7th September: Boston

On this date in 1630 The Massachusetts town of Trimontaine was renamed Boston. Boston is Massachusetts’ capital and largest city, and one of the oldest cities in the USA.

1. The original name of Trimountaine was given to the area by the early settlers, because in those days, it had three mountains, but only traces of them remain. A number of the early colonists were from Boston in Lincolnshire, England, and so they decided to re-name the place after their home town.
2. Today the city covers 48 square miles (124 km2) with an estimated population of 673,184 in 2016. It is the 23rd most populous city in the United States. Over a third of the population are college students.
3. As one of America's oldest cities, it was the site of several significant historical events such as the Boston Tea Party (1773, when political protesters threw an entire shipment of tea into Boston Harbour); The Boston Massacre (1770, when British soldiers opened fire on a mob); and Paul Revere's midnight ride in 1775 to warn the colonial militia that the British were coming.
4. The age of the city means it also has a string of oldests and firsts: the first Lighthouse in America built on Little Brewster Island in 1716 - although the lighthouse has been replaced the one that is there now is the second oldest working lighthouse in the US and dates back to 1783; the oldest public park (Boston Common, 1634) and the first public beach (Revere Beach); the first subway (1897); the first Dunkin' Donuts shop and the first Chocolate factory.
5. While we're on the subject of food, the city's nickname, Beantown, comes from Baked beans in molasses, a popular food for early residents. The popularity of this is probably responsible for the fact that Boston was the site of the worst molasses-related accident in history. On 15 January 1919, a storage tank containing 2 million gallons of the stuff burst. A tsunami of treacle destroyed several houses, killed 21 people and injured over 100.
6. The Mayor of Boston drives around in a car with the numberplate "576" which dates back to the first mayor to have a car. James Michael Curley, used the number of letters in his name to choose the license plate number.
7. The list of famous people from Boston is very long, so I'll only mention a few - writers Louisa M Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Sylvia Plath and Edgar Allen Poe; singers Van Morrison and Donna Summer; actors James Spader, Mark Wahlberg, Uma Thurman, Chris Evans (the one who played Captain America not the Radio 2 DJ), Leonard Nimoy, Ben Affleck, Paul Michael Glaser and Matt LeBlanc; talk show hosts Barbara Walters and Jay Leno; and US Presidents John Adams, John Quincy Adams and John F. Kennedy.
8. Boston's official sister cities include Kyoto, Strasbourg, Barcelona, Melbourne and Belfast. Unofficial partnerships include its namesake, Boston in Lincolnshire.
9. The city is notorious for having a tangle of winding streets rather than the grid layout of most American cities. The popular explanation for this is that the street plan was based on Cow paths which were there before the city was built. That's not true. It was more to do with the fact that early settlers decided where they wanted to live and staked their claims, but didn't think about urban planning until much later.
10. If you're in Boston and you want a weather forecast, all you have to do is look to the top of the John Hancock Tower to see what colour the lights on top of the building are. Blue is good - that means it's a fine, clear day. Flashing blue means clouds and if the light is Red, get a brolly. Flashing red in winter means Snow. In summer, flashing red means a storm so bad they have to cancel the Baseball game.

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