Tag: 20th Century

The Gamblers’ Riot (episode 189)

For almost 400 years now, Boston has never needed much prompting to start a riot.  There have been anti-Catholic riots, anti-immigrant riots, anti-Catholic immigrant riots, anti-draft riots, pro-draft riots, anti-slavery riots, pro-slavery riots, bread riots, busing riots, and police riots. In the 20th century, sports began to be a driving factor behind riots in Boston. Long before Victoria Snelgrove was killed by a police pepperball after the 2004 World Series, before the fires and overturned cars after the 2001 Super Bowl, there was the Gamblers’ Riot. 103 years ago this week, gamblers at Fenway Park got mad at the umpires, at Babe Ruth, and at the Chicago White Sox and stormed the field. Listen now to learn what happened next!

Also… Hey, we won an award! Continue reading The Gamblers’ Riot (episode 189)

Marathon Man, with Bill Rodgers (episode 187)

HUB History loves the Boston Marathon almost as much as we love Boston history. Patriots Day is one of Nikki’s favorite days of the year, and Jake has run Boston for charity. Just days before the BAA announced that the 124th Boston Marathon would have to be held as a virtual event, we had an opportunity to chat with a Boston Marathon legend. Bill “Boston Billy” Rodgers is a four-time winner of the Boston marathon, so we were excited to talk to him about marathon history, the runners he looks up to, and his own historic runs. Listen now!


Continue reading Marathon Man, with Bill Rodgers (episode 187)

Black Radical: The Life and Times of William Monroe Trotter, with Kerri Greenidge (episode183)

From his Harvard graduation in 1895 to his death in 1934, William Monroe Trotter was one of the most influential and uncompromising advocates for the rights of Black Americans.  He was a leader who had the vision to co-found groups like the Niagara Movement and the NAACP, but he also had an ego that prevented him from working effectively within the movements he started.  He was a critic of Booker T Washington, and an early ally of Marcus Garvey.  Monroe Trotter was the publisher of the influential Black newspaper the Boston Guardian, and he is the subject of a new biography by Tufts Professor Kerri Greenidge called Black Radical: The Life and Times of William Monroe Trotter.   


Continue reading Black Radical: The Life and Times of William Monroe Trotter, with Kerri Greenidge (episode183)

Ghosts and Shadows of Automobile Row, with Ken Liss (episode 180)

In the early 20th century, car dealerships, tire companies, parts distributors, and other related businesses lined a section of Commonwealth Avenue in Allston that was known as Automobile Row, a sort of urban forefather of the suburban Auto Mile today.  Local historian Ken Liss joins the show to tell us what made these early dealerships special, who some of the personalities behind Automobile Row were, and where you can see traces of this history today. 


Continue reading Ghosts and Shadows of Automobile Row, with Ken Liss (episode 180)

The Missing Passengers of Flight 30 (episode 175)

World Airways flight 30 landed at Logan Airport on January 23, 1982, in the middle of an ice storm. The plane touched down late on a slippery runway, sliding into Boston Harbor and breaking in half.  The passengers and flight attendants pulled off an impressive self rescue, and fewer than 40 of the 198 passengers and 12 crew were hospitalized. While the FAA, Massport, and World Airways all argued publicly about who was to blame for the accident, they all agreed that it was a miracle that nobody had been killed in the crash…  Or had they?


Continue reading The Missing Passengers of Flight 30 (episode 175)

The Millen Gang Machine Gun Murders (episode 170)

86 years ago today, on February 2, 1934, the first murders were committed in Massachusetts using a fully automatic weapon.  Sadly, the victims were the first police officers to be killed in the line of duty in the sleepy Boston suburb of Needham.  At the center of the case were a stolen Tommy gun, a pair of brothers, and a ragtag assortment of followers. Before it was all over, the Millen-Faber gang would be tied to at least five murders, a long string of robberies, and an attempted jailbreak.  Three of the crew would be sentenced to death, and the shocking spectacle of military grade weapons being used on the streets of a quiet Boston suburb would stoke the already raging debate about gun control and the 1934 federal firearms act.


Continue reading The Millen Gang Machine Gun Murders (episode 170)

The Hub of the Gay Universe, with Russ Lopez (episode 167)

Dr. Russ Lopez joins us this week to discuss his recent book, The Hub of the Gay Universe: An LGBTQ History of Boston, Provincetown, and Beyond.  Russ called in from a vacation in California to talk about Puritan attitudes toward sin and sodomy, the late 19th century golden age for LGBTQ Boston, the tragic toll of the AIDS crisis, and the long fight for marriage equality.


Continue reading The Hub of the Gay Universe, with Russ Lopez (episode 167)

Fannie Farmer’s Cookbook (episode 159)

Just in time for your fantasies about the perfect Thanksgiving meal, we’re going to introduce you to Boston’s matriarch of modern cooking this week. You probably thought that Julia Child was Greater Boston’s original top chef, but a generation before Julia launched her career, Fannie Farmer published a cookbook that revolutionized the way that recipes are presented, made cooking accessible to the average home maker, and put Boston at the center of kitchens across the nation.

As a side note, your humble hosts moved this weekend, so this episode will be on the shorter side, but we hope to be back next week in full force.


Continue reading Fannie Farmer’s Cookbook (episode 159)

Harvard Harnesses the Heavens (episode 158)

Since we “fell back” to Standard Time this past weekend, Boston has been forced to adjust to 4:30 sunsets.  To help us understand why the sun sets so early in Boston in the winter and what we could do about it, we’re going to replay a classic episode about how the idea of time zones and standard time was born in Boston, with the help of the Harvard Observatory.  And because we’re talking about the observatory, we have to share the story of the women who worked as human computers at the Harvard Observatory.


Continue reading Harvard Harnesses the Heavens (episode 158)

The Atlas of Boston History, with Nancy Seasholes (episode 156)

We’re joined this week by Nancy Seasholes, editor of the new book The Atlas of Boston History, which just came out on Thursday.  It’s a historic atlas of Boston that covers the period from the last ice age, right up to the present day.  It contains essays contributed by a wide range of well regarded local historians, as well as many written by Seasholes herself.  However, what sets this book apart is its beauty. As the name Atlas indicates, it is richly illustrated with maps, charts, diagrams, infographics, historical photos, paintings, and more.  It’s a book that I will use as a reference far into the future, and one that any of my fellow Boston history nerds will love.


Continue reading The Atlas of Boston History, with Nancy Seasholes (episode 156)