50 Fun Facts About Massachusetts

Did you realize Massachusetts was named after the Native American Tribe called Massachuset? Massachuset refers to”the” Great Hill or Great Mountain, which is believed to be referring to the Blue Hills just south of Boston (the capital of Massachusetts).

Everyone knows that Massachusetts is a significant historical state where many of America’s most significant events took places, such as the First Thanksgiving, the first phone and an early post office, and the first subway system. Along with being an important part of history and establishing itself as a landmark, Massachusetts is also a place of great importance. The old Bay State of Massachusetts is also a great place to learn more about being a really impressive state.

Let’s find out more interesting facts about Massachusetts, Pilgrim State, Massachusetts!

Facts About Massachusetts

1. Five hundred fifty-two original documents related to those involved in the Salem witch trials in 1692 have been preserved and stored in the Peabody Essex Museum.
2. Boston constructed its first underground system in the United States in 1897.
3. Over 30 communities within the colonies were eventually renamed in honor of Benjamin Franklin. Massachusetts Town of Franklin was the first to change its name in 1778.
4. Norfolk County is the birthplace of four United States presidents: John Adams, John Quincy Adams, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, and George Herbert Walker Bush.
5. In Holyoke, William G. Morgan invented a brand new game he named “Mintonette” around 1895. After a game demonstration was held at the YMCA near Springfield, the term “Mintonette” was changed to the name that is now a household term “Volleyball.”
6. There’s a house in Rockport made entirely from newspaper.
7. The Hingham’s Derby Academy, founded in 1784, is the oldest coeducational institution located in the United States. Its First Parish Old Ship Church is the oldest church building in the United States in continuous use for worship.
8. Fig Newton was named after Newton, Massachusetts.
9. The visible part from Plymouth Rock is a lumpy chunk of the glacial moraine that is about as big as a coffee table with the year 1620 etched into the surface. After having been broken, dragged around in the city of Plymouth by teams of oxen used to inspire Revolutionary soldiers, as well as reverently gouged scraped by 19th-century souvenir hunters, It is now laid to its final resting place at its head in Plymouth Harbor.
10. The Basketball Hall Of Fame is located in Springfield.
11. James Michael Curley was the first mayor of Boston with an automobile. Its plate was “576,” the first number of letters that make up “James Michael Curley.” The Boston mayor’s official car continues to use that same plate number. Its plates.
12. The American industrial revolution started in Lowell. Lowell was the first planned industrial city.
13. On October 1st, 1998, “Say Hey To Someone from Massachusetts,” composed by Lenny Gomulka, was approved as the official polka for the Commonwealth.
14. 1634: Boston Common became the first park to be a public one in America.
15. 1891 The first basketball game was held in Springfield.
16. Massachusetts is home to two of the biggest cities within New England, Boston, the largest, and Worcester.
17. The establishment of Cape Cod National Seashore, which was previously a privately owned and state-owned land, was the first time that the federal government bought land to establish a park.
18. Robert Goddard, the inventor of the first rocket powered by liquid fuel, was born and lived most of his life in Worcester and created the first rocket fuelled by gasoline from the adjacent town, Auburn.
19. Quincy has its first Dunkin Donuts on Hancock Street and the first Howard Johnson’s located on Newport Ave.
20. Glaciers formed the islands Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard during the ice age.
21. First U.S.Postal zip code for Massachusetts is 01001, located in Agawam.
22. Brewster is now the official “Wedding Capital of Cape Cod” due to its many smaller and larger hotels that cater to weddings.
23. Clark University developed birth control pills in Worcester.
24. The signs on the Massachusetts Turnpike reading “x miles to Boston” refer to the distance between this point to the golden dome in the statehouse.
25. Harvard was among the first universities established by the government of North America. Harvard was established in 1636. Due to the size of Harvard, there isn’t a universal postal address that works for each office within the University.
26. In 1838, the Boston & West Worcester Railroad was the first railroad to be charged commuter rates.
27. It is believed that the Boston University Bridge, located on Commonwealth Avenue in Boston, is the only location on earth where boats can sail beneath the train that is driving underneath the car that is driving underneath an aircraft.
28. The Mather School was established in Dorchester in 1639. It was the first publicly-funded primary school of its kind in America.
29. High above the office structure on Centre Street in Jamaica Plain is a weather vane with a whale’s image. The building was once the state headquarters for Greenpeace. “Save the whales” – “Save whales.”
30. John Adams and John Quincy Adams are resting in the crypt of Quincy’s United First Parish Church in Quincy.
31. The Children’s Museum in Boston displays the largest milk bottle on the museum’s wharf. It could hold 50,000 gallons of milk and 8,620 gallons of cream if it were real.
32. Princeton was named in honor of The Reverend Thomas Prince, Pastor of the Old South Church in Boston and among the very first owners of this town. Princeton was established in 1759.
33. Barnstable County is the only Massachusetts county in which deaths of residents outnumbered births between 1990 and 1997.
34. The Pilgrim National Wax Museum, located in Plymouth, is the only museum dedicated exclusively to the Pilgrim’s tale.
35. In 1908 in 1908 in 1908, Caroline O. Emmerton purchased The House of the Seven Gables, which was built in 1668. It was restored to its current state, and in the year 1910, it was open to the public who wanted to visit. The house with seven gables was the inspiration for Nathaniel Hawthorne to write his famous novel with the same name.
36. The Boston Tea Party reenactment takes place in Boston Harbor every December 16th.
37. Balance Rock, located in Lanesborough, is named after the 25′ x 15 10′ rock, balanced by a small stone beneath it.
38. Massachusetts initially began to issue driver’s licenses and registration plates in June 1903.
39. The 3rd Monday of April is a lawful holiday known as Patriot’s Day in Massachusetts.
40. First Thanksgiving Day was celebrated in Plymouth in 1621.
41. William Hill Brown published The Power of Sympathy in Worcester in 1789. A reworking of Goethe’s Sorrows of Young Werther, it is believed to be the very original American novel.
42. The 14 counties of Massachusetts comprise 33 towns and 43 cities.
43. Charles Goodyear in Woburn first made vulcanized rubber in 1839.
44. Elias Howe of Boston invented the first sewing machine in 1845.
45. The first surface vessel powered by nuclear energy, USS Long Beach CG (N) 9, was launched in Quincy in 1961.
46. The USS Constitution ‘Old Ironsides’, The oldest fully operational vessel within the US Navy, is permanently berthed at Charlestown Navy Yard. Since 1897, the ship has been overhauled numerous times at Dry Dock 1.
47. Revere Beach was the first public beach in the United States and is host to Suffolk Downs horse racing track, Wonderland dog racing track, and the 14-screen Cinema Complex.
48. The official dessert of the state of Massachusetts is Boston cream pie.
49. Milford is famous worldwide for its unique pink granite, discovered in the 1870s and quarried for years to decorate the exteriors of monuments, government buildings, and railway stations.
50. Acushnet is home to The Titleist golf ball maker.

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