On August 27, 1918 Boston became acquainted with the epidemic that has gone down in history as the “Spanish flu.” A more accurate name for this disease outbreak might be the “Boston flu,” because our city is where this influenza variant mutated and first turned truly deadly. The first cases of this new and deadly disease were reported in South Boston 100 years ago this week. Soon, Boston would suffer nearly a thousand deaths per week as the disease peaked. Before it was over, up to 20% of the world’s population would be infected. With up to 100 million people killed, the 1918 flu was the most deadly disease in human history.
Pandemic 1918
- Find out more about our special guest Lori Lyn Price on her website.
- Our listeners share family memories of the 1918 flu.
- A collection of flu related materials from the Harvard Library.
- More about Boston’s experience with the disease from Influenza Archive.
- An article in the Journal of Public Health Reports tracks the spread of flu through US military bases.
- Warnings about our current preparedness for a similar flu.
- A 1982 article about the outbreak from Yankee Magazine.
- A possible origin of the virus in China.
- The annual report of the Boston Health Department following the flu.
- More city documents.
- Tent city hospitals in Newton and Lawrence.
- Commonwealth Pier in roughly 1919, and with a docked troopship.
Featured Historic Site
The 1836 Chelsea Naval Hospital is one of the last spots near Boston that’s directly connected to the 1918 flu outbreak. Along with that history, Chelsea Naval Hospital treated US Navy and Marine Corps personnel during the Civil War, Spanish American War, and both World Wars. It also treated both civilian and military personnel who were injured in the apocalyptic 1908 Chelsea Fire. Famous patients include both John Quincy Adams, who was treated there after his presidency, and John Fitzgerald Kennedy, who was treated before his presidency.
The naval hospital closed in 1974, and the remaining buildings were redeveloped into condos in the early 1980s. Today, you can walk down Commandant’s Way in Chelsea to see the remaining hospital building, Commandant’s quarters, and powder magazines. Across the street is Mary O’Malley Park, with a close up view of the busy Mystic River basin. Take the 111 bus to the corner of Beacon Street and Broadway, or take the Beacon Street exit off route 1 as soon as you cross the Tobin Bridge.
Upcoming Event
On Friday, August 31, the Massachusetts Historical Society is hosting a lunchtime talk titled “Masters of the Market: Ship Captaincy in the Colonial British Atlantic.” It’s all about the economics of ship ownership taking place in the century before the economics of clipper ships we discussed with Steven Ujifusa in episode 89. Here’s how the MHS website describes it:
During the colonial period, captains acted as powerful auxiliaries for their vessel owners in markets far from the owners’ direct oversight. This talk explores why the economic services ship captains provided transformed as the Atlantic trading economy became more complex, capital intensive, and informed in the eighteenth century.
The talk will be given by Hannah Tucker of UVA on August 31 at noon. Bring a brown bag lunch to enjoy during the discussion. The event is free, and no registration is required.