This guide to the City of Boston was created by Mass Mobile Massage, your source for the best chair massage near Boston, MA. Founded in 1629 by English Puritan settlers, Boston is notable today for being the largest city in New England and the political, cultural, and economic lynchpin of America’s northeast region.

The Cambridge Agreement of 1629 established the early settlement of Boston in Massachusetts Bay Colony. This colony was to be a self-governing entity that answered only to the British monarch. Later, the neighboring colony of Plymouth would merge with Massachusetts Bay in 1691 to form the modern-day boundaries of the Greater Boston Area.

During the American Revolution (1765-1775), Boston assumed a leading role for the Patriots. Boston merchants and port workers protested against the British Empire’s Stamp Act of 1765. In response, Britain sent 4,000 troops to Boston as a show of force in 1768. Boston intellectuals such as Samuel Adams and John Rowe helped coin the revolutionary maxim “No Taxation without Representation,” and eventually helped precipitate the infamous Boston Tea Party.

During the Revolutionary War, the area surrounding Boston staged the Battle of Lexington and Concord, which proved decisive in ensuring the victory of the Patriots and the independence of the United States of America. Since the Revolution, Boston has emerged as an economic powerhouse and an international center for science, innovation, medicine, and technology. With a population of roughly 4.7 million, the Greater Boston Area is home to some of the brightest minds in the country.

Modern Boston, MA

In 2007, a megaproject, known locally as the Big Dig, completed construction. The Big Dig rerouted the I-93 highway from the center of the city into a 1.5-mile-long tunnel that runs under the harbor. The project, which cost $14.6 billion in today’s dollars, moved the main highway through the city underground. The Big Dig remains the most expensive and technically sophisticated public works projects in the US.

In 2004, the Boston Red Sox won the World Series championship for the first time since 1918, breaking the infamous Curse of the Bambino. Tragically, the 2013 Boston Marathon Bombing took the lives of three event spectators. Despite facing challenges, Boston has emerged in recent years as a world leader at the forefront of the high tech, medicine, and nanotechnology industries.

Marty Walsh was elected the 54th Mayor of Boston in 2014, an office that he has held ever since. Prior to assuming office, Walsh was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives in the 13th Suffolk district.

Industrial Development

From its founding to the first half of the 20th-century, Boston was a hotbed for the production of textiles, wool, and leather. In the post-war era, however, Boston has shed much of its blue-collar roots and is now a highly professionalized city with thriving healthcare, higher education, financial service, insurance, science, and engineering industries.

Boston is home to Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), as well as Fortune 500 companies such as Bain Capital, General Electric, Staples, and Liberty Mutual Insurance. The city is also a nationwide attraction for shopping, architectural tours, and its arts scene, which has helped generate a bustling tourism industry.