HISTORY. The peninsula on which old Bos ton was built was known as SI .....tawmut. or Sweet Waters, to the and was named Trimon taine by the early colonists, from the three peaked top of one of its hills. It was first visit ed by an exploring party from Plymouth in 1621. In July. 1630. the colonists brought by John Winthrop to Salem established themselves at Charlestown; hut on the invitation of Wil liam Blackstone. or 131axton. a `bookish recluse! who had lived on the peninsula since 1626, Winthrop and the greater part of his company moved to Trimontaine on or before September 17, 1630. when the place was renamed Boston, after the Lineolnshire town whence many of the colo nists had come. The old •Trimontaine! changed to Tremont. is preserved in Tremont Street and several buildings. Early in 1632 the first meet ing-house was erected. at the head of the present State Street. and three years later the first free schoolhouse was built on the present School Street. In 1635 the first. grand jury of the country met in Boston. Boston became the chief town of the Alassachusetts Bay Col ony. and the centre of Puritan life and learning. In 1636 the Antinominn contro versy (see HUTCHINSON, ANNE) broke out. and, with the disturbances caused by Roger Williams (q.v.), led to the emigration of many prominent citizens. Between 1648 and 1688 four women— Margaret ,tones, of Charlestown; :Mary Parsons, of Springfield; Ann Ilibbins, and Goody Glover —were executed for witchcraft: and 'between 1659 and 1661, during the excitement caused by the Quaker immigration, four Quakers were hanged Int the Common for returning after ban ishment. On pain of death. A post-office was opened in 1649. Two years later a mint was established, at which the 'pine-tree' shillings were coined for many years. A printing-office was opened in 1674, and in 1704 the Boston News Letter, the first regular newspaper to he printed in America, began publication. At the beginning of the Eighteenth Century Boston was the largest and most important town in America, and its citizens took a leading part in the expression of public opinion in the conflict of the colonies with Great Britain. The im pressment of seamen by the home Government in 1747 caused several riots, and the spirit of independence increased till the Stamp Act in 1765, and later the revenue acts, incited riots, which led to the quartering of two British regi ments in Boston. on :Mara 5, 1770, the 'Bos ton Massacre' (q.y.) occurred. On December 16, 1773, occurred the famous Boston Tea Party which caused Parliament to pass the Boston Port Bill (q.v.)—in effect June 1, 1774 —virtually closing the Boston Harbor to vain ine•ce. At the outbreak of the Revolution, Bos ton was occupied by British troops, but was besieged by the American Army after the skir mish at Lexington, and attempts to fortify Charlestown were followed by the battle of Bunker ltill (q.v.), time 17, 1775. By fortify
ing Dorchester heights, Washington forced the British to evacuate the town, March 17. 1776.
Since the Revolution Boston's prosperity has been almost continuous, the most important interruption having been caused by the Embargo of 1807. The city received its charter in 1822, and had then a population of 47,000. In 1840 the Britannia, the first of the Cunard liners, entered Boston harbor and began the present system of transatlantic passenger traffic. In 1849 there was an epidemic of cholera. 5080 dying out of a population of 130.000. Slaves were owned in Bos ton as early as 36115, and continued to he held till after the Revolution. In 18:31 William Lloyd Garrison began the publication of The Liberator, and organized (1832) the New England Anti Slavery Society. the first society to advocate innnediate emancipation. Boston thus became the centre of the radical Abolitionist movement, though in 18:35 there was an Anti-Abolitionist riot. Intense excitement was caused through out the country by the rescue here of Shadraeh, in February, 1851, and the return to slavery from here, under the provisions of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850. of Thomas Al. Sims (q.v.), in April, 1851, and of Antimony Burns (q.v.), in May, 1854. tin. Civil War Boston strongly supported the measures of the Federal Government, and sent more than 26,000 men to join the army and The city has suffered severely from tires, the most destructive oc curring in 1676. 1679. 1711, 1760, 1872, I8I30, and 1893. That of 1872 was especially disas trous. 50 acres in the business portion of the city having been thoroughly devastated. and property valued at over *75,000.000 destroyed. On Sept OM her 17, 1880, the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the settlement of Boston was celebrated with great enthusiasm.
Consult: Dr. Winsor's exhaustive and schol arly Memorial History of Boston, Including Suffolk County, 4 vols. (Boston, 1880-81); also Quiney, A Municipal History of the Town and City of Boston. from 16.30 to Is.30 ( Boston, 1852) ; Hale, Historic Boston arm Its Neighbor hood (New York. 1898) : Drake. History and Antiquities of Boston, from 16,01 to 1670 (Bos ton, 1854) ; Drake, Old Landmarks and Historic Personages of Boston (Boston, 1900) ; and Lodge. "Boston," in the Historic Towns Series (London, 1891) : Sprague, Gurernment of Bos ton: Its Rise and Derelopmcnt (Boston. 1890) ; Directory of the Charitable and Beneficent Or !Ionizations of Boston (Boston. 1899) : "The Completion of the Boston Subway and New Arrangements of Street Cars." in Railroad Ga t t e, No. XXX. (Ne• York, 189S).