Massachusetts Trivia & Tidbits - Page 15

Looking for Massachusetts trivia? Try our list Massachusetts little know facts, tidbits and trivia.

The first abolitionist newspaper, The Liberator, was published in Boston by William Lloyd Garrison in 1831. Garrison’s first-issue manifesto proclaimed: “I am in earnest—I will not equivocate—I will not excuse—I will not retreat a single inch—and I will be heard.”

first appeared: 11/18/2001

Edward W. Brook, Massachusetts state attorney general from 1963-1967, became the first African-American elected to the U.S. Senate by popular vote.

first appeared: 11/11/2001

The first American public secondary school, Boston Latin Grammar School, was founded in Boston in 1635.

first appeared: 11/4/2001

Massachusetts has more than 1,100 lakes and ponds. The largest of these, Quabbin Reservoir (24,704 acres), is manmade and provides metropolitan Boston with water.

first appeared: 10/28/2001

The first person to die for the cause of American independence was a runaway slave, Crispus Attucks, who fell on the Boston Common in the “Boston Massacre” of 1770.

first appeared: 10/21/2001

The first American ironworks were established in Saugus (pop. 26,078) in 1650.

first appeared: 10/14/2001

A sculpture of a cod hangs in the state capital as a symbol of the commonwealth’s economic beginnings. The fishing industry—and particularly cod—provided Puritans with food, fertilizer, and revenue for trade.

first appeared: 10/7/2001

In 1961, the first nuclear-powered surface vessel, USS Long Beach, a guided missile cruiser, was launched from the Quincy shipyards in 1961.

first appeared: 9/30/2001

In 1875, the first American Christmas card was printed by Louis Prang in Boston.

first appeared: 9/23/2001

The wild turkey was designated the state game bird Dec. 23, 1991, following a remarkable revival after its near extinction in the state.

first appeared: 9/16/2001

A locksmith by trade, Stephen Day (1594-1668) set up the first American printing press in Cambridge in 1638.

first appeared: 9/9/2001

The first successful gasoline-powered automobile was perfected in Springfield by Charles Duryea (1861-1938) and his brother, Frank.

first appeared: 9/2/2001

The Boston terrier, the first purebred dog developed in America (1869), is a cross between an English bulldog and English terrier. The Massachusetts Legislature recognized the breed as its state dog in 1979.

first appeared: 8/26/2001

The name “Massachusetts” is from the tribe of American Indians that lived in the Great Blue Hill region, south of Boston. The Indian word means “at the great hill,” or “great mountain place.”

first appeared: 8/19/2001

The right whale was so-called because the state’s whaling industry found it to be plentiful, thus the “right” whale to hunt, especially before 1750. The large, slow-moving mammal is now rebuilding its population. The state’s Legislature adopted the right whale as the state marine mammal in 1980.

first appeared: 8/12/2001

Cranberry Juice was named the beverage of the Commonwealth on May 4, 1970—a tribute to the Massachusetts cranberry industry, which grows the largest crop in the world.

first appeared: 8/5/2001

The Morgan horse is descended from a little bay stallion born in West Springfield (pop. 27,537) in 1789 that could outrun and outwork any horse brought against him. The sturdy breed bearing his name was adopted as the state horse in 1970.

first appeared: 7/29/2001

Roger Sherman (1721-1793), born in Newton, was the only person to sign all of the following: the Articles of Association (1774), the Declaration of Independence (1776), the Articles of Confederation (1777), and the Constitution (1787).

first appeared: 7/22/2001

Using the name Robert, Deborah Shurtleff fought in the War of Independence. Her masquerade as a male remained undiscovered until she was wounded in battle. The fledgling national government gave her the first military pension ever awarded to a woman.

first appeared: 7/15/2001

United First Parish Church in Quincy was established in 1639. The second U.S. president, John Adams (1735-1826), donated most of the granite for a reconstruction of the church.

first appeared: 7/8/2001

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