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Nation's First Subway Opens in Boston
Nation's First Subway Opens in Boston
On this day in 1897, at 6 am, over 100 people crowded onto the first train to travel through a tunnel under downtown Boston. More than 100,000 people would take the three-and-a-half minute trip that...
Norman Rockwell Wins Medal of Freedom
Norman Rockwell Wins Medal of Freedom
On this day in 1977, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, was bestowed on 83-year-old Norman Rockwell. The country's best-known illustrator had lived in the western Massachusetts town of Stockbridge since...
Boston Tea Party Raider Born
Boston Tea Party Raider Born
On this day in 1738, David Kinnison was born in Old Kingston, Maine, or so he claimed. An early convert to the cause of American independence, he claimed to have participated in the dumping of...
Robert Goddard Launches Space Age
Robert Goddard Launches Space Age
On this day in 1926, Clark University physics professor Robert Goddard launched the world's first liquid fuel rocket — and with it the space age. Standing in a snow-covered field in Auburn, Massachusetts, he watched...
Complaint Filed on Toxic Pollution in Woburn
Complaint Filed on Toxic Pollution in Woburn
On this day in 1984, lawyer Jan Schlichtmann filed the first motion in the case made famous by the book and film "A Civil Action." For over a decade, children in Woburn had been falling...
King Philip's War Breaks Out
King Philip's War Breaks Out
On this day in 1675, Wampanoag warriors killed seven colonists in Swansea in retaliation for a series of injustices suffered at the hands of the English. This raid is generally considered the beginning of King...
Puritans Leave for Massachusetts
Puritans Leave for Massachusetts
On this day in 1630, the last well-wishers stepped off the ship Arbella and returned to shore. More than a week after the vessel first set out, the winds were finally favorable. The ship weighed...
George McNeill Organizes Workers
George McNeill Organizes Workers
On this day in 1852, hundreds of mill workers at the Woolen Company in Amesbury walked out on strike. Fourteen-year-old George McNeill, who had worked in the carding room since he was ten, immediately organized...
Massachusetts Bay Colony Bans Catholic Priests
Massachusetts Bay Colony Bans Catholic Priests
On this day in 1647, Massachusetts Bay banned Jesuit priests from the colony on penalty of death. The English Puritans who settled the colony feared the Jesuits for several reasons. First, simply because they were...
Natick Established
Natick Established
On this day in 1781, Natick was formally incorporated, but the town already had a long history. In 1651, a group of Christianized Indians had founded a "Praying Town" in what is now South Natick....