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Boston Common was America's first public park, deemed so in 1634. Similarly, Revere Beach was the country's first public beach.
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In 1897, Boston built the first subway ever in the U.S.
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On March 10, 1876, Alexander Graham Bell placed history's first phone call in his Boston machine shop to his assistant, Thomas A. Watson.
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The Fig Newton was named in honor of the Boston-area enclave of Newton.
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For the years between 1659 and 1681, the pilgrims outlawed the celebration of Christmas in Boston.
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The Boston suburb of Quincy is home to the first Dunkin Donuts (located on Hancock Street), as well as the nation's first Howard Johnson's (situated on Newport Avenue).
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Agawam gets credit for the country's first zip code – 01001.
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The Bosont Massacre began over a wig when a British officer, Captain Lieutenant John Goldfinch, failed to pay his bill.
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In 1636, Harvard University was the first college founded in North America.
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Established in 1639, the Mather school in Dorchester was the first public elementary school in the U.S.
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Plymouth celebrated the nation's first Thanksgiving Day in 1621.
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Considered to be the first American novel, William Hill Brown's The Power of Sympathy was published in Worcester in 1789.
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In 1845, Boston's Elias Howe invented the sewing machine. A few years earlier, in 1839, Charles Goodyear was the first to vulcanize rubber in Woburn.
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The present-day population of Boston consists of 250,000 college students and 600,000 non-students.
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Of Boston's nearly 850 restaurants, fewer than 40 serve fast food.
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Logan International Airport is built on top of what was formerly part of Boston Harbor prior to a massive landfill project.
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Another landfill project that began in 1857, created Boston's Back Bay neighborhood out of what was once 570 acres of water.
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The Peabody Essex Museum houses more than 550 original documents from the Salem witch trials of 1692.
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Almost 70% of Boston residents are renters rather than home owners.
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The Boston University Bridge on Commonwealth Avenue has the distinct recognition of being the only place on the planet where a boat can sail under a train going under a car that is driving under an airplane.
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Researchers at Clark University in Worcester invented the birth control pill.
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The Boston Tea Party is reenacted each December 16 in Boston Harbor.
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The Ted Williams Tunnel runs some 90 feet below the earth's surface, making it the deepest in North America.
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Boston's first mayor with a car, James Michael Curley, chose the license plate number "576" based on the number of letters in his name. The plate number is still used for the mayor of Boston's official car.
