Mass. Historical Society Celebrates Boston's Birthday

Boston has a long and storied history. It’s the place where Paul Revere rode his horse into the night and where angry revolutionaries unloaded crate after crate of English tea into the waters at the shore of one of the new world’s busiest ports.

It’s the place that opened its doors to immigrants but turned its back on the Babe. It’s the place where public schooling began, at Boston Latin, and it’s the place where the Kennedy’s built their mystique.

And it’s now 371 years old.

On Friday, Boston historians gathered to wish Beantown a happy birthday.

About 60 people joined the Massachusetts Historical Society in commemorating Boston’s founding and the city’s designation as capital of the Commonwealth.

Speakers, including Pete Cheney, chief secretary to the governor, paid homage to Boston’s founders, and expressed appreciation for John Winthrop and his followers for creating the colony that would become the city of Boston.

In 1630, just 10 years after the voyagers of the Mayflower landed at Plymouth Rock, Winthrop and his followers created a charter molded from existing laws in their small English town of St. Botolph and traveled over the Atlantic Ocean, forming a new colony in Boston.

More than three-and-a-half centuries later, the speakers said, Boston is a cultural center and communication hub, as the spirit of the city lives on among its residents.

“It is imperative that people be aware of the richness in history here and the significant impact the city has on the rest of the state,” said Charles Euchner, executive director of the Rappaport Institute at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.

Euchner created the celebration along with William Fowler, director of the Massachusetts Historical Society, to commemorate Winthrop and the many colonists who molded Boston into the thriving cultural nexus it is today.

Chairman of the Historical Boston Partnership William Holden, also a sociology professor at Northeastern University, spoke of the importance of “connecting the old Boston with the new,” and stressed the need to recognize the achievements of early Puritan Rev. John Cotton’s congregation.

“Without these men, many of Boston’s fine institutions would not exist, such as Harvard University and the Boston Latin School,” Holden said.

Professor Thomas O’Connor, dean of Boston historians at Boston College, spoke of his excitement to be among the first group to celebrate such an event, noting similarities between today’s Boston and the colony it was 371 years ago.

“Boston was an active mercantile town in England, as it became known today,” O’Connor said. “The spirit of determination in the people, I feel, was passed on and provided the kind of spirit and pride that we use to commemorate today.”

“Our past gives us a sense of security,” said Rev. Peter Gombs of Harvard University. “The one thing we have is our past ... It is our story. It is our most precious entity.”

In his closing remarks, Euchner expressed wishes for the holiday to become a bigger one next year.

“I hope this holiday will not simply be revered by the gentile of Boston, but by all of Boston’s residents,” he said.