The first section to be settled in Boston was the northern end of the peninsula. Until the middle of the Nineteenth Century the population was still largely confined to the peninsula. After that period the population began to spread out into Charlestown, East Boston, South Boston, and of late years has turned to Roxbury, West Roxbury, Dorchester, and Brighton. Boston proper contains now less than a third of the total population, business buildings crowding out dwellings. What was once the most fashionable quarter—the North End—has become the business section of the city, and is partly taken up with the dwellings of the poorer, largely immigrant people. The fashionable quarters first moved to the South End, and, after being crowded out once more by business interests, have become located in the Back Bay section.
While it is claimed for Boston that it still retains its old American spirit and character, the city has a larger foreign element than many other large American cities. The percentage of people of foreign birth in 1890 was 35.27, and those of foreign parentage constituted 60.9; while in 1900 the former constituted 35 per cent. of the total population. Of the foreign nationalities, the Irish are most strongly represented. The largest immigration of Irish took place in the decade 1845-55, the immigrants settling in the once fashionable section of the North End. The Scotch, English, and Germans are represented in much smaller numbers, while lately the immigration has been made up largely of Italians and Russian Jews, the latter having taken the place of the Irish in the North End of the city. The colored population is very small, having been less than 12,000 in 1900. The geographical conditions, unlike those of New York, have allowed of an easy expansion of the city limits, thus preventing excessive overcrowding. However, the North and South ends have a congested population huddled largely in tenements.
History. The peninsula on which old Boston was built was known as Shawmut, or Sweet Waters, to the Indians, and was named Trimontaine by the early colonists, from the three-peaked top of one of its hills. It was first visited by an exploring party from Plymouth in 1621. In July, 1630, the colonists brought by John Winthrop to Salem established themselves at Charlestown; but on the invitation of William Blackstone, or Blaxton, a ‘bookish recluse,’ who had lived on the peninsula since 1626, Winthrop and the greater part of his company moved to Trimontaine on or before September 17, 1630, when the place was renamed Boston, after the Lincolnshire town whence many of the colonists had come. The old ‘Trimontaine,’ changed to Tremont, is preserved in Tremont Street and several buildings. Early in 1632 the first meeting-house was erected, at the head of the present State Street, and three years later the first free schoolhouse was built on the present School Street. In 1635 the first grand jury of the country met in Boston. Boston soon became the chief town of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and the centre of Puritan religious life and learning. In 1636 the Antinomian controversy (see Hutchinson, Anne) broke out, and, with the disturbances caused by Roger Williams (q.v.), led to the emigration of many prominent citizens. Between 1648 and 1688 four women—Margaret Jones, of Charlestown; Mary Parsons, of Springfield; Ann Hibbins, and Goody Glover—were executed for witchcraft; and between 1659 and 1661, during the excitement caused by the Quaker immigration, four quakers were hanged on the Common for returning after banishment on pain of death. A post-office was opened in 1649. Two years later a mint was established, at which the ‘pine-tree’ shillings were coined for many years. A printing-office was opened in 1674, and in 1704 the Boston News Letter, the first regular newspaper to be printed in America, began publication. At the beginning of the Eighteenth Century Boston was the largest and most important town in America, and its citizens took a leading part in the expression of public opinion in the conflict of the colonies with Great Britain. The impressment of seamen by the home Government in 1747 caused several riots, and the spirit of independence increased till the Stamp Act in 1765, and later the revenue acts, incited riots, which led to the quartering of two British regiments in Boston. On March 5, 1770, the ‘Boston Massacre’ (q.v.) occurred. On December 16, 1773, occurred the famous Boston Tea Party which caused Parliament to pass the Boston Port Bill (q.v.)—in effect June 1, 1774—virtually closing the Boston Harbor to commerce. At the outbreak of the Revolution, Boston was occupied by British troops, but was besieged by the American Army after the skirmish at Lexington, and attempts to fortify Charlestown were followed by the battle of Bunker Hill (q.v.), June 17, 1775. By fortifying Dorchester Heights, Washington forced the British to evacuate the town, March 17, 1776. Since the Revolution Boston's prosperity has been almost continuous, the most important interruption having been caused by the Embargo of 1807. The city received its charter in 1822, and had then a population of 47,000. In 1840 the Britannia, the first of the Cunard liners, entered Boston harbor and began the present system of transatlantic passenger traffic. In 1849 there was an epidemic of cholera, 5080 dying out of a population of 130,000. Slaves were owned in Boston as early as 1635, and continued to be held till after the Revolution. In 1831 William Lloyd Garrison began the publication of The Liberator, and organized (1832) the New England Anti-Slavery Society, the first society to advocate immediate emancipation. Boston thus became the centre of the radical Abolitionist movement, though in 1835 there was an Anti-Abolitionist riot. Intense excitement was caused throughout the country by the rescue here of Shadrach, in February, 1851, and the return to slavery from here, under the provisions of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, of Thomas M. Sims (q.v.), in April, 1851, and of Anthony Burns (q.v.), in May, 1854. During the Civil War Boston strongly supported the measures of the Federal Government, and sent more than 26,000 men to join the army and navy. The city has suffered severely from fires, the most destructive occurring in 1676, 1679, 1711, 1760, 1872, 1889, and 1893. That of 1872 was especially disastrous, 50 acres in the business portion of the city having been thoroughly devastated, and property valued at over $75,000,000 destroyed. On September 17, 1880, the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the settlement of Boston was celebrated with great enthusiasm.
