How Much Do You Know About Boston?

The Battles of Lexington and Concord and Bunker Hill are well-documented examples of Revolutionary battles. Oak Square however, is just a place.

In 2010, the census found 617,594 living in Boston, a 4.8% jump from 2000. We wonder what 2020 will have to show!

The Massachusetts Bay Colony was settled in 1630, laying the foundations for Boston.

Paul Revere's famous ride (which involved other, unsung riders as well) took place on April 18, 1775.

A clipper ship is a three-masted, square-sailed ship designed for speed. These were common in the late 1700s.

Frank J. Sprague was an inventor who worked briefly for Edison, and then set out to build his own empire. After several false starts, a fully-electric public transport system got underway in Boston using a Sprague branded motor, which Edison called "the only electric motor." Edison liked it so much, he purchased the patent and slapped his name on it. The conquest of Boston by electric motor enabled electric trains to take hold the world over.

While sometimes called the Beaneaters and the Red Caps, the Boston Red Stockings was the name of the first professional baseball team in Boston. This is not to be confused with the Red Sox. The Stockings were an NL team, and they evolved into the Boston and later Atlanta Braves. The Red Sox were the upstart American League team, and a rival. The Red Stockings were previously the Cincinnati Red Stockings.

The Broad Institute is the epicenter of all bleeding edge genetic research. Having decoded the human genome, they sit at the forefront of research into human origins, and the science of DNA.

Boston has produced a truly epic number of musicians, including some the best rock bands in history, and also Godsmack.

MA Financial Services launched the very first mutual fund in Boston, starting a trend that would see the financial instrument used the world over.

MIT is and was the premiere science and engineering university in the US, and its professors, students and alumni played a major part in the development of the atomic bomb.

Ted Williams was one of the greatest batters for all time, and he played for the Boston Red Sox. He was the last player to hit at least .400, and his career average was a fantastic .344.

Because it was the era before Facebook, or perhaps in spite of that fact, by the time news of the Boston Massacre reached New York, it was said that hundreds had been shot and killed in the "massacre".

The Boston "Massacre" only involved five people being killed by the British soldiers. While tragic, it was hardly the slaughterhouse of mass killing rumored in New York. Of course, news has a way of being blown way out of proportion.

Due to their incredible current run of championships, the New England Patriots have five championships, which given how hapless the team was 20 years ago, is very impressive.

The Celtics have nearly always been a great basketball team, and are nearly always in contention. They have 17 championships, which is pretty good.

The Red Sox have always been a pretty good team, but fate has repeatedly conspired to thwart their bids for the World Series championship. From 1918 to 2004, the team did not win one championship, while their rivals in New York racked them up over and over, even before free agency. Now the Red Sox have a great team, and just need to win 19 years in a row to equal the record of their hated rivals, the Yankees.

The Boston Bruins are a major fixture in the sporting landscape of this competitive city and they have been around since 1924.

Final Clubs are clubs joined in the final year at Harvard, and they enable networking among the most elite of the most elite at the most elite university in the world.

JFK was a proud New Englander, and his Presidential Library is located in Boston. His family has deep roots in the region, and moved up the societal rungs from rum running to Ivy League elite.

There is an MIT Museum where you can see photos and films of the MIT pranks, including putting a police car on top of a school dome. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg was a Harvard student when he invented the website. Indeed, of all MLB teams, the Red Sox were the last all-white team.

Boston Dynamics, which is currently being spun off by corporate parent Google, is at the forefront of physical robotics and mechanical AI development. They build quadrupedal and bipedal robots intended to pave the way for first responder and military rescue robots.

Originally, Fenway Park was built as part of an elaborate real estate con, but the stadium, and the name stuck, despite it being built on the swampy, undesirable part of town.

Cheers, one of the most popular sitcoms of all time, and the source of many a spin-off, is based on the goings on and regulars at The Bull & Finch, a pub in Boston.

While Mystic River takes place in Boston, Mystic Pizza takes place in Mystic, CT. It has a young actor in it though, who happens to be from Boston. That teenager's name is Matt Damon.

While Being Human, Ally McBeal and Banacek all take place in Boston, Northern Exposure takes place in Anchorage, Alaska.

1755 saw the Cape Ann earthquake, a 6.0 magnitude earthquake that was felt for hundreds of miles, and resulted in an uptick of religious fervor in the city.

The Boston Brahmins were the elite families of Boston, who after throwing off the class-shackles of British rule, established exactly the same hierarchy in America, naming suitable families, and respectable professions for said families.

That number is not adjusted for inflation. The financial center of Boston burned, causing about $60 million in damage in 1872 dollars.

David Ortiz AKA Big Papi and Manny Ramirez formed one of the most fearsome hitting duos in baseball history, going on torrid hitting streaks and amassing both homers and walks.

The Cocoanut Grove fire was a fire at the Cocoanut Grove nightclub in 1942. It resulted in the deaths of 492 people, and was one of the deadliest fires in US history, sitting behind the 1903 Iroquois Theatre fire in Chicago, and the 2001 attack on the World Trade Center in New York.

The Central Artery/Tunnel Project or Big Dig as it came to be known was a massive infrastructure project, threading I-83 through the heart of the city by putting a tunnel beneath it. It took much longer than originally estimated, angered many, and on the day it opened a piece of the ceiling fell in, killing a driver passing under it.

Andrew Natsios, who finished the Big Dig project, was immediately put in charge of rebuilding the infrastructure of Iraq under the 2003 Provisional Government, by the Bush administration.

In 1722, 10,500 lived in Boston, and 14% of those died from a series of cholera outbreaks.

The river running through Boston is called The Charles River, named for King Charles I by John Smith (yes, that one) who explored the area.