On June 21, 1974, US District Court Judge W. Arthur Garrity issued his ruling in the case of Morgan v. Hennigan, which changed the city forever, concluding the Boston School Committee had created a segregated school system and that it was past time for a change: Read more.
Boston College's Burns Library posted this illustration for the Shooting the Chutes ride somebody would set up along Huntington Avenue at Parker Street back in the late 1890s - you get up to the top of a tower and then zoom, you shoot down the chute in a gondola and splash in the man-made pond at the bottom. Read more.
J.L. Bell begins to tell us the story of one of the Massachusetts Historical Society's more unusual mementos from the Battle of Bunker (yes, really Breed's) Hill: A large plaque with crossed swords, one used during the battle by Col. William Prescott from the provincial troops and the other used by Capt. John Linzee of the Royal Navy.
The YouTube channel NASS just posted a pretty cool restored/colorized video of our own fair city. Worth subscribing for some fun historical video from all over the world, but this one hits particularly close to home. Enjoy!
The Daily Free Press reports BU's dorm at 610 Beacon St. is now officially known as just 610 Beacon St.
The caption for this photo from the May 24, 1946 Boston Traveler reads: Read more.
Paul Nutting Jr. watched today as a crew from the Crosby Yacht Yard in Osterville unpacked the Victura at the JFK Presidential Library and Museum today for its annual summer stay there. Read more.
1893 MDC photo of the pumping station, including the smokestack. Source.
The Boston Landmarks Commission agreed yesterday with the owners of one of the 19th-century pumping stations across from the Chestnut Hill Reservoir that its crumbling 150-foot smokestack needs to be taken down before it collapses, either spontaneously or in even a mild earthquake. Read more.
Lee Toma got some photos of the USS Constitution - and some of its officers and crew - on one of its periodic turnaround cruises on Boston Harbor this morning.
Today marks the 20th anniversary of the first same-sex marriages in Massachusetts, under the Goodridge decision by the state Supreme Judicial Court. Read more.
Let's start with the telephone museum Verizon has, here in the town where the telephone was first used, but almost never lets anybody in to see. Read more.
So far, the auroras we've seen have been a fun phenomenon but haven't caused any problems on earth. A series of auroras over several days in 1859, though, was so powerful they knocked out telegraph service across North American and Europe - and even started small fires in some telegraph offices, including in Springfield. Read more.
Jacqueline Jones, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin, was announced as the recipient of a Pulitzer Prize today for her No Right to an Honest Living: The Struggles of Boston’s Black Workers in the Civil War Era (Amazon link). Read more.
Some things don't change much: The steepleless King's Chapel at Tremont and School streets today looks pretty much like it did back in 1800, when this engraving was made (click that link to see Tremont Street from Court Street to the long gone Carver Street).
Compare to the view from last year: Read more.
The Dorchester Reporter reports on a remembrance in Fields Corner of "Black April" - when Saigon fell and thousands of people fled the Communists. Many of those refugees settled in the Dorchester neighborhood.
Interior photos from commission report: But do they reflect current reality?
The wheels of history sometimes move slowly: The Boston Landmarks Commission is currently considering whether to designate the interior of the former Eben Jordan, Jr./Unification Church mansion at 46 Beacon St. as a landmark of local, state and even national importance based on a petition submitted in 1977. Read more.
From the Hagley Library.
Seems Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee declared a state of emergency in advance of today's eclipse - and it runs through Wednesday, because who knows what demons the eclipse will unleash, no doubt with claps of thunder and the fiery odor of brimstone? Read more.
Nishan Bichajian photographed this man sometime between 1954 and 1959 as part of anMIT project funded by the Rockefeller Foundation called Perceptual Form of the City, focused on urban planning, in particular how individuals navigate large cities.
The same storefront in 2022: Read more.
Photo between 1955 and 1959 by Nishan Bichajian. See it larger.
What's now a little used alley across Tremont Street from Lagrange Street (so obscure the Google Street Views car has never been down it) was once an entrance to a nightclub that was part of a restaurant complex where Boston's elite would meet to greet and eat - and until 3 a.m., if you can imagine. Read more.
Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution.
