I was founded on September 17, 1630 (take my age on MySpace and add 300 years), on a peninsula called Shawmut by its origional Native American inhabitants. Origionally, I was known as Trimountain, but was later renamed for the town of Boston, England.
Until 1755, I was the biggest city in America. Though I have since fallen down the rank to number 20 (as of the 2000 census, 589,141 people lived inside me!), I remain one of the most cultural, intellectual and important cities in the United States. My reputation as an intolerant, prudish city no longer holds water - with a constant influx of students (132,345 call me and my sister accross the river, Cambridge, home), and an ever-increasing population of young professionals, gay men and women, and empty-nesters, I have moved to the forefront of social and political liberalism (think Kennedy and Kerry).
True, things havn't always been easy for me. By the mid-20th century, I was looking downright shoddy. My factories were closing up, my once-proud neighborhoods became slums wrought with crime, and I lost nearly a third of my population.
Disasterous "Urban Renewal" projects in the 1950's and 60's nearly leveled me entirely. My once-quaint West End was completly demolished, and I was slashed down the middle by an atrocious highway known as the "Central Artery." Having been "renewed" beyond all recognition by 1970, my appalled residents finally began speaking up, and politicians started to listen.
Today, I am a jewel on the edge of the Atlantic. The unofficial Capital of New England, my port is again alive, my economy is thriving, and I have once again become a hub for intellectual, technological, and political ideas. Crime and poverty remain very low for an American City. I have learned from my past - fixing old mistakes like the central artery with massive and ambitious projects such as the $14 billion "Big Dig" (the largest public works project in the world!) and it's smaller sister, the "Little Dig," moving the last above-ground portion of the Green Line underground. As I continue to evolve and grow, more and more people decide to join me (those that can afford to). Welcome, and thank you for visiting me - the Hub of the Universe.
