Today in Boston History
Massachusetts Topics: Springfield, MA
Historical Events
Results 1 - 100 of 382
1630-03-22 - 1st colonial legislation prohibiting gambling enacted (Boston)
1630-09-16 - Mass village of Shawmut changes name to Boston
1630-09-17 - The city of Boston, Massachusetts is founded.
1630-10-19 - In Boston the 1st general court is held
1631-02-05 - Rhode Island, founder, Roger Williams arrives in Boston from England
1634-03-03 - 1st tavern in Boston opens (Samuel Cole)
1635-02-13 - Oldest US public institution, Boston Latin School founded
1644-01-18 - 1st UFO sighting in America, by perplexed pilgrims in Boston
1644-01-18 - Perplexed Pilgrims in Boston reported America's 1st UFO sighting
1648-10-18 - 1st US labor organization forms (Boston Shoemakers)
1652-06-10 - In Boston, John Hull opens the 1st mint in America
1656-07-01 - 1st Quakers (Mary Fisher/Ann Austin) arrives in Boston (arrested)
1664-05-28 - 1st Baptist Church organizes (Boston)
1664-07-23 - 4 British ships to drive Dutch out of NY, arrive in Boston
1672-12-10 - NY Gov Lovelace announces monthly mail service between NY & Boston
1673-01-01 - Regular mail delivery begins between NY & Boston
1673-01-22 - Postal service between New York & Boston inaugurated
1677-01-21 - 1st medical publication in America (pamphlet on smallpox), Boston
1690-09-25 - Publick Occurrences, 1st US (Boston) newspaper, publish 1st & last ed
1699-07-06 - Pirate Capt William Kidd is captured in Boston
1704-04-17 - 1st successful US newspaper; published in Boston by John Campbell
1704-04-24 - "Boston News-Letter," 1st successful newspaper in US, forms
1704-05-01 - Boston Newsletter publishes 1st newspaper ad
1716-09-06 - 1st US lighthouse built (Boston)
1716-09-14 - 1st lighthouse in US lit (Boston Harbor)
1716-11-26 - 1st lion exhibited in America (Boston)
1731-12-30 - 1st US music concert (Peter Pelham's great room in Boston)
1733-01-18 - 1st polar bear exhibited in America (Boston)
1733-07-30 - Society of Freemasons opens 1st American lodge in Boston
1735-08-18 - Evening Post begins publishing (Boston Mass)
1743-03-05 - 1st US religious journal, The Christian History, published, Boston
1743-03-14 - 1st American town meeting (Boston's Faneuil Hall)
1745-03-09 - Bells for 1st American carillon shipped from England to Boston
1755-11-18 - Worst quake in Mass Bay area strikes Boston; no deaths report
1760-03-20 - Great Fire of Boston destroys 349 buildings
1762-06-28 - 1st reported counterfeiting attempt (Boston)
1768-07-18 - Boston Gazette publishes "Liberty Song," America's 1st patriotic song
1768-10-01 - English troops under general Gauge lands in Boston
1770-03-05 - Boston Massacre, British troops kill 5 in crowd. Crispus Attackus becomes 1st black to die for American freedom
1772-11-02 - Boston: anti-English Committee of Correspondence forms
1773-04-27 - British Parliament passes Tea Act (Boston won't like this)
1773-12-16 - Big tea party in Boston harbor-indians welcome (Boston Tea Party)
1774-03-07 - British close port of Boston to all commerce
1774-03-25 - English Parliament passes Boston Port Bill
1774-06-01 - Boston Port Bill: British govt orders Port of Boston closed
1775-03-06 - 1st Negro Mason in US initiated, Boston
1775-04-20 - British begin siege of Boston
1776-03-02 - Americans begin shelling British troops in Boston
1776-03-04 - The American War of Independence: The Americans capture "Dorchester Heights" dominating the port of Boston, Massachusetts.
1776-03-17 - British forces evacuate Boston to Nova Scotia during Revolutionary War
1780-05-05 - 2nd oldest learned society in US (American Academy of Arts & Sciences) forms (Boston)
1782-12-29 - 1st nautical almanac in US published by Samuel Stearns, Boston
1787-05-06 - 1st Black Masonic Lodge (African # 459) forms Prince Hall, Boston
1787-09-30 - 1st US voyage around the world - Columbia leaves Boston
1787-10-17 - Boston blacks, petition legislature for equal school facilities
1787-11-18 - 1st Unitarian minister in US ordained, Boston
1790-08-09 - Columbia returns to Boston after 3 year journey, 1st ship to carry US flag around the world
1796-08-08 - Boston African Society establishes with 44 members
1797-09-20 - US frigate Constitution (Old Ironsides) launched in Boston
1797-10-21 - US Navy frigate Constitution, Old Ironsides, launched in Boston
1798-02-02 - Federal St Theater, Boston, becomes 1st in US destroyed by fire
1802-02-02 - 1st leopard exhibited in US, Boston (admission 25 cents)
1808-04-08 - The Roman Catholic Diocese of Baltimore was promoted to an archdiocese, with the founding of the dioceses of New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and Bardstown (now Louisville) by Pope Pius VII.
1809-12-30 - Wearing masks at balls forbidden in Boston
1816-12-13 - Patent for a dry dock issued to John Adamson, Boston
1818-12-25 - Handel's Messiah, US premieres in Boston
1820-12-15 - 1st General pharmacopoeia in US published, Boston
1822-02-23 - Boston is incorporated as a city
1822-03-19 - Boston, Mass incorporated as a city
1822-05-01 - John Phillips becomes 1st mayor of Boston
1826-02-13 - American Temperance Society, forms in Boston
1827-07-23 - 1st US swim school opens (Boston Mass)
1829-03-02 - New England Asylum for the Blind, 1st in US, incorporated, Boston
1829-08-16 - Siamese twins Chang & Eng Bunker arrive in Boston to be exhibited
1829-09-28 - Walker's Appeal, racial antislavery pamphlet, published in Boston
1829-10-16 - Tremont Hotel, 1st US modern hotel opens (Boston)
1831-01-02 - Liberator, abolitionist newspaper, begins publishing in Boston
1831-07-04 - "America (My Country 'Tis of Thee)" is 1st sung in Boston
1832-01-06 - New England Anti-Slavery Society organizes (Boston)
1833-01-08 - Boston Academy of Music, 1st US music school, established
1837-02-11 - American Physiological Society organizes in Boston
1837-06-11 - The Broad Street Riot occurres in Boston, fueled by ethnic tensions between English-Americans and Irish-Americans.
1839-03-23 - 1st known use of term OK (Boston)
1839-03-23 - 1st recorded use of "OK" [oll korrect] (Boston's Morning Post)
1839-11-27 - American Statistical Association organizes in Boston
1842-11-17 - Fugitive slave George Latimer, captured in Boston
1843-03-14 - Boston conducts its 1st town meeting (Faneuil Hall)
1847-06-27 - NY & Boston linked by telegraph wires
1848-02-15 - Sarah Roberts barred from white school in Boston
1848-11-01 - 1st US woman's medical school opens (Boston)
1848-11-23 - Female Medical Educational Society forms in Boston
1849-11-15 - 1st US poultry show opens in Boston
1849-12-14 - 1st chamber music group in US gives their 1st concert (Boston)
1851-02-15 - Black abolitionists invade Boston courtroom rescueing a fugitive slave
1851-12-29 - 1st Young Men's Christian Association chapter opened (Boston)
1851-12-29 - The first American YMCA opens in Boston, Massachusetts.
1852-03-20 - Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" published (Boston)
1852-12-29 - Emma Snodgrass arrested in Boston for wearing pants
1854-05-24 - Anthony Burns, slave, arrested by US Deputy marshals in Boston
1854-12-05 - Aaron Allen of Boston patents folding theater chair
Famous Birthdays
Results 1 - 100 of 179
1676-03-17 - Thomas Boston, Scottish church leader (d. 1732)
1706-01-17 - Benjamin Franklin, Boston, kite flyer/statesman/wit/inventor
1746-10-07 - William Billings, Boston Mass, hymn composer (Rose of Sharon)
1763-08-08 - Charles Bulfinch, Boston Mass, 1st US pro architect (Mass State House)
1788-10-23 - Sarah Hale, founder (Seaman's Aid Society of Boston)
1791-10-26 - Charles Sprague, Boston, banker/poet (Curiosity)
1809-01-19 - Edgar Allan Poe, Boston, author (Pit & the Pendulum)
1834-03-20 - Charles William Elliot, Boston, Pres of Harvard (1869-1909)
1836-11-06 - Francis Ellingwood Abbot, Boston, theologian (Scientific Theism)
1838-02-16 - Henry Adams, Boston Mass, historian, writer (Education of Henry Adams)
1844-07-08 - Mary Johnson Lincoln, educator (Boston Cooking School)
1856-09-03 - Louis Henri Sullivan, Boston Mass, father of modern US architecture
1858-02-15 - William Pickering, Boston, astronomer (9th & 10th moons of Saturn)
1861-10-26 - Richard D Sears, Boston, tennis champ, US Open (1881)
1872-05-21 - Henry Warren, Boston Mass, inventor (Telechon electric clock)
1874-07-26 - Serge Koussevitzky, Vishny-Volotchok, Russia conductor (Boston Symp)
1875-04-04 - Pierre Monteux, Paris France, conductor (Boston Symph Orch 1919-24)
1876-07-04 - William Farnum, Boston MA, actor (Spoilers, Man who Fights Alone)
1880-02-21 - Frank Orth, Phila Pa, actor (Boston Blackie, Brothers)
1882-05-10 - Thurston Hall, Boston MA, actor (Roaming Lady, In Society)
1887-05-05 - Estelle Hemsley, Boston MA
1887-08-16 - Nadia Boulanger, conductor (1st woman to conduct Boston Symphony)
1888-09-06 - Joseph P Kennedy, Boston Mass, diplomat, father of JFK, RFK & Teddy
1894-09-22 - Johnnie Gough, Boston MA, actor (Smooth as Satin, Circus Kid)
1894-11-16 - Mabel Normand, [Muriel Fortescue], Boston MA, comedienne (Mickey)
1894-12-17 - Arthur Fiedler, Boston Mass, conductor (Boston Pops)
1895-08-24 - Richard Cardinal Cushing, archbishop of Boston (d. 1970)
1899-02-02 - Benny Rubin, Boston Mass, actor/comedian (Benny Rubin Show)
1899-02-27 - Ian Keith, Boston MA, actor (Rochefort-3 Musketeers)
1899-08-01 - William Steinberg, Cologne, conductor (Boston Symph-1969-71)
1899-08-10 - Jack Haley, Boston Mass, actor (Tin Man-Wizard of Oz, Ford Star Revue)
1900-08-17 - Quincy Howe, Boston Mass, newscaster (CBS Weekend News)
1902-06-23 - Howard T Engstrom, Boston, computer designer (Univac)
1902-11-25 - Eddie Shore, Boston Bruins (#2), hall of famer
1903-10-17 - Jerry Colona, Boston Mass, comedian (Jerry Colona Show)
1904-02-06 - Claudio Arrau, Chile, composer/pianist (Boston Symphony Orchestra)
1904-09-17 - Jerry Colonna, Boston MA, actor (Road to Morocco, Road to Singapore)
1904-11-22 - Roland Winters, Boston Mass, actor (Mama, Smothers Brothers)
1906-05-11 - Kent Taylor, [Louis Weiss], Iowa, actor (Boston Blackie, Rough Riders)
1907-09-28 - Glen "Turk" Edwards, NFL tackle (Boston/Washington Redskins)
1911-03-11 - Alan Gifford, Boston MA, actor (Time Lock, Up Periscope)
1912-05-17 - Clarence "Ace" Parker, NFL QB (Brooklyn, Boston Yanks)
1912-09-08 - Alexander Mackendrick, Boston, director (Man in the White Suit, Mandy)
1913-01-31 - Wayne Millner, NFL end (Boston/Washington Redskins)
1913-02-08 - Betty Field, Boston MA, actress (Kings Row, Bus Stop)
1913-08-04 - Wesley Addy, Omaha Neb, actor (Bostonians, Loving)
1914-06-09 - Barbara Mullen, Boston MA, actress (Thunder Rock, Innocent Sinners)
1914-12-03 - Irving Fine, Boston Mass, composer (Toccata)
1915-05-04 - Curt Conway, Boston MA, actor (Raw Deal)
1915-07-01 - Jean Stafford, US writer (Boston Adventure, Lion & Carpenter)
1915-09-29 - Ann Nagel, Boston MA, actress (Don Winslow of the Navy)
1917-04-01 - Johnny Andrews, Boston, singer/host (Songs at Twilight)
1917-10-15 - Jan Miner, Boston Mass, actress (Crime Photographer)
1918-03-30 - Joseph Allen Jr, Boston MA, actor (Death of a Champion)
1919-01-11 - Veda Ann Borg, Boston MA, actress (Avalanche, Accomplice)
1919-03-21 - Lois Collier, SC, actress (Mary-Boston Blackie, Slave Girl)
1919-03-30 - McGeorge Bundy, Boston, national security adviser (JFK)
1919-08-27 - John Cox, Flemish/US painter/dir (Museum of Fine Physician, Boston)
1920-02-25 - Hayes Gordon, Boston MA, actor (Sky Pirates, Dark Room)
1920-08-01 - Maria Cole, Boston MA
1921-04-23 - Warren Spahn, left-handed pitcher (Boston/Milwaukee Braves)
1921-08-26 - Ben Bradlee, Boston, editor/journalist/executive (Washington Post)
1921-10-13 - Harper MacKay, Boston Mass, orch leader (NBC Follies)
1923-03-26 - Bob Elliot, Boston Mass, comedian (Bob & Ray, Get a Life)
1923-05-20 - Edith Fellows, Boston, actress (Pennies From Heaven, City Streets)
1923-12-23 - Ruth Roman, Boston Mass, actress (Sylvia-Knots Landing, Dallas)
1924-05-21 - Peggy Cass, Boston MA, actress/TV panelist (To Tell the Truth, Mame)
1924-09-18 - Zelda Fichandler, Boston, theater director/producer (Raisin, K2)
1925-02-08 - Jack Lemmon, Boston Mass, actor (Days of Wine & Roses, Missing)
1925-11-26 - Linda Hunt, Morriston NJ, actress (Bostonians, Eleni, Silverado)
1927-01-15 - Norm Crosby, Boston MA, comedian (Young at Heart Comedians)
1927-07-06 - Susan Cabot, Boston, actress (Carnival Rock)
1927-09-15 - Norm Crosby, Boston Mass, comedian/double talker (Liar's Club)
1928-09-22 - Eugene Roche, Boston MA, actor (Foul Play, Slaughterhouse Five)
1929-08-20 - Norma Connolly, Boston, Mass, actress (Ruby Anderson-General Hospital)
1931-03-26 - Leonard Nimoy, Boston, actor (Spock-Star Trek, Mission Impossible)
1931-09-03 - Albert DeSalvo, The Boston Strangler (d. 1973)
1931-09-25 - Barbara Walters, Boston Mass, newscaster (Today, 20/20, ABC-TV)
1932-02-08 - John Towner Williams, Flushing NY, composer/conductor (Boston Pops)
1933-11-15 - Jack Burns, Boston Mass, comedian (Burns & Schreiber)
1934-01-16 - Richard Wernick, Boston Mass, composer
1934-10-15 - Peter Haskell, Boston Mass, actor (Bracken's World, Rituals)
1934-11-15 - Joanna Barnes, Boston, actr (Parent Trap, Spartacus, Goodbye Charlie)
1935-04-14 - Joan Darling, Boston, actress (Frieda-Owen Marshall)
1935-07-18 - Tenley Albright, Boston Mass, figure skater (Olympic-gold-1952, 56)
1935-08-19 - F Story Musgrave, Boston, MD/astronaut (STS 6, 51-F, 33, 44, 61, 80)
1935-09-01 - Seiji Ozawa, Hoten Manchuria, conductor (Boston Symphony Orchestra)
1935-10-18 - John B Coleman, Boston, hotel magnate (Ritz Carlton)
1936-02-04 - Gary Conway, Boston Mass, actor (Burke's Law, Land of the Giants)
1936-11-07 - Barry Newman, Boston Mass, actor (Amy, Deadline, Petrocelli)
1937-06-08 - Bruce McCandless II, Boston, Cap USN/astronaut (STS 41B, STS-31)
1937-10-29 - Michael Ponti, Freiburg Germany, pianist (Boston Competition 1964)
1938-04-04 - A Bartlett Giamatti, Boston, pres of Yale/baseball commish (1989)
1938-08-24 - David Freiberg, Boston MA, rock bassist (Quicksilver Messenger)
1939-02-04 - John Schuck, Boston Mass, comedian (McMillan & Wife, Holmes & Yoyo)
1939-03-19 - Joe Kapp, NFL QB (Minn Vikings, Boston Patriots, Houston Oilers)
1939-10-28 - Jane Alexander, [Quigley], Boston, actress (Betsy, Kramer vs Kramer)
1940-01-27 - Brian T O'Leary, Boston Mass, astronaut
1940-05-15 - Paul Rudd, Boston Mass, actor (Conn Yankee in King Arthur's Court)
1941-05-28 - Beth Howland, Boston Mass, actress (Vera-Alice, Company)
Famous Deaths
Results 1 - 24 of 24
1659-10-27 - Marmaduke Stevenson, Quaker in Boston, hanged
1661-03-24 - William Leddra, last Quaker, hanged in Boston
1732-05-20 - Thomas Boston, Scottish church leader (b. 1676)
1770-02-22 - Christopher Snider, 11, Boston, becomes 1st martyr of US Revolution
1770-03-05 - Crispus Attuks, slave, is 1st of 5 killed during Boston Massacre
1784-12-05 - Phillis Wheatley, 1st important black poet in America, dies in Boston
1803-10-02 - Samuel Adams, US revolutionary (Boston Massacre-Tea Party), dies at 81
1807-12-04 - Prince Hall, activist/Masonic leader, dies in Boston
1865-04-06 - Reuben B Boston, US Confederate cavalery colonel, dies in battle
1916-02-28 - Henry James, US/British writer (Bostonians), dies in London at 72
1934-04-07 - William Monroe Trotter, African, dies on 62nd birthday in Boston
1953-11-27 - Eugene O'Neill, playwright (Nobel 1936), dies in Boston at 65
1962-03-09 - Howard Engstrom, Boston, a designer of Univac computer, dies at 59
1962-03-17 - Frank Orth, actor (Boston Blackie, The Brothers), dies at 82
1962-06-14 - Anna Sleasers, first Boston Strangler victim
1970-11-02 - Richard Cushing, US cardinal to Boston, dies at 75
1973-11-26 - Albert DiSalvo, Boston strangler, stabbed in prison
1979-03-26 - Jean Stafford, US author (Boston Adventure), dies at 63
1979-07-10 - Arthur Fiedler, orch leader (Boston Pops), dies at 84
1983-09-17 - Humberto Madeiros, US cardinal to Boston, dies at 67
1987-04-11 - Kent Taylor, actor (Boston Blackie, Rough Riders), dies at 79
2007-03-09 - Brad Delp, American singer (Boston) (b. 1951)
2007-07-12 - Mr. Butch, Iconic Boston street figure (b. 1951)
2008-02-13 - Roger Voisin, Trumpet player, Boston Symphony (b. 1918)
