The North End Draft Riot (episode 252)

By the summer of 1863, the Civil War had dragged on longer than anyone thought at the outset, and leaders on both sides were desperate for more money, arms, manufactured goods, and most of all men.  That growing desperation had inspired secretary of war Edwin Stanton to authorize Massachusetts governor John Andrew to start enlisting the nation’s first Black troops a few months before, including the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment, whose well deserved fame was refreshed with the movie Glory.  The influx of fresh and motivated troops contributed to Union gains throughout the rest of the war, but the so-called colored regiments were not enough.  In July of that year, Congress passed a law compelling able bodied men into military service for the first time.  Here in Boston, the burden of that draft law fell disproportionately on the working class Irish Americans of South Boston and the North End.  And as we’ll see, the Irish had strong resentments based in class, race, religion, and economics that made them suspicious of compulsory service.  These tensions boiled over on the evening of July 14th, 1863 as marshals attempted to serve the first draft notices in the crowded and narrow streets of the North End, with the US Army eventually firing artillery and small arms into a crowd of civilian protesters at point blank range.  


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Boston’s Long Wharf: A Path to the Sea, with Professor Kelly Kilcrease (episode 245)

Professor Kelly Kilcrease of UNH Manchester joins us on the podcast this week to discuss his new book, Boston’s Long Wharf: A Path to the Sea.   Today, Long Wharf is easily missed along Boston’s waterfront, but that’s because the rest of the city has grown up around what was once considered one of the great wonders of the modern world.  From the beginning of the 18th century until the early 20th century, Long Wharf was the grand front entrance to our city, welcoming visitors, sea captains, immigrants, and even enslaved Africans.  Dr Kilcrease will tell us why the grand pier was built, how the proprietors funded it, and how it has changed over the past 300 years.


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Launching the USS Constitution (episode 207)

The USS Constitution is the most famous ship in Boston history, and perhaps in the history of the US Navy.  When the Navy was reborn in 1794, the Constitution was among the first fleet of frigates that made up its backbone.  A decade later, the USS Constitution would earn a brilliant, nearly flawless record of naval combat against the British in the war of 1812, and today it stands as the oldest commissioned warship afloat in the world and the last American ship to sink an enemy in a ship-to-ship duel.  However, the Constitution’s origins were far from flawless.  It was part of a procurement program that was nearly cancelled, and the famous frigate was almost scrapped before it was even completed.  After it was rescued and completed, the USS Constitution took not one, not two, but three attempts to successfully launch.


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The Secret Tunnels of Boston’s North End (episode 143)

If you’ve ever taken a walking tour of Boston’s North End, or if you’ve talked to the old timers in the neighborhood, you’ve probably heard stories about the network of so-called secret pirate tunnels or smugglers’ tunnels that connects the wharves to the basements of houses, Old North Church, and even crypts in Copp’s Hill burying ground.  Sometimes the tunnels are attributed to a Captain Gruchy, who’s often called a pirate or a smuggler, and who is portrayed as a shadowy figure. It doesn’t take much research to debunk this version of the story, and yet there is historical evidence for tunnels under the streets of the North End. This week, we’ll take a look at that evidence and try to separate fact from fiction.


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When Boston Invented Playgrounds (episode 111)

In the late 19th century, a new revolution in play was born in Boston.  In an era when urban children had few spaces to play except in the alleys and courtyards around their tenements, and child labor meant that many kids had no opportunities to play at all, an immigrant doctor inspired a Boston women’s group to take up the topic of play.  From its humble beginnings in a single sandpile in the North End, the playground movement grew to a quasi-scientific pursuit, until it was finally adopted as a national goal. By the early 20th century, safe playgrounds with structured, supervised play were seen as vital to children’s moral and educational development.


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Pope’s Night, Remastered (Ep75)

This week, we’re revisiting the bizarre holiday known as Pope’s Night that was celebrated in early Boston.  Having evolved out of the British observation of Guy Fawkes Day, Boston took the event to extremes.  The virulently anti-Catholic colonists in our town held festive bonfires, parades, and plenty of drinking.  Almost every year, the celebration would lead to massive street fights and riots that sometimes turned deadly, all to commemorate a thwarted plot against the British Parliament.  Pope’s Night was the subject of our very first podcast, and we’re happy to revisit it here with better research, more practiced storytelling, and hopefully better audio quality.


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The Great Molasses Flood, Remastered (Ep73)

This week we’re revisiting Boston’s great Molasses Flood, the subject of one of our earliest podcasts.  We’re giving you an update, now that our technology, research, and storytelling skills have improved. Stay tuned for tales of rum, anarchists, and the speed of molasses in January. It’s not slow!


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Episode 13: Katherine Nanny Naylor, Boston’s Original Nasty Woman

Boston in the 1600s was a theocracy, where the Puritan church ruled, and women were seen in many ways as the property of their husbands or fathers.  Against that backdrop, a woman named Katherine Nanny Naylor stands out.  She was able to win a divorce against her abusive and unfaithful husband, then spent the next 30 years as an entrepreneur.  She provided herself and her family with a prosperous lifestyle, while living her life independently.  Listen to this week’s episode, and celebrate Boston’s original nasty woman!

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Episode 3: Slower Than Molasses

Update: We revisited this topic in Episode 73, with better audio, better research, and better storytelling.  You should listen to that one instead!

When an industrial tank collapsed in Boston’s North End in 1919, a wave of molasses destroyed the surrounding neighborhood.  21 people were killed and at least 150 were injured, along with an untold number of horses.  This tragedy is made all the worse by the fact that it was entirely preventable.  Find out more in this week’s episode!

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