Trending Moments
Boston Dentist Demonstrates Ether
Boston Dentist Demonstrates Ether
On this day in 1846, a crowd gathered in the operating theater at Massachusetts General Hospital. A Boston printer with a tumor on his jaw lay on the table. Curious and skeptical physicians and...
Maria Mitchell Discovers Comet
Maria Mitchell Discovers Comet
On this day in 1847, 29-year-old Maria Mitchell stood on the roof of her parent's Nantucket home, focusing her telescope on what she believed to be a faraway star. Suddenly she realized that the blurry...
Boston Celebrates 250th Birthday
Boston Celebrates 250th Birthday
On this day in 1880 Boston celebrated its 250th birthday. For three and a half hours during the day, a column of 14,500 people marched four and a half miles though the city. The festivities...
Red Sox Retire Yastrzemski's Number
Red Sox Retire Yastrzemski's Number
On this day in 1989, the Boston Red Sox retired Carl Yastrzemski's Number 8. Only 20 years old when he took over for the great Ted Williams in left field in 1961, he went on...
Ponzi Scheme Begins to Unravel
Ponzi Scheme Begins to Unravel
On this day in 1920, the Boston Post ran a story that ultimately exposed one of the biggest financial swindles in history. In a series of articles that won the paper its first Pulitzer Prize,...
African Meeting House Opens
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...
Smithsonian Puts Julia Child's Kitchen on Display
Smithsonian Puts Julia Child's Kitchen on Display
On this day in 2002, a new exhibit opened in Washington, DC. The kitchen in Julia Child's Cambridge home of 32 years had been disassembled and moved to the Smithsonian. Designed by her husband Paul...
First CCC Enrollees Arrive at Ft. Devens
First CCC Enrollees Arrive at Ft. Devens
On this day in 1933, the first enrollees of the Massachusetts Civilian Conservation Corps arrived at Fort Devens in Ayer. They were soldiers in a peacetime army that, in the words of the men who...
Legislature Guarantees Access to Public Schools
Legislature Guarantees Access to Public Schools
On this day in 1845, the Massachusetts legislature guaranteed that every child in the state would have access to a public school. One source of pressure on the lawmakers was a petition submitted by a...
Alice Freeman and George Palmer Marry
Alice Freeman and George Palmer Marry
On this day in 1887, Alice Freeman, charismatic president of Wellesley College, wed Harvard professor George Palmer, to the consternation of many Boston intellectuals. In her six years as president, Freeman had transformed the fledgling...