The Handy Boston Answer Book. Samuel Willard Crompton

Conservatory of Music and the New England Conservatory are both formed 1869 Charles W. Eliot, son of Mayor Samuel A. Eliot, becomes president of Harvard 1870 The Peace Jubilee is held in Boston 1872 Boston experiences the worst of all its “Great Fires” with sixty-four acres of buildings destroyed 1874 Gazetteer of the State of Massachusetts lauds Boston’s many accomplishments 1875 Report of the Bureau of Statistics of Labor presents a very different picture of life in Boston 1881 Boston Symphony Orchestra is formed 1885 The Boston Pops delivers its first performance 1886 Henry James novel The Bostonians is published in book form (it was previously a serial) 1897 The Boston Marathon is run for the first time 1900 Population of Boston is 560,892; population of United States is 76,212,168 1903 Boston Americans win the first World Series 1910 Charles W. Eliot steps down from Harvard presidency 1912 Fenway Park opens in April 1914 James Michael Curley is elected Mayor of Boston for the first time 1916 M.I.T. moves from quarters in Copley Square to the north bank of the Charles River 1917 John F. Kennedy born in Brookline World War I begins. 37,000 Bostonians serve during the conflict 1918 Red Sox win the World Series for the fifth time 1919 The Terrible Molasses Flood hits East Boston The Boston police strike makes news nationwide, bringing condemnation to the strikers and applause to Governor Calvin Coolidge 1920 The Red Sox trade Babe Ruth to the Yankees 1923 Massachusetts boy Calvin Coolidge becomes president of the United States 1924 The Boston Bruins are organized 1925 A non-Irishman is elected Mayor of Boston, the only such occurrence in the twentieth century 1928 The Boston Garden—home to the Bruins and later the Celtics—is completed 1930 Boston celebrates its tercentenary James Michael Curley becomes Mayor of Boston for the third time 1933 Numerous soup kitchens in operation in Boston 1944 Eldest of the four Kennedy boys dies in World War II 1945 John “The Elder” Kelley wins the Boston Marathon for the second time 1946 John F. Kennedy elected to the U.S. Congress Red Sox win pennant but lose World Series Boston Celtics are formed as part of the American Basketball Association 1950 Population of Boston is 790,863; population of United States is 151,325,798 Arnold “Red” Auerbach comes to Boston to manage the Boston Celtics 1956 Bill Russell comes to Boston to enter the Celtics organization 1957 John “The Younger” Kelly wins the Boston Marathon, becoming the first American to do so since 1945 1957 Boston Celtics win their first NBA championship 1959 Boston Patriots admitted as eighth and last team of the American Football League Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain face off for the first time 1960 John F. Kennedy wins Democratic nomination and defeats Richard M. Nixon in the general election Ted Williams takes his last at-bat in Fenway Park 1962 President Kennedy shows a firm hand during the Cuban Missile Crisis 1963 President Kennedy assassinated in Dallas 1964 The fifty-two-story Prudential Building is completed Celtics owner Walter Brown dies 1967 The “Impossible Dream” year of the Red Sox Amby Burfoot becomes first American to win Boston Marathon since 1968 New York Senator Robert Kennedy assassinated in Los Angeles 1969 Student protests at M.I.T. force the administration to close one of the most important laboratories for U.S. Armed Services research 1970 Love Story is released to wide screen Boston Bruins win the Stanley Cup 1971 Foxboro Stadium, home of the New England Patriots, is completed 1974 Federal Judge Arthur Garrity rules that Boston schools must integrate 1975 Red Sox win pennant but lose World Series to Cincinnati Reds Bill Rodgers wins the Boston Marathon with a time of 2:09:28 1976 Boston and eastern Massachusetts experience tourist revival with Bicentennial Year Shocking photograph of racial anger appears in papers around the nation Rock group Boston has groundbreaking success with album of the same name The John Hancock Tower is completed 1978