1880: Bangs takes in as partner Francis L. Stetson, then an assistant corporation counsel for the city of New York.

1885: Upon Bangs's death, Stetson becomes the firm's head, a role he will hold for 35 years.

1885: During work on a complex transaction involving the Pennsylvania Railroad, the firm begins a long and extensive relationship with banker J. Pierpont Morgan.

1888: Stetson plays a key role in initiating development of the first large hydroelectric power plant in America, at Niagara Falls, New York.

1889:Grover Cleveland joins the firm, now Bangs Stetson Tracy & MacVeagh, as counsel following his first term as president of the United States. Cleveland will leave upon his re-election as president in 1892.

Late 1880s: Stetson advises William Whitney on the creation of the first consolidated transit system in New York City.