Today in Massachusetts History
Cities in Massachusetts: Boston - Springfield, MA
Historical Events
Events 1 - 86 of 86
1613-07-02 - The first English expedition from Massachusetts against Acadia led by Samuel Argall.
1623-11-01 - Fire at Plymouth, Massachusetts destroys several buildings
1628-03-19 - Massachusetts colony founded by Englishmen
1629-03-14 - England granted a royal charter to Massachusetts Bay Colony
1630-09-17 - The city of Boston, Massachusetts is founded.
1631-05-18 - English colony Massachusetts Bay grants puritarian voting right
1631-05-18 - John Winthrop is elected 1st governor of Massachusetts
1633-10-08 - Massachusetts Bay Colony forms its 1st government
1634-05-31 - US colony Massachusetts Bay annexes Maine colony
1636-08-18 - The Covenant of the Town of Dedham, Massachusetts is first signed.
1636-10-04 - In Massachusetts the Plymouth Colony's 1st law drafted
1636-12-13 - The Massachusetts Bay Colony organizes three militia regiments to defend the colony against the Pequot Indians. This organization is recognized today as the founding of the United States National Guard.
1638-11-08 - Anne Hutchinson banished from Massachusetts
1639-06-06 - Massachusetts grants 500 acres of land to erect a gunpowder mill
1639-11-05 - 1st post office in the colonies is set up in Massachusetts
1642-06-14 - 1st compulsory education law in America passed by Massachusetts
1643-05-19 - Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, Connecticut & New Harbor form United Colonies of New England
1643-07-05 - 1st recorded tornado in US (Essex County, Massachusetts)
1644-03-07 - Massachusetts establishes 1st 2-chamber legislature in colonies
1646-10-28 - 1st Protestant church assembly for indians (Massachusetts)
1647-05-26 - Massachusetts disallows priest access to colony
1647-11-11 - Massachusetts passes 1st US compulsory school attendance law
1651-12-25 - Massachusetts General Court ordered a fine (five shillings) for "observing any such day as Christmas"
1660-06-01 - Mary Dyer is hanged for defying a law banning Quakers from the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
1672-05-15 - 1st copyright law enacted by Massachusetts
1675-06-20 - Abenaki, Massachusetts, Mohegan & Wampanoag indians form anti-English front under Metacom
1675-11-02 - A combined attack by the Plymouth, Rhode Island, Massachusetts Bay and Connecticut colonies attacks the Great Swamp Fort, owned by the Narragansetts during King Philip's War.
1677-03-13 - Massachusetts gains title to Maine for $6,000
1679-09-18 - New Hampshire becomes a county Massachusetts Bay Colony
1680-07-08 - The first confirmed tornado in America kills a servant at Cambridge, Massachusetts.
1684-06-21 - King Charles II revokes Massachusetts Bay Colony charter
1684-10-23 - Colony Massachusetts under authority of English crown mounted
1691-09-17 - Colony Massachusetts Bay gets new charter
1691-10-17 - New royal charter for Massachusetts, now including Maine, Plymouth
1692-10-12 - Massachusetts Bay discontinues witch trials
1699-01-14 - Massachusetts holds day of fasting for wrongly persecuting "witches"
1722-07-25 - The Three Years War begins along the Maine and Massachusetts border.
1773-01-06 - Massachusetts slaves petition legislature for freedom
1774-03-28 - Britain passes Coercive Act against Massachusetts
1774-10-21 - First display of the word "Liberty" on a flag, raised by colonists in Taunton, Massachusetts and which was in defiance of British rule in Colonial America.
1775-12-05 - At Fort Ticonderoga, Henry Knox begins his historic transport of artillery to Cambridge, Massachusetts.
1776-01-24 - Henry Knox arrives at Cambridge, Massachusetts with the artillery that he has transported from Fort Ticonderoga.
1776-03-04 - The American War of Independence: The Americans capture "Dorchester Heights" dominating the port of Boston, Massachusetts.
1787-02-04 - Shays' Rebellion (of debt-ridden Massachusetts farmers) fails
1792-02-23 - Humane Society of Massachusetts incorporated (erected life-saving stations for distressed mariners)
1799-02-13 - 1st US law regulating insurance passed, by Massachusetts
1801-03-07 - Massachusetts enacts 1st state voter registration law
1812-02-11 - Massachusetts Governor Elbridge Gerry signs a redistricting bill - 1st "gerrymander"
1851-12-29 - 1st American Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) chapter opened in Boston Massachusetts.
1852-05-18 - Massachusetts rules all school-age children must attend school
1854-10-01 - The watch company founded in 1850 in Roxbury by Aaron Lufkin Dennison relocates to Waltham, Massachusetts, to become the Waltham Watch Company, a pioneer in the American System of Watch Manufacturing.
1861-01-19 - MS troops take Ft Massachusetts an Ship Island
1863-01-26 - American Civil War: Massachusetts Governor receives permission from Secretary of War to raise a militia organization for men of African descent (54th Massachusetts Regiment)
1869-05-26 - Boston University is chartered by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Composer Tchaikovsky
1875-10-25 - The first performance of the Piano Concerto No. 1 by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky is given in Boston, Massachusetts with Hans von Bülow as soloist.
1875-12-09 - Massachusetts Rifle Association "America's Oldest Active Gun Club" is founded.
1885-05-19 - 1st mass production of shoes (Jan Matzeliger in Lynn, Massachusetts)
1890-03-18 - 1st US state naval militia organized (Massachusetts)
1891-09-20 - The first gasoline-powered car debuts in Springfield, Massachusetts, United States.
1894-01-09 - New England Telephone and Telegraph installs the first battery-operated telephone switchboard in Lexington, Massachusetts.
1895-02-09 - Volleyball invented by W G Morgan in Massachusetts
1898-10-06 - Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity founded at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts.
1901-10-29 - In Amherst, Massachusetts nurse Jane Toppan is arrested for murdering the Davis family of Boston with an overdose of morphine.
1907-11-28 - In Haverhill, Massachusetts, scrap-metal dealer Louis B. Mayer opens his first movie theater.
1908-04-12 - Fire makes 17,000 homeless in Chelsea Massachusetts
1912-06-04 - Massachusetts passes 1st US minimum wage law
1918-07-21 - U-156 shells Nauset Beach, in Orleans, Massachusetts.
1924-09-24 - Boston, Massachusetts opens its airport
1927-06-04 - 1st Ryder Cup: US beats England, 9½-2½ at Worcester Country Club (Worcester, Massachusetts, US)
1942-12-15 - Massachusetts issues 1st US vehicular license plate tabs
1950-01-17 - The Great Brinks Robbery - 11 men rob $1.2M cash & $1.5M securities from armored car company Brink's offices in Boston, Massachusetts
1951-07-17 - Western New England College in Springfield, Massachusetts is chartered.
1954-03-04 - Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, announces the first successful kidney transplant.
1954-12-23 - The first human kidney transplant is performed by Dr. Joseph E. Murray at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts.
1955-08-18 - 46.1 cm rainfall at Westfield, Massachusetts (state record)
1962-11-06 - Edward W Brooke (R) elected attorney general of Massachusetts
1975-08-02 - 107°F (42°C) at Chester/New Bedford, Massachusetts (state record)
1976-12-15 - Argo Merchant tanker off Massachusetts' SE coast, spills 7.6 m gallons of crude when ship ran aground
1981-01-12 - -35°F (-37°C), Chester, Massachusetts (state record)
1985-10-04 - Free Software Foundation is founded in Massachusetts, USA.
1989-04-24 - Massachusetts declares today "New Kids on the Block Day"
1999-10-31 - EgyptAir Flight 990 traveling from New York City to Cairo crashes off the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts, killing all 217 on-board.
2004-05-17 - Massachusetts becomes the first U.S. state to legalize same-sex marriage
2006-02-12 - A powerful winter storm blankets the Northeastern United States dumping 1 to 2 feet of snow from Washington DC up to Boston, Massachusetts. The storm dumped a record 26.9 inches of snow in New York City.
2007-12-31 - The Massive Big Dig construction project in Boston, Massachusetts ends.
2008-05-15 - California becomes the second U.S. state after Massachusetts in 2004 to legalize same-sex marriage after the state's own Supreme Court rules a previous ban unconstitutional.
Famous Birthdays
Birthdays 1 - 89 of 89
1594-05-01 - John Haynes, Massachusetts colonial magistrate
1603-03-18 - Simon Bradstreet, Massachusetts Bay colonist (d. 1693)
1609-10-26 - William Sprague, English co-founder of Charlestown, Massachusetts (d. 1675)
1675-09-03 - Paul Dudley, Attorney-General of Massachusetts (d. 1751)
1694-12-02 - William Shirley, Colonial Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1771)
1725-03-24 - Thomas Cushing, American Continental Congressman and acting Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1788)
1739-03-05 - Benjamin Ruggles Woodbridge, doctor, Massachusetts militia officer, member of the Massachusetts legislature (d. 1819)
1744-04-22 - James Sullivan, 7th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1808)
1745-01-09 - Caleb Strong, 6th and 10th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1819)
1746-11-27 - Increase Sumner, 5th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1799)
1749-05-15 - Levi Lincoln, Sr., American revolutionary, statesman, politician, and acting Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1820)
1752-05-04 - John Brooks, 11th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1825)
1753-06-10 - William Eustis, 12th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1825)
1758-09-21 - Christopher Gore, 8th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1827)
1782-10-25 - Levi Lincoln, Jr., 13th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1868)
1784-04-29 - Samuel Turell Armstrong, American politician and acting Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1850)
1784-12-19 - Marcus Morton, 16th and 18th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1864)
1787-01-13 - John Davis, 14th and 17th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1854)
Inventor Samuel Morse (1791-04-27)
1791-04-27 - Samuel Morse, Charlestown, Massachusetts, American inventor (telegraph, Morse code) and painter
1796-04-12 - George N. Briggs, 19th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1861)
1800-02-14 - Emory Washburn, 22nd Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1877)
1816-03-02 - Alexander H. Bullock, 26th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1882)
1818-03-06 - William Claflin, 27th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1905)
1818-08-30 - Alexander H. Rice, 30th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1895)
1818-09-07 - Thomas Talbot, 31st Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1886)
1819-06-14 - Henry J. Gardner, 23rd Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1892)
1820-01-31 - William B. Washburn, 28th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1887)
1831-02-04 - Oliver Ames, 35th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1895)
1832-01-13 - Horatio Alger, Jr., Chelsea Massachusetts, American minister and author (Lost at Sea, Work & Win)
1834-01-20 - George D. Robinson, 34th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1896)
1834-08-18 - Marshall Field, Conway Massachusetts, owner (Field Dept Store)
1834-11-21 - Henrietta (Hetty) Green,New Bedford, Massachusetts, financier (Witch of Wall Street), (d. 1916)
1838-10-27 - John Davis Long, 32nd Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1915)
The Witch of Wall Street Hetty Green (1834-11-21)
1842-01-04 - Frederic T. Greenhalge, 38th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1896)
1842-06-08 - John Q. A. Brackett, 36th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1918)
1845-08-22 - William Lewis Douglas, 42nd Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1924)
1847-09-02 - Roger Wolcott, 39th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1900)
1851-02-28 - Samuel W. McCall, 47th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1923)
1853-04-23 - Winthrop M. Crane, 40th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1920)
1857-01-06 - William E. Russell, 37th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1896)
1858-09-24 - Eugene Foss, 45th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1939)
1859-09-18 - John L. Bates, 41st Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1946)
1860-02-02 - Curtis Guild, Jr., 43rd Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1915)
1860-07-19 - Lizzie Borden, Fall River Massachusetts, accused murderer (gave her mother forty whacks), (d. 1927)
1862-12-22 - Connie Mack, East Brookfield, Massachusetts, HOF baseball executive/manager (Phila A's 1900-1950), (d. 1956)
1872-11-11 - David I. Walsh, 46th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1947)
1874-10-06 - Frank G. Allen, 51st Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1950)
1874-11-20 - James Michael Curley, 53rd Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1958)
Baseball Legend Connie Mack (1862-12-22)
1878-02-27 - Alvan T. Fuller, 50th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1958)
1879-10-28 - Channing H. Cox, 49th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1968)
1890-07-22 - Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, Boston Massachusetts, mom of JFK, RFK & Ted, (d. 1995)
1892-09-01 - Leverett Saltonstall, 55th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1979)
1893-11-24 - Charles F. Hurley, 54th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1946)
1895-03-28 - Christian Herter, 59th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1966)
1901-05-22 - Maurice J. Tobin, 56th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1953)
1902-12-15 - Robert F. Bradford, 57th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1983)
1903-01-15 - Paul A. Dever, 58th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1958)
1906-12-06 - Agnes Moorehead, Clinton, Massachusetts, American actress (Endora-Bewitched), (d. 1974)
1911-07-29 - Foster Furcolo, 60th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1995)
1915-06-02 - Florence Holway, Massachusetts, 75 year old rape victim and activist, (d. 2012)
1915-07-29 - Francis W. Sargent, 64th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1998)
1920-02-15 - Endicott Peabody, 62nd Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1997)
1923-06-05 - Daniel Rogers Pinkham, Lynn Massachusetts, composer (Signs of Zodiac)
Heavyweight Champion Boxer Rocky Marciano (1923-09-01)
1923-09-01 - Rocky Marciano, Brockton, Massachusetts, heavyweight champion boxer (1952-56), (d. 1969)
1925-05-11 - Edward J. King, 66th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 2006)
1927-04-27 - John Joseph Moakley, (Rep-D-Massachusetts, 1973- )
1928-03-25 - Hilton Kramer, Gloucester, Massachusetts, art critic, (d. 2012)
1929-09-25 - Kevin White, Boston, Massachusetts, American politicians (Mayor of Boston, 1968-1984), (d. 2012)
1929-10-07 - Harold Zirin, Boston, Massachusetts, astronomer, (d. 2012)
1930-01-01 - Frederick Wiseman, Boston, Massachusetts, documentary filmmaker
1931-05-27 - James Wilson, Boston, Massachusetts, criminologist ('Zero Tolerance' policing), (d. 2012)
1931-10-16 - Charles W Colson, Boston Massachusetts, presidential adviser (Watergate figure), (d. 2012)
1936-09-03 - John W Olver, (Rep-D-Massachusetts)
1936-11-05 - Michael Dertouzos, Greek internet pioneer, Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Director of the M.I.T. Laboratory for Computer Science (d. 2001)
1938-04-25 - Roger Boisjoly, Lowell, Massachusetts, aerodynamicist (anticipated challenger disaster), (d. 2012)
1947-03-12 - Mitt Romney, 70th Governor of Massachusetts
1948-04-24 - Paul Cellucci, 69th Governor of Massachusetts and former United States Ambassador to Canada
1949-02-14 - Richard E Neal, (Rep-D-Massachusetts)
Actress Agnes Moorehead (1906-12-06)
1952-09-24 - Joseph P Kennedy II, (Rep-D-Massachusetts)
1956-07-31 - Deval Patrick, 71st Governor of Massachusetts
1965-02-24 - Jane Swift, former acting Governor of Massachusetts
1967-07-25 - Matt LeBlanc, Newton Massachusetts, actor (Joey Tribbiani-Friends)
1970-03-07 - Jacquelyn Doucette, Miss Massachusetts USA (1996)
1970-10-08 - Matt Damon, Cambridge, Massachusetts, American actor (Good Will Hunting, Ocean's trilogy, Bourne trilogy)
1971-06-05 - Mark Wahlberg, Boston, Massachusetts, rap singer (Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch) and actor (Boogie Nights, The Departed)
1972-03-23 - Jennifer K Chapman, Miss USA-Massachusetts (1997)
1972-04-21 - Lori Flick, Boston Massachusetts, Miss America-Massachusetts (1997)
1978-06-08 - Maria Menounos, Miss Massachusetts Teen USA (1996)
1979-08-09 - Jessica Gregory, Miss Massachusetts Teen USA (1997)
Famous Weddings
Weddings 1 - 10 of 10
1835-09-14 - American leading transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson (33) marries 2nd wife Lydia (Lidian) Jackson in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
1847-08-04 - Author of Moby Dick, American novelist Herman Melville (28) marries Elizabeth Shaw, daughter of Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
1986-07-19 - Caroline Kennedy (28) weds Edwin Schlossberg (41) at the Church of Our Lady of Victory in Centerville, Massachusetts
1996-10-19 - "Rescue Me" actor-comedian Lenny Clarke (43) weds former TV producer Jennifer Miller (31) at Martha's Vineyard in Cambridge, Massachusetts
1998-08-22 - FOX News Channel correspondent and Robert F. Kennedy's youngest son Douglas Kennedy (32) weds Molly Stark (29) in Nantucket, Massachusetts
2002-07-05 - "Smallville" actor Tom Welling (25) weds model Jamie White in Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts
2004-07-31 - "Ed" actor Tom Cavanagh (35) weds "Sports Illustrated" photo editor Maureen Grise (33) at a 19th-century, cedar-shingled Roman Catholic church in Nantucket, Massachusetts
2007-11-10 - Former "E.R." actress Julianna Margulies (41) weds lawyer Keith Lieberthal in Lenox, Massachusetts
2009-07-11 - WWE star John Cena (32) weds Liz Huberdeau in Boston, Massachusetts
2011-07-15 - Former Rhode Island Congressman Patrick Kennedy (44) weds Amy Petitgout in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts
Famous Deaths
Deaths 1 - 21 of 21
1653-07-31 - Thomas Dudley, Governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony (b. 1576)
1662-06-14 - Henry Vane the Younger, British Governor of Massachusetts (b. 1613)
1672-12-07 - Richard Bellingham, English-born Massachusetts colonial magistrate (b. 1592)
1675-10-26 - William Sprague, English co-founder of Charlestown, Massachusetts (b. 1609)
1679-03-16 - John Leverett, Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony (b. 1616)
1690-05-21 - John Eliot, English missionary in Massachusetts, dies at 85
1704-07-20 - Peregrine White, first English child born in the Massachusetts Bay Colony (b. 1620)
1720-04-02 - Joseph Dudley, colonial Governor of Massachusetts (b. 1647)
1751-01-25 - Paul Dudley, Attorney-General of Massachusetts (b. 1675)
1779-06-16 - Sir Francis Bernard, Governor of New Jersey and Massachusetts (b. 1712)
1780-06-03 - Thomas Hutchinson, American colonial governor of Massachusetts (b. 1711)
1819-03-08 - Benjamin Ruggles Woodbridge, doctor, Massachusetts militia officer, member of the Massachusetts legislature (b. 1739)
1832-04-01 - Robert the Hermit, US ex-slave/hermit in Massachusetts, dies
1900-12-21 - Roger Wolcott, American political figure, 39th Governor of Massachusetts (b. 1847)
1947-12-25 - Gaspar G. Bacon, was Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts (b. 1886)
1994-11-11 - John A. Volpe, 61st and 63rd Governor of Massachusetts, 2nd United States Secretary of Transportation (b. 1908)
1997-02-10 - Matthew Eappen of Newton Massachusetts (b. 1996)
1997-12-01 - Endicott Peabody, 62nd Governor of Massachusetts (b. 1920)
1998-10-21 - Francis W. Sargent, 64th Governor of Massachusetts (b. 1915)
2006-09-18 - Edward J. King, 66th Governor of Massachusetts (b. 1925)
2009-08-25 - Edward M. Kennedy, United States Senator from Massachusetts (b. 1932)
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