Boston: A City of Firsts
Even prior to former Boston Mayor Tom Menino dubbing the South Boston waterfront the Innovation District, the Hub was a center of progressive ideas. Innovation has long been a part of the city’s fabric dating back to its very beginnings. Here’s just a small sampling of sites associated with some of the more prominent Boston firsts.
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1. Boston Public Garden: America’s first public botanical garden was instituted in 1837 adjacent to Boston Common, although many of the features with which we are familiar today didn’t take shape until decades later.
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2. Original site of Boston Latin School: The site of the first public school in America—established in 1635—is commemorated by a plaque long the famed Freedom Trail. School Street.
3. Ether Dome: In 1846, William T.G. Morton performed the first public surgery using an anesthetic at Mass. General’s surgical amphitheater. Open to the general public Monday–Friday from 9 a.m.–5 p.m., it houses a small collection of artifacts, as well as an Egyptian mummy. Massachusetts General Hospital, 55 Fruit St., Bulfinch Building, 4th Floor, 617-726-2000.
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4. African Meeting House: The first church for African Americans was established on Beacon Hill in 1806. It is now home to the Museum of African American History.
5. Boston Common: Delineated in 1634, Boston Common was America’s first public park. It was established as a community grazing land for cattle, a practice which ceased in 1830.
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6. Boylston Station: This stop on the MBTA’s Green Line was the first subway station in the United States when it debuted in 1897. Historic trolley cars can be seen here on a defunct track parallel to the one in active use. Corner of Tremont and Boylston Streets.
7. Boston Public Library: The first free municipal library in the country when it was created in 1848, the Boston Public Library moved into its stately Copley Square location in 1895.
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8. Cy Young Statue: The first Major League Baseball World Series—between eventual victors the Boston Red Sox (then the Americans) of the two-year-old American League and the Pittsburgh Pirates of the elder National League—was held here at the former site of the Huntington Avenue Grounds in 1903. A statue of legendary Boston hurler Cy Young stands in a Northeastern University quad to mark the spot of the pitcher's mound. Behind Northeastern University's Cabot Center, 400 Hungtington Ave.
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