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Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Opens
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...
Dracut Pilot Dies on American Airlines Flight #11
Dracut Pilot Dies on American Airlines Flight #11
On this day in 2001, American Airlines pilot John Ogonowski made the familiar drive from his farm in Dracut to Logan airport. He was sorry he would miss a special event scheduled for later that...
Massachusetts Approves State Constitution
Massachusetts Approves State Constitution
On this day in 1780, the Massachusetts constitution was declared ratified. The previous fall, the world's first constitutional convention had met in Cambridge. A committee was chosen to write a constitution for the new state;...
Thousands Walk Across Zakim-Bunker Hill Bridge
Thousands Walk Across Zakim-Bunker Hill Bridge
On this day in 2002, more than 200,000 people celebrated Mother's Day by walking across the Leonard P. Zakim-Bunker Hill Bridge, months before it was open to cars. Built as part of the country's most...
James Otis, Jr., Enrages Colonial Governor
James Otis, Jr., Enrages Colonial Governor
On this day in 1768, James Otis, Jr. gave a characteristically fiery speech to his fellow legislators in Boston. He referred to the British House of Commons as a gathering of "button-makers, horse jockey gamesters,...
Captain Absalom Boston Dies on Nantucket
Captain Absalom Boston Dies on Nantucket
On this day in 1855, Captain Absalom Boston of Nantucket died. In an era when many African Americans worked as seamen, Absalom Boston stood out. In 1822 he captained an all-black crew on the whaleship...
Transcendentalists Publish The Dial
Transcendentalists Publish The Dial
On this day in 1840 the first issue of the Transcendentalist magazine "The Dial" was published in Boston. The moving force behind this "journal in a new spirit" was Ralph Waldo Emerson, the man who...
Duxbury Dedicates Standish Monument
Duxbury Dedicates Standish Monument
On this day in 1872, a crowd of 10,000 climbed to the top of Captain's Hill in Duxbury to watch the cornerstone being laid for the Myles Standish Monument. Military leader of the Plymouth Colony,...
Washington Commissions First Naval Officer
Washington Commissions First Naval Officer
On this day in 1775, General George Washington commissioned Nicholson Broughton captain "in the Army of the United Colonies of North America." Broughton had a novel assignment: The Marblehead man was to be master of...
Ceremony Honors Early Indian Students
Ceremony Honors Early Indian Students
On this day in 1997, over 300 people gathered in Harvard Yard to commemorate a long forgotten part of the college's history. A plaque was unveiled that read, "Near this spot, from 1655 to 1698,...