Mass Irish immigration transformed Boston's neighborhoods, churches, politics, labor force, and identity.
In November 1872, fire swept through Boston's commercial district, destroying hundreds of buildings and reshaping downtown.
The 1854 arrest of Anthony Burns transformed Boston into a fortified stage for America's escalating conflict over slavery.
Boston's abolitionists turned newspapers, lecture halls, churches, and streets into arenas in the national struggle over slavery.
Boston's merchants and sailors connected New England to an Atlantic economy that brought wealth, risk, exploitation, and global influence.
In March 1776, American forces fortified Dorchester Heights and made the British position in Boston untenable.
George Washington arrived outside Boston in 1775 to turn a collection of provincial forces into an army capable of confronting Britain.
The Battle of Bunker Hill proved that colonial forces could stand against British regulars, even in defeat.
On April 18, 1775, lanterns, riders, church towers, boats, and alarm networks carried the news that British troops were moving.
Months before Lexington and Concord, a British move to secure gunpowder triggered a massive militia mobilization across Massachusetts.
