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Framingham Disassembles Meetinghouse

October 13, 1735
October 13, 1735

Framingham Disassembles Meetinghouse

On this day in 1735, Framingham's town meeting voted to "give the old meeting house frame" to their minister, who would undoubtedly find another use for it. The town had erected its first meetinghouse in...

Millerites Await End of the World

October 22, 1844
October 22, 1844

Millerites Await End of the World

On this day in 1844, tens of thousands of people in Massachusetts expected the world to come to an end. They were followers of William Miller, a man who claimed to know the date of...

First Missionaries Leave for Hawaii

October 23, 1819
October 23, 1819

First Missionaries Leave for Hawaii

On this day in 1819, a crowd gathered on a Boston wharf to bid farewell to the first Protestant missionaries bound for Hawaii. Among them were seven Massachusetts couples, four of them recently married. After...

Missionary Opens School for Mohican Indians

November 5, 1734
November 5, 1734

Missionary Opens School for Mohican Indians

On this day in 1734, the Yale-trained missionary John Sergeant opened a school for Mohican Indian children in Great Barrington. About 50 members of the Housatonic tribe of the Mohicans joined four English families on...

Islamic Society Breaks Ground in Roxbury

November 7, 2002
November 7, 2002

Islamic Society Breaks Ground in Roxbury

On this day in 2002, the Islamic Society of Boston held a ceremonial groundbreaking in Roxbury for New England's largest mosque and Islamic cultural center. The Society had grown from a handful of Cambridge-based students...

Evangelist Billy Sunday Draws 70,000 to Boston Revival

November 12, 1916
November 12, 1916

Evangelist Billy Sunday Draws 70,000 to Boston Revival

On this day in 1916, 55,000 people came to hear Billy Sunday preach in Boston. An overflow crowd of 15,000 had to be turned away from the temporary tabernacle that had been erected on Huntington...

Quakers Outlawed in Plymouth

December 3, 1658
December 3, 1658

Quakers Outlawed in Plymouth

On this day in 1658, Plymouth Court ordered that any boat carrying Quakers to Sandwich be seized to prevent the religious heretics from landing. A year earlier, Quakers in Sandwich had established the first Friends‘...

African Meeting House Opens

December 4, 1806
December 4, 1806

African Meeting House Opens

On this day in 1806, the Reverend Thomas Paul was installed as pastor of the new African Meeting House in Boston. Two days later, the church was officially dedicated. The Meeting House served as a...

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...

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...

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