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Pilgrims Found Plymouth Colony
In 1629 the Pilgrims made their famous landing on the coast of present day Massachusetts. The Plymouth Colony’s borders were stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. Later on Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay colonies will merge to create Massachusetts. -
Puritans Found Massachusetts Bay Colony
About six months after the Pilgrims, the Puritans make the voyage to America for their religious freedom. When Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay colonies merged, the borders were cut down a lot to more or less the borders of current day Massachusetts. -
Revolutionary War starts at Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts
The first shots of the American Revolution were fired by minutemen from Massachusetts at Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts. Minutemen were a local militia trained to spring in to action at a minute’s notice. On the 18th the British were ordered to shut down the government of Massachusetts. They were ordered to seize supplies stored by they colonies in Concord. Paul Revere, William Dawes, and Samuel Prescott rode on horseback to warn the minutemen that the British were coming. -
Massachusetts becomes the 6th state
In February of 1788, the Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay colonies merged creating the 6th state, Massachusetts. Native Bay Stater, John Adams, wrote Massachusetts’ Constitution, which the United States’ Constitution was modeled after. Like Adams, many Bay Staters will go into national politics to do their part. A few examples are: John Kennedy, George H. W. Bush, Benjamin Franklin, and John Hancock. -
Francis Cabot Lowell opens Boston Manufacturing Co.
After Francis Cabot Lowell came back to Massachusetts after visiting manufacturing plants in Europe, he started the Boston Manufacturing Co. BMC was modeled after the mills in Europe. The company both spun and wove cotton into fabric, unlike most at the time, which only spun cotton into thread. Lowell’s operation helped Massachusetts’ and the United States’ economy. -
Maine separates from Massachusetts and becomes a state
In 1620, Sir Fernando Gorges and Captain John Mason were deeded the land between the Merrimack and Kennebec rivers. Then, in 1629, they divided their land by using the Piscataqua River. Mason’s land was called New Hampshire and Gorges’ New Somersetshire. (Though, it was commonly called Maine.) Their deal was a bust, so, in 1651 Massachusetts reasserted its claim to their land. Maine remained part of Massachusetts until 1820 even though New Hampshire resisted. -
The Bread and Roses strike takes place
When Massachusetts cut the workweek in the textile mills from 56 to 54 hours the owners of the mills cut wages and sped up production. More than 23,000 people walked off the job. Most of those people were women. They also were from 30 countries and spoke 45 different languages. Strikers carried signs saying, “We want bread and roses too!” Many women were beaten, arrested, even killed by police officers. The mill owners finally gave in and increased wages for their workers. -
Swift River tunnel sealed
When the Swift River tunnel was sealed in 1939, it started flooding leading to the creation of the Quabbin Reservoir. The reservoir is the largest lake in Massachusetts at 39 sq. miles. The lake being man-made put thousands of Bay Staters to work in the Great Depression. Two thousand five hundred people were put out of their homes for the Swift River Valley to be flooded. Four towns were destroyed for the creation of the reservoir. The Quabbin can hold up to 412 billion gallons of water! -
Federal court orders desegregation of Boston schools
A Massachusetts court ruled that the Boston School Committee had not properly desegregated Boston schools. Thousands of African Americans were taken to schools in majorly white communities and vice versa. The busing caused conflict between white and African American communities. -
The Boston Red Sox win the World Series
When the Red Sox won the World Series, the city of Boston went crazy. This is because the Red Sox broke what some say is a curse. The curse of Bambino, that is. They say the curse lasted 86 years after beginning in 1918 because the Sox traded Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees in 1920. During the history of the franchise, legends like Cy Young, Babe Ruth, and Ted Williams played for them. The Red Sox play at Fenway Park in Boston. The left field wall at Fenway is nicknamed the “Green Monster.”
