Public Park, 1634
Boston Common was America's first public park. The Common and Public Garden span about 75 acres of greenery in the heart of Boston's densely packed downtown core. Shakespeare in the Park may not have been an option in years past, but even our colonial settlers could appreciate the great outdoors.
House of Prostitution, 1672
Long before Heidi Fleiss (left) led her Los Angeles brothel, there was madam Alice Thomas of Boston, who was America's first known "lady of dubious virtue" and proprietor of a brothel.
Newspaper, 1690
The nation's first newspaper, entitled Publick Occurrences, Both Foreign and Domestik, didn't exactly resemble The New York Times or The Boston Globe. It was more like a gossip magazine, reporting hearsay around town and from the old country.
(Massachusetts Historical Society)
Lighthouse, 1716
Boston Light on Little Brewster Island in Boston Harbor was the colonies' first lighthouse. Though it was destroyed in the Revolutionary War, it was rebuilt in 1783 and still stands today.
Novel, 1789
"The Power of Sympathy," written by William Hill Brown, is considered the first American novel. A tragic tale of incestuous love in Boston, its popularity began a stream of sentimental novels to follow.
Export of ice, 1806
In sunnier climates than ours, ice was a luxury that even the wealthiest sultan could not obtain, let alone ordinary citizens. That is, until the Boston brothers William and Frederic Tudor came up with the idea of packing, preserving, and shipping frozen water from local ponds to island-dwellers.
Library, 1848
Boston Public Library was established in 1848 by the General Court of Massachusetts as the first large, free municipal library in the United States. The present Copley Square location has been home to the library since 1895, when the original quarters were considered too small. Architect Charles Follen McKim referred to the grand edifice as a "palace for the people."
Designated dog breed, 1860-1870
The Boston terrier came into existence because of those who served Boston's elite. Employees who had access to their employer's pure-bred dogs would borrow the dogs, breed them with other dogs, and sell the puppies for a profit. By 1890, the breeding had yielded a new breed of canine, one that was a combination of docile and rambunctious -- the Boston terrier.
Banana shipment, 1871
Lorenzo Dow Baker, a Cape Cod sea captain, landed in Boston from Jamaica with a shipment of about 400 bunches of the then-exotic skinned fruit. Bananas proved immediately popular, earning Baker the nickname "Banana King" and leading Baker to found the United Fruit Company.
Organ transplant, 1954
Back in the 1950s, the idea that an organ could be transplanted from one human being to another was appealing, yet frightening since many patients would survive only a few days before their new organs failed. Fear diminished when the first successful organ transplant (in this case, kidney) was performed on Dec. 23, 1954, by Boston’s Dr. Joseph Murray (left) who later won a Nobel prize for his work.
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