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John Brown Speaks in Concord
John Brown Speaks in Concord
On this day in 1857, John Brown addressed a crowd in Concord Town Hall. He spoke about the situation in Kansas, where a bitter struggle was underway between pro- and anti-slavery settlers. In a matter-of-fact...
Charlotte Forten Enters Salem Normal School
Charlotte Forten Enters Salem Normal School
On this day in 1855, Charlotte Forten passed the entrance examination for the Salem Normal School, one of four colleges recently established in Massachusetts to train teachers. She was the school's first black student. Eighteen...
Eli Whitney Patents the Cotton Gin
Eli Whitney Patents the Cotton Gin
On this day in 1794, Westborough native Eli Whitney applied for a patent on the cotton gin. Raised on a farm in Massachusetts, he invented a machine that made growing cotton so profitable that the...
Massachusetts Loses Maine
Massachusetts Loses Maine
On this day in 1820, Massachusetts lost over 30,000 square miles of land as its former province of Maine gained statehood. Mainers had begun campaigning for statehood in the years following the Revolution. The Massachusetts...
Robert Goddard Launches Space Age
Robert Goddard Launches Space Age
On this day in 1926, Clark University physics professor Robert Goddard launched the world's first liquid fuel rocket — and with it the space age. Standing in a snow-covered field in Auburn, Massachusetts, he watched...
Boston Celebrates First Evacuation Day
Boston Celebrates First Evacuation Day
On this day in 1901, the City of Boston officially celebrated Evacuation Day for the first time. In early March of 1776, Continental troops managed to move heavy cannon to the top of Dorchester Heights....
"Johnny Appleseed" Dies
"Johnny Appleseed" Dies
On this day in 1845, John Chapman died having made a fortune planting apple saplings on the American frontier. Born and raised in Leominster, the man remembered as "Johnny Appleseed" left Massachusetts in the 1790s...
Professor's Murder Trial Begins
Professor's Murder Trial Begins
On this day in 1850, a sensational murder trial began in Boston. Both the victim and the accused belonged to the city's social elite. The case had been closely followed ever since the dismembered body...
Boston Burns
Boston Burns
On this day in 1760, the dreaded cry of "Fire!" roused sleeping Bostonians. Over the next ten hours, the worst fire to strike a colonial American city ravaged the capital of Massachusetts. Beginning in a...
Flood Devastates Springfield
Flood Devastates Springfield
On this day in 1936, the worst flood in the state's recorded history inundated the city of Springfield. An unusually cold and snowy winter, followed by a spell of warm and rainy weather, turned the...