Notable Events in Massachusetts History

Notable Events in Massachusetts History

1602. Bartholomew Gosnold explores coast.
1604. Samuel de Champlain explores and maps coast.
1606. James I grants charter to Plymouth Company to colonize Northern Virginia.
1614. Capt. John Smith maps coast.
1620. Plymouth Company reorganized as Council for New England. Pilgrims land; found Plymouth; elect John Carver governor.
1621. Pilgrims celebrate the first Thanksgiving in Plymouth.
1628. John Endecott founds Puritan settlement in what is now Salem.
1629. Massachusetts Bay Company chartered.
1630. Dorchester founded. John Winthrop and group of settlers establish Boston.
1632. Boston made capital of Massachusetts Bay Colony.
1634. Boston Common became the first public park in America.
1635. The first American public secondary school, Boston Latin Grammar School, founded in Boston.
1636. Harvard, the first American College, founded in Newtowne (now Cambridge).
The people of America could now earn a Bachelors degree.
1639. First commercial printing press in English-speaking North America set up in Cambridge by Stephen Daye.
1639. The first free American public school, the Mather school, founded in Dorchester, a neighborhood of Boston.
1643. Puritan colonies form New England Confederation to oppose Dutch and Indian attacks.
1643. The first American ironworks established in Saugus.
1653. The first American public library founded in Boston.
1675-76. King Philip's War brings Indian attacks on settlers.
1684. Massachusetts charter annulled.
1686. Dominion of New England established.
1691. Massachusetts granted new charter; becomes royal colony including Maine and Plymouth.
1692. Witchcraft trials begin in Salem.
1704. The first regularly issued American newspaper, The Boston News-Letter, published in Boston.
1716. The first American lighthouse built in Boston Harbor.
1770. British troops shoot colonists in Boston Massacre.
1773. Boston Tea Party dumps tea into bay. Colonists at Faneuil Hall, in Boston, oppose taxes.
1775. The first battle of the American Revolution fought in Lexington and Concord.
1775. The first ship of the U.S. Navy, the schooner "Hannah", commissioned in Beverly.
1776. Colonial troops force British to evacuate Boston.
1780. State constitution adopted; John Hancock becomes first elected governor.
1786-87. Shays's Rebellion occurs.
1788. Massachusetts is sixth state to ratify the United States Constitution on Feb. 6, 1788.
1789. The first American novel, William Hill Brown's The Power of Sympathy, published in Worcester.
1795. State House built in Boston.
1796. John Adams, born 1735 in Quincy, elected 2nd president of United States.
1796. Horace Mann, often called the Father of American public school education, was born in Franklin, Massachusetts on May 4th.
1806. The first church built by free blacks in America, the African Meeting House, opened on Joy Street in Boston.
1820. Maine separated from Massachusetts.
1822. Lowell set up as factory town. Boston chartered.
1824. John Quincy Adams, born 1767 in Quincy, elected 6th president of United States.
1826. The first American railroad built in Quincy.
1831. The first abolitionist newspaper, The Liberator, published in Boston by William Lloyd Garrison.
1833. Constitutional amendment separates church and state; ends Puritanism in government.
1837. State Board of Education established under leadership of Horace Mann.
1839. The first vulcanized rubber produced by Charles Goodyear in Woburn.
1845. The first sewing machine made by Elias Howe in Boston.
1846. The first public use of ether anesthetic demonstrated in Boston.
1863. University of Massachusetts chartered at Amherst.
1866. The first African-American legislators in New England elected to the General Court.
1875. The first American Christmas card printed by Louis Prang in Boston.
1876. The first telephone demonstrated by Alexander Graham Bell in Boston.
1886. The first transformer demonstrated by William Stanley in Great Barrington.
1891. The first basketball game played in Springfield.
1892. The first successful gasoline-powered automobile perfected by Charles and Frank Duryea in Springfield.
1895. The first volleyball game played in Holyoke.
1896. The first American public beach established in Revere.
1897. The first successful American subway system opened in Boston.
1914. Canal links Cape Cod Bay with Buzzards Bay.
1920. Governor Calvin Coolidge elected vice-president; becomes 30th president of United States in 1923.
1920-27. Sacco-Vanzetti case gains world attention.
1926. The first successful liquid fuel rocket launched by Dr. Robert Goddard inAuburn.
1928. The first computer, a non-electronic "differential analyzer," developed by Dr. Vannevar Bush of M.I.T. in Cambridge.
1944. And, not to be outdone by M.I.T., Howard Aiken of Harvard developed the first automatic digital computer.
1957. Massachusetts Turnpike opened.
1960. John F. Kennedy, born 1917 in Brookline, elected 35th president of United States; assassinated 1963.
1961. The first nuclear-powered surface vessel, USS Long Beach CG(N)9, launched at Quincy.
1966. Edward W. Brooke is first black elected to United States Senate by popular vote.
1974. Busing program to integrate Boston public schools sparks white boycotts and violent demonstrations.
1988. Governor Michael Dukakis signs bill guaranteeing health insurance to all state residents. Construction begins on 6-billion-dollar sewage-treatment project to clean up Boston Harbor. Voters reject proposal to shut down the state's two nuclear power plants. Dukakis becomes Democratic nominee for president of the United States.
1997. MassHome™ introduces a comprehensive online directory of web sites in Massachusetts. Public acclaim dubs the site as the "unofficial home page for the Commonwealth".

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Some entries provided by Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia.
© 1994, 1995 Compton's NewMedia, Inc. All Rights Reserved

| Top of Page |

Tour	\| Appraisers \| Arts & Culture \| Automotive \| Banks \| Boston \| Business \| Choral Societies \| Choruses \| \| Cities & Towns \| Civil War \| Coin Dealers \| Colleges \| Computers \| Construction \| Consultants \| \| Credit Unions \| Currency Dealers \| Drum Corps \| Finance \| Fire Depts \| Government \| Historic \| \| Hospitals \| Inspectors \| Insurance \| Internet \| Investigators \| Investments \| Legal \| Libraries \| \| Lodging \| Malls \| Manufacturers \| Marketing \| Medical Centers \| Mortgages \| Movers \| Museums \| \| Newspapers \| Photography \| Police Depts \| POW/MIA \| Publishers \| Radio \| Railroads \| Real Estate \|	Home
\| Schools \| Sports \| Stamp Dealers \| State Parks \| Television \| Theater \| Tourism \| Travel \| Universities \| Venture Capital \| \| Veterans \| Vo-Tech Schools \| Weather \|