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First Missionaries Leave for Hawaii
First Missionaries Leave for Hawaii
On this day in 1819, a crowd gathered on a Boston wharf to bid farewell to the first Protestant missionaries bound for Hawaii. Among them were seven Massachusetts couples, four of them recently married. After...
J.F.K. Signs Bill Creating Cape Cod National Seashore
J.F.K. Signs Bill Creating Cape Cod National Seashore
On this day in 1961, President John F. Kennedy signed a bill authorizing the establishment of Cape Cod National Seashore. A long-time summer resident of the Cape, J.F.K. had co-sponsored the legislation while in the...
King Gillette Patents Safety Razor
King Gillette Patents Safety Razor
On this day in 1904, Boston-based inventor King Camp Gillette received a patent for an improved safety razor with a disposable blade. After almost 10 years of work, Gillette succeeded in mass-producing a sharp blade...
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...
Abigail Adams Knows
Abigail Adams Knows
On this day in 1775, Abigail Adams wrote sadly "the Die is Cast . . . The Sword is now our only yet dreadful alternative." The day before, news had come from England. King George...
The First Leprosy Patients Arrive on Penikese Island
The First Leprosy Patients Arrive on Penikese Island
On this day in 1905, five leprosy patients arrived on Penikese Island in Buzzard's Bay, the site of the first and only leprosarium in Massachusetts. Over the next 16 years, 36 victims of leprosy, or...
Deborah Sampson Performs in Boston
Deborah Sampson Performs in Boston
On this day in 1802, a performance of "The American Heroine" took place in a fashionable Boston theater. The audience watched spellbound as a middle-aged farmwife, dressed in the uniform of a Continental soldier, loaded...
Bill Belichick Named Head Coach of the Patriots
Bill Belichick Named Head Coach of the Patriots
On this day in 2000, Bill Belichick was named head coach of the New England Patriots. Belichick had already earned a reputation as a brilliant defensive strategist in his years with the Giants and the...
Tupperware Inventor Born
Tupperware Inventor Born
On this day in 1907, Earl Tupper, inventor of Tupperware, was born. Raised in central Massachusetts, birthplace of the plastics industry, he was a compulsive tinkerer, inventing, among hundreds of other things, a fish-powered boat....
Worcester Puts Fosters' Home Up For Auction
Worcester Puts Fosters' Home Up For Auction
On this day in 1872, Worcester city officials put up for auction the home of Stephen and Abby Kelley Foster. The veteran abolitionists were once again sacrificing their personal well-being to protest an injustice. Ninety-nine...