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First Steamboat Passes Through South Hadley Canal
First Steamboat Passes Through South Hadley Canal
On this day in 1826, the Barnet, the first steamboat to operate on the Connecticut River, passed through the South Hadley Canal on its way to Vermont. For centuries, despite waterfalls along the way, New...
Massachusetts Creates Nation's First Regional Park System
Massachusetts Creates Nation's First Regional Park System
On this day in 1893, Governor William Eustis Russell signed a bill creating the Metropolitan Parks Commission, the nation's first regional park system. It was the result of planning and politicking by a group of...
Boston Police Vote to Unionize, Precipitating Riots
Boston Police Vote to Unionize, Precipitating Riots
On this day in 1919, Boston policemen seeking better wages and working conditions voted to form a union. The Commissioner of Police forbade them to unionize. Tensions escalated until, three weeks later, 19 officers were...
H.L. Mencken Arrested in Boston
H.L. Mencken Arrested in Boston
On this day in 1926, reporter and literary critic H.L. Mencken was arrested on Boston Common for selling a magazine that had been banned by the New England Watch and Ward Society, the city's self-appointed...
Paul Revere Statue Unveiled
Paul Revere Statue Unveiled
On this day in 1940, a bronze statue of Paul Revere was unveiled in the shadow of the Old North Church. In the crowd of 8,000, stood the sculptor — 79-year-old Cyrus Dallin. He had...
Boston Lighthouse Lit for the First Time
Boston Lighthouse Lit for the First Time
On this day in 1716, Boston Light on Little Brewster Island was lit for the first time. The first lighthouse built in North America, the structure weathered 60 years of lightning strikes and hurricane-force winds...
Mabel Todd First Describes Emily Dickinson
Mabel Todd First Describes Emily Dickinson
On this day in 1882, Mabel Loomis Todd first recorded her impressions of her mysterious Amherst neighbor. Emily Dickinson always wore white and had her hair arranged "as was the fashion fifteen years ago." "She...
Birth Control Pioneer Born
Birth Control Pioneer Born
On this day in 1890, birth control pioneer John Rock was born in the small Massachusetts town of Marlborough. He was a deeply religious Catholic even as a child. After college and medical school at...
Boston Swears in First Irish-born Mayor
Boston Swears in First Irish-born Mayor
On this day in 1885, Hugh O'Brien, the first Irish immigrant elected mayor of Boston, took the oath of office. A new era was beginning. For several decades, the Roman Catholic Irish had outnumbered the...
Globe Publishes First "Confidential Chat"
Globe Publishes First "Confidential Chat"
On this day in 1884, The Boston Globe published the first "Housekeepers Column," known since 1922 as "Confidential Chat." Although many Globe reporters at first looked with disdain on a column in which readers —...