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Place Name
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Boston
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Place Status (Type)
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city
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Capital Of
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Mass. and Suffolk County
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Population
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574,283 (1990)
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Location
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Suffolk County, Massachusetts (MA), United States, North America
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Latitude
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42°20'N
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Longitude
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71°01'W
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Boston
, city (1990 pop. 574,283),  Mass. and
Suffolk co., E Mass., at the head of Boston Bay; 42°20'N
71°01'W. The largest city in New England, and known as the “Hub,”
Boston is a major financial and retailing center, a leading port, and a
market for fish, wool, and gypsum. Its industries include publishing,
food processing, and the mfg. of pharmaceuticals, shoes, textiles, and
machinery. High-technology research and development as well as computer
and electronic mfg. industries have flourished in the Boston area,
especially the corridor along the Yankee Division Highway (formerly
Route 128). Tourism has become increasingly important to Boston's
economy. Est. 1638 by the elder John Winthrop as the main colony of the
Massachusetts Bay Co., Boston was an early center of Amer. Puritanism,
with notable ministers and theocratic-minded statesmen contributing to
the vigorous intellectual life. The nation's oldest public school,
Boston Public Latin, was opened in 1635; Harvard Univ., the nation's
oldest col., was founded at nearby Cambridge in 1636; 1st public lib.
was started in 1653, 1st public park (Boston Common), 1634, and the 1st
newspaper in the 13 colonies, the Newsletter, appeared in
1704. With its excellent port, Boston soon gained commercial ascendancy
over the other towns of colonial Mass. As the Amer. Revolution
approached, it became a center of opposition to the British. The Battle
of Bunker Hill, fought on Breed's Hill on June 17, 1775, was one of
the 1st battles of the Revolution, and Boston was under siege until the
British withdrew in March 1776. After a short postwar depression,
Boston entered a period of prosperity that lasted until the mid-19th
cent. Ships built here made Boston known around the world. Prominent
families built substantial houses on Beacon Hill and in the Back Bay
sects. and patronized the arts and letters, making Boston “the Athens
of America.” Despite the generally conservative tone of their
culture, upper-class Bostonians backed reformers, notably the
abolitionists. The growth of industry brought many immigrants (at 1st
mostly Irish), and Boston changed from a commercial city surrounded by
farms to an industrial center. The city's neighborhoods include the
North End, South End, West End (all parts of the original area of the
city), Roxbury (annexed 1868) and West Roxbury (with the Roxbury Latin
School, Forest Hills Cemetery, and Brook Farm), Dorchester
(annexed 1874) and Mattapan (where Richard Mather had been the
minister), East Boston, Charlestown (annexed 1874), Brighton (annexed
1874), and Allston, Jamaica Plain (annexed 1874; site of Jamaica Pond
and Olmstead Park, and the famous Arnold Arboretum), and Hyde Park,
Readville, Roslindale, South Boston (site of annual St. Patrick's Day
parade), and Back Bay-Beacon Hill (Back Bay's Kenmore Square is
terminal point for Boston Marathon). Revitalization projects in the
city include the Faneuil Hall Marketplace and the construction of new
skyscrapers, including the John Hancock Tower
(740 ft/226 m; 1976). Observatory is the
tallest bldg. in New England. In spite of downtown developments, Boston
grows increasingly suburban; in 1990, less than ⅕ of
the metropolitan area's residents lived in the central city. The city,
with its broad avenues running into the crooked narrow streets of
colonial Boston, cherishes the landmarks of the past: the 17th-cent.
house in which Paul Revere lived; Old North Church, famous for its part
in Revere's story; Old South Meetinghouse, a rallying place for
patriots during the Revolution; the old statehouse (1713), now a mus.,
in front of which the Boston Massacre took place; the Boston Common and
the Public Garden; Faneuil Hall, the “Cradle of Liberty”; the
golden-domed statehouse, with its facade designed by Charles Bulfinch;
and the red-brick houses of Louisburg Square. Among notable Boston
churches are King's Chapel, the birthplace of Amer. Unitarianism
(1785); the Mother Church of Christian Science (founded by Mary Baker
Eddy in 1866); and Trinity Church (1872-1877), designed by H. H.
Richardson and decorated by John LaFarge. Boston Light (1716), at the
entrance to Boston Harbor, is the oldest lighthouse in the U.S. Boston
is one of the great cultural centers of the nation. In the city are the
Mass. Historical Society (founded 1791); the Boston Athenaeum (1807);
the Boston Public Lib.; the New England Conservatory of Music; the
Boston Symphony Orchestra; the Mus. of Fine Arts; the Inst. of
Contemporary Art; the Isabella Stewart Gardner Mus.; the John F.
Kennedy Lib.; the Arnold Arboretum; and the offices of the
Christian Science Monitor. Harvard Medical School is in Boston
proper, as are the New England Medical Center, Mass. General Hosp.,
Brigham and Women's Hosp., Children's Hosp. Medical Center, and Angel
Memorial Children's Hosp. Other educational institutions include
Boston Univ., Simmons Col., Emerson Col., Emmanuel Col.,
Suffolk Univ., and Northeastern Univ., Wentworth Inst., Mass.
Col. of Pharmacy, Berklee School of Music. The Boston Naval Shipyard
(est. 1800, closed 1973) was the berth of the restored U.S.S.
Constitution, which was originally launched (1797) a short
distance away. USS Constitution Natl. Park is located in Charlestown.
Served by Logan Internatl. Airport situated across Boston Harbor and
connected across an arm of the harbor from downtown Boston to East
Boston by the Sumner and Callahan tunnels, and a 3d tunnel, opened in
1996, named for baseball great Ted Williams. The city is connected
northward via Charlestown and Chelsea by the Mystic River bridge. The
American League's Red Sox play baseball in Fenway Park; the Natl.
Hockey League's Bruins and the Natl. Basketball Assn. Celtics play in
the Fleet Center (1995). Other key attractions include the Boston Mus.
of Science, the Franklin Park Zoo, the Children's Mus., the New
England Aquarium, the Mus. of Afro-Amer. Artists, the Mus. of
Transportation, and the Computer Mus. Boston Harbor Isls. State Park
and Thompson Isl. Education Center. Inc. 1822
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