First Legal Same-Sex Marriage: In 2004, the first same-sex partners were legally married at Cambridge City Hall in Massachusetts.
The road to marriage equality was fraught with many challenges across the country and at the state and federal levels. But Massachusetts was at the forefront of bringing this right […]
America’s First Public Park: The Boston Common became the first public park in America in 1634.
Today, public parks serve as a collective backyard for city dwellers, providing them with fresh air, green grass and a chance to get out of their manmade urban environments. But […]
The First Battle of the Revolution
The American Revolution began outside the bustling streets of Boston in Lexington and Concord. These quiet towns, each roughly 20 miles to the city’s west, were the site of the […]
Chemotherapy Pioneered as a Cancer Treatment
Massachusetts boasts some of the world’s most important health care institutions, including Massachusetts General Hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and Harvard Medical School. Our state is also renowned for […]
The First Jet Airplane Engine: Lynn Takes Flight
Massachusetts sees a flurry of inbound and outbound flights every single day through Boston Logan International Airport, one of the busiest airports in the country with more than 40 airlines […]
Massachusetts is Home to Harvard, the First American University
Did you know that the first American university was right here in Massachusetts? Founded in 1636 in the settlement of New Towne (later renamed Cambridge), Harvard University (originally named Harvard […]
Helen Magill White: Boston University Graduate Becomes First Woman to Earn a Ph.D.
Helen Magill White’s family always valued education – it didn’t matter that she or her sisters were women, they would have the opportunity to be educated, just as any man […]
Massachusetts Outscores Nation in Basketball’s History
Basketball, the high-flying and athleticism-laden sport now popularized around the world, was created in, yes, you guessed it, Massachusetts by Dr. James Naismith in 1891. The then 31-year-old graduate student […]
