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Ted Shawn Theater Opens at Jacob's Pillow
Ted Shawn Theater Opens at Jacob's Pillow
On this day in 1942, the first theater in the nation dedicated exclusively to dance opened at Jacob's Pillow in Becket, a small town in the Berkshire Hills. The building was named for Ted Shawn,...
Boston Wheelmen Sponsor Nation's First 100-Mile Bicycle Race
Boston Wheelmen Sponsor Nation's First 100-Mile Bicycle Race
On this day in 1882, seven men took over 12 hours to cover the distance from Worcester to Boston in the nation's first 100-mile bicycle race. Boston was becoming the bicycle capital of America. Pedestrians...
Boston Holds First "Rat Day"
Boston Holds First "Rat Day"
On this day in 1917, the Boston Women's Municipal League held the first — and as it happened, only — Rat Day. Increasing numbers of rats infested neighborhoods ranging from the overcrowded North End to...
Boston Doctors Appeal for Mental Hospital
Boston Doctors Appeal for Mental Hospital
On August 20, 1810, two Boston doctors circulated an appeal for "a hospital for the reception of lunatics and other sick persons." (Some sources, including, until recently, Mass Moments, erroneously date the letter to August...
Boston Receives First Transcontinental TV Broadcast
Boston Receives First Transcontinental TV Broadcast
On this day in 1951, anyone in Boston with access to a television set could be part of history — a program was transmitted live from coast-to-coast for the first time ever. President Harry Truman's...
Harvard Awards Bowditch Honorary Degree
Harvard Awards Bowditch Honorary Degree
On this day in 1802, Harvard College awarded Nathaniel Bowditch an honorary Master's Degree. The Salem-born astronomer, mathematician, and navigator was almost entirely self-educated. His formal schooling ended when he was ten. While apprenticed to...
Indian Rights Activist Born in Amherst
Indian Rights Activist Born in Amherst
On this day in 1830, an Amherst College professor and his wife rejoiced at the safe delivery of their second child, Helen Maria Fiske. A lifelong friend of Emily Dickinson and a talented poet in...
Worcester Becomes a City
Worcester Becomes a City
On this day in 1848, the Governor of Massachusetts signed a charter giving the once-sleepy village of Worcester the legal status of a city. For over a century, Worcester's isolated location in the hilly center...
Foster Furcolo, State's First Italian American Governor, Born
Foster Furcolo, State's First Italian American Governor, Born
On this day in 1911, Foster Furcolo was born in New Haven. Raised in Connecticut and educated at Yale, Furcolo moved to Springfield after World War II. In 1948 he won a seat in the...
Eric Carle Museum Opens in Amherst
Eric Carle Museum Opens in Amherst
On this day in 2002, the nation's first museum of picture book art opened in Amherst. A decade earlier, children's book author and illustrator Eric Carle had visited a picture book museum in Tokyo and...