Massachusetts Trivia & Tidbits - Page 16

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

Once a ship building center, Newburyport (pop. 16,300) became the birthplace of the U.S. Coast Guard in 1915. During peacetime, the Coast Guard is under the jurisdiction of the Department of Transportation; during wartime, it’s under control of the U.S. Navy.

first appeared: 7/1/2001

Born near Haverhill (pop. 47,000), Quaker poet John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892) was also a political activist. For 30 years, he devoted himself to the abolition of slavery.

first appeared: 6/24/2001

The career of actor Jack Albertson (1910-1981), born in Malden, spanned vaudeville, television, Broadway theater, and film. Children remember him for his role as Grandpa Joe in Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory (1971).

first appeared: 6/17/2001

Research engineer Harold S. Black (1898-1983), born in Leominster (pop. 35,000), invented systems eliminating feedback distortion in telephone calls. His work had applications to industrial, military, and consumer electronics, weaponry, analog computers, aids for the blind and deaf, and such biomechanical devices as pacemakers.

first appeared: 6/10/2001

The Aquinnah Cliffs on Martha’s Vineyard, more than a mile long, were formed about 100 million years ago.

first appeared: 6/3/2001

Helen Hunt Jackson (1830-1885) was born in Amherst (pop. 34,000). Acclaimed in her day as “the greatest woman poet,” her works include Ramona and A Century of Dishonor—the latter being her battle for the rights of American Indians.

first appeared: 5/27/2001

P.T. Barnum proclaimed “Jumbo” to be the largest elephant that ever lived. After Jumbo’s death in 1885, his stuffed remains were displayed at Tufts University in Malden (pop. 54,000), where he became the school’s official mascot. Thereafter, Tuft sports teams were called The Jumbos.

first appeared: 5/20/2001

The Mather Elementary School was founded in Dorchester (now part of Boston) in 1639. It was America’s first free public school.

first appeared: 5/13/2001

The world globe atop the Coleman Map Building on the grounds of Babson College in Wellesley (pop. 26,615) weighs 25 tons, is 28 feet in diameter, and rotates continuously.

first appeared: 5/6/2001

Lowell-born Bette Davis (1908-1989) starred in more than 100 films, was nominated for 11 Academy Awards, and in 1977 became the first woman to receive The American Film Institute’s Life Achievement Award.

first appeared: 4/29/2001

Horatio Alger (1834-1899), born in Revere, wrote more than 100 books for boys. His “rags to riches” characters lead exemplary lives, struggle valiantly against poverty and adversity, and thereby gain wealth and honor.

first appeared: 4/22/2001

Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990) was born in Lawrence (pop. 64,000). His best known performances and recordings were of Haydn, Beethoven, Brahms, Schumann, Sibelius, and Mahler, and he composed a large body of original music—including the score for West Side Story.

first appeared: 4/15/2001

The first minimum wage law in the country went into effect in Massachusetts on July 1, 1913. Twenty years later, Congress enacted a national minimum wage law.

first appeared: 4/8/2001

Brewster (pop. 10,049) is known as the “Wedding Capital of Cape Cod” because of its many small and larger inns that cater to weddings in this popular honeymoon area.

first appeared: 4/1/2001

Born in Lowell, artist James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) is perhaps best known for the portrait of his mother. It was first shown in 1872 and now hangs in the Louvre in Paris.

first appeared: 3/25/2001

Eleven days before the statute of limitations expired on the Brink’s robbery in Boston—the armored car heist that netted nearly $3 million in January 1950—one of the robbers, after being arrested, confessed and betrayed his fellow thieves.

first appeared: 3/18/2001

Film director Cecil B. DeMille (1881-1959) was born in Ashfield (pop. 1,200) of humble beginnings—his father was a clergyman, and his mother ran a girl’s school. He’s known for such films as The King of Kings (1927) and The Ten Commandments (1956), among 77 others he directed and 76 he produced.

first appeared: 3/11/2001

All the active lighthouses in the United States have been automated except the one in Boston, which still has keepers. Boston Light was the first lighthouse built on United States shores. Its original masonry tower and keeper’s dwelling were constructed in 1716.

first appeared: 3/4/2001

The Mohawk Trail (State Route 2) began as an American Indian trail between the Hudson and Connecticut rivers. A portion of the route from Orange to Williamstown was developed as America’s first scenic automobile route, opening for traffic Oct. 22, 1914.

first appeared: 2/25/2001

The “shunpike,” a short road and ford across the Deerfield River in Charlemont (pop. 1,250), was created by westward moving settlers to avoid paying a fee for a ferry crossing. Such shunpikes were common in the United States during the expansion West.

first appeared: 2/18/2001

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