On August 8, 1920, an epic brawl broke out on Revere Beach when police attempted to arrest a group of four disorderly sailors. In the chaos that followed, 400 sailors attempted to storm the police station to free their comrades, even stealing rifles from the beachfront shooting galleries and turning them against the police. Soldiers from nearby Fort Banks had to be called out to restore order at the point of a bayonet. It was the height of Revere Beach’s early 20th century popularity, when it was seen as Boston’s Coney Island, with roller coasters, restaurants, and dance halls lining the beach just north of the city.
Bullets on the Boardwalk
- 400 Sailors Riot, Shoot Up Beach, New York Times, August 9, 1920
- Four Sailors Sentenced for Revere Rioting, Boston Evening Globe, August 10, 1920 (complete with headlines about Ponzi’s scheme falling apart and photos of the riot’s aftermath)
- Quell Revere Beach Riots, New York Times, August 10, 1920
- Four Sailors Go To Deer Island, Boston Post, August 10, 1920
- Naval Board Probe of Revere Beach Riot, Boston Post, August 12, 1920
- “Naval Raid” in Boston, Army and Navy Register, August 14, 1920
- A brief overview of the history of Revere Beach
Featured Historic Site
Back in Episode 70, we interviewed author Ryan Walsh about his new book Astral Weeks: A Secret History of 1968. On August 16, he’ll be appearing at the main branch of the Boston Public Library in Copley Square to discuss:
a mind-expanding dive into a lost chapter of 1968, featuring the famous and forgotten: Van Morrison, folkie-turned-cult-leader Mel Lyman, Timothy Leary, James Brown, and many more.
Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks is an iconic rock album shrouded in legend, a masterpiece that has touched generations of listeners and influenced everyone from Bruce Springsteen to Martin Scorsese. Walsh unearths the album’s fascinating backstory—along with the untold secrets of the time and place that birthed it: Boston 1968.
This event will be held on Thursday, August 16, 2018 from 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM.
Upcoming Event
One of these days, we’ll record an episode about the first public demonstration of surgical anesthetic. On October 16, 1846, a dentist named William TG Morton used ether to anesthetize a patient while famous surgeon John Collins Warren removed a tumor from his neck.
Today, you can visit the operating room where this momentous occasion took place. The Ether Dome is one the oldest operating theaters in the United States. Over the years, there has been a concerted effort to restore the original architecture of the Ether Dome while also incorporating modern technology for educational uses today. It resembles a courtroom or a theater where surgeries were performed at the center of the dome. The room has seats arranged in the style of an amphitheater to allow surgeons and doctors to see the details of the medical procedures performed. The location of the dome and the large glass ceiling and windows that compose the dome let in light for operations to be performed.
Visitors can explore the unique architecture and a small collection of artifacts, including an oil painting of the famous first surgery, an Egyptian mummy, and early surgical tools. Located on the 4th floor of the Bullfinch Building at at 55 Fruit Street, the museum is free and open Monday through Friday, 9am to 5pm.