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Ruiz Wins World Heavyweight Championship

March 3, 2001
March 3, 2001

Ruiz Wins World Heavyweight Championship

On this day in 2001, boxer Johnny Ruiz of Chelsea defeated Evander Holyfield in 12 rounds to become the first-ever Latino WBA heavyweight champion. Trained at a club in Somerville, Ruiz combined discipline with determination...

Annie Oakley Purchases Smith & Wesson Gun

April 25, 1888
April 25, 1888

Annie Oakley Purchases Smith & Wesson Gun

On this day in 1888, Annie Oakley, the star female sharpshooter in Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show, purchased a Model 3 handgun made by the Springfield firm of Smith & Wesson. Horace Smith and...

Writer Edith Wharton Builds in Lenox

June 7, 1902
June 7, 1902

Writer Edith Wharton Builds in Lenox

On this day in 1902, the writer Edith Wharton wrote to a friend about a visit to the site of her new home, The Mount, under construction in Lenox: "Lenox has had its usual tonic...

Revenue Cutter Service School Established in New Bedford

July 31, 1876
July 31, 1876

Revenue Cutter Service School Established in New Bedford

On this day in 1876, Congress established at New Bedford the first School of Instruction to train officers for the Revenue Service. The Service traced its history back to 1790 when Congress decided it needed...

Berkshire Town Sends Giant Cheese Ball to Washington

July 20, 1801
July 20, 1801

Berkshire Town Sends Giant Cheese Ball to Washington

On this day in 1801, the Berkshire County town of Cheshire made a 1235-pound ball of cheese and shipped it to Washington, D.C. as a gift for the newly-elected President, Thomas Jefferson, who was a...

Oak Bluffs Writer Dorothy West Dies

August 16, 1998
August 16, 1998

Oak Bluffs Writer Dorothy West Dies

On this day in 1998, Dorothy West died on Martha's Vineyard. The Boston-born writer was the last living member of the Harlem Renaissance, a movement of African American artists, writers, and musicians that energized American...

First Artificial Snow Falls on Mt. Greylock

November 13, 1946
November 13, 1946

First Artificial Snow Falls on Mt. Greylock

On this day in 1946, an airplane flew over Mount Greylock in western Massachusetts and seeded the clouds with super-cooled ice crystals. The first-ever artificially-produced snow melted before it hit the slopes below, but the...

Legislature Allows Establishment of Mount Auburn Cemetery

June 23, 1831
June 23, 1831

Legislature Allows Establishment of Mount Auburn Cemetery

On this day in 1831, the legislature granted the Massachusetts Horticultural Society permission to purchase land for use as an experimental garden and a rural cemetery. Located on the border of Cambridge and Watertown, the...

Dr. Harriot K. Hunt Visits the Shakers

July 7, 1848
July 7, 1848

Dr. Harriot K. Hunt Visits the Shakers

On this day in 1848, Dr. Harriot K. Hunt of Boston, one of the nation's first female physicians, made a visit to the Shaker community in Harvard. She found much to her liking. There were...

Dr. Susan Dimock Begins Medical Residency

August 20, 1872
August 20, 1872

Dr. Susan Dimock Begins Medical Residency

On this day in 1872, Dr. Susan Dimock became the resident physician at the New England Hospital for Women and Children in Boston. Only a month earlier, she had returned from medical school in Europe,...

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