Happy Birthday, Boston!
Happy birthday, Boston!
You’re 384 years old today, and baby, you’ve still got it.
The Massachusetts State House
Your illogical street system is charming. Your hot-tempered drivers with their “2 Fast 2 Furious’’ street maneuvers are plucky. A trip to your South Bay Target reveals your melting pot of people, all fighting in unison over the same crappy mattress pad.
From the moment we watched the sun set over your iconic CITGO sign, we knew you were something special.
The CITGO sign in Kenmore Square glowed.
You were just a little town when English Puritans settled beyond your rocky shores on September 17, 1630. You would rock that charming town status till 1822, when you were officially deemed a city, according to the City of Boston.
Your original population—just a handful of persecuted Puritans—has swelled to around 617,594 people. Esteemed doctors, teachers, lawyers, and scientists flock to you because you are the brain and blood of New England. You foster excellence.
You’ve charmed us with your brick Federal-style row houses in Beacon Hill, your colorful neighborhoods, your multitude of museums. When we run along the Charles River Esplanade and watch tiny white sailboats bob along MIT’s banks, our breath is taken away. Literally. Because some aggressive runner probably just knocked us out of their path for lingering too long. But you get the point.
Boats bobbed in the calm water of the Charles River in the lagoon near the Hatch Shell on the Charles River Esplanade.
Your occasional subzero temperatures make our wet hair freeze to our winter coats, but your diehard Red Sox fans and your ubiquitous Dunkin’ Donuts make up for it.
Literary luminaries Henry David Thoreau, Edgar Allen Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Ralph Waldo Emerson spent time on your cobbled streets. As did musicians Donna Summer, Aerosmith, and James Taylor. You were where B.J. Novak, Conan O’Brien, Amy Poehler, and Mindy Kaling made people laugh. Hell, you even inspired Katherine Lee Bates to pen “America the Beautiful.’’
The cotton gin, penicillin, the telegraph system, Morse Code, and liquid-fueled ROCKETS were created (at least in part) in your laboratories. Rockets, guys!
You were the cradle for Founding Fathers Samuel Adams, John Hancock, and John Adams who met in your Old State House, whispering about the need for the American Revolution.
In the face of terrorism and tragedy at the Boston Marathon Bombings, your citizens showed unlimited reserves of compassion and strength.
Boston Marathon Bombing survivors Celeste Corcoran (center) and her daughter Sydney Corcoran (R) reacted after crossing the finish line with Celeste’s sister Carmen Acabbo (L) during the 118th Boston Marathon on April 21, 2014 in Boston.
Ask any two people why they love you and their answers could be poles a part. One thing is certain: There is no city in the country that holds a candle to you.
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