Airbrush Virtual Entertainment Everywhere in Massachusetts!

As one of the original thirteen territories that banded together to birth the United States, there is a lot of history to be felt and observed from the State of Massachusetts [1].

At the very least, communication has its home in Massachusetts. As its capital, Boston, is where not one, but two communication channels were birthed. In 1639, the first post office in the world was open for the people living in Boston [2]. 237 years later, Alexander Graham Bell took communication a step further by inventing the telephone. Thus, the first telephone call happened in Boston between the inventor of the device and his assistant, Thomas A. Watson. It could stand to reason, because of its ties with communication, that communication is really the key to healthy relationships, since Massachusetts boasts the lowest divorce rates in the entire country [3].

In the transportation sector, Massachusetts also lead the way so many times. America’s first Subway was built in Massachusetts’ Boston. Indeed, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority subway has functioned since 1897 and covers 78 miles within and around urban residential areas. As a result, Boston also has the highest number of pedestrian commuters compared with other metropolises in the US. Furthermore, land travel in the United States was massively influenced by Massachusetts since the first driver’s license ever given, bearing the number 1 to prove that fact, was handed to a Frederick Tudor of Brookline on the 15th of September, 1903 [4].

When it comes to leisure and entertainment, Massachusetts’ Boston Common, which has been open since the year 1634, is known as the oldest park open to the public in the country. It was such a famous gathering place that the British set camp there before the American Revolutionary War began. Nowadays, people draw on the energy to present their speeches, lead their protests and engage audiences for music concerts [1]. More people are aware the fact that the game of basketball was invented by James Naismith in 1891, what most fail to remember is that the famous game was created right on the grounds of the International YMCA Training School which is in Springfield, Massachusetts [5]. Unbelievably, the game of volleyball also owes some tribute to Massachusetts. Volleyball, although it went by a different name then, ‘mintonette,’ was a product of the imagination of a certain William G. Morgan in 1895 [6].

The oldest school in America, Boston Latin, was obviously built in Boston, Massachusetts, in the year 1635. A year later, the state did one better by establishing the first school for higher education in the entire country. Since then, many highly ranked colleges and universities have sprung up to rival the old Harvard University, and thus Massachusetts lays claim to the title of the most educated state in the United States [7]. When it is realized that ‘Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg’ was the named given to a lake in Massachusetts, one cannot be blamed for questioning the survey that led to that conclusion [1]. Fortunately, we have Ruth Graves Wakefield and her hubby of Whitman, Massachusetts, to thank for the chocolate chip cookie we’ll need to snack on after pronouncing that. The chocolate cookie was developed in the 1930s at the Toll House Restaurant [8].

The law in the state has been a bit strange, though. First, there was a time the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony took it upon themselves to ensure that Christmas was gone for good by making the celebration of the holiday an illegal activity. Even worse, is that this law existed for 197 years, when it became a public holiday in the state. Also, running a red light is not considered a crime in Massachusetts, but running a flashing red light could get you in serious trouble [9]. However, the law has benefitted some, as the State of Massachusetts was the first State to legalize gay marriage in the United States of America, a whole five years before the next state did the same [10].

References

[1] “Massachusetts,” theFACTfile, [Online]. Available: http://thefactfile.org/massachusetts-facts/. [Accessed 16 November 2019].
[2] “The First Post Office,” celebrateboston, [Online]. Available: http://www.celebrateboston.com/first/post-office.htm. [Accessed 16 November 2019].
[3] “Alexander Graham Bell,” Britannica, [Online]. Available: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alexander-Graham-Bell. [Accessed 16 November 2019].
[4] “Driver licenses in the United States,” Wikipedia, [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Driver%27s_licenses_in_the_United_States. [Accessed 16 November 2019].
[5] “History of basketball,” wikipedia, [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_basketball. [Accessed 17 November 2019].
[6] “History of volleyball,” [Online]. Available: https://www.athleticscholarships.net/history-of-volleyball.htm. [Accessed 17 November 2019].
[7] Harvard, [Online]. Available: https://www.harvard.edu/about-harvard. [Accessed 17 November 2019].
[8] “Massachusetts,” History, [Online]. Available: https://www.history.com/topics/us-states/massachusetts. [Accessed 17 November 2019].
[9] “General Laws,” Massachusetts Legislation , [Online]. Available: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleXIV/Chapter89/Section9. [Accessed 17 November 2019].
[10] Reuters, [Online]. Available: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-gaymarriage-states/factbox-list-of-states-that-legalized-gay-marriage-idUSBRE95P07A20130626. [Accessed 17 November 2019].