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Massachusetts  i, officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is the 7th smallest, but the 14th most populous and the 3rd most densely populated of the 50 United States, and has the United States' sixth highest GDP per capita.
Massachusetts has played a significant historical, cultural, and commercial role in American history. Plymouth was the site of the colony founded in 1620 by the Pilgrims. Harvard University, founded in 1636, is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. The Protestant First Great Awakening originated from the pulpit of Northampton, Massachusetts preacher Jonathan Edwards. In the late 18th century, Boston became known as the "Cradle of Liberty" for the agitation there that led to the American Revolution. In 1786, a populist revolt led directly to the Constitutional Convention. Before the American Civil War, Massachusetts was a center for the temperance, transcendentalist, and abolitionist movements. In the late 19th century, basketball and volleyball were invented in Springfield and Holyoke, respectively. In 2004, Massachusetts became the first U.S. state to legally recognize same-sex marriage.
Originally dependent on fishing, agriculture, and trade, Massachusetts was transformed into a manufacturing center during the Industrial Revolution. During the 20th century, Massachusetts' economy shifted from manufacturing to services. In the 21st century, Massachusetts is a leader in higher education, health care technology, high technology, and financial services.
USS Constitution is a wooden- hulled, three- masted heavy frigate of the United States Navy. Named by President George Washington after the Constitution of the United States of America, she is the world's oldest commissioned naval vessel afloat. Launched in 1797, Constitution was one of six original frigates authorized for construction by the Naval Act of 1794 and the third constructed. Joshua Humphreys designed the frigates to be the young Navy's capital ships, and so Constitution and her sisters were larger and more heavily armed and built than standard frigates of the period. Built in Boston, Massachusetts, at Edmund Hartt's shipyard, her first duties with the newly formed United States Navy were to provide protection for American merchant shipping during the Quasi-War with France and to defeat the Barbary pirates in the First Barbary War.
Constitution is most famous for her actions during the War of 1812 against Great Britain, when she captured numerous merchant ships and defeated five British warships. The battle with one of those ships, HMS Guerriere, earned her the nickname of "Old Ironsides" and public adoration that has repeatedly saved her from scrapping. She continued to actively serve the nation as flagship in the Mediterranean and African squadrons, and circled the world in the 1840s. During the American Civil War she served as a training ship for the United States Naval Academy and carried artwork and industrial displays to the Paris Exposition of 1878. Retired from active service in 1881, she served as a receiving ship until designated a museum ship in 1907 and in 1934 she completed a three-year, 90-port tour of the nation. Constitution sailed under her own power for her 200th birthday in 1997, and again in August 2012, to commemorate the 200th anniversary of her victory over Guerriere. She is now berthed at Pier 1 of the former Charlestown Navy Yard, at one end of Boston's Freedom Trail.
Arthur Howey "Art" Ross was a Canadian ice hockey defenceman and executive from 1905 until 1954. Regarded as one of the best defenders of his era by his peers, he was one of the first to skate with the puck up the ice rather than pass it to a forward. Like other players of the time, Ross played for several different teams and leagues, and is most notable for his time with the Montreal Wanderers. In 1911 he led one of the first organized player strikes over increased pay. When the Wanderers' home arena burned down in January 1918, the team ceased operations and Ross retired as a player. After several years as an on-ice official, he was named head coach of the Hamilton Tigers for one season. When the Boston Bruins were formed in 1924, Ross was hired as the first coach and general manager of the team. He would go on to coach the team on four separate occasions until 1945 and stayed as general manager until his retirement in 1954. Ross helped the Bruins finish first place in the league ten times and to win the Stanley Cup three times; Ross personally coached the team to one of those victories. After being hired by the Bruins, Ross, along with his wife and two sons, moved to a suburb of Boston, and became an American citizen in 1938. He died near Boston in 1964.
Worcester is a city and the county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts. Named after Worcester, England, it is now the second largest city in New England, after Boston. Known for innovation in commerce, industry, education, and social thought, Worcester and the nearby Blackstone Valley were major contributors to the American Industrial Revolution. Ichabod Washburn, an early industrialist, developed a process for extruding steel wire in Worcester and Loring Coes invented the monkey wrench in the city. The first envelope folding machine was invented in Worcester, and an early female entrepreneur, Esther Howland, designed and manufactured the first American valentine cards in the city in 1847.
As political tensions rose in the months before the American Revolution, Worcester served as a center of revolutionary activity. On July 14, 1776, Isaiah Thomas, intercepting the packet from Philadelphia to Boston, performed the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence ever in front of Worcester City Hall.
Location of Massachusetts in the United States
Atlas of Massachusetts with Greater Boston highlighted
- November 9, 1872 – The costliest fire in state history, the Great Boston Fire of 1872, consumes the headquarters of The Boston Globe, The Boston Herald, and hundreds of other homes and businesses.
- November 11, 1620 – The Mayflower Compact, the first governing document of Plymouth Colony, is signed aboard the ship Mayflower.
- November 13, 1847 – The cornerstone of the Beacon Hill Reservoir (pictured), which once supplied Beacon Hill with water from Lake Cochituate, is laid.
- November 18, 1755 – The 1755 Cape Ann Earthquake, the strongest earthquake in Massachusetts' history, strikes off the coast of Cape Ann.
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