Boston Latin Academy Girls' Latin School
Motto	Vita Tua Sit Sincera Let Thy Life Be Sincere
Established	1877
Type	Public Coeducational Secondary
Affiliations	Boston Public Schools
Headmaster	Emilia Pastor
Faculty	approximately 90
Students	approximately 1800
Grade level	7-12
Location	205 Townsend Street, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
District	Boston Public Schools
Colors	Black and Gold
Mascot	Jabberwock/Dragon
Newspaper	Dragon Tales
Literary Magazine	The Jabberwock
Website	latinacademy.org

Boston Latin Academy is a public exam school founded in 1877 in Boston, Massachusetts providing students in grades 7th through 12th a rigorous classical preparatory education.

Formerly named Girls' Latin School prior to 1977, the school was the first college preparatory high school for girls in the United States. Now coeducational, the school is currently located in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston and is part of the Boston Public School system.

History[link]

Boston Latin Academy (BLA) was founded on November 27, 1877 as Girls' Latin School (GLS). The founding of the school was the result of citizen and parent participation and the intention to give college preparatory training for girls. A plan to admit girls to Public Latin School was formed by an executive committee of the Massachusetts Society for the University Education of Women. Three visionary and driving members of this executive committee, Emily Talbot, Florence Cushing and Annie Fields, deserve much of the credit for the school's founding. Henry Durant, president of Wellesley College, and one of the most brilliant legal minds in Boston, was also greatly instrumental in outlining the legal route for the school to be established. A petition with a thousand signatures was presented to the School Board in September 1877. The board referred the question to the subcommittee on high schools. Meanwhile Emily Talbot met with the headmaster of Public Latin School and asked that her daughter and another girl be admitted. Although Headmaster Moses Merrill was willing to teach the girls, he thought it best to wait for the subcommittee's decision. Ultimately the subcommittee recommended that a separate Latin School for girls be established.

Girls’ Latin School opened on West Newton Street in Boston’s South End on February 12, 1878. The school had only thirty-seven pupils in its three classes. The first thirty-seven students were divided according to aptitude into three classes; the Sixth, Fifth and Third class. The first graduating class in 1880 included Alice M. Mills, Charlotte W. Rogers, Vida D. Scudder, Mary L. Mason, Alice S. Rollins and Miriam S. Witherspoon; all six were accepted to Smith College.

In 1888, Abbie Farwell Brown, Sybil Collar and Virginia Holbrook decided to found a school newspaper. The name Jabberwock was picked from a list Abbie Farwell Brown submitted. It was taken from “Jabberwocky”, the famous nonsense poem written by Lewis Carroll in “Through the Looking Glass”. They wrote to Lewis Carroll in London and received back a handwritten letter giving them permission to use the name. The Jabberwock is one of the oldest school newspapers in the United States.

The number of students grew each year. When the number of students exceeded 350 in 1898, the school committee moved the first four classes to a building in Copley Square vacated by the Chauncy Hall School while the fifth and sixth remained in the old building. In 1907, Girls’ Latin School moved into a brand new building, shared with Normal School located on Huntington Avenue in the Fenway.

The school remained there until 1955, when Teachers’ College expanded, forcing Girls’ Latin School to relocate to the former Dorchester High School for Girls building located in Codman Square.

In 1972, boys were admitted for the first time to Girls’ Latin School. The school name was changed in 1975 and the first graduating class of Boston Latin Academy was in 1977.

In 1981, Latin Academy moved back into the Fenway area, this time to Ipswich Street, across from Fenway Park. It remained there until the summer of 1991, when it moved back again, this time to its present location in the former Roxbury Memorial and Boston Technical High School building, located on Townsend St. in Roxbury.

Although Latin Academy works to create a nurturing environment, a great number of students transfer out due to the difficulty of the courses. 94% of its graduating students go on to attend four-year colleges. In 2010 Boston Latin Academy received a Silver Medal as one of the top public high schools in the nation by US News and World Report.^[1]

Mission statement[link]

The mission of Boston Latin Academy is to prepare students for higher academic study by challenging them with a rigorous curriculum. With this foundation, Boston Latin Academy prepares students to be independent learners and contributing citizens in a diverse and challenging society.^[2]

Admissions[link]

Entrance is allowed in the 7th and 9th grades. To gain admission to BLA, a student must be a resident of Boston, and must take the ISEE test.

Academics[link]

Boston Latin Academy's curriculum focuses on the classics. Students are required to take college preparatory classes and four years of Latin. Over 20 different types of Advanced Placement classes are offered along with Honors classes. Boston Latin Academy has a long tradition of academic excellence and has been recognized by U.S. News & World Report as an Outstanding American High School and by America’s Best Redbook Schools for Overall Excellence.

• Excellence in academics with a high rate of college placement
• Dedicated faculty who challenge and encourage students
• Honors and Advanced Placement Courses
• Exemplary Peer Tutoring Programs
• Supportive Alumni Association through BLAA
• Active and supportive Community Booster Club and School Parent Council
• Generous and supportive Business Partner
• Students who represent Boston’s multicultural, multiracial population
• Greenhouse and Outdoor Classroom within interior open-air courtyard

Headmasters[link]

Dr. John Tetlow 1878-1910

John Tetlow, graduate of Brown University and valedictorian of his class of 1864, was unanimously voted by the School Committee as the new principal for GLS in January 1878. He was just 35 years old. Born on April 12, 1843 in Providence, Rhode Island, Tetlow had been headmaster of Friends Academy in New Bedford from 1869 through 1878.

John Tetlow married Elizabeth Ingersoll Harrington, daughter of the superintendent of New Bedford public schools in 1870. They had two daughters: Elizabeth born March 31, 1875 and Helen, born February 1, 1877. His wife died six weeks later on March 17, 1877. He met Elizabeth P. Howard, a much beloved teacher at GLS, and they were married on July 1, 1880. Daughters, Elizabeth and Helen, would later graduate from GLS class of 1892 and class of 1895 respectively. Their one biological daughter, Frances H., born almost six years later on June 16, 1886, would graduate in 1903.

For the first few years, John Tetlow continued to teach all Greek and Latin classes. He was, first and foremost, an outstanding and unequalled teacher who inspired a real love of learning and quickly became known for his passionate insistence on accuracy. Tetlow collaborated to establish the New England Association of Colleges and Preparatory Schools in 1885, served as a Trustee of The Roxbury Latin School and authored several Latin and Greek high school text books. He gained a national reputation for making the school one of the finest college preparatory schools in the US. By the early 1900s, more than half of each graduating class was accepted at The Harvard Annex (which later became Radcliffe College), Smith College, Wellesley College, Vassar College and Mount Holyoke College.

At the end of the 1910 school year, sixty seven-year old Headmaster Tetlow made the decision to retire; official August 31. Tetlow had guided the school beautifully through the difficult first few years of infancy until the school finally won its place. GLS had 760 students, more than twenty times its original size.

On November 25, 1911, about a year and a half after his retirement, Mr. Tetlow was riding his bike from his home at 139 Davis Avenue in Brookline about a quarter mile over Route 9 to Jamaica Pond. Along Chestnut Street, near Perkins Street which runs along the north border of the Pond, Mr. Tetlow was struck by an automobile. Two weeks later on Saturday, he went to bed, fell asleep and never regained consciousness.Tetlow did not know he had fractured his hip and suffered a sub peritoneal hemorrhage. This caused a heart attack. He passed away very unexpectedly on December 9, 1911. A memorial service, organized by alumnae, was held on April 8, 1912 for John Tetlow at which half a dozen esteemed colleagues spoke of his life. Superintendent of the Boston Public Schools, Stratton D. Brooks, opened the services and said, “We are assembled this afternoon to pay tribute to a man whose…insistence upon those things he believed to be right has done much to place the schools of Boston in the position they occupy in the minds of the educated of this country.”

Ernest J. Hapgood 1910-1948

Mr. Ernest Hapwood was born, coincidentally, on the same day the first class started at GLS; February 12, 1878. He graduated from Tufts University in 1901 and received his masters from Tufts in 1905. Because he had attended Brown University from 1888 to 1890, and was a star tackle on the football team, he was awarded an honorary degree from Brown in 1911. Hapgood married Edith Kenney Hapgood, with who he had had a daughter and three sons. He came to teach at GLS in 1905, and became head of the Mathematics department in 1908.

After suffering a small stroke in December 1947, Hapgood made the decision to retire. The portrait of Ernest G. Hapgood was painted by Claxton B. Moulton and was a present from the alumnae association. The portrait is hung in a gold and black frame and is approximately 6 feet (1.8 m) by 4 feet (1.2 m). The painting depicts Hapgood standing beside a white chair, in a blue suit with white shirt and red tie, with one hand in his pocket.

The man with a “ringing laugh and expansive smile” had watched over the school from September 14, 1910 until January 31, 1948. Fatherly, friendly, approachable, caring yet mindful of the school’s standards at all times, he quietly doubled the school’s reputation for outstanding academic preparation. The Jabberwock wrote, “Mr. Ernest Hapgood’s retirement is a blow indeed to the G.L.S. We shall always be sincerely grateful to him for his untiring efforts as an educator and his brilliant guidance of our school for so many years.”

Mr. Hapgood died at 75 years of age of heart disease on April 3, 1953 at Newton-Wellesley Hospital after a long illness, just days before the GLS 75th anniversary weekend.

Louis A. McCoy 1948-1957

Mr. Louis A. McCoy became only the third headmaster in seventy years in 1948. He was also a graduate of Brown University. McCoy was born in Pawtucket, Rhode Island on August 14, 1887. He received his B.A. in 1909 and received his A.M. in 1910 from Brown University. At one time, he also played professional baseball. He taught math and coach athletics at Bulkeley High School (1910–15) in New London, Conn., taught math at New Haven High School (1915–17) then became head of the math department at English High School (1917–28), Roxbury Memorial High School (1928–38). He then became the Headmaster at Girls’ High (1938–48) before accepting the position at GLS. He married Marguerite H. McGlone on July 12, 1916 and had two daughters Marguerite E. and Virginia M.; Virginia also became a teacher in the Boston Public Schools.

After two years at Codman Square, Headmaster McCoy announced his retirement. On June 3, 1957, Headmaster McCoy was honored by the Alumnae Association and a banquet was held in his honor to unveil McCoy’s portrait painted by Mrs. Griswold Tyng.On June 3, 1965, Louis A. McCoy died at the age of seventy seven.

Thomas F. Gately 1957-1965

Thomas F. Gately was born in 1895 and served in the US Navy in WW I. Headmaster from 1957 to 1966. Graduate of Boston College High School and Boston College 1920. He taught at Jamaica Plain High before becoming headmaster at GLS.

William T. Miller 1965-1966

“Our new headmaster, Mr. Miller, spent the year with us; we anxiously watched him enter GLS in September and mournfully watched him leave in June, 1966."

Margaret C. Carroll 1966-1978

Margaret C. Carroll earned a BS degree from Teacher’s College Boston, a M.A. of education from Teachers College and BU. She taught science at Girls’ High from 1931-1950. She was head of Department of Science at Dorchester High School from 1950–57, head master at Roxbury Memorial High School for Girls from 1957–1959, headmaster of Boston Business School from 1959–1966 and GLS 1966-1978.

Margaret C. Carroll died on December 29, 2005 at 97. She was born June 17, 1908 in Boston. She is buried at St Joseph Cemetery in Boston.

Robert Binswanger (1983–1991)

Maria Garcia-Aaronson (1991–2009)

Emilia Pastor

Buildings[link]

History of the buildings Occupied by Girls’ Latin School and Boston Latin Academy 1878-2010.

1. West Newton Street South End, Boston First Building Occupied by Girls’ Latin School 1878-1907

After Girls’ Latin School was approved on November 27, 1877, the first classes were held on February 12, 1878. Girls’ Latin shared its first building with Girls’ High School. Built from 1869 through 1871, the school was at the time of its completion, the largest in New England and the most expensive school built in the United States. It occupied a 30,480-square-foot (2,832 m²) lot fronting on West Newton Street in the South End. West Newton Street was bounded on the north by Pembroke Street and on the west and east by Tremont and Shawmut Streets. In 1878, West Newton Street was a wide, dirt street and the sidewalks were brick. The Evangelical Zionist Church was to the left of the school and to the right was a row of brick townhouses with classic Bostonian double-bowed fronts.

The school was limestone block on the street level and red brick on the upper three stories. A set of granite stairs bridged the side walk up to the door. The turreted roof was unusually decorative and had a Faneuil Hall like cupola tower on top. It contained sixty six classrooms; seven rooms providing seating for one hundred students and the smallest four rooms seating seventy-five.

In December 1882, the school committee voted to expand the classrooms for GLS and approved the use of six rooms on the second floor and one room on the third floor of Girls’ High. They also appropriated $2,000 so that the school could be physically separated or isolated from Girls’ High. They erected partitions, assigned separate entrances, and purchased $1,500 of additional furnishings. The entire west half of the second floor was “appropriated to the exclusive use of the school”.

Enrollment at GLS had grown from 37 in 1878 to 296 in 1896. The West Newton Street building was becoming far too small to accommodate both schools. Every available recitation room in the school had been filled with desks, the drawing and musical rooms in the attic and basement, even the cloak-rooms had been converted for use. The school built for 925 girls, was approaching 1,300 students.

However, Girls’ Latin would occupy the building on West Newton Street from 1878 to 1907; almost thirty years. The building was razed in 1960 and a playground now occupies its site on West Newton Street.

2. Chauncy Hall 1898-1907 Boylston Street Copley Square, Boston

In February 1898, the first through fourth classes, approximately 240 students, were moved to the Chauncy Hall School in Copley Square which had been vacated by the private school two years earlier. Headmaster John Tetlow summed, “The present transfer of the main part of Girls’ Latin School to an independent building is rightly viewed by the friends of the school as a subject for congratulations…but let it be remembered that this transfer is only one step toward the consummation to be striven for…The school needs, for adequate performance of its mission in the community, a new and well equipped building;…”

Located at 593-597 Boylston Street between Dartmouth and Clarendon directly across from Trinity Church, the building was stone with three spires and an ivy covered façade.

The Chauncy Hall School was established in 1828 by Gideon F. Thayer and was originally located on Chauncy Place in Boston. The school burned to the ground in May 1873. The decision was made to re-build a new school. “Fortunately our attention was directed to the neighborhood of what is now Copley Square, and though it seemed somewhat out-of-town, it was thought best to take the risk of the city growing in that direction,” wrote historian Thomas Cushing, “The estimated cost was $100,000, and school masters do not usually have that sum at command to embody their wishes in brick and mortar.” A stock company was formed of approximately 160 former pupils and parents of current pupils, including Dr. Israel Tisdale Talbot. The school paid the stockholders annual rent until the school relocated in 1896. When the decision was made to transfer the upper four grades to the empty building, the City of Boston entered into agreement to lease the building from the Chauncy Hall Association for annual rent and taxes of $8,708.

The third floor contained a 400-seat hall, and the first two floors, 12 classrooms. From the beginning, the school was thought unsuitable being too dark, noisy (from the constant stream of electrically powered street cars) and too far from West Newton Street. The remaining fifth and sixth classes walked the two mile (3 km) round trip twice each month to attend school assemblies.

3. Huntington Avenue 1907-1955 Huntington Avenue the Fenway, Boston The first and only building built for GLS

On November 11, 1902, the Committee on High Schools ordered that the Board of Commissioners, “purchase a site and erect a building for Girls’ Latin, at the earliest possible date.” This order was expanded to include within the same complex the Normal School and a new grammar school

The new building for Girls’ Latin School was ready for the beginning of the 1907 school year. The Girls’ Latin and Normal School group was completed at a cost of $978,181.The two acre plus lot (113,181 square feet) fronted on Evans Way and Huntington Avenue, was bounded by Tetlow Street on the north (named in honor of its head master), Longwood Avenue on the south and Worthington on the west (later this was renamed Palace Road).

Three architectural firms had collaborated on the design of the building; Peabody & Stearns, Coolidge, Carlson and Maginnis and Walsh & Sullivan. The buildings were red brick with terra cotta and limestone trim and included all the latest advances in electricity and heating. Although the electric light bulb had been invented in 1879, new completely electric buildings were still somewhat of a novelty. For the first time, the school had working telephones with service provided by New England Telephone and Telegraph Company and other new “telephonic services” including switchboard, desk telephones, clocks and bells.

Three architectural firms had collaborated on the design of the building; Peabody & Stearns, Coolidge, Carlson and Maginnis and Walsh & Sullivan. The buildings were red brick with terra cotta and limestone trim and included all the latest advances in electricity and heating. Although the electric light bulb had been invented in 1879, new completely electric buildings were still somewhat of a novelty. For the first time, the school had working telephones with service provided by New England Telephone and Telegraph Company and other new “telephonic services” including switchboard, desk telephones, clocks and bells.

Over the door leading to the courtyard were inscribed the words in Latin, “Here is an open field for talent; appreciative recognition is assured to the deserving; diligent application is honored with due rewards.”

The average classroom was much smaller, and held approximately 56 desks. New features had been introduced like “battery blackboards” that provided more than one surface of natural slate and slid up and down like windows; wall maps and wall charts. The new chemistry and botany labs also had soapstone sinks and hoods to remove odors.

In 1922, Boston Latin School relocated from Warren Avenue to a new Boston Latin School on Avenue Louis Pasteur. Constructed at a cost of $950,000, the building was dedicated on May 18, 1923. The rear yards of Boston Latin and Girls’ Latin were separated only by a street named Palace Road.

Girls’ Latin School expanded from approximately 421 students in 1907 to over 1,200 students in 1955 within the Huntington Avenue building.

In 1924, The Normal School became The Teachers College of the City of Boston. The Massachusetts Board of Education took over the responsibility of operating this teacher’s college to provide financial relief to the City of Boston. In return, the City of Boston agreed to deed the entire Huntington Avenue Building including the Girls’ Latin School buildings and the park area in front to the State.

On August 12, 1952, Girls’ Latin School’s building was transferred to the state for $1.00; approved by the Mayor John B. Hynes and 4/5ths of school committee. Teachers College of the City of Boston became the State Teachers College at Boston. The State Board of Education entered into a “Use Permit” with the City of Boston so that GLS could rent the property for classes until June 30, 1953 with the understanding that by 1955, “that some provision would be made for the housing of the school in other school property in the City of Boston”. In January 1955, the School Committee asked the State to extend the “Use Permit” but they refused despite the protests of prominent citizens and vigorous efforts by the alumnae.

On Friday June 24, 1955 the final day of classes was held at the building.

In 1983, The Massachusetts College of Art took over the Girls’ Latin School and Normal School buildings and began a program of renovation and new construction. The original entrance to Girls’ Latin was altered to allow the construction of a new thirteen story Tower Building; however, Girls’ Latin School Building remains intact behind the Tower. The assembly hall was recently renamed The Pozen Center.

4. Codman Square 1955-1981 Talbot Avenue Codman Square, Dorchester

The next home of GLS, the Dorchester High School building in Codman Square, was originally completed in 1901and it had been in use for over five decades. The Codman Square building sat on a tight triangle of land, the apex extending out to the middle of the square at Washington Street; one triangle side being Talbot Avenue and the other, Centre Street. The land was purchased in 1896, but construction did not start for two years due to the difficult shape of the 60,000-square-foot (5,600 m²) site. The first proposed school building was rejected. The approved design was by Hartwell, Richardson & Driver was Renaissance revival in style. The building’s exterior was a distinctive yellow brick called buff brick, accented by limestone lintels and trim. On each of four floors, a wide main corridor ran the length of the building parallel to Talbot Avenue. Two broad sets of ornamental stairs extended from the basement to the fourth floor.

In the basement was a lunch room, 900 lockers and to the rear of the building, a gym. Over the gym on the second floor level was the assembly hall which could seat 1,000. At the front there was a stage and two anti-rooms and at the rear a large balcony. Arched timbers were exposed in the ceiling.

On the first floor was the headmaster’s office, reception office, and several classrooms. The second floor held the library. Both the second and third floor had many classrooms as well as fully equipped laboratories. The fourth floor had two art rooms. There were 58 classrooms total.

Codman Square was closed in 1981 and the school was transferred to Ipswich Street, a former warehouse for the US Postal Service. The Codman Square school sat vacant for a few years. Then in 1986, most of the classrooms in the building were converted into housing by private developer Robert Walsh. The Codman Square Neighborhood Development Corporation completed renovation of the historic Girls’ Latin Academy building in April, 2008. In addition to renovating (and financially re-structuring) the existing 58 housing units, thirty-five new affordable rental units were added in the vacant portions of the school building the gym and the auditorium. This completed the adaptive re-use of this Codman Square landmark. The former Girls’ Latin School and first home of Boston Latin Academy remains one of the three historic buildings in the Codman Square Historic District.

5. 174 Ipswich St 1981-1991

6 205 Townsend St 1991–Present

Notable Alumni[link]

This article's tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on Wikipedia. Specific concerns may be found on the talk page. See Wikipedia's guide to writing better articles for suggestions. (September 2010)

Sarah Ida Shaw (1867–1924) GLS Class of 1885 Founder Delta Delta Delta Sorority; Born in Missouri on September 7, 1867, she moved to Boston at the age of six. One of the first nationally recognized graduates from GLS was Sarah Ida Shaw (1885). Valedictorian of her GLS class, Sarah planned to attend Wellesley College but her mother’s illness and her father’s business travel made her decide to attend Boston University. She commuted by horse-drawn carriage each day from her home in Roxbury and graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1889. All three of the women’s sororities on campus invited her to join, but as a junior, she decided to start a sorority that would “think more of a girl’s inner self and character”. As a result, Delta Delta Delta Sorority was founded. From its alpha chapter at BU, it grew to 131 chapters nationwide. After her graduation, Sarah taught classical languages and German at Lynn High School until her marriage in 1896. She continued her involvement with Tri Delta through 1900, serving as Grand President from 1889 to 1893. She died suddenly in 1924 from a stroke. She was elected to The Fraternity Hall of Fame in 1976.

Abbie Farwell Brown (1871–1927) GLS Class of 1891 founder and first editress The Jabberwock; The Jabberwock became a personification of Abbie F. Brown, and she was affectionately regarded as his “godmother“. Vivacious and witty Brown was born on August 21, 1871 at 41 West Cedar Street on Beacon Hill to Benjamin F. and Clara Brown. She resided her entire life on West Cedar Street. The three-story brick townhouse with recessed door entry still stands today. Abbie’s father was a merchant, born the son of Benjamin and Jane Farwell Brown. He married Clara Neal on October 13, 1870. Brown’s mother Clara was a writer and had published some of her own works; which was no doubt a great inspiration. Brown was valedictorian of her class at the Bowdoin School in 1886; and that year she was accepted to GLS. President of the GLS class of 1891, after graduating she would attend Radcliffe for two years and go on to become a children’s author.

It was a visit in 1899 to Chester Cathedral, England, which inspired her first and most highly regarded children's book, The Book of Saints and Friendly Beasts. When it was published by Houghton and Mifflin in 1900 she remarked, “It is all the Jabberwock’s fault that I wrote any book at all. For in four years’ care of you, I acquired a taste for scribbling, which is rarely cured and which has broken out at last in this awful way.” In 1902, after The Lonesomest Doll (1901), Hall and Locke hired her as editor of their Young Folks Library series. In addition, her poem "On the Trail," set to music by Mabel Daniels, another GLS graduate (1896), became the Girl Scouts' anthem. Abbie Brown succumbed to breast cancer and died on March 4, 1927 at the age of 55. She was buried at Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge. Abbie Brown gave the school one of its most prized possessions; a signed copy of the first set of The Jabberwocks.

Hannah Myrick GLS Class of 1892 First Business Committee The Jabberwock First MD of GLS; Hannah Myrick was the first to graduate from GLS (1892) and go on to become a doctor. She graduated from Smith College (1896) and received her medical degree from Johns Hopkins University (1900). She practiced medicine in Boston for ten years as superintendent of the New England Hospital for Women and Children. Later she was physician at Schraffts Candy Co. After retiring, Myrick was a prize-winning amateur photographer and was credited with developing some of the first X-ray film used at New England Hospital for Women and Children.

Josephine Preston Peabody GLS Class of 1896; Josephine P. Peabody, or Posey as she was known, would remain a lifelong friend of Abbie F. Brown. She was a non-graduate of the class of 1896 and went on to become an internationally recognized American poet and dramatist. On January 3, 1926, the New York Times Book Review summed, “Josephine Peabody, as a girl, had never been robust. Her course at Girls’ Latin School in Boston was curtailed by ill health, and although she entered Radcliffe College she was unable to complete more than two years of work….She was a volcano pent up inside the most fragile bit of Dresden china.”

After Radcliffe College, she was instructor in English Literature at Wellesley College from 1901-1903. In 1906 she married Prof. L. S. Marks from Harvard University. The Stratford-on-Avon prize went to her in 1909 for her drama The Piper, which was produced in England in 1910; and in America at the New Theatre, New York City, in 1911. The Wayfarers, A Book of Verse (1898) contains a poem first printed in the Jabberwock which was she recalled, “actually written in school, on a slip of ‘practice paper’, within a book, within a desk, within a dream.” In the last decade of her life, she struggled against an illness that hardened the arteries leading to her brain, and made her extremely fatigued. She died in December 1922.

Frances Oliver Grant GLS Class of 1913; Frances Oliver Grant was the first black woman ever to achieve Phi Beta Kappa at Radcliffe College. She also was first black to graduate Radcliffe from GLS. Grant graduated form Radcliffe magna cum laude in 1917.

Louise Bogan GLS Class of 1915; Louise Bogan displayed a flair for writing while in high school; she contributed many pieces to the Jabber wock including poetry. One of her poems in the January 1915 Jabberwock was “Voyageur”. Bogan also wrote the class poem of 1915. She went on to become one of the most accomplished poets of her time as well as poetry critic for the New Yorker magazine. She attributes her flair for style to teacher Ms. Caroline Gerrish of GLS. “She taught me that style was the important element, in work of any kind, and that style depended on sincerity and a sense of form, which should grow with the writer. I owe her more than I can say.”

Maribel Vinson Owen GLS Class of 1928 greatest female skater in US history; Maribel Vinson graduated from Girls’ Latin in 1928 and Radcliffe College in 1932 and went on to become the most prolific woman skater in US history. She won the US National Figure Skating Championships every year from 1926 through 1937 with the exception of 1934. This ties her with Michelle Kwan for the most figure skating singles titles ever won by a US woman.

Vinson also won the United States Pairs title five times; with Thornton L. Coolidge to win in 1928 and 1929 and with George E. B. Hill in 1935, 1936, and 1937. At the 1932 Olympic Winter Games held in Lake Placid, she was awarded the bronze medal. (Sonja Henie of Norway won the gold in 1928, 1932 and 1936). While still competing, in 1934, Maribel Vinson became the first woman sportswriter ever to be hired at the New York Times newspaper.

At Radcliffe, Maribel found time to participate in the Harvard Dramatic Club and made her debut in a play called “Close Up”. In the 1940-, she starred in an ice show called “Gay Blades” and consented to an interview by the Jabberwock for its 60th Jubilee. She said, “You may quote me as saying outside of directing and producing this show, the hardest thing I have ever done was get through Latin School on five home lessons a night. What a grind! But its good for you.”

She married Canadian skater Guy Rochon Owen and had two girls, Maribel and Laurence. In 1952, her husband died unexpectedly. Following her retirement from amateur ice skating she earned a living as a coach in the skating rinks of Boston . Maribel Vinson-Owen coached Tenley Albright to five U.S. titles and then to the first Olympic gold medal for an American in Ladies figure skating in 1956.Both of her daughters became competitive skaters. In 1961, 20 yr. old Maribel, a 1957 GLS graduate, won the US Figure Skating Pairs title and 16- yr. old Laurence, who attended Winchester High School won the US Women’s Singles title.

Following their US Championships, Coach Maribel Vinson-Owen’s two daughters were scheduled to compete in the 1961 World Ice Skating Championships in Prague, Czechoslovakia. The American team boarded Sabena Flight 548 at New York City's Idlewild International Airport. On the morning of February 15, 1961 the flight was trying to land for a stopover in Brussels, Belgium when it plunged into a farm in Berg, Belgium taking the lives of all passengers; including 18 members of the American figure skating team and 16 others. Vinson-Owen and both daughters were among the dead. The 1961 World Championships were canceled as a result of this tragedy. Maribel Vinson-Owen and her daughters were buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 1976, Maribel Vinson Owen was named to the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame and was inducted again in 1994 with George E.B. Hill in the Pairs category. The Vinson-Owen School in Winchester, Massachusetts, is named in her honor.

1957 GLS graduate Laurence Owen, who had been Sports Illustrated's cover girl the week she died, would have been favored for gold at the 1964 Games in Innsbruck.

Mary McGrory GLS Class of 1935 Won Pulitzer Prize Mary McGrory won the 1975 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary while a reporter at Washington Star. She graduated from Emanuel College in 1939, started as a secretary at the Boston Herald in 1942. “The more I think about it, the more I think Girls’ Latin, is admiral training for this business. The intensity, the high standards, and keen competition are very much the same.”

Athletics[link]

Currently Latin Academy offers a wide variety of sports. The team mascot is the Jabberwock, but in recent years it has changed to the Dragon.

See also[link]

	Boston portal
	Schools portal

• Boston Latin School
• John D. O'Bryant School of Mathematics & Science
• Boston Schoolyard Initiative

References[link]

External links[link]

• Boston Latin Academy official website
• Girls' Latin School Boston Latin Academy Association
• Boston Public Schools' Profile PDF for Boston Latin Academy
• [1]

Coordinates: 42°18′58″N 71°05′04″W / 42.316147°N 71.084483°W / 42.316147; -71.084483

The Boston Latin School is a public exam school founded on April 23, 1635, in Boston, Massachusetts. It is both the first public school and oldest existing school in the United States.^[2][3][4][5] The Public Latin School was a bastion for educating the sons of the Boston elite, resulting in the school claiming many prominent Bostonians as alumni. Its curriculum follows that of the 18th century Latin-school movement, which holds the classics to be the basis of an educated mind. Four years of Latin are mandatory for all pupils who enter the school in 7th grade, three years for those who enter in 9th. In 2007 the school was named one of the top twenty high schools in the United States by U.S. News & World Report. ^[6][7] As of 2012, the school is listed under the gold medal list, ranking 38 out of the top 100 high schools in the United States (21,000 public high school from 48 states and the District of Columbia were analyzed) by U.S. News & World Report. ^[8] The school was named a 2011 Blue Ribbon School of Excellence, the US Department of Education's highest award.^[9]

History[link]

Plaque on School Street commemorating the site of the first school building. 2008

Hall of the Bedford Street School House. 1844-1881.

The school's first class was in single figures, but it now has 2,400 pupils drawn from all parts of Boston. It has produced four Harvard presidents, four Massachusetts governors, and five signers of the United States Declaration of Independence. Benjamin Franklin^[10] and Louis Farrakhan^[11] are among its well-known dropouts.

The school was modeled after Boston Grammar School in Lincolnshire, UK, from where many of Boston's original settlers derived. Current students assert with pride that Harvard College, founded a year later in 1636, was created for Boston Latin's first graduates. Whether or not that is true, Boston Latin has been a top feeder school for Harvard, and has consistently sent large numbers of students to Harvard, recently averaging about twenty-five students per year. More than 99% of Boston Latin's approximately 300 annual graduates are accepted by at least one four-year college. Latin School admitted only male students and hired only male teachers from its founding in 1635. The school's first female student was not until the nineteenth century. Helen Magill White was the school's first female graduate and first American woman to earn a Doctorate. However, soon after White's graduation in 1877, Girls' Latin School was founded. For nearly a century, all qualified female students would attend the all-girls institution. It was not until 1972 that Boston Latin would admit its first co-educational class.

Female teachers predated female students at Latin. In 1967 the school appointed Marie Frisardi Cleary^[12] and Juanita Ponte^[13] as the first two women in its academic faculty.

Cornelia Kelley, the school's first female Headmaster, served from 1998 to her retirement in 2007,^[14] after which Lynne Mooney Teta was selected to become the school's 28th Headmaster. Mooney Teta is a 1986 graduate of Boston Latin, and was formerly an Assistant Headmaster at the school.^[15]

Location history[link]

Photo	Point	Coordinates (links to map & photo sources)	Notes
	First Boston Latin School House. Circa 1635.	42°22′04″N 71°03′36″W / 42.367800°N 71.059877°W / 42.367800; -71.059877 (First Boston Latin School House. Circa 1635.)	[16][17]
	First School House on South Side of School Street. 1748-1810.
	Second School House on South Side of School Street. 1812-1844.	42°21′28″N 71°03′35″W / 42.357640°N 71.059679°W / 42.357640; -71.059679 (Second School House on South Side of School Street. 1812-1844.)	[18][19]
100px	Bedford Street School House. 1844-1881.	42°21′14″N 71°03′40″W / 42.353840°N 71.061060°W / 42.353840; -71.061060 (Bedford Street School House. 1844-1881.)	[20][21][22]
	School House in Warren Avenue. 1881-1922.	42°20′39″N 71°04′24″W / 42.344178°N 71.073380°W / 42.344178; -71.073380 (School House in Warren Avenue. 1881-1922.)	[23][24]
	School House on Avenue Louis Pasteur. 1922–Present.	42°20′17″N 71°06′07″W / 42.338017°N 71.102016°W / 42.338017; -71.102016 (School House on Avenue Louis Pasteur. 1922-Present.)	[25]

Academics[link]

Boston Latin's motto is Sumus Primi, Latin for we are first. This is a double entendre, referring both to the school's date of founding and its academic stature. Boston Latin has a history of pursuing the same standards as elite New England prep schools while adopting the egalitarian attitude of a public school. Academically, the school regularly outperforms public schools in rich Boston suburbs, particularly as measured by the yearly MCAS assessment required of all Massachusetts public schools. In 2006, Brooklyn Latin School was founded in New York City, explicitly modeled on Boston Latin, borrowing much from its traditions and curriculum.^[26]

Admissions[link]

Admission is determined by a combination of a student's score on the Independent School Entrance Examination (ISEE) and recent grades, and is limited to residents of the city of Boston.^[27] Although Boston Latin runs from the 7th through the 12th grade, it only admits students into the 7th and 9th grades. Consequently the higher grades have fewer students than the lower grades, as a relatively large number of students transfer out. The school has historically been described as having a sink-or-swim environment, but in recent years there have been notable efforts to create a more supportive atmosphere.

Because it is a high-performing and well-regarded school in a city school system that is among the worst in the state, Boston Latin has been at the center of controversy concerning its admissions process. Admissions are very competitive, and it is not uncommon for fewer than 20% of applicants to be admitted. Before the 1997 school year, Boston Latin set aside a 35% quota of places in its incoming class for under-represented minorities. The school was forced to drop this policy after a series of lawsuits involving non-minority girls who were not admitted despite ranking higher than admitted minorities.^[28][29] Boston Latin subsequently defeated a legal effort to do away with its admissions process entirely and conduct admissions by blind lottery. Since 1997, the percentage of under-represented minorities at Boston Latin has fallen from 35% to under 19% in 2005, despite efforts by Boston Latin, the Boston Public Schools, and the Boston Latin School Association to recruit more minority applicants and retain more minority students. Some advocate instituting a quota for the number of students that must be admitted from Boston's public middle schools.

Curriculum[link]

Declamation is the most time-honored of the school's traditions. Pupils in the 7th to 10th grade are required to give an oration in their English class three times during the year. There is also Public Declamation, where pupils from all grades, or classes, are welcomed to try out for the chance to declaim a memorized piece in front of an assembly. During Public Declamation, declaimers are scored on aspects such as "Memorization" "Presentation", and "Voice and Delivery", and those who score well in three of the first four public declamations are given the chance to declaim in front of alumni judges for awards in "Prize Declamation".

Front Entrance of School House on Avenue Louis Pasteur. 2007

In addition to the well-known and time-honored tradition of declamation in English classes, recently the Modern Languages department instituted an annual "World Language Declamation" competition. Once a year, during National Foreign Language Week (usually the first week of March),^[30] students from grades 8 through 12 perform orations in languages other than English. Most students choose to declaim in the modern language they are studying, though some choose Latin, Greek, or their native tongue. Judges are brought in from various institutions around the city, and mark the students in similar categories to those used in Public Declamation. Entrants are categorized by level, rather than language, such that all students declaiming at the first-year level of various languages are competing against each other, all students at the second-year level compete against each other, and so on. Students who regularly perform exceptionally well at World Language Declamation are honored at Prize Night with the Celia Gordon Malkiel Prize.^[31]

In a move that was controversial among some alumni, the school decided in 2001 to decrease the requirement for students' Latin instruction by one year, starting with the class of 2006.^[32] The mandatory minimum period of Latin instruction was decreased for students admitted for 7th grade from five years to four years, and for students admitted for 9th grade from four years to three years. This decision was made by the head of the school's Latin department, in recognition of the fact that the requirement was hampering students' ability to take enough courses in important modern subjects such as Physics, Chemistry, Computer Science and modern languages. However, students still retain the ability to study Latin through their sixth year, and many do so, partly in order to maximize the number of AP courses in which they are enrolled.

In a 1789 codicil to his will, Benjamin Franklin established a legacy to fund the Franklin Medals, which are awarded to the school's top-ranking pupils at graduation. The second most prestigious awards, the Dixwell Prizes, are given to pupils excelling in Latin or Greek.

Publications[link]

There are currently two main publications of the Boston Latin School: The Register is the school's literary magazine, and The Argo the school newspaper. George Santayana founded The Register in 1881 to serve as the school newspaper. Over the years, however, it evolved into a purely literary magazine, publishing prose and poetry written by members of the student body, as well as artwork. There are generally two editors-in-chief, and it is published twice per year. The Argo, the school's newspaper, is far younger, having been founded after it was clear that the Register had become a purely literary magazine. As of the 2006–2007 school year, it is published seven times a year. Both the Register and the Argo are entirely student-produced, and both have won awards from the New England Scholastic Press Association.^[33]

Another Boston Latin publication is "BLSA Bulletin," published by the Boston Latin School Association, whose president is Peter G. Kelly, '83.^[34]

Athletics[link]

Boston Latin's teams are known as the Boston Latin Wolfpack; their colors are purple and white. Boston Latin has played rival Boston English in football every Thanksgiving since 1887,^[35] the oldest continuous high school rivalry in the United States.^[36] Historically, Boston Latin's hockey and volleyball teams, both boys' and girls', have been very good; for the most part, however, titles have been few and far between since the school left the Boston Public Schools league. Boston Latin now competes in the Division I Dual County League against suburban schools with better facilities and greater funding.^{[citation needed]} Since that time, only a few teams, such as girls' soccer, girls' hockey, girls' tennis, girls' crew and boys' hockey have won championships.

Extracurricular activities[link]

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BLS YouthCAN

Started in 2006, BLS YouthCAN is the original Youth Climate Action Network group, and now as over 15 over groups. YouthCAN is, as of 2010, working on funding for a green roof, that will service schools in the area with interactive classrooms. A signature YouthCAN event is the "Climate Change Summit", held in May. So far, YouthCAN has raised thousands upon thousands of dollars towards the green roof. YouthCAN has received attention from the likes of Al Gore, as well as local Boston politicians.

BLSTV

The internal television station of Boston Latin School is BLSTV; it has been broadcasting since 2003. Every day BLSTV broadcasts the daily bulletin to all of BLS. All of the broadcasters are students, in either their junior or senior years, and the crew generally ranges in age from freshman to seniors. BLSTV also appears at most school events, filming and archiving all of their footage.

Boston Latin Theatre Company

Boston Latin School's Theatre Company produces three to four plays per academic year, including a spring musical. Traditionally, the school also showcases a one-act play in the Massachusetts High School Drama Guild Festival. The 2007 entry, Jordan Harrison's Kid Simple: A Radio Play in the Flesh, advanced to the semi-final level of the festival where it won multiple awards for acting, lighting design, and sound design. In 2004, the student director was awarded for Excellence in Directing, for Jon Klein's Dimly Perceived Threats to the System. Other BLS entries in the MHSDG Festival have included Tristine Skyler's The Moonlight Room (2006), Craig Lucas' Reckless (2005), A.R. Gurney's The Dining Room (2003), Jean-Claude van Itallie's T.V. (2002) and Interview (2001), Elaine May's Adaptation (2000), Steve Martin's WASP (1999), Peter Shaffer's Black Comedy (1998), and The Romancers (1997). In Winter 2008, the Boston Latin Theatre Company produced Tilt Angel, which reached the State Finals of the 2008 MHSDG Festival, the first finals appearance since 2004. Tilt Angel won numerous awards for individual and ensemble acting, as well as for sound, makeup, and lighting design. Tilt Angel was also selected by the MHSDG to be one of two Massachusetts representatives at the 2008 New England Drama Festival, the first time BLS has advanced so far. In Spring 2008, the company produced The Secret Garden. In 2009, they produced Dark Play or Stories for Boys, which was their production for the MHSDG. The Boston Latin Theatre Company currently has alumni studying at Harvard College, Emerson College, New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, Northwestern University, Boston College, Boston University, and the University of Southern California's School of Theatre. In addition, Boston Latin School has its own student-created, student-run improvisational theater group, the Yellow Submarine Improv Troupe, known for its practice of letting any student join without an audition.

Junior Classical League

Since 2000, Boston Latin School has been an active participant on the local, state and national levels of the National Junior Classical League, formed in 1936, fostering a tradition of deeper academic study of the classics, along with creative expression through visual and creative arts. Boston Latin School hosts a certamen scrimmage (much like a quiz bowl competition) each year in late November or early December, and sends delegates to the State Convention in April, and often the National Convention, which takes places in July or August. In the past years, Boston Latin School's JCL chapter has grown substantially since its founding; Boston Latin School often contributes dedicated certamen players to represent Massachusetts on a national level in certamen.

Mock Trial

Boston Latin has participated in the Mock Trial program sponsored by the Massachusetts Bar Association since the programs' founding in 1987. The team has since won the State Championship twice: the first in 1987 and then again in 2006. BLS went on to rank 24th in the Nationals at Oklahoma City in 2006. The team receives a mock case each year and prepares drafts of openings, directs, crosses and closings for both prosecution and defense. They then compete at regionals in order to advance to the Championship series. In 2006, the team advanced and won the State Championship.

Musical arts

Boston Latin School also has an extensive music program. Introductory, Junior, and Senior Concert Bands, Seventh Grade Chorus, Eighth Grade Chorus, Repertory Choir, Concert Choir, and String Orchestras are elective classes (although these grades do not contribute to GPA). After-school vocal ensembles include the a cappella Wolftones and Wolfettes, Show Choir, Gospel Choir and Chamber Choir. Instrumental ensembles include Football Pep Band, Big Band, Junior Big Band, Flute Ensemble, and the Honors Orchestra. There are also fully academic music classes (whose grades are factored into the GPA), such as Introduction to Music Theory, and an Advanced Placement Music Theory class.

The Wolftones and Wolfettes are the only completely student-run musical groups at Boston Latin. The two groups annually organize and perform at a concert called STAND in Harmony. All of the proceeds of the concert are donated to STAND, an anti-genocide group at the school.

The Boston Latin School Gospel Choir was a popular extra-curricular ensemble in the 1990s. It was eventually phased out due to lack of leadership and inconsistent student attendance, but was revived during the 2010-2011 school year.

Each year, all of the musical groups display their talents at Boston Latin School's Holiday Concerts and Music Nights. The former is two nights in mid-December and the latter two nights in Spring, where students perform several selections of music that they have been working on for those who wish to attend.

Musical groups from Boston Latin School also perform at the Massachusetts Instrumental & Choral Conductors Association festival in April. In 2006, the Boston Latin School Senior String Orchestra received a gold medal for the second year in a row while the Senior Concert Band and Concert Choir received bronze medals. In 2007, the Senior Strings received a gold medal while the Wind Ensemble received a silver medal. The Boston Latin Big Band has made it to the International Association for Jazz Education State Finals six years in a row and has placed as high as first in the Berklee College of Music High School Jazz Festival. In 2007, the Big Band won a gold medal at the IAJE state finals.

NUTRONS robotics team

Founded in 1998, the NUTRONS FIRST robotics team is a high school robotics team based out of Northeastern University, which competes world wide, designing and building robots over a six week period to compete in a specific task. In 2001 the NUTRONS won the National Championship with students from Boston Latin School. In 2007 the NUTRONS won the Boston Regional Competition and received the Delphi Driving Tomorrow's Technology Award in 2008 and 2009.

Wolfpack Volunteers

Founded in 2004, Wolfpack Volunteers is a student body organization designed to engage Boston Latin School students in volunteer activities. The organization provides student members with volunteer opportunities in and around the greater Boston community, and encourages student members to participate within neighborhood events.

Club leaders sacrifice leisure time to organize members and provide opportunities to earn community service hours in the school. With events such as Alumni Tours and College Fairs, students gain experience in applying their leadership, organization, and communication skills while working as a team. Other opportunities are less formal and provide students with a chance to relax and have fun while earning community service, such as the Run to Remember, Walk for Hunger, and Aids Walk.

The Wolfpack Volunteers were recognized as the winners of the 2009 Nally Award. The school collected over 2,000 pounds of food from their food drive to benefit city residents.^[37]

In popular culture[link]

• In "Six Meetings Before Lunch", a first-season episode of The West Wing, Rob Lowe's character, Sam Seaborn mentioned Boston Latin School in a discussion of public school reform and school vouchers. He said, “Boston Latin, the oldest public school in America, is still the best secondary school in New England.” Mallory O'Brien replies "They all can't be Boston Latin and Bronx Science."
• On January 8, 2002, President George W. Bush visited Boston Latin School after signing the No Child Left Behind Act earlier that day.^[38]
• In Season 1, Episode 12 of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Matthew Perry's character Matt Albie mentioned that his nephew had a 3.8 GPA at Boston Latin.
• In the 2008-2009 school year, former vice president Al Gore visited Boston Latin School and commended the students for their hard work educating the community about making environmentally respectable decisions.

Alumni[link]

Boston Latin has graduated notable Americans in the fields of politics (both local and national), religion, science, journalism, philosophy, and music. Of the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence, five were educated at Latin: Adams, Franklin, Hancock, Hooper, and Paine.^[39] Graduates and students fought in the Revolutionary War, American Civil War, World War I, World War II, and the Vietnam War, and plaques and statues in the school building honor those who died.

Hall of Fame[link]

The Hall of Fame, known casually as "The Wall," refers to the upper frieze in the school's auditorium, where the last names of famous alumni are painted. These names include Adams, Bernstein, Fitzgerald, Franklin, Hancock, Hooper, Kennedy, Mather, Paine, Quincy, Santayana, Winthrop, and many others. The most recent name, Wade H. McCree Jr., was added to the frieze in 1999, and the selection of the name involved a conscious effort to choose a graduate of color.^[40] There are no names of female graduates, mostly because females have attended the school for just 34 years and the honor is only bestowed posthumously. Currently there is only space for one more name, and the Head Master enjoys telling incoming students that if they work hard enough, one of their names might end up on "The Wall" some day. There is also a lower frieze with the names of many other distinguished graduates, and a place on the lower frieze can be awarded while the person is still alive.

Alumni Association (BLSA)[link]

Boston Latin has benefited enormously from the efforts of the Boston Latin School Association (BLSA), a private charity dedicated to fostering involvement by and donations from the school's substantial alumni base. The BLSA recently completed its major Pons Privatus (Private Bridge) fund-raising campaign, which raised nearly $37 million in donations from alumni and an additional $20 million in planned gift intentions. At the time, it was the largest fundraising effort in the history of public secondary education. This endowment is mostly supplementary, on top of the roughly $10 million per year in untaxed operating grants the school receives from the Boston Public Schools, which covers most teacher salaries and maintenance. The school also received a $34.6 million multiyear grant in the late 1990s for a major expansion project.^[41]

See also[link]

	Boston portal
	Schools portal

• Boston Latin Academy
• Roxbury Latin School
• John D. O'Bryant School of Mathematics & Science
• List of the oldest schools in the world

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Boston Latin School

• Boston Latin School official website
• Boston Latin School Association
• Boston Public Schools' Profile PDF for the Boston Latin School
• Boston Public Schools' list of notable graduates of the Boston Latin School
• Boston Latin School Arts Website
• Catalogue of the Boston Public Latin School, Established in 1635: With an Historical Sketch, Henry Fitch Jenks (1886)

Coordinates: 42°20′17″N 71°06′07″W / 42.338017°N 71.102016°W / 42.338017; -71.102016

Boston
—  State Capital  —
City of Boston
Clockwise: Skyline of Back Bay seen from the Charles River, Fenway Park, Christian Science Church, Boston Common and the Downtown Crossing skyline, skyline of the Financial District seen from the Boston Harbor, and Massachusetts State House
Flag Seal
Nickname(s): Beantown,[1] The Hub (of the Universe),[1] The Cradle of Liberty,[2] The Cradle of Modern America,[1] The Athens of America,[2] The Walking City[1]
Motto: Sicut patribus sit Deus nobis (Latin "As God was with our fathers, so may He be with us")
Location in Suffolk County, Massachusetts
Boston Location in the United States
Coordinates: 42°21′28″N 71°03′42″W / 42.35778°N 71.06167°W / 42.35778; -71.06167Coordinates: 42°21′28″N 71°03′42″W / 42.35778°N 71.06167°W / 42.35778; -71.06167
Country	United States
State	Massachusetts
County	Suffolk
Settled	September 17, 1630
Incorporated (city)	March 4, 1822
Government
• Type	Strong mayor – council
• Mayor	Thomas M. Menino (D)
Area[3][4][5]
• State Capital	89.63 sq mi (232.14 km2)
• Land	48.43 sq mi (125.43 km2)
• Water	41.21 sq mi (106.73 km2)
• Urban	1,774 sq mi (4,595 km2)
• Metro	4,511 sq mi (11,683 km2)
• CSA	10,644 sq mi (27,568 km2)
Elevation	141 ft (43 m)
Population [6][7][8][9]
• State Capital	617,594 ('10 census)
• Density	12,752/sq mi (4,924/km2)
• Urban	4,032,484 ('00 census)
• Metro	4,522,858 ('08 est.)
• CSA	7,609,358 ('09 est.)
• Demonym	Bostonian
Time zone	EST (UTC-5)
• Summer (DST)	EDT (UTC-4)
ZIP code(s)	53 total ZIP codes:[10] 02108–02137, 02163, 02196, 02199, 02201, 02203, 02204, 02205, 02206, 02210, 02211, 02212, 02215, 02217, 02222, 02228, 02241, 02266, 02283, 02284, 02293, 02295, 02297, 02298
Area code(s)	617 and 857
FIPS code	25-07000
GNIS feature ID	0617565
Website	www.cityofboston.gov

Boston (pronounced /ˈbɒstən/ or locally /ˈbɔstən/ ( listen)) is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts,^[11] and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region.^[12] The city proper, covering only 48.43 square miles, had a population of 617,594 according to the 2010 U.S. Census.^[6] Boston is also the anchor of a substantially larger metropolitan area called Greater Boston, home to 4.5 million people and the tenth-largest metropolitan area in the country.^[8] Greater Boston as a commuting region^[13] is home to 7.6 million people, making it the fifth-largest Combined Statistical Area in the United States.^[9][14]

In 1630, Puritan colonists from England founded the city on the Shawmut Peninsula.^[15] During the late 18th century, Boston was the location of several major events during the American Revolution, including the Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party. Several early battles of the American Revolution, such as the Battle of Bunker Hill and the Siege of Boston, occurred within the city and surrounding areas. Through land reclamation and municipal annexation, Boston has expanded beyond the peninsula. After American independence was attained Boston became a major shipping port and manufacturing center,^[15] and its rich history now helps attract many tourists, with Faneuil Hall alone attracting over 20 million every year.^[16] The city was the site of several firsts, including America's first public school, Boston Latin School (1635),^[17] and the first subway system in the United States (1897).^[18]

With many colleges and universities within the city and surrounding area, Boston is an international center of higher education and a center for medicine.^[19] The city's economic base includes research, manufacturing, finance, and biotechnology.^[20] As a result, the city is a leading finance center, ranking 12th in the Z/Yen top 20 Global Financial Centers.^[21] The city was also ranked number one for innovation, both globally and in North America,^[22] for a variety of reasons.^[23][24] Boston has one of the highest costs of living in the United States,^[25] though it remains high on world livability rankings, ranking third in the US and 36th globally.^[26]

History[link]

Boston in 1772, compared with Boston in 1880

Boston was founded on September 17, 1630, by Puritan colonists from England.^[15] The Puritans of the Massachusetts Bay Colony are sometimes confused with the Pilgrims, who founded Plymouth Colony ten years earlier in what is today Bristol County, Plymouth County, and Barnstable County, Massachusetts. The two groups, which differed in religious practice, are historically distinct. The separate colonies were not united until the formation of the Province of Massachusetts Bay in 1691.

The Shawmut Peninsula was connected to the mainland by a narrow isthmus and was surrounded by the waters of Massachusetts Bay and the Back Bay, an estuary of the Charles River. Several prehistoric Native American archaeological sites that were excavated in the city have shown that the peninsula was inhabited as early as 5000 BC.^[27] Boston's early European settlers first called the area Trimountaine, but later renamed the town after Boston in Lincolnshire, England, from which several prominent colonists had emigrated. Massachusetts Bay Colony's original governor, John Winthrop, gave a famous sermon entitled "A Model of Christian Charity", popularly known as the "City on a Hill" sermon, which espoused the idea that Boston had a special covenant with God. (Winthrop also led the signing of the Cambridge Agreement, which is regarded as a key founding document of the city.) Puritan ethics molded a stable and well-structured society in Boston. For example, shortly after Boston's settlement, Puritans founded America's first public school, Boston Latin School (1635),^[17] and America's oldest school in continuous existence, Roxbury Latin School (1645). Over the next 130 years, Boston participated in four French and Indian Wars, until the British defeated the French and their native allies in North America. Boston was the largest town in British North America until Philadelphia grew larger in the mid 18th century.^[28]

Map showing a British tactical evaluation of Boston in 1775

In the 1770s, British attempts to exert more-stringent control on the thirteen colonies—primarily via taxation—led to the American Revolution.^[15] The Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party, and several early battles—including the Battle of Lexington and Concord, the Battle of Bunker Hill, and the Siege of Boston—occurred in or near the city. During this period, Paul Revere made his famous midnight ride. After the Revolution, Boston had become one of the world's wealthiest international trading ports because of the city's consolidated seafaring tradition. Exports included rum, fish, salt, and tobacco.^[29] During this era, descendants of old Boston families were regarded as the nation's social and cultural elites; they were later dubbed the Boston Brahmins.^[30]

The Embargo Act of 1807, adopted during the Napoleonic Wars, and the War of 1812 significantly curtailed Boston's harbor activity. Although foreign trade returned after these hostilities, Boston's merchants had found alternatives for their capital investments in the interim. Manufacturing became an important component of the city's economy, and by the mid-19th century, the city's industrial manufacturing overtook international trade in economic importance. Until the early 20th century, Boston remained one of the nation's largest manufacturing centers and was notable for its garment production and leather-goods industries.^[16] A network of small rivers bordering the city and connecting it to the surrounding region made for easy shipment of goods and led to a proliferation of mills and factories. Later, a dense network of railroads facilitated the region's industry and commerce. From the mid-19th to late 19th century, Boston flourished culturally. It became renowned for its rarefied literary culture and lavish artistic patronage.^[31][32]

View of Boston from Dorchester Heights, 1841

Boston also became a center of the abolitionist movement.^[33] The city reacted strongly to the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850,^[34] which contributed to President Franklin Pierce's attempt to make an example of Boston after the Burns Fugitive Slave Case.^[35][36]

Scollay Square in the 1880s

In 1822,^[37] the citizens of Boston voted to change the official name from "the Town of Boston" to "the City of Boston", and on March 4, 1822, the people of Boston accepted the charter incorporating the City.^[38] At the time Boston was chartered as a city, the population was about 46,226, while the area of the city was only 4.7 square miles (12 km²).^[38] In the 1820s, Boston's population began to swell, and the city's ethnic composition changed dramatically with the first wave of European immigrants. Irish immigrants dominated the first wave of newcomers during this period, especially following the Irish potato famine. By 1850, about 35,000 Irish lived in Boston.^[39] In the latter half of the 19th century, the city saw increasing numbers of Irish, Germans, Lebanese, Syrians,^[40] French Canadians, and Russian and Polish Jews settle in the city. By the end of the 19th century, Boston's core neighborhoods had become enclaves of ethnically distinct immigrants—Italians inhabited the North End, Irish dominated South Boston and Charlestown, and Russian Jews lived in the West End. Irish and Italian immigrants brought with them Roman Catholicism. Currently, Catholics make up Boston's largest religious community,^[41] and since the early 20th century, the Irish have played a major role in Boston politics—prominent figures include the Kennedys, Tip O'Neill, and John F. Fitzgerald.^[30]

Haymarket Square, 1909

Between 1631 and 1890, the city tripled its physical size by land reclamation—by filling in marshes, mud flats, and gaps between wharves along the waterfront^[42] —a process that Walter Muir Whitehill called "cutting down the hills to fill the coves". The largest reclamation efforts took place during the 19th century. Beginning in 1807, the crown of Beacon Hill was used to fill in a 50-acre (20 ha) mill pond that later became the Haymarket Square area. The present-day State House sits atop this lowered Beacon Hill. Reclamation projects in the middle of the century created significant parts of the South End, the West End, the Financial District, and Chinatown. After The Great Boston Fire of 1872, workers used building rubble as landfill along the downtown waterfront. During the mid-to-late 19th century, workers filled almost 600 acres (2.4 km²) of brackish Charles River marshlands west of Boston Common with gravel brought by rail from the hills of Needham Heights. Also, the city annexed the adjacent towns of South Boston (1804), East Boston (1836), Roxbury (1868), Dorchester (including present day Mattapan and a portion of South Boston) (1870), Brighton (including present day Allston) (1874), West Roxbury (including present day Jamaica Plain and Roslindale) (1874), Charlestown (1874), and Hyde Park (1912).^[43][44] Other proposals, for the annexation of Brookline, Cambridge,^[45] and Chelsea,^[46][47] have been unsuccessful.

On January 15, 1919, in the North End neighborhood, a large molasses storage tank burst, and a wave of molasses rushed through the streets at an estimated 35 mph (56 km/h), killing 21 and injuring 150. The event has entered local folklore, known as The Boston Molasses Disaster.^[48]

By the early and mid-20th century, the city was in decline as factories became old and obsolete, and businesses moved out of the region for cheaper labor elsewhere.^[15] Boston responded by initiating various urban renewal projects under the direction of the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA), which was established in 1957. In 1958, BRA initiated a project to improve the historic West End neighborhood. Extensive demolition was met with vociferous public opposition.^[49] BRA subsequently reevaluated its approach to urban renewal in its future projects, including the construction of Government Center. In 1965, the first Community Health Center in the United States opened, the Columbia Point Health Center, in the Dorchester neighborhood. It mostly served the massive Columbia Point public housing complex adjoining it, which was built in 1953. The health center is still in operation and was rededicated in 1990 as the Geiger-Gibson Community Health Center.^[50]

The John F. Kennedy Library, located on the Columbia Point peninsula, 2007

By the 1970s, the city's economy boomed after 30 years of economic downturn. A large number of high rises were constructed in the Financial District and in Boston's Back Bay during this time period. This boom continued into the mid-1980s and later began again. Boston now has the second largest skyline in the Northeast (after New York) in terms of the number of buildings reaching a height of over 500 feet (150 m). Hospitals such as Massachusetts General Hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and Brigham and Women's Hospital lead the nation in medical innovation and patient care. Schools such as Boston University, the Harvard Medical School, Northeastern University, Wentworth Institute of Technology and Boston Conservatory attract students to the area. Nevertheless, the city experienced conflict starting in 1974 over desegregation busing, which resulted in unrest and violence around public schools throughout the mid-1970s. In 1984, the City of Boston gave control of the Columbia Point public housing complex to a private developer, who redeveloped and revitalized the property from its rundown and dangerous state into an attractive residential mixed-income community called Harbor Point Apartments, which opened in 1988 and was completed by 1990. It was the first federal housing project to be converted to private, mixed-income housing in the United States, and served as a model for the federal HUD HOPE VI public housing revitalization program that began in 1992.^[51]

The North End has been experiencing gentrification since the completion of the Big Dig in the early 2000s (decade), which moved the elevated Central Artery freeway mostly into tunnels. This has also been changing the traditional Italian American culture of the area.^[52]

In the early 21st century, the city has become an intellectual, technological, and political center. It has, however, experienced a loss of regional institutions,^[53] which included the acquisition of The Boston Globe by The New York Times, and the loss to mergers and acquisitions of local financial institutions such as FleetBoston Financial, which was acquired by Charlotte-based Bank of America in 2004. Boston-based department stores Jordan Marsh and Filene's have both been merged into the New York–based Macy's. Boston has also experienced gentrification in the latter half of the 20th century,^[54] with housing prices increasing sharply since the 1990s.^[25] Living expenses have risen, and Boston has one of the highest costs of living in the United States,^[55] and was ranked the 99th most expensive major city in the world in a 2008 survey of 143 cities.^[56] Despite cost of living issues, Boston ranks high on livability ratings, ranking 36th worldwide in quality of living in 2011 in a survey of 221 major cities.^[57]

Geography[link]

Simulated-color satellite image of the Boston area taken on NASA's Landsat 3

Owing to its early founding, Boston is very compact. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 89.6 square miles (232.1 km²)—48.4 square miles (125.4 km²) (54.0%) of land and 41.2 square miles (106.7 km²) (46.0%) of water. Boston is the country's third most densely populated city that is not a part of a larger city's metropolitan area.^[58] This is largely attributable to the rarity of annexation by New England towns. Boston is surrounded by the "Greater Boston" region and is bordered by the cities and towns of Winthrop, Revere, Chelsea, Everett, Somerville, Cambridge, Watertown, Newton, Brookline, Needham, Dedham, Canton, Milton, and Quincy. The Charles River separates Boston proper from Cambridge, Watertown, and the neighborhood of Charlestown. To the east lies Boston Harbor and the Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area (BHINRA). This includes part of the city's territory, specifically Calf Island, Gallops Island, Great Brewster Island, Green Island, Little Brewster Island, Little Calf Island, Long Island, Lovells Island, Middle Brewster Island, Nixes Mate, Outer Brewster Island, Rainsford Island, Shag Rocks, Spectacle Island, The Graves, and Thompson Island. The Neponset River forms the boundary between Boston's southern neighborhoods and the city of Quincy and the town of Milton.^[59] The Mystic River separates Charlestown from Chelsea and Everett, and Chelsea Creek and Boston Harbor separate East Boston from Boston proper.^[60] Boston's official elevation, as measured at Logan International Airport, is 19 ft (5.8 m) above sea level.^[61] The highest point in Boston is Bellevue Hill at 330 ft (101 m) above sea level, and the lowest point is at sea level.^[62] Boston is the only state capital in the contiguous United States with an ocean coastline.

The headquarters of the Church of Christ, Scientist in the Back Bay is dominated by a reflecting pool. The tall buildings in the background are the Prudential Tower and 111 Huntington Avenue.

Much of the Back Bay and South End neighborhoods are built on reclaimed land—all of the earth from two of Boston's three original hills, the "Trimountain", was used as landfill material. Pemberton Hill, which would become Pemberton Square in the Government Center neighborhood, and Mount Vernon, were leveled completely. Only Beacon Hill—the smallest of the three original hills—remains partially intact; only half of its height was cut down for landfill. Tremont Street is named after the three hills. The downtown area and immediate surroundings consist mostly of low-rise brick or stone buildings, with many older buildings in the Federal style. Several of these buildings mix in with modern high-rises, notably in the Financial District, Government Center, the South Boston waterfront, and Back Bay, which includes many prominent landmarks such as the Boston Public Library, Christian Science Center, Copley Square, Newbury Street, and New England's two tallest buildings—the John Hancock Tower and the Prudential Center.^[63]

The iconic Boston brownstones that dominate the Back Bay area

Copley Square

Near the John Hancock Tower is the old John Hancock Building with its prominent weather forecast beacon—the color of the illuminated light gives an indication of weather to come: "steady blue, clear view; flashing blue, clouds are due; steady red, rain ahead; flashing red, snow instead". (In the summer, flashing red indicates instead that a Red Sox game has been rained out.) Smaller commercial areas are interspersed among single-family homes and wooden/brick multi-family row houses. Currently, the South End Historic District remains the largest surviving contiguous Victorian-era neighborhood in the U.S.^[64] Along with downtown, the geography of South Boston was particularly impacted by the Central Artery/Tunnel (CA/T) Project (or the "Big Dig"). The unstable reclaimed land in South Boston posed special problems for the project's tunnels. In the downtown area, the CA/T Project allowed for the removal of the unsightly elevated Central Artery and the incorporation of new green spaces and open areas.

Boston Common seen from the Prudential Skywalk Observatory, an observation deck on the 50th floor of the Prudential Tower^[65]

Boston Common, located near the Financial District and Beacon Hill, is the oldest public park in the United States.^[66] Along with the adjacent Boston Public Garden, it is part of the Emerald Necklace, a string of parks designed by Frederick Law Olmsted to encircle the city. Jamaica Pond, part of the Emerald Necklace, is the largest body of freshwater in the city. Franklin Park, which is also part of the Emerald Necklace, is the city's largest park and houses the Franklin Park Zoo.^[67] Another major park is the Esplanade, located along the banks of the Charles River. The Hatch Shell, an outdoor concert venue, is located adjacent to the Charles River Esplanade. Other parks are scattered throughout the city, with the major parks and beaches located near Castle Island (not part of the BHINRA, and now connected to the mainland); in Charlestown; and along the Dorchester, South Boston, and East Boston shorelines.

Neighborhoods[link]

Boston is sometimes called a "city of neighborhoods" because of the profusion of diverse subsections. There are 21 official neighborhoods in Boston used by the city.^[68] These neighborhoods include: Allston/Brighton, Back Bay, Bay Village, Beacon Hill, Charlestown, Chinatown/Leather District, Dorchester, Downtown/Financial District, East Boston, Fenway/Kenmore, Hyde Park, Jamaica Plain, Mattapan, Mission Hill, North End, Roslindale, Roxbury, South Boston, South End, West End, and West Roxbury.

Boston skyline from the north side of the Charles River

Boston as seen from the 26th floor of Student Village II at Boston University

Climate[link]

Boston has a climate that is continental in nature but with maritime influences owing to its coastal location, a phenomenon common to coastal southern New England. The climate is either classified as a humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa), using the −3 °C (26.6 °F) isotherm of the original Köppen scheme, or a humid continental climate (Köppen 'Dfa), using the 0 °C (32 °F) isotherm preferred by some climatologists.

Summers are typically warm, rainy, and humid, while winters are cold, windy, and snowy. Spring and fall are usually mild, but conditions are widely varied, depending on wind direction and jet stream positioning. Prevailing wind patterns that blow offshore affect Boston, minimizing the influence of the Atlantic Ocean.

Boston's skyline in the background, with fall foliage in the foreground

The hottest month is July, with a mean temperature of 73.9 °F (23.3 °C). The coldest month is January, with a mean of 29.3 °F (−1.5 °C). Periods exceeding 90 °F (32 °C) in summer and below 10 °F (−12 °C) in winter are not uncommon but rarely extended, with about 13 days per year seeing the former extreme,^[69] and the most recent subzero reading occurring on January 24, 2011.^[70] Extremes have ranged from −18 to 104 °F (-28 to 40 °C), recorded on February 9, 1934 and July 4, 1911, respectively.^[70]

Boston's coastal location on the North Atlantic, although it moderates temperatures, also makes the city very prone to Nor'easter weather systems that can produce much snow and rain.^[71] The city averages 42.5 inches (1,080 mm) of precipitation a year, with 41.8 inches (106 cm) of snowfall a year. Snowfall increases dramatically as one goes inland away from the city (especially north and west of the city)—away from the warming influence of the ocean.^[72] Most snowfall occurs from December through March. There is usually little or no snow in April and November, and snow is rare in May and October.^[73][74]

Fog is prevalent, particularly in spring and early summer, and the occasional tropical storm or hurricane can threaten the region, especially in early autumn. Due to its situation along the North Atlantic, the city is often subjected to sea breezes, especially in the late spring, when water temperatures are still quite cold and temperatures at the coast can be more than 20 °F (11 °C) colder than a few miles inland, sometimes dropping by that amount near midday.^[75][76] From May to September, the city experiences thunderstorms that are occasionally severe; large hail, damaging winds and heavy downpours accompany such severe events. Although downtown Boston has never been struck by a violent tornado, the city itself has seen its fair share of tornado warnings, but damaging storms are more common to areas north, west, and northwest of the city.

Demographics[link]

Per capita income in the Greater Boston area, by U.S. Census block group, 2000. The dashed line shows the boundary of the City of Boston.

According to the 2000 United States Census,^[90] there were 589,141 people, 239,528 households, and 115,212 families residing in the city. When including the Greater Boston region, rather than just the city itself, the total is approximately 4.5 million. Boston's population density was 12,166 people per square mile (4,697/km²). There were 251,935 housing units at an average density of 5,203 per square mile (2,009/km²). The 2010 U.S. Census population count for the city was 617,594,^[6] a 4.8% increase over 2000. During weekdays, the population of Boston can grow during the daytime to over 1.2 million, and can reach as many as 2 million during special events. This fluctuation of people is caused by hundreds of thousands of suburban residents who travel to the city for work, education, health care, and special events.^[91]

In the city, the population was 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 were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females, there were 92.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.2 males.^[92] There were 239,528 households, of which 22.7% had children under the age of 18 living in them, 27.4% were married couples living together, 16.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 51.9% were non-families. 37.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.31 and the average family size was 3.17.^[92]

The median income for a household in the city was $39,629, and the median income for a family was $44,151. Males had a median income of $37,435 versus $32,421 for females. The per capita income for the city was $23,353. 19.5% of the population and 15.3% of families are below the poverty line. Of the total population, 25.6% of those under the age of 18 and 18.2% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.^[93]

In 1950, whites represented 94.7% of Boston's population.^[94] From the 1950s to the end of the 20th century, the proportion of non-Hispanic whites in the city declined; in 2000, non-Hispanic whites made up 49.5% of the city's population, making the city majority-minority for the first time. However, in recent years the city has experienced significant gentrification, in which affluent whites have moved into formerly non-white areas. Meanwhile, the city's black population has decreased. In 2006, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that non-Hispanic whites again formed a slight majority. But as of 2010, in part due to the housing crash, as well as increased efforts to make more affordable housing more available the minority population has rebounded. This may also have to do with an increased Latino population and more clarity surrounding U.S. Census statistics, which indicate a Non-Hispanic White population of 47 percent (some reports give slightly lower figures).^[95][96][97]

According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the racial composition of Boston was as follows:^[98]

• White: 53.9% (Non-Hispanic Whites: 47.0%)
• Black or African American: 22.4%
• Native American: 0.2%
• Asian: 8.9%
• Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander: 0.0%
• Some other race: 1.6%
• Two or more races: 2.4%
• Hispanic or Latino (of any race): 17.5%

People of Irish descent form the largest single ethnic group in the city, making up 15.8% of the population, followed by Italians, accounting for 8.3% of the population. People of West Indian ancestry are another sizable group, at 6.4%,^[99] about half of whom are of Haitian ancestry. Some neighborhoods, such as Dorchester, have received an influx of people of Vietnamese ancestry in recent decades. Neighborhoods such as Jamaica Plain and Roslindale have experienced a growing number of Dominican Americans. The city and greater area also has a large immigration population of South Asians, including the tenth-largest Indian community in the country, with an estimated 62,598 Indians.^[100]

The city also has a sizable Jewish population with an estimated 25,000 Jews within the city and 227,000 within the Boston metro area; the number of congregations in Boston is estimated at 22.^[101][102] The adjacent communities of Brookline and Newton are both approximately one-third Jewish.^[101]

Accent[link]

The "Boston accent" is widely parodied in the U.S. and the Kennedy family is often associated with it, though the Kennedys' speech is generally considered more an idiosyncratic mix of various accents such as Boston Brahman.^{[103][104][105]} It is non-rhotic (i.e., drops the "r" sound at the end of syllables unless the next syllable starts with a vowel) and traditionally uses a "broad a" in certain words, so "bath" can sound like "bahth".^[106] Boston English has many dialect words, such as "frappe", meaning "milkshake made with ice cream" (as opposed to other milkshakes).^[107] The accent originated in the non-rhotic speech of 17th century East Anglia and Lincolnshire.^[108]

Crime[link]

A Boston Police cruiser on Beacon Street

The city has seen a great reduction in violent crime since the early 1990s. Boston's low crime rate over the past decade or so has been credited to the Boston Police Department's collaboration with neighborhood groups and church parishes to prevent youths from joining gangs, as well as involvement from the United States Attorney and District Attorney's offices. This helped lead in part to what has been touted as the "Boston Miracle". Murders in the city dropped from 152 in 1990 (for a murder rate of 26.5 per 100,000 people) to just 31—not one of them a juvenile—in 1999 (for a murder rate of 5.26 per 100,000).^[109]

In the 2000s (decade), however, the annual murder count has fluctuated by as much as 50% compared with the year before, with 60 murders in 2002, followed by just 39 in 2003, 64 in 2004, and 75 in 2005. Although the figures are nowhere near the high-water mark set in 1990, the aberrations in the murder rate have been unsettling for many Bostonians and have prompted discussion over whether the Boston Police Department should reevaluate its approach to fighting crime.^{[109][110][111]}

Economy[link]

Distribution of the Boston metropolitan NECTA labor force, 2004 annual averages^[112]

Encompassing $363 billion, the Greater Boston metropolitan area has the sixth-largest economy in the country and 12th-largest in the world.^[113]

Boston's colleges and universities have a significant effect on the regional economy, with students contributing an estimated $4.8 billion annually to the city's economy.^[114] Boston's schools are major employers and attract industries to the city and surrounding region. Boston is home to a number of technology companies and is a hub for biotechnology, with the Milken Institute rating Boston as the top life sciences cluster in the country.^[115] Boston also receives the highest absolute amount of annual funding from the National Institutes of Health of all cities in the United States.^[116]

Tourism comprises a large part of Boston's economy. In 2004, tourists spent $7.9 billion and made the city one of the ten-most-popular tourist locations in the country.^[16] Because of Boston's status as a state capital and the regional home of federal agencies, law and government are another major component of the city's economy.^[16] The city is also a major seaport along the United States' East Coast and is also the oldest continuously operated industrial and fishing port in the Western Hemisphere.^[117]

Some of the other important industries are financial services, especially mutual funds and insurance.^[16] Boston-based Fidelity Investments helped popularize the mutual fund in the 1980s and has made Boston one of the top financial cities in the United States. The city is home to the regional headquarters of Bank of America and Sovereign Bank, and it is a center for venture capital firms. State Street Corporation, which specializes in asset management and custody services, is based in the city. A 2008 study ranked Boston among the top 10 cities in the world for a career in finance.^[118] Boston is a printing and publishing center — Houghton Mifflin is headquartered within the city, along with Bedford-St. Martin's Press, Beacon Press, and Little, Brown and Company. Pearson PLC publishing units also employ several hundred people in Boston. The city is home to three major convention centers—the Hynes Convention Center in the Back Bay, and the Seaport World Trade Center and Boston Convention and Exhibition Center on the South Boston waterfront.

Some of the major companies headquartered within the city are the Liberty Mutual insurance company, Gillette (now owned by Procter & Gamble), and New Balance. Boston is also home to management consulting firms The Boston Consulting Group and Bain & Company, as well as the private equity group Bain Capital.^[119] Other major companies are located outside the city, especially along Route 128,^[120] which serves as the center of the region's high-tech industry. In 2006, Boston and its metropolitan area ranked as the fourth-largest cybercity in the United States with 191,700 high-tech jobs. Only NYC Metro, DC Metro, and Silicon Valley have larger high-tech sectors.^[121]

Boston is classified as an "incipient global city" by a 2004 study group at Loughborough University in England.^[122] Classified as an Alpha-global city by GaWC studies, comparable to Vienna, Dublin, or Istanbul, Boston is placed among the top 30 cities in the world.^{[citation needed]}

Culture[link]

The Old State House was the site of the Boston Massacre.

Symphony Hall, home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Boston Pops Orchestra

Boston shares many cultural roots with greater New England, including a dialect of the non-rhotic Eastern New England accent known as Boston English, and a regional cuisine with a large emphasis on seafood, salt, and dairy products. Irish Americans are a major influence on Boston's politics and religious institutions. Boston also has its own collection of neologisms known as Boston slang.^[123]

Faneuil Hall, a well-known stop on the Freedom Trail, sometimes called "the Cradle of Liberty" because of its role in the American Revolution^[124]

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

The city has a number of ornate theatres, including the Cutler Majestic Theatre, Boston Opera House, Citi Performing Arts Center, the Colonial Theater, and the Orpheum Theatre. Renowned performing-arts organizations include the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Boston Ballet, Boston Early Music Festival, Boston Lyric Opera Company, OperaBoston, and the Handel and Haydn Society (one of the oldest choral companies in the United States).^[125] The city is also a major center for contemporary classical music, with a number of performing groups, some of which are associated with the city's conservatories and universities. There are also many major annual events such as First Night, which occurs on New Year's Eve, the annual Boston Arts Festival at Christopher Columbus Waterfront Park, Italian summer feasts in the North End honoring Catholic saints, and several events during the Fourth of July period. These events include the week-long Harborfest festivities^[126] and a Boston Pops concert accompanied by fireworks on the banks of the Charles River.^[127]

Because of the city's prominent role in the American Revolution, several historic sites relating to that period are preserved as part of the Boston National Historical Park. Many are found along the Freedom Trail, which is marked by a red line of bricks embedded in the ground. The city is also home to several prominent art museums, including the Museum of Fine Arts and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. In December 2006, the Institute of Contemporary Art moved from its Back Bay location to a new contemporary building designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro located in the Seaport District. The University of Massachusetts campus at Columbia Point houses the John F. Kennedy Library. The Boston Athenaeum (one of the oldest independent libraries in the United States),^[128] Boston Children's Museum, Bull & Finch Pub (whose building is known from the television show Cheers), Museum of Science, and the New England Aquarium are within the city.

Boston is also one of the birthplaces of the hardcore punk genre of music. Boston musicians have contributed significantly to this music scene over the years (see also Boston hardcore). Boston neighborhoods were home to one of the leading local third wave ska and ska punk scenes in the 1990s, led by bands such as The Mighty Mighty Bosstones and The Allstonians. The 1980s' hardcore punk-rock compilation This Is Boston, Not L.A. highlights some of the bands that built the genre. Several nightclubs, such as The Channel, Bunnratty's in Allston, and The Rathskeller, were renowned for showcasing both local punk-rock bands and those from farther afield. All of these clubs are now closed. Many were razed or converted during recent gentrification.^[129]

Boston has been a noted religious center from its earliest days. The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston serves nearly 300 parishes and is based in the Cathedral of the Holy Cross (1875) in the South End, while the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts, with the Cathedral Church of St. Paul (1819) as its episcopal seat, serves just under 200 congregations. Two Protestant faiths are headquartered in Boston: Unitarian Universalism, with its headquarters on Beacon Hill, and the Christian Scientists, headquartered in Back Bay at the Mother Church (1894). The oldest church in Boston is King's Chapel, the city's first Anglican church, founded in 1686 and converted to Unitarianism in 1785. Other notable churches include Christ Church (better known as Old North Church, 1723), the oldest church building in the city, Trinity Church (1733), Park Street Church (1809), First Church in Boston (congregation founded 1630, building raised 1868), Old South Church (1874), and Basilica and Shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Help on Mission Hill (1878).