Boston is a large and old urban city on Boston Harbor, at an official elevation of 19 feet above sea level. Boston is a port city, named by English explorers and settlers to the region on the Shawmut Peninsula in 1630. Boston was incorporated as a city in 1822. Boston currently has a population of about 590,763 people (2000), the largest city in Massachusetts and New England. Boston is the capital of Massachusetts. Boston citizens are composed of 49% Caucasians, 14% Hispanics, 8% Asian, 24% Black and 1% Native American. The median household income for Boston residents is $39,629 and the per capita income is $23,353. Boston is home to a campus of Boston University, Northeastern University, Weelock College, Simmons College, Emmanuel College, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Helth Sciences, Suffolk University, Emerson College, Boston College, and Wentworth Institute of Technology. The New England School of Law is also located in Boston.
Boston, other than the home to Native Americans prior to the arrival of the French fur traders and English explorers, was first settled as an English investment enterprize by Puritans, financed by the Massachusetts Bay Company, manned primarily by persecuted Christians who did not conform to the Church of England doctrine. Boston became an important port for emigrants primarily from England and trade during the late 1600s through the early 1900s. My great grandparents on both sides of my family emigrated from Sweden and landed in Boston in the mid-1800s.
Five highways pass through or terminate in Boston, Interstate 90, Interstate 95, and Interstate 93, and State Route 128 and U.S. Route 1. Additional information about Boston can be found at Boston Info and at the Official Boston site.
