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On January 15, 1919, a 50-foot tall tank ruptured, sending 2.3 million gallons of molasses rushing through the neighborhood.
In January 1870, Boston annexed the Town of Dorchester. In honor of the 150th anniversary of Dorchester joining Boston, we're highlighting some of our favorite Dorchester records!
On this day in 1835, Phillips Brooks was born in Boston. Brooks served as the rector of Boston’s Trinity Church, and is best known for writing the Christmas carol “O Little Town of Bethlehem.”
On November 18, 1755, an earthquake woke Bostonians and knocked Faneuil Hall's grasshopper weather vane to the ground.
On this day in 1804, the "Snow Hurricane" — also known as "the Great Gale of 1804" — made landfall in Boston, blowing off the steeple of Old North Church.
On August 26, 1826, Faneuil Hall Market, now commonly known as Quincy Market, held its grand opening.
In April of 1870, Nellie Burns disappeared from her Boston home. More than 100 years later, archivists at the City Archives found the ransom note sent to her parents filed in the Board of Aldermen's...
On this day, in 1897, Amelia Earhart was born in Atchison, Kansas. Did you know that Earhart had a Boston connection?
On July 4, 1861, Bostonians celebrated Independence Day as they grappled with the reality of civil war.
As a young person, Nimoy worked various jobs in the West End. He sold newspapers, worked at local theaters, and shined shoes. He also started his own photography business.
Did you know that the City Archives is full of records documenting the lives of Boston's women? We're celebrating Women's History Month by highlighting some of our favorite records about Boston's...
A 50-foot tall tank ruptured, sending 2.3 million gallons of molasses rushing through the neighborhood.
On this day, in 1918, two sailors housed at Boston’s Commonwealth Pier reported to the sickbay with the flu. These two men were the first Americans reported ill with the Spanish Influenza.
Today, at 3:30 p.m., Mayor Walsh and Interim School Superintendent Laura Perille will open the new Dearborn STEM Academy on Greenville Street with a ribbon cutting ceremony. More than 100 years ago...
On this day in 1838, a group of black Bostonians petitioned the city for an addition to the Abiel Smith Schoolhouse.
On this day in 1893, Eliott Joslin, a Boston physician, examined Mary Higgins, a young girl suffering from diabetes. Mary Higgins’s case was the first entry that Joslin made in a ledger that he kept...
On this day in 1865, Union General Gordon Granger read General Order No. 3 to the inhabitants of Galveston, Texas. The order signaled the total emancipation of all enslaved people in the United States...
On May 30, 1868, Americans observed the country’s first Memorial Day.
On May 24, 1854, federal marshals arrested Anthony Burns, a fugitive from slavery, in Boston. His arrest touched off protests by abolitionists across the City.
On this day in 1962, a panel of judges announced the winning design for Boston’s New City Hall.
Park Street became a center of social and cultural movements.
In 1930, Bostonians traveled around their City and their region using a network of underground and above ground trains, trolleys, and buses.
On this day in 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. Though Dr. King was most widely known for his civil rights activities in the American South, he had strong ties...
On this day in 1895, construction began on the Tremont Street Subway.
Sarah Fuller is best known for giving Helen Keller her first speech lessons. But did you know that giving Helen Keller speech lessons is only a small part of Sarah Fuller’s story?
Dr. Jessie Gideon Garnett was the first black woman to graduate from Tufts Dental School and the first black woman to practice dentistry in Boston.
Florida Ruffin Ridley was a suffragist, journalist, anti-lynching activist — and a Boston Public School Teacher.
William Monroe Trotter was a businessman, newspaper publisher, and civil rights activist who grew up in Boston’s Hyde Park.
Forrester Blanchard Washington, a South Boston High graduate, advocated for African American employment and education rights during the Great Depression.
We’re starting Black History Month with a blog post about Wilhelmina Crosson, a Boston teacher who advocated for black history education.
