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Anti-war Activists Sentenced to Prison
Anti-war Activists Sentenced to Prison
On this day in 1968, four men were sentenced to federal prison for counseling young men to refuse military service. Dubbed the Boston Five, the defendants included famed baby doctor Benjamin Spock and Yale Chaplain...
Phillis Wheatley Arrives in Boston
Phillis Wheatley Arrives in Boston
On this day in 1761, a girl from West Africa arrived in Boston, enslaved with 74 other people on the ship Phillis. John Wheatley, a successful merchant, purchased her and named her Phillis, after the...
Revere Beach Opens
Revere Beach Opens
On this day in 1896, 45,000 people gathered in Revere to celebrate the opening of the first public beach in the nation. In 1895 the newly-created Metropolitan Parks Commission had taken ownership of the longest...
Fire Nearly Destroys Nantucket Town
Fire Nearly Destroys Nantucket Town
On this day in 1846, a fire began in a hat store on Nantucket's Main Street. In no time, it raced through town, consuming everything in its path. Barrels of whale oil were stored on...
Quincy Shipyard Launches First Nuclear Powered Cruiser
Quincy Shipyard Launches First Nuclear Powered Cruiser
On this day in 1959, the nation's first nuclear-powered cruiser was launched from Fore River Shipyard in Quincy. With its deep and sheltered harbor, Quincy was an ideal site for shipbuilding. Men had been building...
William Pynchon Buys Land for Springfield
William Pynchon Buys Land for Springfield
On this day in 1636, William Pynchon received the deed giving him title to most of what is now Springfield, Longmeadow, and Agawam. In exchange, he paid the local Agawam Indians 18 fathoms of wampum,...
Borden Announces Plan to Sell Prince Pasta Plant
Borden Announces Plan to Sell Prince Pasta Plant
On this day in 1997, the Borden company announced a tentative deal to save the Prince pasta factory in Lowell. When Borden closed the failing plant, Senator Ted Kennedy remarked that it was "a sad...
Yiddish Book Rescuer Wins Genius Grant
Yiddish Book Rescuer Wins Genius Grant
On this day in 1989, an Amherst man who had spent more than a decade scrounging in dumpsters, basements, and attics was awarded a MacArthur Foundation "genius grant." Aaron Lansky led an initially quixotic campaign...
Hemingway Room Dedicated at JFK Library
Hemingway Room Dedicated at JFK Library
On this day in 1980, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Ernest Hemingway's son Patrick dedicated the Hemingway Room at the recently opened John F. Kennedy Library and Museum in Boston. The Nobel-prize winning author and the...
Percy Spencer, Inventor of Microwave Oven, Born
Percy Spencer, Inventor of Microwave Oven, Born
On this day in 1894, Percy Spencer, the self-taught scientist who discovered the power of microwave technology, was born. With an endlessly curious mind, Spencer spent much of his early life figuring out how things...