How did Boston come to host the first concert ever performed in what’s now the United States? Why was Boston resistant to the idea of a concert until almost 60 years after they became common in our ancestral city of London? When did Puritan Boston relax its rules and customs enough to allow public performances of secular music? Who brought the idea of charging for admission to a musical performance to colonial Boston, and what artistic legacy did he leave behind here? Listen now to find out!

Full show notes: http://HUBhistory.com/264/

Support us: http://patreon.com/HUBhistory/

Boston witnessed a grim Christmas in 1774, at the height of the British occupation. There had been redcoats in Boston for six years at that point, but after the Tea Party the previous December, the number of occupying troops skyrocketed, until there was nearly one British soldier for every adult male Bostonian. They were there to enforce the intolerable acts, and their presence only fanned the flames of rebellion in the colony. An increased Army presence in Boston always led to an increase in desertions, and December 1774 was no exception. On the 17th, while his unit was away on exercises, Private William Ferguson got really drunk, and then he either tried to desert and start a new life here in America, or he went to see about getting some laundry done. Either way, he was convicted, and Boston was shocked to bear witness to an execution by firing squad in the middle of Boston Common, bright and early on Christmas Eve.

Full show notes: http://HUBhistory.com/263/

Support us: http://patreon.com/HUBhistory/

For Thanksgiving, we are revisiting three classic episodes of HUB History. First, learn how the carol “Over the River and Through the Wood” started out as a Thanksgiving song, and why the songwriter’s extreme beliefs almost cost her livelihood. Then, hear how 19th century Boston got the vast flocks of turkeys needed for a traditional Thanksgiving to market, and then to the dining room table. And finally, prepare to be surprised when you hear that college students, even Harvard students and even John Adams’ kids, have been known to drink and cause trouble, such as the 1787 Thanksgiving day riot.

Full show notes: http://HUBhistory.com/262/

Support us: http://patreon.com/HUBhistory/

106 years ago this week, a terrible accident took place within sight of South Station. November 7, 1916 was election day in Boston, but it was an otherwise completely ordinary autumn afternoon for the passengers who packed themselves into streetcar number 393 of the Boston Elevated Railway for their evening commute through South Boston to South Station and Downtown Crossing. The everyday monotony of the trip home was shattered in an instant, when the streetcar crashed through the closed gates of the Summer Street bridge and plunged through the open drawbridge and into the dark and frigid water below. How many could be saved, and how many would have to perish for this evening to be remembered as Boston’s greatest moment of tragedy for a generation?

Full show notes: http://HUBhistory.com/261/

Support us: http://patreon.com/HUBhistory/

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