I don't want to be a curmudgeon, but Boston wasn't founded on 17 November 1630 as indicated by a local real estate website. While I realize that it is tempting to use free content for one's website, you often get what you pay for. To be clear: On 7 September 1630 the Court of Assistants met at John Winthrop's house and decided that "It is ordered, that the Trimountaine shalbe called Boston; Mattapan, and Dorchester; & the towne vpon Charles Ryuer, Waterton." And while 7 September might be the legal recognition of Boston's founding, Winthrop and his group had been in the Boston area since June of 1630, when they landed in Salem and made their way to Charlestown and then to present-day Boston later that summer. There are numerous other errors: John Winthrop's famous sermon on the Arbella wasn't called "A City Upon a Hill", it was titled "A Model of Christian Charity". In short, rely on that Wikipedia entry at your own peril.
Still, 17 November 1630 as a founding date is closer than the author and illustrator of the book You Can't Take a Balloon Into The Museum of Fine Arts came. When you open the book you're greeted with an illustrated map of Boston bearing the claim "Boston, Massachusetts Founded 1625". 1625? That's not even close. My guess is that they used the date of the arrival of William Blaxton on the Shawmut peninsula as the founding date for Boston. Visit the Partnership of Historic Bostons for more information about the early history of Boston.
Do you have a Boston history project you're working on? I'm available to consult. Email me.
Good thing we have you to weigh in on all things historical in Boston!
Posted by: Rhea | 26 February 2007 at 09:31
FWIW, you're free to edit said Wikipedia article and remove the inaccuracies. That's kind of the point of Wikipedia's existence.
Posted by: Ian W. | 26 February 2007 at 11:48
Why not fix the wikipedia article? Anybody can.
Do you have a reference for the Sept 7th date? I couldn't find it from the link.
Posted by: Jonathan | 26 February 2007 at 13:33
While I've given some thought to fixing the date in the Wikipedia entry, there is so much wrong with the Boston entry that it ultimately needs to be completely rewritten. I barely have enough time to write my own blog, much less fix all of the errors related to Boston history I find in Wikipedia.
If I'm going to go to the trouble of writing a history of Boston, I'm going to publish it here where I retain editorial control. I don't think collaboration necessarily results in a good consistent product.
There is also the issue of some images and text from my blog appearing on Wikimedia Commons in violation of my copyright. Repeated requests to remove my material have been ignored so I'm not feeling particularly charitable towards Wikimedia.
Posted by: Charles Swift | 26 February 2007 at 14:55
Link to the information about the source of 7 September 1630 as the date of Boston's founding: http://bostonhistory.typepad.com/notes_on_the_urban_condit/2006/08/charter_day_cel.html
Posted by: Charles Swift | 26 February 2007 at 15:02