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Police Find First Victim of "Boston Strangler"
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...
Balloonist Takes First Aerial Photograph
Balloonist Takes First Aerial Photograph
On this day in 1860, Boston newspapers carried an advertisement for an extraordinary event: photographer James Wallace Black would photograph Boston from a hot-air balloon hovering over the city. Black accomplished this well-publicized feat five...
Sarah Remond Ejected from Boston Theater
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...
Boston Abolitionists Await Emancipation Proclamation
Boston Abolitionists Await Emancipation Proclamation
On this day, New Year's Eve 1862, William Lloyd Garrison, publisher of the abolitionist paper The Liberator, delayed printing the latest edition as he waited for news from Washington. At midnight, his son and daughter...
Fire Rages at Myles Standish State Forest
Fire Rages at Myles Standish State Forest
On this day in 1964, a raging wildfire crossed the boundaries of Myles Standish State Forest, and into the town of Plymouth. Two days earlier flames had consumed 800 acres of the forest, but firefighters...
Patent Office Rules in Favor of Elias Howe
Patent Office Rules in Favor of Elias Howe
On this day in 1854, the battle ended over who owned the patent for the first sewing machine. A federal commission ruled that the patent held by Elias Howe of Cambridge was valid and ordered...
Robert Cormier Born
Robert Cormier Born
On this day in 1925, author Robert Cormier was born into Leominster's tight-knit French-Canadian neighborhood, and he remained there for the rest of his life. After graduating from Fitchburg State University, he began a 30-year...
Matzeliger Demonstrates Revolutionary Machine
Matzeliger Demonstrates Revolutionary Machine
On this day in 1885, Jan Matzeliger demonstrated his invention — a machine that could finish 75 shoes in a 10-hour day. The most skilled craftsmen working by hand could turn out 50. An improved...
Bostonians Lay Cornerstone for Bunker Hill Monument
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...
Great Fire Devastates Boston
Great Fire Devastates Boston
On this day in 1872, a monstrous fire nearly destroyed Boston's business district, ravaging the city from the Common to the waterfront. Beginning in a dry goods store, the blaze burned for 15 hours with...