Famous firsts in Massachusetts
1621: First Thanksgiving, Plymouth
1634: First public park in America, Boston Common
1635: First American public secondary school, Boston Latin Grammar School
1636: First American university, Harvard, Cambridge
1638: First American printing press, Cambridge
1639: First free American public school, Boston
1650: First American ironworks, Saugus
1653: First American public library, Boston
1704: First regularly issued American newspaper, The Boston News-Letter
1716: First American lighthouse, Boston Harbor
1775: First battle of American Revolution, Lexington and Concord
1775: First commissioned ship of U.S. Navy, Beverly
1789: First American novel published, William Hill Brown’s “The Power of Sympathy,” Worcester
1826: First American railroad, Quincy
1831: First abolitionist newspaper, The Liberator, Boston
1876: First telephone demonstrated by Alexander Graham Bell, Boston
1891: First basketball game, Springfield
1892: First gasoline-powered automobile, Springfield
1898: First American subway system, Boston
1926: First liquid fuel rocket, launched by Dr. Robert Goddard, Auburn
1928: First computer, developed at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge

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