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Samuel Shute (January 12, 1662 – April 15, 1742) was an
English military officer and royal governor of the provinces of
Massachusetts and
New Hampshire. After serving in the
Nine Years' War and the
War of the Spanish Succession, he was appointed by
King George I as governor of Massachusetts and New Hampshire in 1716. His tenure was marked by virulent disagreements with the Massachusetts assembly on a variety of issues, and by poorly conducted diplomacy with respect to the Native American
Wabanaki Confederacy of northern New England that led to
Dummer's War (1722–1725).
Although Shute was partly responsible for the breakdown in negotiations with the Wabanakis, he returned to England in early 1723 to procure resolutions to his ongoing disagreements with the Massachusetts assembly, leaving conduct of the war to Lieutenant Governor
William Dummer. His protests resulted in the issuance in 1725 of the
Explanatory Charter, essentially confirming his position in the disputes with the assembly. He did not return to New England, being replaced as governor in 1728 by
William Burnet, and refused to be considered for reappointment after Burnet's sudden death in 1729. (Full article...)
Cannons on the site of
Fort Stedman where the 29th saw heavy combat on March 25, 1865.
The 29th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry was an
infantryregiment in the
Union army of the
United States during the
American Civil War. The regiment was organized in December 1861 when three new
companies were attached to a
battalion of seven Massachusetts companies that had been in active service since May 1861.[1] These seven companies had been recruited to fill out the
3rd Massachusetts and
4th Massachusetts regiments and had signed on for three years of service. When the 3rd and 4th Massachusetts were mustered out in July 1861, the seven companies that had signed on for three years were grouped together to form a
battalion known as the Massachusetts Battalion. Finally, in December 1861, three more companies were added to their roster to form a full regiment and the unit was designated the 29th Massachusetts.
The regiment took part in 29 battles and four sieges in a variety of
theaters of the war. After their early service at
Fortress Monroe in Virginia, the 29th was attached, in the spring of 1862, to the
Army of the Potomac during the
Peninsular Campaign as part of the famed
Irish Brigade. The 29th had the distinction of being the only regiment of non-Irish ethnicity to serve in that
brigade. In January 1863, the IX Corps (including the 29th Massachusetts) was transferred to Kentucky and engaged in operations against
Confederateguerillas. In the summer of 1863, the IX Corps was again transferred and took part in the
siege of Vicksburg and the
siege of Jackson, Mississippi. In the fall of 1863, IX Corps took part in the
Knoxville Campaign which resulted in the defeat of Confederate forces in eastern Tennessee. The spring of 1864 saw the IX Corps and the 29th Massachusetts once again returned to duty with the Army of the Potomac, just in time to take part in the
Overland campaign and the
siege of Petersburg. During the siege of Petersburg, the unit suffered their worst casualties of the war in the
Battle of Fort Stedman on March 25, 1865. (Full article...)
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1968 prison ID photo
Michael Eugene Sumpter (September 26, 1947 – August 10, 2001) was an American
serial killer who raped and strangled three women in the
Greater Boston area from 1969 to 1973. Because Sumpter died before his DNA was matched to the rapes and murders, he was never tried for or convicted of these crimes. (Full article...)
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William Williams (October 12, 1787 – June 10, 1850) was an
American printer, publisher and bookseller, originally from Massachusetts. He moved to
New Hartford, New York, with his family and soon established himself in the printing and newspaper business in nearby
Utica, New York during the early nineteenth century. Williams printed the first directory for Utica and published several Utica newspapers and almanacs. Through his various newspapers he published editorials in support of prominent politicians, canal and railroad proposals, and advocated for the colonization of free Blacks. During the
War of 1812, he volunteered for military service, organized a company of militia of young men from Utica, and was present during the
Second Battle of Sacket's Harbor, where he advanced to the rank of colonel. When
a cholera epidemic broke out in Utica in 1832, Williams volunteered in setting up temporary hospitals and aiding the sick and himself became infected. He was an elder and a devoted member of Utica's
First Presbyterian Church, and was strongly opposed to
Freemasonry, to which he published a controversial newspaper, The Elucidator. Always civic minded, Williams spent the better part of his adult life involved in several areas of public service. In his latter business years he suffered financial difficulties, forcing him to sell off his bookstore and many of his effects. After receiving a serious head injury in a stagecoach accident he endured the last years of his life with a measure of mental impairment. (Full article...)
Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. (/hoʊmz/; August 29, 1809 – October 7, 1894) was an American physician, poet, and
polymath based in Boston. Grouped among the
fireside poets, he was acclaimed by his peers as one of the best writers of the day. His most famous prose works are the "Breakfast-Table" series, which began with The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table (1858). He was also an important medical reformer. In addition to his work as an author and poet, Holmes also served as a physician, professor, lecturer, inventor, and, although he never practiced it, he received formal training in law.
Born in
Cambridge, Massachusetts, Holmes was educated at
Phillips Academy and
Harvard College. After graduating from Harvard in 1829, he briefly studied law before turning to the medical profession. He began writing poetry at an early age; one of his most famous works, "
Old Ironsides", was published in 1830 and was influential in the eventual preservation of the
USS Constitution. Following training at the prestigious medical schools of Paris, Holmes was granted his
Doctor of Medicine degree from
Harvard Medical School in 1836. He taught at
Dartmouth Medical School before returning to teach at Harvard and, for a time, served as dean there. During his long professorship, he became an advocate for various medical reforms and notably posited the controversial idea that doctors were capable of carrying
puerperal fever from patient to patient. Holmes retired from Harvard in 1882 and continued writing poetry, novels and essays until his death in 1894. (Full article...)
Before the American Revolution, Hancock was one of the wealthiest men in the
Thirteen Colonies, having inherited a profitable mercantile business from his uncle. He began his political career in
Boston as a protégé of
Samuel Adams, an influential local politician, though the two men later became estranged. Hancock used his wealth to support the colonial cause as tensions increased between colonists and
Great Britain in the 1760s. He became very popular in Massachusetts, especially after British officials seized his
sloopLiberty in 1768 and charged him with smuggling. Those charges were eventually dropped; he has often been described as a smuggler in historical accounts, but the accuracy of this characterization has been questioned. (Full article...)
William Henry Lewis (November 28, 1868 – January 1, 1949) was an African-American pioneer in athletics, law and politics. Born in Virginia to
freedmen, he graduated from
Amherst College in Massachusetts, where he had been one of the first African-American
college football players. After going to
Harvard Law School and continuing to play football, Lewis was the first African American in the sport to be selected as an
All-American.
En route to the final, Houston won group A while New England won group B. Both teams faced opposition from Liga MX in the semifinals, with Houston dispatching
Pachuca CF and the Revolution defeating
Atlante F.C. in a match that saw five players be sent off. Before the final, both sets of players agreed to split the prize money equally, as they believed the share of the prize money awarded to players was too low relative to the tournament's overall $1 million prize. (Full article...)
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Richards (right) and her partner in Los Angeles in 1941
Featured lists have been determined by the Wikipedia community to be the best lists on English Wikipedia.
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This list of birds of Massachusetts includes
species documented in the
U.S. state of
Massachusetts and accepted by the Massachusetts Avian Records Committee (MARC). As of July 2023, there are 516 species included in the official list. Of them, 194 are on the review list (see below), six have been
introduced to North America, three are
extinct, and one has been
extirpated. An additional seven species are on a supplemental list of birds whose origin is uncertain. An additional accidental species has been added from another source.
This list is presented in the
taxonomic sequence of the Check-list of North and Middle American Birds, 7th edition through the 62nd Supplement, published by the
American Ornithological Society (AOS). Common and scientific names are also those of the Check-list, except that the common names of families are from the
Clements taxonomy because the AOS list does not include them. (Full article...)
, there are 136 active stations on twelve lines, two of which have branches. 110 active stations are
accessible; 26 are not. Six additional stations (
Prides Crossing,
Mishawum,
Hastings,
Silver Hill,
Plimptonville, and
Plymouth) are indefinitely closed due to service cuts during the COVID-19 pandemic. One station (
Winchester Center) is temporarily closed due to structural deterioration. Six additional stations are under construction as part of the
South Coast Rail project; several other stations are planned. (Full article...)
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The
U.S. state of
Massachusetts has 14
counties, though eight of these fourteen county governments were abolished between 1997 and 2000. The counties in the southeastern portion of the state retain county-level local government (Barnstable,
Bristol, Dukes, Norfolk, Plymouth) or, in one case, (
Nantucket County) consolidated city-county government. Vestigial judicial and law enforcement districts still follow county boundaries even in the counties whose county-level government has been disestablished, and the counties are still generally recognized as geographic entities if not political ones. Three counties (Hampshire, Barnstable, and Franklin) have formed new county regional compacts to serve as a form of regional governance. (Full article...)
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Boston Latin School is a
publicexam school located in
Boston, Massachusetts, that was founded in 1635. It is the first public school and the oldest existing school in the United States.
The school's first class included nine students; the school now has 2,400 pupils drawn from all parts of Boston. Its graduates have included four
Harvard presidents, eight
Massachusetts state governors, and five
signers of the
United States Declaration of Independence, as well as several preeminent architects, a leading art historian, a notable naturalist and the conductors of the
New York Philharmonic and
Boston Pops orchestras. There are also several notable non-graduate alumni, including
Louis Farrakhan, a leader of the
Nation of Islam. Boston Latin admitted only male students at its founding in 1635. The school's first female student was admitted in the nineteenth century. In 1972, Boston Latin admitted its first co-educational class. (Full article...)
Godsmack is an American
rock band founded in 1995 by singer
Sully Erna and bassist
Robbie Merrill. The band has released eight
studio albums, one
EP, two
compilations, three
video albums, and thirty-four
singles. Erna and Merrill recruited local friend and guitarist Lee Richards and drummer
Tommy Stewart to complete the band's lineup. In 1996,
Tony Rombola replaced Richards, as the band's guitarist. In 1998, Godsmack released their
self-titled debut album, a remastered version of the band's self-released debut, All Wound Up.... The album was distributed by
Universal/
Republic Records and shipped four million copies in the United States. In 2001, the band contributed the track "Why" to the Any Given Sunday soundtrack. After two years of touring, the band released Awake. Although the album was a commercial success, it failed to match the sales of Godsmack. In 2002, Stewart left the band due to personal differences, and was replaced by
Shannon Larkin.
The band's third album, Faceless (2003), debuted at number one on the US
Billboard 200. In 2004, Godsmack released an acoustic-based EP titled The Other Side. The EP debuted at number five on the Billboard 200 and was certified gold by the
RIAA. The band contributed the track "Bring It On" to the Madden 2006 football game in 2005; this track is not featured on any known album or compilation. The band released its fourth studio album, IV, in 2006. IV was the band's second release to debut at number one, and has since been certified platinum. After touring in support of IV for over a year, Godsmack released a
greatest hits album called Good Times, Bad Times... Ten Years of Godsmack. The album included every Godsmack single (with the exception of "
Bad Magick"), a cover of the
Led Zeppelin song "
Good Times Bad Times" and a
DVD of the band's acoustic performance at the
House of Blues in
Las Vegas,
Nevada. (Full article...)
Officially known as the "First-Year Player Draft", the draft is MLB's primary mechanism for assigning amateur baseball players from high schools, colleges, and other amateur baseball clubs to its teams. The draft order is determined based on the previous season's standings, with the team possessing the worst record receiving the first pick. In addition, teams that lost
free agents in the previous off-season may be awarded
compensatory or supplementary picks. (Full article...)
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The
Boston Reds were a
Major League Baseball franchise that played in the
Players' League (PL) in 1890, and one season in the
American Association (AA) in 1891. In both seasons, the Reds were their league's champion, making them the second team to win back-to-back championships in two different leagues. The first franchise to accomplish this feat was the
Brooklyn Bridegrooms, who won the AA championship in 1889 and the
National League (NL) championship in 1890. The Reds played their home games at the
Congress Street Grounds.
The Reds were an instant success on the field and in the public's opinion. The team signed several top-level players, and they played in a larger, more comfortable and modern ballpark than the
Boston Beaneaters, the popular and well established cross-town rival. Player signings that first year included future
Hall of FamersKing Kelly,
Dan Brouthers, and
Charles Radbourn, along with other veterans such as
Hardy Richardson,
Matt Kilroy,
Harry Stovey, and
Tom Brown. The PL ended after one season, leaving most of its teams without a league. (Full article...)
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The territory of the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, one of the fifty United States, was settled in the 17th century by several different English colonies. The territories claimed or administered by these colonies encompassed a much larger area than that of the modern state, and at times included areas that are now within the jurisdiction of other
New England states or of the Canadian provinces of
New Brunswick and
Nova Scotia. Some colonial land claims extended all the way to the
Pacific Ocean.
The first permanent settlement was the
Plymouth Colony (1620), and the second major settlement was the
Massachusetts Bay Colony at
Salem in 1629. Settlements that failed or were merged into other colonies included the failed
Popham Colony (1607) on the coast of Maine, and the
Wessagusset Colony (1622–23) in
Weymouth, Massachusetts, whose remnants were folded into the Plymouth Colony. The Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay colonies coexisted until 1686, each electing its own governor annually. Governance of both colonies was dominated by a relatively small group of magistrates, some of whom governed for many years. The
Dominion of New England was established in 1686 which covered the territory of those colonies, as well as that of
New Hampshire,
Connecticut, and
Rhode Island. In 1688, it was further extended to include
New York and
East and
West Jersey. The Dominion was extremely unpopular in the colonies, and it was disbanded when its royally appointed governor Sir
Edmund Androswas arrested and sent back to England in the wake of the 1688
Glorious Revolution. (Full article...)
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The
Boston Red Sox are a
Major League Baseball (MLB) team based in
Boston,
Massachusetts. From
1912 to the present, the Red Sox have played in
Fenway Park. The "Red Sox" name originates from the iconic uniform feature. They are sometimes
nicknamed the "BoSox", a combination of "Boston" and "Sox" (as opposed to the
"ChiSox"), the "Crimson Hose", and "the Olde Towne Team". Most fans simply refer to them as the Sox.
One of the
American League's eight charter franchises, the club was founded in Boston in
1901. They were a dominant team in the early 20th century, defeating the
Pittsburgh Pirates in the first
World Series in
1903. They won four more championships by
1918, and then went into one of the longest championship
droughts in baseball history. Many attributed the phenomenon to the "
Curse of the Bambino" said to have been caused by the trade of
Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees in
1920. The drought was ended and the "curse" reversed in
2004, when the team won their sixth World Series championship. Championships in
2007 and
2013 followed. Every home game from May 15, 2003, through April 10, 2013, was sold out—a span of 820 games over nearly ten years. The team most recently won the World Series in
2018, the ninth championship in franchise history. (Full article...)
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Boston, the capital of the
U.S. state of
Massachusetts and the largest city in
New England, is home to 555 completed
high-rises, 37 of which stand taller than 400 feet (122 m). The city's
skyscrapers and high-rises are concentrated along the roughly 2.5 mile
High Spine, which runs from the
Back Bay to the
Financial District and
West End, while bypassing the surrounding low-rise residential neighborhoods. The tallest structure in Boston is the 60-
story200 Clarendon, better known to locals as the John Hancock Tower, which rises 790 feet (241 m) in the Back Bay district. It is also the tallest building in New England and the
80th-tallest building in the United States. The second-tallest building in Boston is the
Prudential Tower, which rises 52 floors and 749 feet (228 m). At the time of the Prudential Tower's completion in 1964, it stood as the tallest building in North America outside of
New York City.
Boston's history of skyscrapers began with the completion in 1893 of the 13-story
Ames Building, which is considered the city's first high-rise. Boston went through a major building boom in the 1960s and 1970s, resulting in the construction of over 20 skyscrapers, including 200 Clarendon and the Prudential Tower. The city is the site of 25 skyscrapers that rise at least 492 feet (150 m) in height, more than any other city in
New England. , the skyline of Boston is ranked 10th in the United States and 79th in the world with 57 buildings rising at least 330 feet (100 m) in height. (Full article...)
Image 8Certificate of government of Massachusetts Bay acknowledging loan of £20 to state treasury by Seth Davenport. September 1777 (from History of Massachusetts)
Image 12Boston and its neighbors as seen from
Sentinel-2 with
Boston Harbor (center). Boston itself lies on the southern bank of the Charles River. On the river's northern bank, the outlines of Cambridge and Watertown can be seen; to the west are Brookline and Newton; to the south lie Quincy and Milton. (from Boston)
Image 25Boston, as the Eagle and the Wild Goose See It, an 1860 photograph by
James Wallace Black, was the first recorded aerial photograph. (from Boston)
Image 30Fenway Park, the home stadium of the
Boston Red Sox. Opened in 1912, Fenway Park is the
oldest professional baseball stadium still in use. (from Boston)
Image 42An
MBTA Red Line train departing Boston for
Cambridge. Over 1.3 million Bostonians utilize the city's buses and trains daily as of 2013. (from Boston)
Image 43Historical population changes among Massachusetts municipalities. Click to see animation. (from History of Massachusetts)
Image 51Map showing a
British tactical evaluation of Boston in 1775 (from Boston)
Image 52Major boundaries of Massachusetts Bay and neighboring colonial claims in the 17th century and 18th century; modern state boundaries are partially overlaid for context (from History of Massachusetts)
... that The Essex Gazette was established in 1768, becoming
Salem's first newspaper, and was used as a voice against British rule just before the
American Revolution?
... that at its premiere at
Symphony Hall,
Leonard Bernstein described his suite Divertimento as a "fun piece" that "reflects my youthful experiences here where I heard my first orchestral music"?
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