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Fannie Farmer Cookbook Published

January 7, 1896
January 7, 1896

Fannie Farmer Cookbook Published

On this day in 1896, the first edition of the Boston Cooking-School Cookbook was published. Later known as the Fannie Farmer Cookbook, the book was the work of Fannie Farmer, born in Boston and raised...

Nation's First Country Club Established

January 14, 1882
January 14, 1882

Nation's First Country Club Established

On this day in 1882, a group of men from the social elite of Boston formally established The Country Club of Brookline, the first such club in the United States. Only four miles from the...

Supreme Court Strikes Down "Separate but Equal"

May 17, 1954
May 17, 1954

Supreme Court Strikes Down "Separate but Equal"

On this day in 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the doctrine of separate but equal. "Segregation of children in public schools solely on the basis of race . . . deprives the children of...

First Newspaper Published in the Colonies

September 25, 1690
September 25, 1690

First Newspaper Published in the Colonies

On this day in 1690, Boston printer Benjamin Harris produced the first issue of Publick Occurrences, the first newspaper published in Britain's North American colonies. Readers were enthusiastic, but the governor was not. Under British...

Lizzie Borden's Father and Stepmother Murdered

August 4, 1892
August 4, 1892

Lizzie Borden's Father and Stepmother Murdered

On this day in 1892, a prosperous banker and his wife were hacked to death with a hatchet in their Fall River home. Suspicion immediately focused on the man's unmarried 32-year-old daughter, Lizzie Borden. Basing...

Deborah Sampson Performs in Boston

March 26, 1802
March 26, 1802

Deborah Sampson Performs in Boston

On this day in 1802, a performance of "The American Heroine" took place in a fashionable Boston theater. The audience watched spellbound as a middle-aged farmwife, dressed in the uniform of a Continental soldier, loaded...

Boston Burns

March 20, 1760
March 20, 1760

Boston Burns

On this day in 1760, the dreaded cry of "Fire!" roused sleeping Bostonians. Over the next ten hours, the worst fire to strike a colonial American city ravaged the capital of Massachusetts. Beginning in a...

Samuel Adams Dies

October 2, 1803
October 2, 1803

Samuel Adams Dies

On this day in 1803, the fiery patriot Samuel Adams died at the age of 81. A complete failure as a businessman, he was a brilliant political organizer, a talented writer, and a passionate public...

Marconi Transmits Radio Message

January 18, 1903
January 18, 1903

Marconi Transmits Radio Message

On this day in 1903, Guglielmo Marconi, the Italian inventor of wireless telegraphy, arrived on Cape Cod hoping to make history. The night was cold but perfectly clear, and the first trans-Atlantic radio transmission, a...

Jury Decides in Favor of Elizabeth "Mum Bett" Freeman

August 22, 1781
August 22, 1781

Jury Decides in Favor of Elizabeth "Mum Bett" Freeman

On this day in 1781, a jury in Great Barrington found in favor of "Mum Bett," a black woman who had been a slave in the home of Colonel John Ashley for at least 30...

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