In 1620, John Blackstone builds a cottage on Beacon Hill. Settlers arriving in Charleston in 1629 purchased land from Blackstone in 1630 to expand the settlement and secure water supplies. This settlement was named Boston. In 1632, Boston became the capital of Massachusetts Bay Colony. In 1636 Harvard College was founded in Boston and in 1648, Margaret Jones was hanged in Boston for witchcraft. This was the first person in the colonies to be convicted of witchcraft.
Boston was the chief center of Puritanism in America. The same Puritan spirit which led to the punishment of heretics, Quakers and witches contributed largely to making Boston the center of opposition to the oppressive measure of the mother country in the period preceding the Revolution. The Boston Massacre, the Tea Party, and the British evacuation of Boston are famous events from that time of resistance.
After the Revolutionary War ended, Boston merchants began to build huge fortunes through foreign trade. Ships loaded with fish, rum, salt and tobacco left Boston Harbor for ports throughout the world. The ships returned with silk and tea from China, sugar and molasses from the West Indies, gold and mahogany from Africa and strange artifacts and antiquities from all over the world.
In 1872 the city was visited by the greatest of several devastating fires, which destroyed more than $75,000,000 worth of property in the business section. In the rebuilding, many of the narrow and winding streets were widened and straightened. During this construction many queer subterranean structures were uncovered, supposedly dating back to Colonial days. Certain objects discovered were donated to local museums, while others were given a long delayed proper burial in the modern cemeteries outside the city.
Until the middle of the nineteenth century Boston retained its original racial character. But following the potato famine in Ireland there was a great influx of Irish to the United States and many found Boston, one of the chief ports of entry, so attractive that they remained there. Italians, Russians, Poles and Canadians have also altered the racial balance in recent years, until now the New England Protestant stock is far in the minority. In this city founded by the Puritans, Roman Catholics now have the greatest number of churches. Jewish places of worship are second in number. According to the 1935 state census, the population of Boston proper is 817,713.
KEY
1. Beacon Hill
"The Citadel of Boston's Aristocracy", Old red-brick townhouses and a rich portion of the city. Myron Klein's Office and Apartment is in Beacon Hill.
2. State House
Built in 1798, the building's dome has been sheathed in copper and covered in 23 karat gold.
3. Boston Athenaeum
Largest of Boston's public libraries.
4. Old Granary Burying Ground
Boston's third oldest cemetery.
5. King's Chapel Burying Ground
Cemetery associated with the King's Chapel, a Unitarian Universalist church.
6. Boston Common
A central public park in Boston. Also known as "the Common".
7. Central Burying Ground
Cemetery established in the Common in 1756.
8. Old South Church
A church of the United Church of Christ in Boston. Samuel Adams gave signals from here to initiate the Boston Tea Party.
9. Paul Revere's House
Historical home of Paul Revere.
10. Battery Street
Historic area and popular with college students. Empire Theater is near Battery Street.
11. Old North Church
Episcopal church where Paul Revere told patriots to hang two lanterns in the steeple to mark that the British were arriving from the sea.
12. Copp's Hill Burying Ground
Second oldest cemetery in Boston.
NEWSPAPERS:
Boston Daily Mail (Local reporting, sensationalistic)
Boston Traveler (Local reporting, sensationalistic)
Boston Herald (Largest paper, independent)
Boston Advertiser (Republican newspaper)
The Evening Transcript (Republican newspaper)
Boston Globe (Democrat newspaper)
EDUCATION:
Harvard University (men only, Degrees offered: law, divinity, medicine, dentistry, business administration, architecture, landscape architecture, city planning, public health education, arts, sciences and engineering)
Radcliffe College (women only, Degrees offered: arts, sciences, education and music)
Tufts University (both sexes, Degrees offered: theology, medicine, dentistry, liberal arts and engineering)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (both sexes, Degrees offered: architecture, engineering and sciences)
Boston College (men only, Degrees offered: arts, sciences and law)
Boston University (both sexes, Degrees offered: business administration, music, theology, law, medicine, religious education, social services, liberal arts, practical arts and letters, education, and graduate arts and sciences)
Wellesley College (women only, Degrees offered: music, art, education, hygiene, physical education and sciences)
Simmons College (women only, Degrees offered: household economics, secretarial studies, library science, general science, social work, public health nursing, landscape architecture, physical education, and store service education)