diff --git a/pants.ini b/pants.ini
index 61585b447f8..1f114f6b699 100644
--- a/pants.ini
+++ b/pants.ini
@@ -347,6 +347,7 @@ branch_notes: {
     '1.13.x': 'src/python/pants/notes/1.13.x.rst',
     '1.14.x': 'src/python/pants/notes/1.14.x.rst',
     '1.15.x': 'src/python/pants/notes/1.15.x.rst',
+    '1.16.x': 'src/python/pants/notes/1.16.x.rst',
   }
 
 
diff --git a/src/docs/docsite.json b/src/docs/docsite.json
index d103377a284..564a24469e2 100644
--- a/src/docs/docsite.json
+++ b/src/docs/docsite.json
@@ -70,6 +70,7 @@
     "notes-1.13.x": "dist/markdown/html/src/python/pants/notes/1.13.x.html",
     "notes-1.14.x": "dist/markdown/html/src/python/pants/notes/1.14.x.html",
     "notes-1.15.x": "dist/markdown/html/src/python/pants/notes/1.15.x.html",
+    "notes-1.16.x": "dist/markdown/html/src/python/pants/notes/1.16.x.html",
     "notes-master": "dist/markdown/html/src/python/pants/notes/master.html",
     "notes-master": "dist/markdown/html/src/python/pants/notes/master.html",
     "orgs": "dist/markdown/html/src/docs/orgs.html",
@@ -196,6 +197,7 @@
        },
        {"collapsible_heading": "Release Notes",
         "pages" : [
+                    "notes-1.16.x",
                     "notes-1.15.x",
                     "notes-1.14.x",
                     "notes-1.13.x",
diff --git a/src/python/pants/VERSION b/src/python/pants/VERSION
index 9aa9c34b46c..004bd4eac1d 100644
--- a/src/python/pants/VERSION
+++ b/src/python/pants/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-1.16.0.dev4
+1.16.0rc0
diff --git a/src/python/pants/notes/1.16.x.rst b/src/python/pants/notes/1.16.x.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..eb89b37bd10
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/python/pants/notes/1.16.x.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,552 @@
+1.16.x Stable Releases
+======================
+This document describes releases leading up to the ``1.16.x`` ``stable`` series.
+
+1.16.0rc0 (5/7/2019)
+--------------------
+
+API Changes
+~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+* allow configuration of the subsystems to initialize in a test (#7665)
+  `PR #7665 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7665>`_
+
+* Replace GracefulTerminationException with PantsRunFinishedWithFailureException (#7671)
+  `PR #7671 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7671>`_
+
+Bugfixes
+~~~~~~~~
+
+* Fix for reference cycle from Target to BuildGraph (#7666)
+  `PR #7666 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7666>`_
+
+* Put all arguments to javac in safe_args not just the source paths (#7651)
+  `PR #7651 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7651>`_
+
+* convert to text_type() for external repos running pants py2 (#7664)
+  `PR #7664 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7664>`_
+
+* Small logging update to java executor and fix undefined var in release.sh (#7667)
+  `PR #7667 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7667>`_
+  `PR #7370 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7370>`_
+
+Refactoring, Improvements, and Tooling
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+* Short-circuit primitive encoding on CoercingEncoder (#7655)
+  `PR #7655 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7655>`_
+
+1.16.0.dev4 (5/06/2019)
+-----------------------
+
+New Features
+~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+* Remote Execution allows extra platform properties to be set (#7650)
+  `PR #7650 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7650>`_
+
+* add suffix and Levenshtein matching for invalid option names (#7637)
+  `PR #7637 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7637>`_
+
+Bugfixes
+~~~~~~~~
+
+* Apply timeouts to pex resolves (#7659)
+  `PEX Issue #26 <http://github.com/pantsbuild/pex/issues/26>`_
+  `PR #7659 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7659>`_
+
+* pin the PEX_PYTHON{,_PATH} running the pytest pex to avoid using incompatible pytest requirements (#7563)
+  `PR #7563 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7563>`_
+
+* Fix hasattr on Payload (#7432)
+  `PR #7432 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7432>`_
+
+* Two targets can swap positions with pantsd (again) (#7642)
+  `PR #7642 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7642>`_
+
+Refactoring, Improvements, and Tooling
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+* pantsd runs no longer fork (#7596)
+  `PR #7596 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7596>`_
+
+* Replace externs::eval with externs::none (#7646)
+  `PR #7646 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7646>`_
+
+* Add the possibility to ignore sigint from other threads (#7623)
+  `PR #7623 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7623>`_
+
+* Name threads that the daemon starts (#7639)
+  `PR #7639 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7639>`_
+
+* Add testing for improved error message from #7628 when no valid interpreter can be resolved (#7630)
+  `PR #7630 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7630>`_
+
+* Extend pantsd test timeout (#7527)
+  `PR #7527 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7527>`_
+
+* Skip flaky test (#7638)
+  `PR #7638 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7638>`_
+
+* Use TryInto instead of custom types (#7542)
+  `PR #7542 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7542>`_
+
+* use upstream rustup init script download workaround for old curl version on CentOS6 (#7619)
+  `PR #7619 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7619>`_
+
+1.16.0.dev3 (4/27/2019)
+-----------------------
+
+Bugfixes
+~~~~~~~~
+
+* PythonTests force default platform resolves (#7618)
+  `PR #7618 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7618>`_
+
+* Fix to decode bytes to unicode in server when reading file from disk (#7610)
+  `PR #7610 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7610>`_
+
+* Two targets can swap positions with pantsd (#7583) (#7617)
+  `PR #7583 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7583>`_
+
+* Fix empty failed target to ensure pants raises the error if python test fails (#7570)
+  `PR #7570 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7570>`_
+
+Refactoring, Improvements, and Tooling
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+* Modernize `check_pants_pex_abi.py` script to Python 3 (#7631)
+  `PR #7631 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7631>`_
+
+* unify precedence logic for options which may be overridden on targets (#7594)
+  `PR #7594 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7594>`_
+
+* fix --owner-of path matching to remove repeated directory separators (#7588)
+  `PR #7588 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7588>`_
+
+* fix cron job by wrapping the python binary in text_type() (#7611)
+  `PR #7611 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7611>`_
+
+* download rustup-init without --proto to work around outdated centos6 curl version (#7615)
+  `PR #7615 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7615>`_
+
+* Default release script to use Python 3 in preparation for dropping Python 2 release (#7608)
+  `PR #7608 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7608>`_
+
+* Better support --test-junit-test with classname, remove support for file path (#7589)
+  `PR #7589 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7589>`_
+
+* Refactor uses of dirutil.py to use the new default Unicode semantics (#7604)
+  `PR #7604 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7604>`_
+
+* Ensure test symlink is always seen by engine. (#7605)
+  `PR #7605 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7605>`_
+
+* pantsd auto invalidates pants.ini and all pythonpath of pants (#7599)
+  `PR #7599 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7599>`_
+
+Documentation
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+* Improve error message when no valid Python interpreter can be resolved (#7628)
+  `PR #7628 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7628>`_
+
+* Fix typo in How to Contribute docs (#7614)
+  `PR #7614 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7614>`_
+
+
+1.16.0.dev2 (4/22/2019)
+-----------------------
+
+New features
+~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+* Add support for v2-only goals, and replace list with a @console_rule (#6880)
+  `PR #6880 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/6880>`_
+
+* make deprecations respect warnings filters and add --ignore-pants-warnings option (#7496)
+  `PR #7496 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7496>`_
+
+Bugfixes
+~~~~~~~~
+
+* Rerun `select-interpreter` if global Python interpreter constraints have changed  (#7586)
+  `PR #7586 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7586>`_
+
+* Fix help info output for option choices (#7569)
+  `PR #7569 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7569>`_
+
+* Directory materialization is visible to others. (#7562)
+  `PR #7562 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7562>`_
+
+* Coerce argv for JavacCompile to text_type. (#7560)
+  `PR #7560 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7560>`_
+
+* Fix doc generation rendering byte literals with Python 3 (#7556)
+  `PR #7556 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7556>`_
+
+* fix go test flags bug and add integration test (#7539)
+  `PR #7539 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7539>`_
+
+Documentation
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+* Fix link for common_task/target_aggregate (#7574)
+  `PR #7574 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7574>`_
+
+* Update install guide to use `./pants generate-pants-ini` and `pants_runtime_python_version` (#7453)
+  `PR #7453 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7453>`_
+
+Refactoring, Improvements, and Tooling
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+* Hotfix #7591 breaking OSX Rust tests shard due to Pyenv global issue (#7602)
+  `PR #7602 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7602>`_
+  `PR #7591 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7591>`_
+
+* Pin OSX wheel release shards to pyenv. (#7591)
+  `PR #7591 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7591>`_
+
+* Replace the `goals` goal with a `help` plugin which supports both v1 and v2 (#7598)
+  `PR #7598 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7598>`_
+
+* Remove unused migrations folder (#7592)
+  `PR #7592 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7592>`_
+
+* Collection subclasses correctly coerce to bools (#7584)
+  `PR #7584 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7584>`_
+
+* Use ci.sh instead of travis-ci.sh (#7582)
+  `PR #7582 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7582>`_
+
+* Cleanup run_python_test rule. (#7577)
+  `PR #7577 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7577>`_
+
+* Improve `--pantsd-invalidation-globs` using Snapshot fingerprints (#7531)
+  `Issue #5567 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/issues/5567>`_
+  `PR #7531 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7531>`_
+
+* Restore support for pantsbuild.pants wheel using Python 3.7+ by removing abi3 workaround (#7578)
+  `Issue #7459 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/issues/7459>`_
+  `PR #7578 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7578>`_
+
+* Bootstrap py36 in cron as well (#7579)
+  `PR #7579 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7579>`_
+
+* protobuf gen triggers less often (#7565)
+  `PR #7565 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7565>`_
+
+* Skip more flaky tests in TestPantsDaemonIntegration. (#7575)
+  `PR #7575 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7575>`_
+
+* Allow 3rdparty rust crate logging to be hidden (#7530)
+  `PR #7530 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7530>`_
+
+* Add debug_log macro for one-off debugging (#7566)
+  `PR #7566 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7566>`_
+
+* Enable pantsd in Travis (#7440)
+  `PR #7440 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7440>`_
+
+* Skip flaky tests in TestPantsDaemonIntegration. (#7558)
+  `PR #7558 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7558>`_
+
+* Don't assume a local `master` branch point. (#7557)
+  `PR #7557 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7557>`_
+
+* Kill unused env vars in our pre-commit hook. (#7555)
+  `PR #7555 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7555>`_
+
+* Remove un-needed `travis-ci.sh` ci wrapper. (#7548)
+  `PR #7548 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7548>`_
+
+* Build pexes that work on all Python patch versions. (#7550)
+  `PR #7550 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7550>`_
+
+* Fix abi3 pex check to allow abi3 wheels. (#7549)
+  `PR #7549 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7549>`_
+
+* Only add the CI skipping label on initial commit. (#7545)
+  `PR #7545 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7545>`_
+
+* Prepare 1.15.0 (#7544)
+  `PR #7544 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7544>`_
+
+* Don't run CI for doc-only changes. (#7537)
+  `PR #7537 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7537>`_
+
+Version updates
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+* Update to rust 1.34.0 (#7541)
+  `PR #7541 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7541>`_
+
+* Upgrade to pex 1.6.6. (#7186)
+  `PR #7186 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7186>`_
+
+
+1.16.0.dev1 (4/12/2019)
+-----------------------
+
+API Changes
+~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+* Set the fromfile option arg's default to True (#7513)
+  `PR #7513 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7513>`_
+
+* Bump cffi (1.11.1 => 1.11.5) (#7484)
+  `PR #7484 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7484>`_
+
+* Add run tracker option for versioning stats (#7481)
+  `PR #7481 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7481>`_
+
+* Replace SingletonRule with zero-parameter @rules (#7479)
+  `PR #7479 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7479>`_
+
+* Remove @rule Select syntax (#7477)
+  `PR #7477 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7477>`_
+
+* Switch to twitter.common 0.3.11 to fix DeprecationWarning when using Pants as a PEX (#7461)
+  `PR #7461 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7461>`_
+
+New features
+~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+* A @console_rule for validating source files against regexes. (#7515)
+  `PR #7515 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7515>`_
+
+* Support JSON and YAML option fromfiles. (#7500)
+  `PR #7500 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7500>`_
+
+* add a deprecation_start_version argument to warn_or_error() (#7494)
+  `PR #7494 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7494>`_
+
+* Add more pants run information to the json reporter (#7474)
+  `PR #7474 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7474>`_
+
+* unrevert go test upgrades to test transitively after fixing issues (#7326)
+  `PR #7326 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7326>`_
+
+* Improve error message for isort failure in IsortRun (#7462)
+  `PR #7462 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7462>`_
+
+Bugfixes
+~~~~~~~~
+
+* Increase strictness of type checking for ExecuteProcessRequest args (#7529)
+  `PR #7529 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7529>`_
+
+* Improve Get errors for unhashable or mismatched types (#7502)
+  `PR #7502 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7502>`_
+
+* Don't consider strings as collections for TypedCollection (#7521)
+  `PR #7521 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7521>`_
+
+* Invalidate dependency targets for jvmdoc if --combined. (#7455)
+  `PR #7455 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7455>`_
+
+* allow python tools to specify a noop predicate and use it for conan (#7498)
+  `PR #7498 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7498>`_
+
+* Remove console_rule_integration.py from Python 3 CI blacklist (#7466)
+  `PR #7466 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7466>`_
+
+* Fix flaky `./pants idea-plugin` when using Python 3 by properly using ConsoleTask interface (#7460)
+  `PR #7460 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7460>`_
+
+* Fix `./pants server` not working with Python 3 (#7458)
+  `PR #7458 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7458>`_
+
+* Fix crash if pants.ini is missing in the buildroot (#7452)
+  `PR #7452 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7452>`_
+
+Refactoring, Improvements, and Tooling
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+* fix TestPantsDaemonIntegration.test_signal_pailgun_stream_timeout flakiness (#7533)
+  `PR #7533 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7533>`_
+
+* Restore cron CI run from #7534 to adjust the time it starts (#7538)
+  `PR #7538 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7538>`_
+
+* Temporarily turn off cron CI run to adjust the time it starts (#7534)
+  `PR #7534 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7534>`_
+
+* Label messages of docs-only commits with SKIP_FULL_CI (#7526)
+  `PR #7526 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7526>`_
+
+* Fuse hydrated and unhydrated Struct parsing (#7523)
+  `PR #7523 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7523>`_
+
+* Move logging to Rust (#6817)
+  `PR #6817 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/6817>`_
+
+* Run tests in src dirs in ci. (#7524)
+  `PR #7524 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7524>`_
+
+* avoid running a clean-all in integration tests, which are in a new buildroot (#7522)
+  `PR #7522 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7522>`_
+
+* make pantsd signal integration tests more reliable by setting the timeout (#7504)
+  `PR #7504 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7504>`_
+
+* add some comments to the example CI script in orgs.md (#7478)
+  `PR #7478 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7478>`_
+
+* Pass interpreter constraints to the Pex we release (#7511)
+  `PR #7511 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7511>`_
+
+* remove pyenv bootstrapping from travis_ci/Dockerfile (#7505)
+  `PR #7505 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7505>`_
+
+* Improve logging of build-support/isort.sh helper script (#7503)
+  `PR #7503 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7503>`_
+
+* Tweak Pytest logging in CI for less overwhelming logging of successful tests (#7501)
+  `PR #7501 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7501>`_
+
+* Install Python 2.7 and 3.6 on Centos6 base image through Pyenv (#7064)
+  `PR #7064 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7064>`_
+
+* Add a basic test for pantsd memory leaks. (#7488)
+  `PR #7488 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7488>`_
+
+* convert --skip to --strict in py thrift namespace clash check task (#7493)
+  `PR #7493 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7493>`_
+
+* Ensure Python 3.6 or 3.7 is installed on all CI shards (#7483)
+  `PR #7483 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7483>`_
+
+* Prepare Linux UCS2 shard for upgrade to Centos6 base image in #7064 (#7418)
+  `PR #7418 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7418>`_
+
+* Cache AWS CLI install in CI (#7472)
+  `PR #7472 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7472>`_
+
+* Remove StatsDb / Timing stats views (#7475)
+  `PR #7475 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7475>`_
+
+* Cache pyenv in CI (#7470)
+  `PR #7470 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7470>`_
+
+* Consolidate JSON stats recording in RunTracker (#7446)
+  `PR #7446 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7446>`_
+
+* Fix issues with deploy shards not properly setting Python version (#7471)
+  `PR #7471 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7471>`_
+
+* No longer pin `pants_runtime_python_version` with `./pants generate-pants-ini` (#7469)
+  `PR #7469 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7469>`_
+  `PR #49 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/setup/pull/49>`_
+
+* Remove Python 3 CI blacklist mechanism (#7468)
+  `PR #7468 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7468>`_
+
+* Remove backend/python/tasks tests from Python 3 CI blacklist and refactor their BUILD entries to be more granular (#7463)
+  `PR #7463 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7463>`_
+
+* Fix typo from #7424 to properly fix TensorFlow test during Python 3.7 cron job (#7464)
+  `PR #7464 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7464>`_
+
+* hack default compiler option sets to fix tensorflow 1.13.1 on python 3.7 (#7424)
+  `PR #7424 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7424>`_
+
+
+1.16.0.dev0 (3/29/2019)
+-----------------------
+
+New features
+~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+* Add `./pants generate-pants-ini` for first time users to generate pants.ini with sensible defaults (#7448)
+  `PR #7448 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7448>`_
+
+* Allow alternate nodejs binaries (#7405)
+  `PR #7405 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7405>`_
+
+* Add JSON Reporter for more detailed workunit stats (#7392)
+  `PR #7392 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7392>`_
+
+* Collect Zipkin spans for v2 engine (#7342)
+  `PR #7342 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7342>`_
+
+Refactoring, Improvements, and Tooling
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+* Revert unnecessary runtime check for valid Python interpreter (#7451)
+  `PR #7451 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7451>`_
+
+* Make abstract classproperty error message nicer (#7429)
+  `PR #7429 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7429>`_
+
+* remove inspect.stack() from @rule parsing to fix import time regression in py3 (#7447)
+  `PR #7447 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7447>`_
+
+* Just ignore source arg (with a comment) (#7430)
+  `PR #7430 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7430>`_
+
+* Cache resolution of Node targets via fingerprinting lockfiles. (#7414)
+  `PR #7414 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7414>`_
+
+* Handle signals gracefully (#6574)
+  `PR #6574 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/6574>`_
+
+* Fix resolve test failing on Python 3.7 due to test using outdated cffi version (#7413)
+  `PR #7413 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7413>`_
+
+* Loosen constraints for TensorFlow used in example code to work with Python 3.7 (#7410)
+  `PR #7410 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7410>`_
+
+* Allow usage of pants2 script from other directories (#7409)
+  `PR #7409 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7409>`_
+
+* Specify the python version to use in the unstable pex deploy shard. (#7411)
+  `PR #7411 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7411>`_
+
+* Bump default MyPy version to 0.670 (#7407)
+  `PR #7407 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7407>`_
+
+* Release pants as both a Python 2.7 PEX and a Python 3.6 PEX (#7401)
+  `PR #7401 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7401>`_
+
+* add a non-numeric prefix before the unstable version to avoid getting parsed and truncated as a number (#7400)
+  `PR #7400 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7400>`_
+
+* Refactor travis.yml to deduplicate Pyenv and AWS pex code (#7397)
+  `PR #7397 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7397>`_
+
+Bugfixes
+~~~~~~~~
+
+* nailgun connect timeout error message fix (#7437)
+  `PR #7437 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7437>`_
+
+* Add Python 3.7 tests to nightly cron CI run (#7261)
+  `PR #7261 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7261>`_
+
+* Better message on tool interpreter selection failure. (#7438)
+  `PR #7438 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7438>`_
+
+* fix for pantsrc-files option (#7427)
+  `PR #7427 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7427>`_
+
+* Move with_overwritten_file_context to PantsRunIntegrationTest (#7408)
+  `PR #7408 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7408>`_
+
+* Fix locale test failing on Python 3.7 due to forced UTF-8 mode (#7412)
+  `PR #7412 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7412>`_
+
+* Simplify glob matching and directly match in-memory globs as Patterns. (#7402)
+  `PR #7402 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7402>`_
+
+* Allow reporters to see the correct end_time for a workunit (#7389)
+  `PR #7389 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7389>`_
+
+Documentation
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+* Document pantsd startup and Pailgun behaviours (#7376)
+  `PR #7376 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7376>`_
+
+* Explain in contributing doc that macOS users must brew install OpenSSL (#7396)
+  `PR #7396 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7396>`_
diff --git a/src/python/pants/notes/BUILD b/src/python/pants/notes/BUILD
index 29ad5f3fdab..b4213911a1b 100644
--- a/src/python/pants/notes/BUILD
+++ b/src/python/pants/notes/BUILD
@@ -82,3 +82,8 @@ page(
   name='notes-1.15.x',
   source='1.15.x.rst'
 )
+
+page(
+  name='notes-1.16.x',
+  source='1.16.x.rst'
+)
diff --git a/src/python/pants/notes/master.rst b/src/python/pants/notes/master.rst
index f3e2ff0f610..61b663a18a1 100644
--- a/src/python/pants/notes/master.rst
+++ b/src/python/pants/notes/master.rst
@@ -4,6 +4,40 @@ Master Pre-Releases
 This document describes development releases which occur weekly from master, and which have
 not undergone the vetting associated with ``stable`` releases.
 
+1.16.0rc0 (5/7/2019)
+--------------------
+
+API Changes
+~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+* allow configuration of the subsystems to initialize in a test (#7665)
+  `PR #7665 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7665>`_
+
+* Replace GracefulTerminationException with PantsRunFinishedWithFailureException (#7671)
+  `PR #7671 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7671>`_
+
+Bugfixes
+~~~~~~~~
+
+* Fix for reference cycle from Target to BuildGraph (#7666)
+  `PR #7666 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7666>`_
+
+* Put all arguments to javac in safe_args not just the source paths (#7651)
+  `PR #7651 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7651>`_
+
+* convert to text_type() for external repos running pants py2 (#7664)
+  `PR #7664 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7664>`_
+
+* Small logging update to java executor and fix undefined var in release.sh (#7667)
+  `PR #7667 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7667>`_
+  `PR #7370 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7370>`_
+
+Refactoring, Improvements, and Tooling
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+* Short-circuit primitive encoding on CoercingEncoder (#7655)
+  `PR #7655 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7655>`_
+
 1.16.0.dev4 (5/06/2019)
 -----------------------
 
@@ -1173,7 +1207,7 @@ Refactoring, Improvements, and Tooling
 
 * Allow Pants to run with Python 3 via `./pants3` script (#6959)
   `PR #6959 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/6959>`_
-  
+
 * Properly render \n in exceptions with Py3 (#7073)
   `PR #7073 <https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/7073>`_