Boston Antique Maps

Boston may be famous for its love of baseball and beans (hence the moniker Beantown), but all you have to do is look at a vintage antique map of Boston to gain a glimpse at the long history enjoyed by this East Coast city. Today it may be the largest city in Massachusetts and the state capital, but it started as a small English settlement almost 400 years ago. Here are a few tidbits about Boston history that you will learn from looking at an old map of Boston.

 In the tradition of English settlements of the time, Boston was named after a corresponding city in England (Boston, Lincolnshire) when Puritans from nearby Charlestown settled there in 1630. It was here that the Boston Latin School, the first school in America, was founded in 1635. Boston would soon grow to become the largest city in pre-revolutionary America and hold that place until Philadelphia outgrew it in the 18th century. This, paired with the location of the city, made Boston a prominent player in several wars, most notably the American Revolutionary War.

 The Boston Massacre on March 5, 1770, in which British soldiers fired into a crowd of Bostonians, killing five, was used by revolutionaries to fuel support for independence from England. Paul Revere's famous engraving of the incident memorialized the slaughter. This was followed by the Boston Tea Party in 1773. On December 16, the Sons of Liberty and other demonstrators boarded ships in Boston Harbor and threw their cargo of tea into the water to protest the notion of taxation without representation. This idea would become a pillar of the newly formed United States.

 Other notable events of the American Revolutionary War that centered around Boston include the Battles of Lexington and Concord and the Battle of Bunker Hill. Paul Revere made his famed midnight ride where he warned revolutionaries that the British were coming. These incidents can be charted through writing, art, and historic maps of Boston at the time. Since then, Boston has flourished as not only a hub of international trade, thanks largely to its harbor, but also enjoyed a manufacturing boom during the 19th century. Since the 20th century Boston has been renowned for its leather goods and garments.

 With its long history, dedication to education and culture, and prominent family lines, Boston would also produce several notable figures. Members of the Kennedy family and famed literary figures Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow all trace back to the Boston area. Today, maps of the region are drastically different from antique maps of Boston. With nearly 400 years of history and an estimated population nearing 700,000, this is no surprise. Visitors to Beantown today can expect to find a city rich in culture, history, and pride.