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Boston
Boston
The Oxford Companion to United States History
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2001
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© The Oxford Companion to United States History 2001, originally published by Oxford University Press 2001. (Hide copyright information)
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Boston. Located on a peninsula the Indians called Shawmut and now the capital of Massachusetts, Boston was settled in 1630 by Puritans led by John
Winthrop. Winthrop set the tone for Boston's tradition of civic responsibility when, aboard the
Arbella en route to
New England, he urged the settlers to build a harmonious, godly community that would be “a city upon a hill” and “a beacon to all nations.” As Boston prospered as a maritime center, Puritan ministers like Increase and Cotton
Mather struggled to preserve Winthrop's vision.
England interfered only sporadically in Massachusetts's affairs, so when imperial policy tightened after 1763, Bostonians reacted strongly. Urban unrest culminated in the
Boston Tea Party (1773), which led to the Coercive Acts and to the First
Continental Congress (1774), putting Boston in the forefront of the American Revolution.
Boston's economic development, already eclipsed by that of
New York City by the 1770s, was further stunted by the postwar depression, New England's agricultural decline, and trade disruptions associated with the
War of 1812. Ultimately, however, the war spurred domestic manufacturing to replace imported goods. A group of businessmen known as the Boston Associates helped bring
industrialization to America by building textile mills in nearby Waltham, Lowell, and Lawrence.
Amid shifting economic fortunes, Boston thrived as an intellectual and cultural center. The artist John Singleton
Copley and the architect Charles
Bulfinch were Boston natives. The transcendentalist utopian experiment Brook Farm (1841–1847) was located nearby. Many leading lights of the American literary renaissance including Ralph Waldo
Emerson, Henry David
Thoreau, and Nathaniel
Hawthorne, lived in Boston or such nearby towns as Concord and Salem. The city was a major publishing center, and across the Charles River in Cambridge was Harvard College. Winthrop's “city on a hill” became the poet Oliver Wendell Holmes's “hub of the solar system.” Boston was home to many
Antebellum Era reformers, including William Lloyd
Garrison, publisher of the abolitionist journal
Liberator. The reformist impulse drew strength from the liberal Protestant movement exemplified by Unitarianism, also rooted in Boston. The later nineteenth century saw the establishment of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1865), the Museum of Fine Arts (1870), and the Boston Symphony Orchestra (1881). The
Christian Science “Mother Church” was dedicated in Boston in 1895.
The nineteenth century also brought great demographic changes, as the native‐born “Brahmin” elite confronted successive waves of immigrants, including French Canadians, Irish (especially after Ireland's 1840s famine years), and, by the turn of the century, Italians and eastern European Jews. A growing African American community included William Monroe
Trotter, editor of a black newspaper, the
Boston Guardian. The Irish gained political power through such colorful figures as James Michael Curley (1874–1958) and John F. “Honey Fitz” Fitzgerald (1863–1950), grandfather of President John F.
Kennedy.
Suburbanization and a decline in manufacturing caused economic problems and population losses through much of the twentieth century. The 1960s saw racial conflicts over school busing between black and white ethnic neighborhoods. But beginning around the same time, Boston experienced dynamic economic growth based a on high‐tech electronics industry, finance, medicine, education, and publishing. As the century ended, thanks to these knowledge‐based industries and its rich history, Boston retained its cachet as an intellectual and cultural mecca.
See also
Civil Rights Movement;
Colonial Era;
Early Republic, Era of the;
Immigration;
Irish Americans;
Italian Americans;
Literature: Early National and Antebellum Eras;
Puritanism;
Revolutionary War;
Revolution and Constitution, Era of the;
Sixties, The;
Textile Industry;
Transcendentalism;
Unitarianism and Universalism;
Utopian and Communitarian Movements.
Bibliography
Shaun O'Connell , Imagining Boston: A Literary Landscape, 1990.
Thomas H. O'Connor , Bibles, Brahmins, and Bosses: A Short History of Boston, 3d ed., 1991.
Christopher Berkeley
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FOOTBALL; THANKSGIVING 2003; Boston Latin delivers; English just can't keep up.(Sports)
Newspaper article from: The Boston Herald; 11/28/2003; ; 700+ words
; Byline: JOHN CONNOLLY A young Boston English team gave its best effort in recent...extra points and stopping a more seasoned Boston Latin squad once on downs in the second...ENGLISH ** Year-by-year of the Boston Latin-Boston English contest, the oldest...
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Newspaper article from: The Boston Globe; 10/16/1996; ; 700+ words
; ...announced a literacy initiative to get all Boston children reading by the time they finish...Martha Gillis, reading coordinator for the Boston public schools, happily imagined classrooms...trained reading teachers. But since "Read Boston" began, Gillis has been the beneficiary...
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Newspaper article from: Rocky Mountain News (Denver, CO); 5/30/1998; ; 700+ words
; ...contributed to this report. STOCK WATCH Boston Chicken, (BOST: Nasdaq) $2.03, down $1.18. Boston Chicken Inc.'s stock took a dive Friday...Andersen LLP said in its audit report of Boston Chicken, which operates Boston Market...
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BOSTON GAS ANNOUNCES FUNDRAISING COLLABORATION WITH BOSTON PARTNERS IN EDUCATION; NONPROFIT TO BENEFIT FROM SALE OF 'RAINBOW TANK' COMMEMORATIVES
PR Newswire; 9/28/1993; 700+ words
; BOSTON, Sept. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Today Boston Gas Company announced that they will begin repainting the...rainbow as a "symbol of hope, uplifting and spring" for Boston. When removing the first tank, Boston Gas was committed...
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BOSTON FUTURE THOUGH CERTAIN PROBLEMS SEEM INTRACTABLE, A WIDE RANGE OF PEOPLE WHO KNOW THE CITY WELL PAINT A SURPRISINGLY BRIGHT PICTURE OF BOSTON AS IT MOVES TOWARD THE TURN OF THE CENTURY
Newspaper article from: The Boston Globe; 6/19/1988; ; 700+ words
; ...neighborhoods, is optimistic about Boston's future over the next 10 years...and the chief economist at the Bank of Boston, shares Brown's optimism. Edward J. Logue, former head of the Boston Redevelopment Authority, who is now...
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Boston Co. exodus spreads
Newspaper article from: The Boston Globe; 4/25/1995; ; 700+ words
; ...defections swept through Mellon Bank Corp.'s Boston Co. subsidiary yesterday in reaction to Mellon...unit with employment contracts. At least 11 Boston Co. executives resigned yesterday to join Boston Partners Asset Management, an investment...
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BOSTON CHICKEN ARRIVES IN ORANGE COUNTY
PR Newswire; 7/25/1994; 700+ words
; ...opening of Southern California's first Boston Chicken store, at 18951 Brookhurst...Avenues in Fountain Valley. A total of 15 Boston Chicken stores are planned to be opened...end of January 1995, by area developer Boston Pacific Inc., a subsidiary of CKE Restaurants...
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NHL Hockey: Boston Bruins.
News Wire article from: Sports Network; 3/19/2003; 700+ words
; ...1924 Team History: 1924-Present - Boston Bruins Team Colors: Gold, Black &...FleetCenter One FleetCenter, Suite 250 Boston, MA 02114-1303 (617) - 624-1900...1924-25 Boston 6 24 0 12 (6) 1925-26 Boston 17 15...
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Boston Market Stores Open Thanksgiving Day; Special Hours Offer Eat-In or Take-Out Holiday Meals
PR Newswire; 11/20/1997; 700+ words
; ...GOLDEN, Colo. Nov. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Boston Market(R) stores nationwide will be...customers who advance-ordered their Boston Hearth holiday banquets to pick up their...turkey breasts, honey-glazed ham and Boston Market homestyle sides. A la carte turkey...
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Boston Properties remains solid - Long leases prove to be a strategy that pays off.(Magazine)
Newspaper article from: The Boston Herald; 4/25/2002; ; 700+ words
; ...bombs left wide swaths of empty office space in major markets like Boston and San Francisco, development giant Boston Properties managed to rack up solid returns. The secret of Boston Properties' success has been reasonably good market timing when...
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Boston Properties, Inc.
Book article from: International Directory of Company Histories
Boston Properties, Inc. 8 Arlington Street Boston, Massachusetts 02116 U.S.A. (617) 859-2600 Fax...he amassed in commercial real-estate development. When Boston Properties, Inc. was reorganized in 1997 from a partnership...
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Boston Market Corporation
Book article from: International Directory of Company Histories
Boston Market Corporation 14103 Denver West Parkway Golden, Colorado...722211 Limited-Service Restaurants; 722320 Caterers Boston Market Corporation — formerly Boston Chicken Inc. — grew rapidly after its start in...
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Boston
Book article from: The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition
Boston city (1990 pop. 574,283), state capital and seat of Suffolk co., E Mass., on Boston Bay, an arm of Massachusetts Bay; inc...Economy The largest city in New England, Boston is an educational, governmental, and financial...
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Boston: Economy
Encyclopedia entry from: Cities of the United States
Boston: Economy Major Industries and Commercial...Since the 1988 – 1992 downturn, Boston experienced an ongoing economic recovery...As in many places across the country, Boston's economy was affected by the events on...
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Boston Chicken, Inc.
Book article from: International Directory of Company Histories
Boston Chicken, Inc. 14103 Denver West Parkway P...Patent Owners and Lessors; 5812 Eating Places Boston Chicken, Inc. operates and franchises food service stores, under the names Boston Chicken and Boston Market, specializing in providing...
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