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WW II Sends Record Number of Bay State Women to Work

December 7, 1941
December 7, 1941

WW II Sends Record Number of Bay State Women to Work

On this day in 1941, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor launched the people of Massachusetts into World War II — and out of the Depression. The state's industrial cities and shipyards sprang back to...

Crowd Gathers to Hear Writer Mary Antin

December 8, 1912
December 8, 1912

Crowd Gathers to Hear Writer Mary Antin

On this day in 1912, over 1,000 people gathered at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York to hear Boston writer Mary Antin. She had come to make a plea for more aid to support...

Loyalist Despairs at British Defeat

December 9, 1781
December 9, 1781

Loyalist Despairs at British Defeat

On this day in 1781, Loyalist lawyer Ward Chipman of Boston wrote despairingly to his friend Jonathan Sewall who had gone into exile in London. Chipman confessed, "the mortification of seeing our Enemies . ....

Paul Cuffe Sails for Sierra Leone

December 10, 1815
December 10, 1815

Paul Cuffe Sails for Sierra Leone

On this day in 1815, Paul Cuffe of Westport sailed for the west coast of Africa with 38 black emigrants and a cargo of goods on board his vessel. The goal was for the families...

Fire Destroys Malden Mills

December 11, 1995
December 11, 1995

Fire Destroys Malden Mills

On this day in 1995, a massive, wind-whipped fire completely destroyed three buildings at Malden Mills in Lawrence, where the company's signature Polartec fabric was produced. Just two weeks before Christmas, thousands of workers faced...

Salem Brothers Incorporate Game Company

December 12, 1901
December 12, 1901

Salem Brothers Incorporate Game Company

On this day in 1901, George, Charles, and Edward Parker incorporated a game company: Parker Brothers. Started by George in 1883 with a single, self-invented game named Banking, Parker Brothers quickly capitalized on the nation's...

The Fortune Sails from Plymouth for England

December 13, 1621
December 13, 1621

The Fortune Sails from Plymouth for England

On this day in 1621, the ship Fortune set sail from Plymouth Colony. The arrival of the vessel two weeks earlier — sent by the English investors who had funded the Mayflower colonists— should have...

Henrietta Leavitt Buried in Cambridge

December 14, 1921
December 14, 1921

Henrietta Leavitt Buried in Cambridge

On this day in 1921, Henrietta Leavitt, a scientist at the Harvard Observatory, was buried in Cambridge. Her premature death cut short a brilliant career as an astronomer. In the late nineteenth century, observatory director...

First YMCA in the United States Organized in Boston

December 15, 1851
December 15, 1851

First YMCA in the United States Organized in Boston

On this day in 1851, a group of evangelicals from several Boston churches founded the first Young Men's Christian Association in the United States. Modeled on the YMCA in London, the chapter intended to safeguard...

Fall River Church Locks Out Priest

December 16, 1884
December 16, 1884

Fall River Church Locks Out Priest

On this day in 1884, a Fall River newspaper reported that French Canadian Roman Catholic parishioners had locked their newly-appointed priest out of their church. When the priest finally gained entry to the building, he...

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