Boston

Alternate meanings: Boston (disambiguation)

Old State House in Boston

Boston is the capital and largest city in Massachusetts in the United States. It is also the largest city in New England and the business and cultural center of the region. It is one of the oldest and wealthiest cities in the United States, and its economy is primarily based on education, health care, finance, and technology.

As of the 2000 census, its population was 589,141. The Greater Boston metropolitan area, including nearby cities like Cambridge, Somerville, and Brookline, has about 5.7 million residents. Boston is the county seat of Suffolk County. It is located at 42°20'N, 71°W.

History

Founded in 1630 on a peninsula called "Shawmut" by the Native Americans who lived there, Boston is named after Boston, England, the town in Lincolnshire from which the Pilgrim Fathers originated. Boston grew rapidly and became wealthy as the primary port for ships bound to Great Britain and the West Indies from the colonies. During the first 200 years, the city was primarily composed of Puritans who originally came from Great Britain.

On March 20, 1760 the "Great Fire" of Boston destroyed 349 buildings.

Boston played a key role in the American Revolutionary War. The Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party and several of the early battles of the revolutionary war (such as the Battle of Lexington and Concord and the Siege of Boston) occurred near the city. During this period, Paul Revere made his famous ride. As a result Boston is known as the Cradle of Liberty and historic sites remain a popular tourist draw to this day.

After the revolutionary war, the city continued to develop as an international trading port, exporting products such as rum, fish, salt and tobacco. It was chartered as a city in 1822, and by the mid-1800s it was one of the largest manufacturing centers in the nation noted for its garment, leather goods, and machinery industries.

While wealthy families able to trace their roots back to the Puritans continue to be powerful in the city (some called the Boston Brahmins), by the 1840s waves of new immigrants began to arrive from Europe. These included large numbers of Irish, and Italians giving the city a large Roman Catholic population. It is currently the third largest Catholic community in the United States (after Chicago and Los Angeles).

The first medical school for women, The Boston Female Medical School (which later merged with the Boston University School of Medicine), opened in Boston on November 1, 1848.

The Great Boston Fire of 1872 started on Lincoln Street on November 9 and in two days destroyed about 65 acres of city, 776 buildings, much of the financial district and caused US$60 million in damage.

File:Map of Boston (Massachusetts).jpg
1888 German map of Boston

"As a literary centre Boston was long supreme in the United States and still disputes the palm with New York," says Baedeker's United States (1893). "A list of its distinguished literary men would be endless; but it may not be invidious to mention Hawthorne, Emerson, Longfellow, Holmes, Lowell, Everett, Agassiz, Whittier, Motley, Bancroft, Prescott, Parkman, Ticknor, Channing, Theodore Parker, Henry James, T. B. Aldrich and Howells among the names more or less closely associated with Boston." Most of the great publishing houses of Boston have been acquired or moved, leaving little but the magazine The Atlantic Monthly and the publisher Houghton Mifflin to bear witness to Boston's former literary glory.

On September 1, 1897 the Boston subway opened as the first underground metro in North America. Today it is affectionately known as "The T" and is run by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.

The first vaudeville theater opened on February 28, 1883 in Boston. The last one, the Old Howard in Scollay Square, which had gradually evolved from opera to vaudeville to burlesque, closed in 1953.

In 1950, Boston was slumping. Few major buildings were being built anywhere in the city. Factories were closing up, and moving their operations south, where labor was cheaper. The assets Boston had -- excellent banks, hospitals, universities and technical know-how -- were minimal parts of the U.S. economy.

But all that changed in the next 50 years and Boston boomed. Financial institutions got far more latitude, many more people began to play the market, and Boston became a leader in the mutual fund industry. Health care became far more extensive and expensive, and hospitals such as Massachusetts General, Beth Israel Deaconess, and Brigham and Women's became major profit centers in the city. Universities, such as Harvard, MIT, Boston College, Boston University and Tufts University brought thousands of bright students to the area; many stayed and became citizens.

Finally, MIT and other universities became a source of high-tech talent. Many MIT graduates, in particular, founded successful high-tech companies in the Boston area. Powerful politicians such as John F. Kennedy, Ted Kennedy and Tip O'Neill made sure Boston got plenty of federal investment.

In 1974, the city had to deal with a crisis when a federal district court judge, W. Arthur Garrity, ordered busing to integrate the city's public schools. Violence flared in some neighborhoods of the city when some white parents resisted the busing plan, and public schools - particularly high schools - in these and some other city neighborhoods became the scene of considerable unrest. The tension continued throughout the middle third of the 1970s, leading to the term forced busing entering the American political lexicon. Many parents chose to abandon the public school system, opting for private schools instead.

The last person to get across that town in under three hours was yelling "The British are coming! The British are coming!"

—Lewis Black

As of 2004, the city is in the final stages of a massive highway construction project called the Big Dig. Planned and approved in the 1980s under Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis, with actual construction beginning in 1991, the Big Dig has moved several major highway routes through the city from antique and crumbling elevated highways into newer, larger underground tunnels, including a brand new tunnel built underneath Boston Harbor called the Ted Williams Tunnel. The Big Dig project is meant to both ease traffic congestion (which has become a major problem for the city) and also contribute significantly to urban renewal, as it removes enormous elevated highway structures and makes large areas of prime city land available for public development. The Big Dig has been plagued by cost overruns and delays, and it has become one of the largest and most expensive construction projects in the history of the entire United States.

High tech, education, finance and medical research, and health care are key industries and Boston has world-renowned cultural attractions (including the Museum of Fine Arts and two famous orchestras, the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Boston Pops Orchestra).

The largest art theft in US history occurred in Boston on March 18, 1990 when 12 paintings, collectively worth $100 million, were stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum by two thieves posing as police officers . As of 2004 these paintings had not been recovered.

Downtown Boston and the Back Bay neighborhood seen across the Charles River Basin.

In recent years as of 2004, like many cities in the United States, Boston has experienced a significant loss of regional institutions and practices that once gave it a very distinct identity, and become part of a more homogenized U. S. culture. Examples include: the acquisition of the Boston Globe by The New York Times; the loss of Boston-headquartered publishing houses (noted above), the acquisition of the century-old Jordan Marsh department store by Macy's; the increasing rarity of ice-cream shops using cone-shaped scoops; the financial crisis currently being experienced by the Massachusetts Horticultural Society; and the loss, to mergers, failures, and acquisitions of once-prominent local financial institutions such as Shawmut Bank, BayBanks, Bank of New England, and Bank of Boston.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 232.1 km² (89.6 mi²). 125.4 km² (48.4 mi²) of it is land and 106.7 km² (41.2 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 45.98% water.

Much of the downtown area and most of the Back Bay is built on reclaimed land. The sources of material were a number of nearby hills and gravel shipped in from surrounding towns during the nineteenth century.

The city is divided into many neighborhoods, including: Allston/Brighton, Back Bay, Beacon Hill, Charlestown, Dorchester, East Boston, Jamaica Plain, Mattapan, the North End, Hyde Park, Roslindale, Roxbury, South Boston, the South End, and West Roxbury. Each of the neighborhoods has its distinct character. Allston/Brighton, for example, is mostly populated by students from nearby Boston University and recent graduates, with both groups of individuals often sharing their apartments with roommates. The Back Bay, just west of the Public Garden, is a spot of luxury housing for the better-off, and includes and adjacent to the shops and restaurants on Newbury Street and the tallest buildings in Boston, the Prudential and the John Hancock Building. The South End, just south of the Back Bay, is a currently very trendy neighborhood with a mixed population of gays, artists, yuppies, and African American and Hispanic communities. It is noted for having one of the better restaurant scenes in Boston and is the center of the area's gay community. Roxbury and Dorchester, located south of downtown, are home to large African-American and Hispanic communities, as well as middle-class Irish communities and a growing number of other middle-class families priced out of more expensive downtown real estate. Boston is notable for having one of the most desirable and livable urban cores in the country, with correspondingly high housing prices.

Boston is bordered by the cities of Revere, Chelsea, Everett, Somerville, Cambridge, Watertown, Newton, and Quincy, and the towns of Winthrop, Brookline, Needham, Dedham, Canton, and Milton.

The Charles River separates Boston from Cambridge and Watertown.

Law and government

Satellite image of Boston

A simulated-color satellite image of the Boston area taken on NASA's Landsat 3.

Boston has a "strong mayor" system in which the mayor is the dominant force in city government. The mayor is elected to a four-year term by plurality voting (see List of Mayors of Boston, Massachusetts). The City Council is elected every two years. There are nine ward, or neighborhood, seats, each elected by plurality voting by the residents of that ward. There are four at-large seats. Each voter casts up to four votes for at-large councillors, no more than one vote per candidate. The top four vote-getters are elected. The President of the City Council is elected by the Councillors from within themselves. The School Committee is appointed by the mayor, as are city department heads.

In addition to city government, numerous state authorities and commissions play a role in the life of Bostonians, including the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (water and sewer) and the Metropolitan District Commission (some parks and most beaches). The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority runs the "T", Boston's public transport system. The Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport) runs Boston's Logan International Airport. (See the article on Boston transportation for more information.)

Demographics

Beacon Hill and the Longfellow Bridge seen from Cambridge.

As of the census of 2000, there are 589,141 people, 239,528 households, and 115,212 families residing in the city. The population density is 4,696.9/km² (12,165.8/mi²). There are 251,935 housing units at an average density of 2,008.5/km² (5,202.5/mi²). The racial makeup of the city is 54.48% White, 25.33% African American, 0.40% Native American, 7.52% Asian American, 0.06% Pacific Islander, 7.83% from other races, and 4.39% from two or more races. 14.44% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There are 239,528 households out of which 22.7% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 27.4% are married couples living together, 16.4% have a female householder with no husband present, and 51.9% are non-families. 37.1% of all households are made up of individuals and 9.1% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.31 and the average family size is 3.17.

In the city the population is spread out with 19.8% under the age of 18, 16.2% from 18 to 24, 35.8% from 25 to 44, 17.8% from 45 to 64, and 10.4% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 31 years. For every 100 females there are 92.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 90.2 males.

The median income for a household in the city is $39,629, and the median income for a family is $44,151. Males have a median income of $37,435 versus $32,421 for females. The per capita income for the city is $23,353. 19.5% of the population and 15.3% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total people living in poverty, 25.6% are under the age of 18 and 18.2% are 65 or older.

Colleges and universities

The Boston area is well-known for its many prestigious colleges and universities. The Boston area is home to 60 colleges. In addition to the schools in Boston proper, surrounding cities host famous schools like Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Tufts University.

Economy

The many prestigious colleges and universities have drawn high-tech industries to Boston, including computer hardware and software companies like EMC Corporation (headquartered in Hopkinton) and Akamai (headquartered in nearby Cambridge), as well as biotechnology companies like Millennium Pharmaceuticals and Biogen Idec. Other important industries include financial services (especially mutual funds) and insurance.

Shoe and athletic apparel-maker Reebok is headquartered in nearby Canton. Raytheon is based in nearby Lexington. Gillette and Fleet bank are also important companies in the Boston area.

Newspapers and media

The Boston Globe, owned by the New York Times Company, and The Boston Herald are Boston's two major daily newspapers. The Boston Phoenix and the Weekly Dig are weekly newspapers. Spare Change is a bi-weekly paper.

Boston in Television and Film

Famous Bostonians

Professional sports franchises

Nearby Foxboro has the New England Patriots (National Football League) and the New England Revolution (Major League Soccer).

Sites of interest

Yearly events

Fourth of July (fireworks and music)
Boston Marathon
Boston (LBGT) Pride (parade and festival)
First Night (New Year's Eve)
Head of the Charles Regatta

Transportation

Boston transportation

Airports

Logan International Airport in East Boston
Hanscom Field in Lexington and Bedford
T. F. Green Airport in Providence, Rhode Island
Manchester Airport in Manchester, New Hampshire

Trains

Amtrak Northeast Corridor and Chicago service at South Station, Back Bay and (in the suburbs of Boston) Route 128
Amtrak service to Maine at North Station

External links