BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS
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BOSTON HISTORY
The History of Boston, Massachusetts
by David Banner
The first English immigrant to settle in Boston was the Reverend William
Blackstone. He came by himself in 1629, to a peninsula by a stream, called by
the local Algonquin inhabitants, Shawmet. A year later, John Winthrop and his
Puritan settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, arrived to the north in Salem.
Finding Salem less than desirable for a settlement, Blackstone invited Winthrop
to visit Shawmut.
On September 17, 1630, Winthrop decided to make Shawmut a permanent settlement
and renamed it Boston, after his hometown in Lincolnshire England. Winthrop and
his followers left England to escape religious persecution and to establish a
pious Puritan state. Ironically, Blackstone shortly left the colony due the
harsh, intolerant society that the Puritans had created.
Over the next two centuries Boston developed as a center for Puritan life. Early
on, Boston began to emerge as an intellectual and educational center with the
arrival of noted theologians and statesmen, and the founding of Boston Latin
School and Harvard University. The first printing press in the colonies was
built in Cambridge by Stephen Daye in 1639. With its excellent harbor, Boston
became the leading commercial center in the colonies. Colonial Boston was a
world leader in shipbuilding and the primary port of North America.
The growth of the Boston area continued in the 18th century. As settlements grew
into towns around the city, overseas trade increased, and mills were built along
the rivers for logging, the forging of iron, and processing wool. Fishermen and
farmers prospered as well.
Separated by a great geographical distance, the American colonies were still
loyal British subjects. This began to change in the 1730's when the Crown
increased taxes on the colonists to help replenish the treasury. Boston became a
leading center of colonial resistance as a great philosophical distance began to
grow between the Colonies and Britain. The seeds of revolution were planted.
The Stamp Act of 1765, the Townshend Acts of 1767, led to the Boston Massacre in
1770. The Tea Act of 1773 resulted with The Boston Tea Party. The British
responded to the defiant acts by closing the ports and bringing in more troops
to contain the dissidents. On the evening of April 18, 1775, the British
dispatched troops to the towns of Lexington and Concord to arrest Samuel Adams
and John Hancock, and to seize arms which the colonists were storing. Paul
Revere and William Dawes rode through the night to warn the colonists of the
approaching soldiers. The next morning, on Lexington Green, "the shot heard
round the world" was fired, and the American Revolution began. Two months later
after the Battle of Bunker Hill, George Washington was summoned to Boston to
take command of the rebel army.
Massachusetts prospered in the early 19th century with improved roads, new
canals, and the construction of railways, linking cities and towns. Laborers
were recruited locally, but by the 1840's there were not enough locals to fill
the work force. The answer came with the arrival of the first non-English
immigrants, from Ireland. The Civil War was a profitable time for Boston
manufacturers, with the production of weapons, shoes, blankets, and other
materials for the troops. Boston also played a role as a leading voice of the
abolitionist movement. The late 19th century was Boston's greatest industrial
era. As millions of immigrants from around the world came to America, Boston
continued as a leading manufacturer of a wide variety of goods and products.
By the 1950's, fishing and farming were in decline in Massachusetts, but the
Boston area emerged as a leader in the fledgling computer and high-tech
industries. Many of these new business were created and staffed by graduates of
MIT and the other colleges in the Boston area. The financial and service
industries continued to expand. Today, the Boston skyline is brimming with
skyscrapers and office towers; a testament to Boston's achievements and its
vitality.
Boston continues to evolve in the new millennium. A new convention center, an
addition to the Museum of Fine Arts, the 2004 Democratic National Convention are
some of the development plans for the Boston of tomorrow. In March of 2003, the
new Freedom Tunnel and the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge were completed
and opened, as part of the Big Dig Project.
Boston is a city with a rich past, but it is also a city looking ahead to
tomorrow.
Additional
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