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The 'Sacred' Cod Moves to the New State House

January 11, 1798
January 11, 1798

The 'Sacred' Cod Moves to the New State House

On this day in 1798, the Massachusetts legislature paraded solemnly from the Old State House to its quarters in a new building at the top of Beacon Hill. Designed by Boston-born architect Charles Bulfinch, the...

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Opens

February 23, 1903
February 23, 1903

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Opens

On this day in 1903, Isabella Stewart Gardner's newly completed home and museum was opened to the public for the first time. The grand building on the Fenway was the realization of Mrs. Gardner's dream...

Activists Erect Tent City in Boston

April 27, 1968
April 27, 1968

Activists Erect Tent City in Boston

On this day in 1968, hundreds of demonstrators occupied a parking lot in Boston's South End. Houses on the site had recently been demolished, and their occupants displaced. To protest this kind of "urban renewal,"...

Composer Stravinsky Visits Gropius House in Lincoln

May 2, 1940
May 2, 1940

Composer Stravinsky Visits Gropius House in Lincoln

On this day in 1940, the German-born architect Walter Gropius and his wife Ise opened their new home in Lincoln to some old friends — the great composer Igor Stravinsky and his wife Vera. Gropius...

Ground Broken for Symphony Hall

June 12, 1899
June 12, 1899

Ground Broken for Symphony Hall

On this day in 1899, ground was broken for Boston's Symphony Hall. From the day it was completed a year and a half later, the building would be considered one of finest concert halls in...

Bostonians Lay Cornerstone for Bunker Hill Monument

June 17, 1825
June 17, 1825

Bostonians Lay Cornerstone for Bunker Hill Monument

On this day in 1825, at the laying of the cornerstone of the Bunker Hill Monument, Daniel Webster addressed a crowd of 100,000, including 190 veterans who had survived the first major battle of the...

Otis House Moved

June 27, 1925
June 27, 1925

Otis House Moved

On this day in 1925, workmen finished moving an historic Beacon Hill residence back from the brink of destruction. Cambridge Street was slated to be turned from a crooked cobblestone street into a wide thoroughfare,...

Boston Public Library Receives $1 Million Donation

September 5, 1947
September 5, 1947

Boston Public Library Receives $1 Million Donation

On this day in 1947, self-made millionaire John Deferrari donated over $1,000,000 to the Boston Public Library to express his gratitude to the institution he credited with his success. The son of poor Italian immigrants,...

Architect H.H. Richardson Born

September 29, 1838
September 29, 1838

Architect H.H. Richardson Born

On this day in 1838, Henry Hobson Richardson, one of the true geniuses of American architecture, was born. A native of Louisiana, he received his architectural training in Paris. But the ties he formed during...

Shoppers' World Launches Mall Era

October 5, 1951
October 5, 1951

Shoppers' World Launches Mall Era

On this day in 1951, Shoppers' World in Framingham opened for business. The first suburban shopping mall in the Northeast, and only the second in the country, the complex was a revolutionary design. Anchored by...

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