Boston Timeline of Events

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Boston

Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had a population of 617,594 according to the 2010 U.S. Census...

Timeline of Events

1630

9.17.1630

The city of Boston, Massachusetts is founded.

1631

2.5.1631

Roger Williams emigrates to Boston.

1635

4.23.1635

The first public school in the United States, Boston Latin School, is founded in Boston, Massachusetts.

1648

6.14.1648

Margaret Jones is hanged in Boston for witchcraft in the first such execution for the Massachusetts colony.

1704

4.24.1704

The first regular newspaper in the United States, the ''News-Letter'', is published in Boston, Massachusetts.

1774

3.31.1774

American Revolutionary War: The Kingdom of Great Britain orders the port of Boston, Massachusetts closed pursuant to the Boston Port Act.

1775

10.28.1775

American Revolutionary War: A British proclamation forbids residents from leaving Boston.

1776

3.4.1776

The American War of Independence: The Americans capture Dorchester Heights dominating the port of Boston, Massachusetts.

3.17.1776

American Revolution: British forces evacuate Boston, Massachusetts after George Washington and Henry Knox place artillery in positions overlooking the city.

1837

6.11.1837

The Broad Street Riot occurs in Boston, fueled by ethnic tensions between Yankees and Irish.

1839

11.27.1839

In Boston, Massachusetts, the American Statistical Association is founded.

1848

11.1.1848

In Boston, Massachusetts, the first medical school for women, The Boston Female Medical School (which later merged with the Boston University School of Medicine), opens.

1851

12.29.1851

The first American YMCA opens in Boston, Massachusetts.

1857

11.9.1857

The Atlantic founded in Boston.

1863

5.28.1863

American Civil War: The 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, the first African American regiment, leaves Boston, Massachusetts, to fight for the Union.

1867

7.17.1867

Harvard School of Dental Medicine was established in Boston. It was the first dental school in the U.S.

12.2.1867

At Tremont Temple in Boston, British author Charles Dickens gives his first public reading in the United States.

1883

2.28.1883

The first vaudeville theater opens in Boston, Massachusetts.

1897

9.1.1897

The Boston subway opens, becoming the first underground rapid transit system in North America.

1901

10.29.1901

In Amherst, Massachusetts nurse Jane Toppan is arrested for murdering the Davis family of Boston with an overdose of morphine.

1911

9.25.1911

Ground is broken for Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts.

1912

4.20.1912

Opening day for baseball stadiums Tiger Stadium in Detroit, Michigan, and Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts.

1928

10.12.1928

An iron lung respirator is used for the first time at Children's Hospital, Boston

1930

12.7.1930

W1XAV in Boston, Massachusetts broadcasts video from the CBS radio orchestra program, ''The Fox Trappers''. The broadcast also includes the first television commercial in the United States, an advertisement for I.J. Fox Furriers, who sponsored the radio show.

1942

11.28.1942

In Boston, Massachusetts, a fire in the Cocoanut Grove nightclub kills 491 people.

1960

10.4.1960

Eastern Air Lines Flight 375, a Lockheed L-188 Electra, crashes after a bird strike on takeoff from Boston's Logan International Airport, killing 62 of 72 on board.

1979

10.20.1979

The John F. Kennedy library is opened in Boston, Massachusetts.

1987

1.4.1987

The Chase, Maryland rail wreck: An Amtrak train en route to Boston, Massachusetts from Washington, D.C., collides with Conrail engines in Chase, Maryland, killing 16 people.

1990

3.18.1990

In the largest art theft in US history, 12 paintings, collectively worth around $300 million, are stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, Massachusetts.