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Abenaki Warriors Attack Groton

July 27, 1694
July 27, 1694

Abenaki Warriors Attack Groton

On this day in 1694, Abenaki warriors raided the frontier town of Groton, on the western edge of Middlesex County. Striking at daybreak, they killed 20 people and took 12 captives, most of them children....

David Walker Found Dead

June 28, 1830
June 28, 1830

David Walker Found Dead

On this day in 1830, David Walker, a prominent and outspoken black man, was found dead in his Boston home. The year before he had written David Walker's Appeal To the Coloured Citizens of the...

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...

Fire Nearly Destroys Nantucket Town

July 13, 1846
July 13, 1846

Fire Nearly Destroys Nantucket Town

On this day in 1846, a fire began in a hat store on Nantucket's Main Street. In no time, it raced through town, consuming everything in its path. Barrels of whale oil were stored on...

Flu Epidemic Begins in Boston

August 27, 1918
August 27, 1918

Flu Epidemic Begins in Boston

On this day in 1918, two sailors housed at Boston's Commonwealth Pier reported to sickbay. The men were the first Americans stricken with a strain of influenza that would prove far more dangerous than the...

Lucy Terry Prince Composes Poem

August 28, 1748
August 28, 1748

Lucy Terry Prince Composes Poem

On this day in 1746, Lucy Terry Prince was among the residents of Deerfield present during an Abenaki raid on the village. Lucy, an enslaved woman, described the horrific event in "The Bars Fight," the earliest...

First Merriam-Webster Dictionary Published in Springfield

September 24, 1847
September 24, 1847

First Merriam-Webster Dictionary Published in Springfield

On this day in 1847, Charles and George Merriam of Springfield published the first edition of The American Dictionary of the English Language. Four years earlier, the brothers had decided to take a major risk....

Police Find First Victim of "Boston Strangler"

June 14, 1962
June 14, 1962

Police Find First Victim of "Boston Strangler"

On this day in 1962, police discovered the body of the first victim of the "Boston Strangler." For the next two years, Boston would be paralyzed by fear as the strangling deaths of 13 women...

Explorer Gosnold Names "Cape Cod"

May 15, 1602
May 15, 1602

Explorer Gosnold Names "Cape Cod"

On this day in 1602, the English explorer Bartholomew Gosnold dropped anchor off the Massachusetts coast. While he and four others went ashore, the rest of the crew pulled in so many cod that they...

Sarah Remond Ejected from Boston Theater

May 4, 1853
May 4, 1853

Sarah Remond Ejected from Boston Theater

On this day in 1853, Sarah Parker Remond and two other African Americans entered a Boston theater intending to enjoy a Mozart opera. When the manager discovered they were people of color, he directed them...

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