Calamities In Boston

Boston History In reference To Its Role In American Revolution

Boston In Reference To The Population And Economy

Some Important Incidents of 20th Century And Later

You cannot forget mentioning the history of Boston if you talk about the History of America. The history of this city begins from 1630. Boston was founded and developed by the Puritan (English Protestants from 16th and 17th century) colonists who came from England. It saw the development so fast that it became the commercial, political, education and even religious center of the New England region. Massachusetts’ first deputy-governor Thomas Dudley named Boston whose hometown was Boston, Lincolnshire, England.700 people from England to Massachusetts sailed on March 29, 1630.In the beginning people stayed and got settled Charlestown (founded an year ago). The water was not available to suffice the needs to all who were living there so the newly settled people went across the river to Trimountaine peninsula and in 1630 as mentioned before, this new settlement got the name Boston after the city Boston in England from where many of the people had come. Also check outThe puritan wanted to make a Godly society which can become an example to the world but they actually again crated a society which was had the same level of intolerance like the society they had left and come. The Early habitats believed that Boston was a Godly city and everything was in ordinance with God, Hence every aspect of the Boston people got affected by this mentality and they started dominating the citizens’ whole life and every facet. The colonists came up with the rules of morality and in the word of God they forced people into marriage, church attendance, and education and the sinners or the deniers to follow any of the rules, had to face the punishment.Boston Latin School which was the first school in America was founded in 1635 and the first college in America which was Harvard college was founded in 1636.Any religious idea which was good enough or looked modern but was not according the Godly rules or coming from the religious books, were not accepted and people had to face the consequences for coming up with any new idea. Many controversies took place and there is famous theological controversy called Antinomian controversy (1636 to 1638) which was a religious and political conflict, the religious leader and the dynamic protester of the policies, Anne Hutchinson and the clergyman, the religious leader John Wheelwright both were punished to go out the colony due to trying to oppose the dead thoughts.Obadiah Holmes who was a Baptist Minister was imprisoned and was also whipped publically in Boston in July 1651 because of following his religion. The first president of Harvard College between 1640s and 1650s named Henry Dunster was also persecuted for supporting Baptist beliefs. William Robinson and Marmaduke Stevenson who were the believers of Quaker philosophy were hanged in the new Boston. Mary Dyer also was a Quaker who was hanged on June 1st, 1660.In 1679 the Baptist dared to establish their meeting house which could not continue as it was closed by the authorities supporting colonial thoughts. Hence though the religious liberty was restricted but still the Baptists kept innovative with the worship and practices. Mary Dyer continuously opposed the law due to which the Quakers were banned to be in the country.The city got connected to New York and Major Settlements in West and Central Massachusetts through Boston Post Road. The route near U.S 1, the lower route connected Providence and Rhode Island. The Upper route was built in 1673 from Boston Neck , following the present U.S. route 20 and went around Hence from 1686 till 1689 Massachusetts and colonies in surroundings were together ot united by the roads.From 1636 to 1698 there were six small pox attack incidents. The epidemic which broke out in 1721-1722, made 844 people die. Out of 10,500 people 5889 were infected form the disease, out of which 14% which was 844 saw death. Around 900 people went out of the city. Colonists also tried isolation in order to stop the spread of smallpox disease. To save people from the disease first in American History, vaccination came into experiment. At that time people did not have trust in the process like today as it could cause serious illness to two percent of taking the vaccine and it might also spread the disease. Zabdiel Boylston and Cotton Mather introduced it at that time.Boston got hit by the large level earthquake in 1755, ( 6.0 to 6.3 on Richter scale)and it was called the Cape Ann earthquake. Though no one died in the accident but some building were damaged. On March 20, 1760 there was a ‘Great fire’ in Boston.349 buildings were destroyed in the area between the Fort Hill and Modern Washington Street. Many ships in port also caught the fire and around one thousand people lost their homes. Boston Fire department can never forget the fight against this great Fire.Soon the industry of ship building and whaling industry flourished in Boston. In December 1773, the British reacted harshly against the Boston Tea party which was a protest against the Tea Act came on May 20, 1773.The protest took place on December 16, 1773 by the secret group formed to fight against the taxation rules against British Government. The tea act was to allow the East India Company of Britain to sell tea in American collies from China without paying taxes apart from few exceptions decided by the British Government.So a well known battle at Breed’s Hill took place in Charlestown occurred on June 17, 1775 (the colonists lost it but caused big loss to the British). They won the Siege of Boston and forced the British to vacate the city on March 17, 1776.So this is considered as eruption of American Revolution.The blocking activities in town and port by British or Americans, badly affected the economy and till 1770 the pollination had fallen by two third.After 1800, Boston again saw recovery and it again and due to its railroad network, it became the transport centre for the New England region. In 19th century Boston was the centre of finance of the United States, along with New York. Several activities against slavery took place in Boston during the times of Civil War. The city faced domination of the Boston Brahmins called Elite in the 19th century. Catholic immigrants were challenging the Boston Brahmins politically that time. Boston financed the industries of the region and the industrial foundation could reach its peak till 1950.after that thousand of factories and textile mills got closed and the city saw the industrial decline. City’s economy again could recover by the 21st century and it started growing the in areas of medicine, education. High technology including biotechnology and many adjacent towns became the residential suburbs these days.The Stamp act came in 1765, was protested by Boston actively. The custom duties were avoided by Boston’s merchants and as a result the London officials got angry due to which the smuggling came to crackdown. Thomas Pownall the Governor between 1757 to 1760 was a peacemaker but the Governor came after him named Francis Bernard between 1760 and 1769 , he wanted to make all the voices which were raising in the opposition in the papers(pamphlets) and meetings. During his time four thousand British troops reached Boston which was a tremendous show of power.On March 5, 1770 the Boston Massacre took place. Outside the British custom house there were unarmed demonstrators who were fired by the British soldiers and as a result this cruel act, five civilians died. This incident played a very important part in escalation of the tensions. Meanwhile the parliament insisted on its right of taking tax from the Americans and tax on tea came up as a result.A noticeable incident took place on December 16, 1773 when the Sons Of Liberty who were protecting against the tea Act( which was allowing the East India Company of Britain to sell tea from China to Americans without paying the tax) came disguised as naive Americans. They threw 342 boxes of tea in the harbour. This protest is called as Boston Tea Party. The British government do not take this lightly and came up with many cruel laws one after another. The Port of Boston was closed and the Self Government system was removed after this incident as revenge by the British government.The other colonies came together and the First Continental Congress took birth from here. British kept suppressing the rights and voices of the protestors and more troops were sent to Boston to keep everything in control. Thomas Gage was given the charge of the governor. Gage sent the troops to capture the patriots to the town of Concord as he believed that ammunitions were hidden by the patriots there. William Dawes, Paul Revere and Dr Samuel Prescott immediately had their rides in the midnight to make the patriot leaders alert in the towns in hr surroundings. These leaders were called Minutemen who formed well trained military companies independently. In April 1775 these soldiers fought the Battle of Lexington and Concord. In the American Revolution history, this was the first battle.Across New England the military units got united to protect Boston. Congress gave the command in hands of General George Washington. At the Battle of Bunker Hill the British were trapped by the freedom fighters in the city and faced heavy loss. The patriots took the full command of Boston and Washington also brought the artillery hence as a result British were forced to go out. The victory day of March 17, 1776 is celebrated as Evacuation Day in American History.By 1780 Boston was comparatively economically unstable and small but it developed in such a way till 1800 that it owned a very bug number of mobile population which high in numbers. It became the cosmopolitan city having a busy sea port. It started exporting tobacco, salt, fish and rum and this is how it became one of richest trading ports of the world. Due to the continuous disturbances in daily life while the revolution in America and naval blockades by British had brought the economy to the down and as a result most of the people had run out of the city. In 1780 there were about ten thousand people and till 1800 it attracted the people such a way that the population became 25000.In 1783 the slavery came to an end hence the physical mobility was gained physical mobility.Location of Boston also played an important part in its growth as it was a part of the triangular trade which had a connectivity to the Caribbean and hence it could receive the sugar and then refine it to rum and molasses and part of it was exported to Europe. After that the same raw material would be used to make other refined confectionary. Names of few of the companies making such products are Boston Sugar Refinery (first time makers of granulated sugar) ,Purity Distilling Company, Necco, Domino Sugar, Schrafft’s Squirrel Brands and American Nut and Chocolate. There were 140 candy companies in Boston by 1950.In 1885 the importing of the tropical fruits from the Caribbean was started by The Boston Fruit Company. In 1882 Boston got chartered as a city which was considered as a Town till then. Josiah Quincy III became the second mayor and he concentrated on the infrastructure related work in sewer and roads. He got the dock area around the Faneuil Hall Marketplace which was newly erected organised which was known as Quincy Market. Boston got a remarkable place in the quality of garments, leather and also the machinery and till mid 19th century it achieved to be the largest centre of manufacturing in the country. There were small rivers around the city. These connected the city to other surrounding regions and this helped in spreading of the factories and mills as the shipment became very easy. After Middlesex Canal was built, the small river network around the city got connectivity till the large Merrimack River and the mills over there. Couple of mentionable mills are Lowell Mills and mills in New Hampshire and mills on Nashua River. By 1850 there was a comparatively dense network of railroads which helped the industries of the region to raise more. In 1851 Benjamin L. Marsh and Eben started a store in downtown Boston called Jordan Marsh Department store. William Filene also opened a departmental store called Filene’s across the street after thirty years.Many turnpikes also were made so that the transportation between the cities especially the transportation of cattle and sheep could become easy. The Worcester Turnpike got constructed in 1810 which was a major route connecting east to west. Other routes were Newburyport Turnpike and the Salem Lawrence Turnpike.Lady from Irish Catholic community called Julia Harrington Duff got elected to the Boston School Committee in 1900.She tried to get the very old text books replaced, to also protect the local woman’s claims to be part of the school system as career opportunity and also to bring up the idea of a teacher’s college which can provide degrees. In 1905 the school committee which had 25 members were reduces to just five and women’s opportunities for direct participation in school policies was banned.Boston became the home of Porter Motor Company in the beginning of 20th century.Great Molasses Flood came on Jan 15, 1919 in the North End. Twenty one people died and one fifty people got injured due to the powerful waves. These immense Molasses waves went fast in the streets with the speed of 56 km per hour and it chocked people’s throats and also crushed them to death. More than six months it took to have the molasses removed from the streets, theatres, automobiles, businesses and the homes.More than 1000 members from the Boston Police Department went on strike while it summer in 1919. In Boston the law officers were less in number and hence it had to see many riots. Governor of Massachusetts Calvin Coolidge got appreciation from all over the nation for by having the police force replaced and making it peaceful.On August 23,1927 Boston burnt in the fames of anger and riots as the anarchists from Italy named anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti after a trail for seven years were sent to the electric chair. This execution cause many riots occurring in London, Germany and Paris.In 1948 Master Highway Plan was published by William F. Callahan for Metropolitan Boston. Parts of Chinatown, financial street and North End were demolished so that new construction can take place. The Central Artery’s northern part got constructed in 1956 but due to strong local oppose, the southern downtown portion was built underground. Downtown got connected to Southeast Expressway through the Dewey Square Tunnel.The first Turnpike extension of Massachusetts got completed in 1965, from Route 128 to South Station. Because of the opposing voices by public, the inner belt which was proposed in Boston, Brookline, Cambridge and Somerville, was cancelled.There was a huge fire in Cocoanut Grove nightclub on November 28, 1942. This is known as the deadliest fires in nay nightclubs in the history of America. 492 people were killed by the fire in the incident and hundreds of people were injured.The anti-Semitic violence got escalated in Boston during the Second World War years. Irish Catholic young people emerged in big numbers and made a group to fight with Jews. They disrespected the Jew cemeteries and synagogues, damaged the stores and homes owned by the Jews and assaulted the Jews physically in the streets. The police did not interfere much as most of the police many were Irish Catholics.In 1953, the largest bank robbery in the United Stated took place as the thieves stole $2.775 million. This incident is called the Great Brink’s Robbery.The community health centre came in to existence in 1966.Between June 14 and January 4, 1964 there were thirteen single women were murdered who were between the ages of 19 and 85.In 1970s Boston again saw a boom in economy after many years of downtime. The mutual fund industry grew fast in Boston as many people stated investing in Mutual funds in Boston. Many financial institutions also came in to existence during this time. This was the time when the intellectual properties grew and people looked at the quality of life again. Health care saw many innovations and facilities and it became more expensive as well. Few Hospital at that time like Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre, Massachusetts General Hospital, , and Brigham and Women’s Hospital came up with the innovative ways of medical practice and also better care facilities of the patients. The education was in very much demand and that’s why the higher education became costly. Universities in Boston like Harvard, MIT, Boston College, BU and Tufts attracted big numbers of the students. Many of them studies, started earning and got settled there. Student passed from these universities specially the MIT passed outs came up with high tech companies and gave Boston a new recognition in sector as well.In 2007, Te central Artery tunnel project nicknamed as Big Dig got completed. This was planned and approved in 1980 during the time of governor Michael Dukakis. The construction began in 1991 and later the construction moved underground. It widened the north south highway and created local bypasses to prevent it from congestion by the east west traffic. Ted Williams Tunnel was made the third highway tunnel to East Boston and Logan International Airport. The Big Dig project also includes public parks over 70 acres of area in the middle of the city. This played an historic role in controlling the troublesome traffic in the city and it is mentionable because it is the most expensive construction projects in the united Stated so far and also this is the most expensive projects in the history of the world.Hence Boston is a city who has seen several ups and down and now it has stood up as a city which glorifies the nation in the world.