Boston Trivia: Fun Facts About Boston And Things The City Was First AT

Boston is one of the most unique cities in the US. It’s a city of ‘Firsts’ and tons of fun trivia that you just gotta read about!

Boston, a City of ‘Firsts’ and Not Only for the US but the World

First Thanksgiving 1621: Plymouth

First Public park 1634: Boston Common

First public school in the world, 1635: Boston Latin School

First University, 1636: Harvard

First newspaper: 1704

First restaurant, 1714: Union Oyster House

Oldest pub 1784: Bell in Hand

Swimming Pool: 1827

Telegraph invented in Boston: 1824

Modern Hotel: Tremont House 1829

First police department: 1838

First sewing machine was built in Boston in 1845

Boston library is the first public library in the world: 1848 (also home to the first library in North America, which was private, in 1657)

First Aerial Photo, taken from balloon by J. W. Black, 1860 

First telephone, invented by Alexander Graham Bell: 1876

First woman Ph.D., Boston University, 1877

Basketball was invented in 1891 by James Naismith in Springfield, Mass.

Volleyball was invented in 1895 by William Morgan in Holyoke, Mass.

First subway: 1897

First marathon: 1897

Disposable razor invented by Gilette: 1901

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) invented the first computer in Cambridge in 1928.

Chocolate chip cookie invented in Whitman, Mass. 1930

Medical Firsts

First time ether was used as an anesthetic during an operation at Massachusetts General. Hospital in 1846

First kidney transplant performed in 1954

First open heart surgery performed at Children’s Hospital in 1967

Boston Nicknames

Beantown

Cradle of Modern America

The Hub

The Walking City

The Athens of America

Related Read: Facts About Boston

Funny facts about Boston – Pure Trivia

Mother Goose is from Boston, and is buried there

Boston Landfill – Back Bay: This section of Boston was once a large, swampy extension of the Charles River that created a terrible smell at low tide. The city commissioned to have the area filled in during the middle of the 19th century. The massive project continued seven days a week for over 17 years.

Boston’s nickname, “The Athens of America,” is because the city features more than one hundred institutes of higher learning within its borders.

The USS Constitution, or “Old Ironsides”, is the US Navy’s oldest commissioned warship, and it is berthed in the Charlestown Navy Yard.

The Boston suburb of Quincy is home to the first Dunkin’ Donuts (located on Hancock Street), as well as the nation’s first Howard Johnson’s (situated on Newport Avenue). Make sure to pay a visit to Quincy Market.

The Boston University Bridge on Commonwealth Avenue has the distinct recognition of being the only place on the planet where a boat can sail under a train going under a car that is driving under an airplane.

The Ted Williams Tunnel runs some 90 feet below the earth’s surface, making it the deepest in North America.

It wasn’t until 1856 that Christmas was made a legal holiday in Massachusetts.