseke is made in a census by Werden Abbey
- 1220, a chapel is built in Burlo by the monk Siegfried
- 1226, the town charter granted by Bishop Dietrich von Isenburg II
- 1250, granting of hanseatic county status as a fiefdom of Dortmund
- 1274, first official mention of the town and free county of Gemen
- 1320, union between Coesfeld, Bocholt and Borken with Warendorf, Beckum and Ahlen
- 1391, first mention of Borken's defensive town wall and towers
- 1404, completion of the Church of the Holy Ghost (Heilig Geist Kirche)
- 1418, founding of the Latin School - a forerunner of the modern day Gymnasium Remigianum (a grammar school)
- 1576-1589, the plague takes its toll on Borken and surrounding areas
- 1629 and 1652, the Capuchins settle in Borken in 1629 and buy the church and abbey from the Order of St. John in 1652
- 1803, administrative seat of the principality of Salm
- 1816, Borken becomes a Prussian county town and part of the province of Westfalen
- 1850, completion of the road works between Borken and Raesfeld. This becomes the first such avenue in the rural district of Borken and is the first example of road tolls
- 1880-1905, completion of railway connections to neighbouring towns in the region
- 1880, Wanne to Borken to Winterswijk line
- 1901, Empel to Bocholt to Borken and Borken to Burgsteinfurt lines
- 1905, Borken to Coesfeld to Münster line
- 1945, destruction of the town centre in WWII
- 1957, completion of the "Hendrik de Wynen" barracks
- 1969, local government restructuring reforms, to create larger administrative areas or "communes"
- The fusion of the town of Gemen and other previously independent communities with the new administrative centre of Borken
- 1975, rejuvenation and reconstruction of the southern part of the Old Town gets under way
- 1977/1978, completion of the Vennehof Shopping Centre and the multi-story car park in the southern part of the Old Town
- 1985, Town Council moves into the Town Hall, Im Piepershagen 17 (former District Council offices)
- 1987, town twinning with Whitstable (England) and Albertslund (Denmark)
- 1996, awarding of the "The Golden Star" for town twinning by the European Commission
- 1997 Borken goes on the net - www.borken.de
- 1997 Town twinnings with Bolków (Poland), Grabow in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (Germany) and Mölndal (Sweden)
- 1997 Awarded the European Diploma at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
- 1998, awarded the Flag of Honour at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
- 2001, 775th anniversary of the town of Borken