Downtown in Boston in Suffolk County, Massachusetts — The American Northeast (New England)

Boston Timeline

By Devry Becker Jones (CC0), January 28, 2023

1. Boston Timeline Marker

Inscription.

Boston Timeline. . , 1600 , Native Americans , Native Americans inhabited this area for at least 10,000 years before the arrival of Europeans. Although contact with European explorers and fishermen in the early 1600s resulted in heavy loss of life from European diseases, they continued to inhabit the area, and traded and interacted with the early colonists. Native Americans are still a vibrant population in Massachusetts today.,

"…it being the custom of the Indians to burn the wood in November when the grass is withered and leaves dried, it consumes all the underwood and rubbish which would otherwise over-grow the country, making it unpassable and spoil their… hunting; so that by this means in those places where the Indians inhabit there is scarce a bush or bramble or any cumbersome underwood to be seen in the more champion ground." , William Wood

, 1630 - 1642 , The Great Migration , The English , Approximately 20,000 Puritans emigrated from England to Boston seeking religious freedom. Many arrived in 1630 with John Winthrop, who became the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Emigration from England remained strong throughout the 1600s and 1700s., 1700 ,

It was a "place very uneven, abounding in small hollows and swamps, covered with blueberries and other small bushes." , Ann Pollard, "The early springs and long summers make but short autumns and winters. In the spring, when the grass begins to put forth it grows apace, so that where it was all black by reason of winter's burnings, in a fortnight there will be grass a foot high." , William Wood, The chiefe Edifice of this City-like Towne is crowded on the Sea-bankes, and wharfed out with great industry and cost, the buildings beautiful and large, some fairly set forth with Brick, Tile, Stone, and slate and orderly placed with comply streets, whose continuall inlargement presages some sumptuous City." , Edward Johnson, "When we were upon the sea, that part of the town which lies about the harbor appeared to us in the form of a crescent, or half-moon; and the country, rising, gradually from it, afforded us a pleasant prospect of the neighboring fields and woods." , Author Unknown

, 1800 , The Irish , Following the 1846 potato famine Irish immigrants began arriving in Boston in large numbers, and by 1850 half of the North End's population was Irish.,

"Many of the young men of the early Irish families, which ad settled in the North End, were then invited to join the company.Its members when on parade, in full dress uniform, wearing tall bearskin hats were a remarkably fine looking body of soldiers, and … a great credit to the militia." , Daniel Macnamara, member of the Irish 9th regiment commanded by Col. Thomas Cass of North Bennett St., which fought bravely and suffered heavy casualties in the Civil War, "As kids we spent a lot of time up on Snow Hill Street…the street in those days was called 'Connemara Hill'. As we would be coasting down the street in winter we always uttered that Gaelic expression "Gaga a' bealach' which in English means 'clear the road'." , John Devlin

, 1870s-1890s , Eastern Europeans , During this period many Eastern European Jews settled in the North End, seeking freedom from religious persecution in their homelands. They inhabited a triangular area extending from Hanover Street to Endicott and Prince Streets.,

"Salem Street is for the Jews what the Plaza is for the Spaniards and Italians in their native countries. There the people meet and congregate." , Horace Kallen, "My home was a strictly kosher home. My people ran a strickly kosher restaurant in the north end for over 20 years … the most expensive meal I remember was 65 cents, and that was for a five course meal." , Sam Gurvits

, The Italians , Italians began arriving in the North End in large number during the 1870s to escape civil unrest in their homeland. The North End continues to retain a distinctly Italian character., 1900 ,

"My parents came from the province of Abruzzi. They came because, as my father used to say, There is bread and butter to be eaten here." , Viola Petinelli, "When I asked my father why, with all its beauty, he left Italy to come here, my father would tell me, 'There's not too much industry in southern Italy. We had to come and make our fortune here. We knew that there were many, many opportunities for everyone alike.' And America has been a good country for us." , Phyllis Luciani, "People living here on Salem Street would know people down on North Street, at the opposite end of the section. It's very few people that don't know somebody down in the other end. If I didn't know you my sister might." , Albert Mostone, "My mother never had a key for the doors , no doors were locked in the North End. It was neighbor helping neighbor; if a neighbor needed you, you were there." , Frances Corolla, "If a man from my father's town came and was looking for a place to stay, he would come to my father's house. My father would give them a bed to sleep." , Rose Giampoala, "Prior to World War II, many North End apartments didn't have showers or bath tubs. We used to get a Saturday night bath in the soapstone sink as kids. Or we went to the North Bennet Street bathhouse for a shower. It was open 5 days for men and 2 days for women." , Fred Langone, "My mother had a big old-fashioned dining room table and around the holidays we'd all sit around it , my mother would put the big bowl in the middle of the table and we'd help ourselves and we'd all go for the bread , the smell alone would make you want to eat. Then the neighbors would come in. My mother used to say 'I have room for 13, I have room for one more." , Generosa 'Josie' Ziana

, 2000 ,

"When I walked down any street, women in the windows were always watching over me. My parents always knew where I was. It was like I had a hundred grandmothers." , Paul Scapicchio, "Going to the bathhouse on a Friday night was a social night out for many of us. It was an opportunity to catch up with friends from all over the neighborhood. The bathhouse served as a gathering place to share news, ideas, information, and confidences during a time when there was a limited telephone usage in the North End." , Nancy Caruso, "I remember vividly as a little boy, sitting on the front stairs of my building, waiting for the ice man to deliver our block of ice. The best part for me and my friends was scooping ice fragments from the floor of the truck and sucking on them or placing them on our bodies to cool off." , Dominic Piso, "We were poor, but we were rich in our family and in our friends and neighbors. If a neighbor was sick, you took care of him. If a neighbor was out of work, you brought food to his family." , Representative Salvatore F. DiMusi, First Italian-American Speaker of the Massachusetts House

1600
Native Americans
Native Americans inhabited this area for at least 10,000 years before the arrival of Europeans. Although contact with European explorers and fishermen in the early 1600s resulted in heavy loss of life from European diseases, they continued to inhabit the area, and traded and interacted with the early colonists. Native Americans are still a vibrant population in Massachusetts today.

"…it being the custom of the Indians to burn the wood in November when the grass is withered and leaves dried, it consumes all the underwood and rubbish which would otherwise over-grow the country, making it unpassable and spoil their… hunting; so that by this means in those places where the Indians inhabit there is scarce a bush or bramble or any cumbersome underwood to be seen in the more champion ground." —William Wood

1630 - 1642
The Great Migration
The English
Approximately 20,000 Puritans emigrated from England to Boston seeking religious freedom. Many arrived in 1630 with John Winthrop, who became the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Emigration from England remained strong throughout the 1600s and 1700s.

1700

It was a "place very uneven, abounding in small hollows and swamps,
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covered with blueberries and other small bushes." — Ann Pollard

"The early springs and long summers make but short autumns and winters. In the spring, when the grass begins to put forth it grows apace, so that where it was all black by reason of winter's burnings, in a fortnight there will be grass a foot high." — William Wood

The chiefe Edifice of this City-like Towne is crowded on the Sea-bankes, and wharfed out with great industry and cost, the buildings beautiful and large, some fairly set forth with Brick, Tile, Stone, and slate and orderly placed with comply streets, whose continuall inlargement presages some sumptuous City." — Edward Johnson

"When we were upon the sea, that part of the town which lies about the harbor appeared to us in the form of a crescent, or half-moon; and the country, rising, gradually from it, afforded us a pleasant prospect of the neighboring fields and woods." — Author Unknown

1800
The Irish
Following the 1846 potato famine Irish immigrants began arriving in Boston in large numbers, and by 1850 half of the North End's population was Irish.

"Many of the young men of the early Irish families, which ad settled in the North End, were then invited to join the company.Its members when on parade, in full dress uniform, wearing tall
By Devry Becker Jones (CC0), January 28, 2023

2. Boston Timeline Marker
bearskin hats were a remarkably fine looking body of soldiers, and … a great credit to the militia." — Daniel Macnamara, member of the Irish 9th regiment commanded by Col. Thomas Cass of North Bennett St., which fought bravely and suffered heavy casualties in the Civil War

"As kids we spent a lot of time up on Snow Hill Street…the street in those days was called 'Connemara Hill'. As we would be coasting down the street in winter we always uttered that Gaelic expression "Gaga a' bealach' which in English means 'clear the road'." — John Devlin

1870s-1890s
Eastern Europeans
During this period many Eastern European Jews settled in the North End, seeking freedom from religious persecution in their homelands. They inhabited a triangular area extending from Hanover Street to Endicott and Prince Streets.

"Salem Street is for the Jews what the Plaza is for the Spaniards and Italians in their native countries. There the people meet and congregate." — Horace Kallen

"My home was a strictly kosher home. My people ran a strickly kosher restaurant in the north end for over 20 years … the most expensive meal I remember was 65 cents, and that was for a five course meal." — Sam Gurvits

The Italians
Italians began arriving in the North End in large number during

By Devry Becker Jones (CC0), January 28, 2023

3. Boston Timeline Marker

the 1870s to escape civil unrest in their homeland. The North End continues to retain a distinctly Italian character.

1900

"My parents came from the province of Abruzzi. They came because, as my father used to say, There is bread and butter to be eaten here." — Viola Petinelli

"When I asked my father why, with all its beauty, he left Italy to come here, my father would tell me, 'There's not too much industry in southern Italy. We had to come and make our fortune here. We knew that there were many, many opportunities for everyone alike.' And America has been a good country for us." — Phyllis Luciani

"People living here on Salem Street would know people down on North Street, at the opposite end of the section. It's very few people that don't know somebody down in the other end. If I didn't know you my sister might." — Albert Mostone

"My mother never had a key for the doors — no doors were locked in the North End. It was neighbor helping neighbor; if a neighbor needed you, you were there." — Frances Corolla

"If a man from my father's town came and was looking for a place to stay, he would come to my father's house. My father would give them a bed to sleep." — Rose Giampoala

"Prior to World War II, many North End apartments didn't have showers or bath tubs.
By Devry Becker Jones (CC0), January 28, 2023

4. Boston Timeline Marker
We used to get a Saturday night bath in the soapstone sink as kids. Or we went to the North Bennet Street bathhouse for a shower. It was open 5 days for men and 2 days for women." — Fred Langone

"My mother had a big old-fashioned dining room table and around the holidays we'd all sit around it — my mother would put the big bowl in the middle of the table and we'd help ourselves and we'd all go for the bread — the smell alone would make you want to eat. Then the neighbors would come in. My mother used to say 'I have room for 13, I have room for one more." — Generosa 'Josie' Ziana

2000

"When I walked down any street, women in the windows were always watching over me. My parents always knew where I was. It was like I had a hundred grandmothers." — Paul Scapicchio

"Going to the bathhouse on a Friday night was a social night out for many of us. It was an opportunity to catch up with friends from all over the neighborhood. The bathhouse served as a gathering place to share news, ideas, information, and confidences during a time when there was a limited telephone usage in the North End." — Nancy Caruso

"I remember vividly as a little boy, sitting on the front stairs of my building, waiting for the ice man to deliver our block of ice. The best part for me and my friends was scooping
By Devry Becker Jones (CC0), January 28, 2023

5. Boston Timeline Marker
ice fragments from the floor of the truck and sucking on them or placing them on our bodies to cool off." — Dominic Piso

"We were poor, but we were rich in our family and in our friends and neighbors. If a neighbor was sick, you took care of him. If a neighbor was out of work, you brought food to his family." — Representative Salvatore F. DiMusi, First Italian-American Speaker of the Massachusetts House

Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Colonial Era • Immigration • Native Americans • Settlements & Settlers • War, US Civil. A significant historical year for this entry is 1600.

Location. 42° 21.742′ N, 71° 3.384′ W. Marker is in Boston, Massachusetts, in Suffolk County. It is in Downtown. Marker is at the intersection of Hanover Street and John F. Fitzgerald Surface Road, on the left when traveling east on Hanover Street. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Boston MA 02108, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker. Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway (a few steps from this marker); a different marker also named Boston Timeline (within shouting distance of this marker); Tony DeMarco (within shouting distance of this marker); The Bell-in-Hand (about 300 feet away, measured in a direct line); Ebenezer Hancock House

By Devry Becker Jones (CC0), January 28, 2023

6. Boston Timeline Marker

(about 300 feet away); Green Dragon Tavern (about 400 feet away); Proclamation of the "Bells" Journey (about 400 feet away); Union Oyster House (about 400 feet away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Boston.

Credits. This page was last revised on February 4, 2023. It was originally submitted on February 4, 2023, by Devry Becker Jones of Washington, District of Columbia. This page has been viewed 113 times since then and 34 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. submitted on February 4, 2023, by Devry Becker Jones of Washington, District of Columbia.