Boston

The City in Brief

Founded: 1630 (chartered, 1822)
Head Official: Mayor Thomas M. Menino (D) (since 1994)
City Population
1980: 562,994
1990: 574,283
2000: 589,141
2003 estimate: 581,616
Percent change, 1990-2000: 2.6%
U.S. rank in 1980: 20th
U.S. rank in 1990: 20th (State rank: 1st)
U.S. rank in 2000: 23rd (State rank: 1st)
Metropolitan Area Population (PMSA)
1980: 2,806,000
1990: 3,227,707
2000: 3,406,829
Percent change, 1990-2000: 6.2%
U.S. rank in 1980: 7th (CMSA)
U.S. rank in 1990: 7th (CMSA)
U.S. rank in 2000: 7th (CMSA)
Area: 48 square miles (2000)
Elevation: Ranges from 15 to 29 feet above sea level
Average Annual Temperature: 51.6° F
Average Annual Precipitation: 42.53 inches of rain; 42.6 inches of snow
Major Economic Sectors: Services, trade, manufacturing,government
Unemployment Rate: 4.9% (March 2005) Per Capita Income: $23,353 (1999) 2003 FBI Crime Index Total: 35,049
Major Colleges and Universities: Boston University; Tufts University Medical School; Harvard University School of Medicine; Boston College; New England Conservatory of Music; School of the Museum of Fine Arts; University of Massachusetts at Boston; Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Daily Newspapers: The Boston Globe; Boston Herald

Introduction

The Atlantic Ocean has played an important role throughout Boston’s history. Situated on one of the world’s finest natural harbors, Boston was once the maritime capital of the colonial United States. Known variously as the birthplace of the American Revolution, the site of New England’s largest fleet of clipper ships, meeting place of America’s literati, and home of many venerable educational and cultural institutions, Boston remains the largest city in the six New England states. During the 1980s, Boston gained fame as a high technology and defense research center, as well as a good place in which to conduct business. This was in part attributable to the vast network of research facilities connected with schools in the region. Since the economic downturn that occurred in 1988 through 1992, the city has been enjoying an economic recovery, with several large ongoing projects that will improve its infrastructure, including the famous (or to some, infamous) Big Dig. The city remains one of the country’s premier tourist attractions. In recent years, various sources have ranked Boston among the best large cities in which to live in the United States.

Geography and Climate

Massachusetts’s Shawmut Peninsula, upon which Boston is located, lies at the mouths of the Charles and Mystic rivers. The rivers flow into Boston’s inner harbor and then into Boston Harbor itself. This harbor is part of Massachusetts Bay and leads ultimately to the North Atlantic Ocean. Boston’s Harbor Islands are located in the inner harbor. Shawmut was originally a hilly peninsula that was separated almost entirely from the mainland by marshy swamps. Over the years, Boston’s hills were leveled to fill in the back bay marshes; nonetheless, Boston’s terrain remains rolling today.
Fog and humidity are by-products of Boston’s proximity to water. Rain is frequent throughout the spring and summer, while snow falls regularly throughout the winter, making Boston one of the nation’s wettest cities. Atlantic Ocean breezes keep Boston’s climate relatively mild compared to other cities in the northeastern United States. Those same Atlantic breezes, however, help rank Boston among the country’s windiest cities and occasionally blow into full-fledged storms called ”nor’easters.”
Area: 48 square miles (2000)
Elevation: 15 to 29 feet above sea level
Average Temperatures: January, 29.3° F; July, 73.9° F; annual average, 51.6° F
Average Annual Precipitation: 42.53 inches of rain; 42.6 inches of snow

History

Site on Peninsula Settled by Puritans

The point of land that juts into a natural harbor connecting with the Atlantic Ocean and forms the site of present-day Boston was once occupied by Native American tribes. They named the peninsula ”Shawmut,” which meant variously ”land accessible by water” in reference to the harbor or ”land with living fountains,” a comment on the area’s abundant fresh water springs. When two-thirds of the native population succumbed to a European disease against which they carried no immunity, the way was clear for trans Atlantic settlers.
The area’s first white settler from across the Atlantic arrived on the peninsula in the 1620s. William Blackstone, an English clergyman, was the leader of a small band who eventually returned to England, leaving Blackstone alone in his home atop what was later Boston’s Beacon Hill. Blackstone and subsequent English settlers eventually became friendly with the local native tribes, whose democratic form of tribal governance, some historians claim, influenced the country’s founding fathers in their conception of the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution.
Boston was founded in 1630 by a Protestant religious sect called the Puritans. They named the new town for their former home in Lincolnshire, England. The same year, Boston was declared the capital of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Bounded on three sides by water, Boston soon became the colonies’ major New England seaport and the largest British settlement on the continent as well. When the Massachusetts Bay Colony’s charter was revoked in 1684, Boston for the first time was subject to direct British authority.
Although unused to trans-Atlantic interference in their affairs, Bostonians nevertheless enjoyed a flowering of thought and culture never allowed during the years of strict Puritan dominance. As it developed into a major colonial center, Boston was the site of the calling of the nation’s first Grand Jury in 1635; the opening of the nation’s oldest school, the Boston Latin School, in 1635; the building of the first post office in 1639; the chartering of the colonies’ first bank in 1674; the publication of the nation’s oldest newspaper, Publick Occurrences Both Forreign and Domestick, banned after one issue in 1690; and the publishing of the nation’s first long-running newspaper, the Boston News-Letter, in 1704. By 1750, Boston’s population was 15,000 people.

Revolution Precedes Maritime Supremacy

Continued protest over the British Crown’s introduction of a series of unpopular taxes (including those on stamps and tea) brought British soldiers to Boston in 1768. The colonists’ rallying cry soon became ”No taxation without representation!” Two years later, in 1770, British soldiers opened fire on a hostile crowd gathered in front of the Old State House. Five people were killed, including Crispus Attucks, a mulatto and the first African American to fall in America’s fight for freedom from colonial status. The confrontation, dubbed the ”Boston Massacre,” further inflamed Bostonians and patriots throughout the thirteen colonies. In 1773, Samuel Adams and a group of followers dressed as Indians carried out the ”Boston Tea Party” by emptying the holds of three British ships and dumping their shipment of taxable tea into Boston Harbor. The British Parliament responded by closing the port, effectively stifling the city’s economy.
Troops of Minutemen began to drill throughout the colonies. Then, in 1775, ill feeling intensified when colonists learned that the British troops planned to seize weapons stockpiled in Concord, eighteen miles west of Boston. On the night of April 18, two lanterns were hung in the belfry of Boston’s Old North Church, signaling that the British were approaching by land. Silversmith Paul Revere received the message and rode through the night to warn his colleagues at Concord. Revere was arrested along the way, but a second rider, Charles Dawes, delivered the warning. On April 19, British troops found the Minutemen armed and prepared for the confrontation that would become known as the ”shot heard ’round the world.” It was the first battle of the American Revolutionary War.
Following the Revolution, Boston once again resumed its maritime activity. Outgoing cargoes included ocean fish and rum from New England and tobacco from the South. Incoming goods included molasses from the West Indies, used to distill rum. With the successful resolution of the War of 1812, Boston began a lucrative trade with China. U.S. ships sailed around Cape Horn and into the Orient and India, returning to the United States with tea, silks, and spices. The design of a new and faster vessel, the clipper ship, further enhanced Boston’s maritime supremacy. The invention of the water-powered loom made Boston an important textile center, and its wool industry grew to rival England’s.
Boston received its city charter in 1822 and chose a mayor-council form of government. The original hilly Shawmut Peninsula upon which the city was built covered 800 acres surrounded by salt marshes, mudflats, and inlets of water. As Boston outgrew her site in the 1800s, most of the hills were leveled and used as fill to create Boston’s famous Back Bay district. Boston’s tax base grew when the city annexed neighboring towns such as Noddle’s Island, which was re- named East Boston. In 1821, Boston opened Boston English High School, the nation’s oldest high school.

Manufacturing, Finance, Education Take Lead

Boston’s population remained largely of English descent until the mid-1800s, when the first waves of European immigrants began to arrive. The Cabots and Lodges were typical of the leading Puritan families who became known as the Boston Brahmins. The city experienced an upsurge in manufacturing around the mid-1800s, aided by the invention of the railroad. Among the new industries were the making of shoes and other leather goods, until recently a mainstay of the Boston economy. Irish peasants seeking refuge from the potato famines in Ireland found work in Boston’s factories and on the wharves. They settled in East Boston and Charlestown, which remain blue-collar Irish enclaves.
From the end of Puritan domination, Boston had been a religiously tolerant city. In the mid-1800s, Boston became the site of two major movements in the United States. The Unitarian Church was founded when a portion ofdissatisfied Congregationalists broke away and formed a new sect. The Unitarian Church, in turn, became a progenitor of the Transcendental movement of the late nineteenth century. Boston was also the focus of the New England Anti-Slavery Society, founded in 1832. The Society’s publication, The Liberator, helped identify North-South differences that eventually erupted into the Civil War. Boston’s African American population in the mid-1800s was sizable, in part because Massachusetts had declared slavery illegal in 1783. By the time of the Civil War, Boston was the center of the Abolitionist Movement and a stop on the Underground Railroad, which aided escaping slaves.
During the Civil War, Boston supplied 26,000 soldiers and sailors to the Union and acted as an important military seaport. When the war ended, Boston’s maritime importance diminished, though the city gained prominence in the world of finance. Meanwhile, intellectuals who gathered in Boston helped reunite the divided nation. Poets like James Russell Lowell, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and James Greenleaf Whittier, along with novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne, jurist Oliver Wendall Holmes, philosophers Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, and historians William H. Prescott and Francis Parkman wrote about the American spirit and helped define the American character. It was Holmes who, noting this concentration of influential thinkers, dubbed Boston the ”hub of the solar system.”

Set-Backs Countered by Redevelopment

By 1900, Boston’s population had reached 561,000, partially swelled by the new wave of Italian immigrants who settled on Boston’s North End. Along with the French-Canadians who arrived next, they combined with the resident Irish to make Boston the nation’s second largest Roman Catholic archdiocese. An established population, Boston’s Irish began to figure in municipal politics. John F. ”Honey” Fitzgerald was the town’s first Irish mayor. He was elected to two terms, in 1906 and again in 1910. He established a political dynasty that included U.S. President John Fitzgerald Kennedy among his descendants. Fishing, food processing, shoe making, and wool products were viable Boston industries at the turn of the century, by which time the demand for ship building had diminished. Like many of the nation’s industrialized cities, Boston suffered economically between the world wars. First Prohibition, which made the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages illegal, destroyed the rum trade, then the Great Depression of the 1930s undermined Boston’s financial market and, finally, New England’s textile industry moved South in search of less expensive labor. At this time, Boston began to acquire a dual reputation for corrupt machine politics and racial segregation. The city did a great deal to end corruption when council seats were declared open in 1951. Racial tension, however, continues to be a problem in Boston. Tempers flared over court-ordered pupil busing intended to desegregate the city’s schools, and some Boston neighborhoods have yet to be integrated.
Following World War II, Boston’s population grew to a peak of 801,000 in 1950, then began to level off and eventually declined. Its industries were mature and its infrastructure aging. The diminishing tax base led to an increase in taxes levied and a subsequent loss of the white middle class population to the suburbs. This trend, however, was countered in 1957 with the establishment of the Boston Redevelopment Authority, formed to revitalize the city. Through the efforts of this group, the Prudential Tower, a major office complex, was built in downtown Boston, along with a public auditorium, apartments, and office-retail structures. A new government center was constructed adjacent to historic Faneuil Hall, and other projects included shopping areas, neighborhood renewal, and development of waterfront and historic districts. Boston also benefitted from the electronics research industry that emerged in the region inthe 1950s.
Boston grew rapidly on the strength of its high-tech and defense-related research industries until the late 1980s. A combination of factors including high taxes, wages, office lease rates, and housing costs began to drive businesses to surrounding communities and states. Boston has, however, received high marks from analysts for its responsible handling of these and other fiscal problems. A strong economic turnaround which began around 1993 is continuing into the new century. As host to the Democratic National Convention in 2004, Boston promotes tourism (always a staple of its economy) to boost its national image.
At the beginning of the new century, Boston’s Mayor Tom Menino said of his city: ”The major challenge facing Boston in the twenty-first century is that of new prosperity; how to renew Boston in a way that honors the beautiful historic city left in our care. We are fortunate to be living in one of those rare times in our City’s life, a time when we have a chance to reinvent Boston and preserve the best of it for many years to come.” Today’s Boston remains a mecca for education and culture, and is a forward-looking city steeped in tradition and history.
Historical Information: The Bostonian Society, 15 State Street, Boston, MA 02109; telephone (617)720-1713

Population Profile

Metropolitan Area Residents (PMSA)
1980: 2,806,000
1990: 3,227,707
2000: 3,406,829
Percent change, 1990-2000: 6.2%
U.S. rank in 1980: 7th (CMSA)
U.S. rank in 1990: 7th (CMSA)
U.S. rank in 2000: 7th (CMSA)
City Residents
1980: 562,994
1990: 574,283
2000: 589,141
2003 estimate: 581,616
Percent change, 1990-2000: 2.6%
U.S. rank in 1980: 20th
U.S. rank in 1990: 20th (State rank: 1st)
U.S. rank in 2000: 23rd (State rank: 1st)
Density: 12,165.8 people per square mile (2000)
Racial and ethnic characteristics (2000)
White: 320,944
Black or African American: 149,202
American Indian and Alaska Native: 2,365
Asian: 44,284
Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander: 366
Hispanic or Latino (may be of any race): 85,089
Other: 46,102
Percent of residents born in state: 47.4% (2000)
Age characteristics (2000)
Population under 5 years old: 32,046 ‘
Population 5 to 9 years old: 33,721
Population 10 to 14 years old: 32,553
Population 15 to 19 years old: 43,631
Population 20 to 24 years old: 70,084
Population 25 to 34 years old: 124,762
Population 35 to 44 years old: 86,420
Population 45 to 54 years old: 63,554
Population 55 to 59 years old: 22,746
Population 60 to 64 years old: 18,288
Population 65 to 74 years old: 31,154
Population 75 to 84 years old: 21,675
Population 85 years and older: 8,507
Median age: 31.1 years
Births (2002) Total number: 8,005
Deaths (2002)
Total number: 4,416 (of which, 56 were infants under the age of 1 year)
Money income (1999)
Per capita income: $23,253
Median household income: $39,629
Total households: 239,603
Number of households with income of…
less than $10,000: 37,230
$10,000 to $14,999: 15,764
$15,000 to $24,999: 27,276
$25,000 to $34,999: 27,496
$35,000 to $49,999: 35,928
$50,000 to $74,999: 41,496
$75,000 to $99,999: 23,784
$100,000 to $149,999: 18,496
$150,000 to $199,999: 5,491
$200,000 or more: 6,642
Percent of families below poverty level: 15.3% (25.4% of which were female householder families with related children under 5 years)
2002 FBI Crime Index Total: 35,049

Municipal Government

Boston operates under a mayor-council form of government; the mayor is elected to four-year terms and the council members to two-year terms. In addition to governing the city of Boston, the mayor and council act as commissioners for the county of Suffolk. Their jurisdiction covers cities outside Boston’s city limits: Chelsea, Revere, and Winthrop.
Head Official: Mayor Thomas M. Menino (D) (since 1994; current term expires January 2006)
Total Number of City Employees: 16,049, including police, fire, and school (2004)
City Information: Mayor’s Office, City of Boston, One City Hall Plaza, Boston, MA 02201; telephone (617)635-4500

Economy

Major Industries and Commercial Activity

Since the 1988-1992 downturn, Boston experienced an ongoing economic recovery, with increased employment rates, improvement in the office market, strong sales, and tremendous gains in residential real estate. As in many places across the country, Boston’s economy was affected by the events on September 11, 2001. Especially hit were the travel, financial services and high technology sectors, which alone lost nearly 32,000 jobs between 2001 and 2003. Loss of jobs in those areas leveled off in 2004 and began to regain some lost ground, especially in tourism.
Other sectors such as education and health care were not as hard hit. While manufacturing in Boston has lost some ground, it remains an important sector of the economy and is joined by several other traditional industries and some new ones. Boston is considered one of the top places in which to do business in the United States. Major industries include finance, high-technology research and development, tourism, medicine, education, commercial fishing, food processing, printing and publishing, and government.
Early in its history, Boston made its name as a center for the processing of wool and the manufacture of clothing, textiles, shoes, and leather goods. While the shoe and textile industries have suffered in recent decades, they remain significant contributors to Boston’s economy.
In the last 20 years, city employment continued to shift from traditional labor intensive manufacturing jobs to technology and service jobs. The economy of metropolitan Boston now primarily rests on high technology, finance, professional and business services, defense, and educational and medical institutions. The city’s economy is more specialized in the financial, business and professional services and educational and medical sectors than the suburban economy, which is more specialized in high technology and the defense industry.
Boston’s financial district includes major banks such as Fleet Bank, purchased in 2004 by Bank of America, and investment firms like Fidelity Investments. Insurance firms such as John Hancock Financial Services are also a significant presence.
Boston is one of the country’s top 10 tourist attractions, focusing on the city’s 62 historic sites, its nearly 2,000 restaurants, and its hundreds of hotels. Tourism is a year-round industry in Boston, which hosted 16.3 million visitors in 2004, spending $7.9 billion.
The medical schools of both Tufts University and Harvard University are located in Boston, as is Massachusetts General Hospital, the major teaching hospital for both schools. Education is a thriving segment of Boston’s economy; within the city limits are 10 colleges and universities, 6 technical schools, 4 art and music schools, and 6 junior colleges. In towns and suburbs surrounding Boston, educational institutions include many prestigious secondary and boarding schools.
More than two million pounds of fish are caught in the waters in and around Boston each year, making fishing, food processing, and food storage prime industries. Boston is one of the nation’s foremost fishing port and wool market. Both large and small printing operations employ thousands of workers in the metropolitan area. Boston’s print fare includes several national magazines, scholarly and technical journals, and the Christian Science publications. For years, Boston has been home to the Atlantic Monthly, one of the oldest literary publications in the United States.
As the capital of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Boston is the workplace of many state and municipal employees.
Items and goods produced: machinery, medical and navigational instruments, chemicals, metals, rubber products and clothing, computers, software, missiles and missile guidance systems, ships, shoes and boots, textiles.

Incentive Programs—New and Existing Companies

Local programs—Boston’s Office of Business Development provides key resources to support small business development. The office offers a full range of services—from financial and referral services to business facade improvement to site finder services—so that each business owner receives whatever help is needed. Businesses may obtain loans through the Boston Local Development Corporation, and financing through the Boston Industrial Development Financing Authority, which issues bonds to finance the capital needs of Boston businesses. ReStore Boston provides grants and loans to renovate store fronts, and provides architectural assistance to do so. The office also has a free Commercial Space for Lease finding service.
State programs—The Massachusetts Business Resource Team, under the Executive Office of Economic Development, exists to help businesses relocate to the state, expansion of existing businesses, and creation of new businesses. For new companies, there are Small Business Development Centers in Boston and across Massachusetts, which advise and educate entrepreneurs. The Capital Access Program helps businesses secure loans from approved banks. Expanding or relocating businesses can take advantage of a 3 percent investment tax credit against the corporate excise tax for the construction of manufacturing facilities, or the purchase or lease of equipment. Businesses moving to an ”economic opportunity area” or an ”economically distressed area” have access to special tax credits and incentive programs. For manufacturers looking for working capital, the Economic Stabilization Trust can provide funds to help get the business on the road to recovery. For businesses willing to move or expand into brown field areas, Massachusetts provides low cost assessment and remediation programs, and alternative financing options. Technology firms can receive assistance with the Research and Development Tax Credit and the Emerging Technology fund, which provides loans for specialized equipment purchases and R & D,, and biotechnology companies can receive funds for new job creation through the Jobs Creation Incentive Payment. All businesses can take advantage of Safety Training grants for education to improve workplace safety. The Massachusetts Export Center provides counseling, education and technical assistance for businesses in global markets. For business involved in the fishing industry, Seafood Loans assist in the construction or renovations of buildings or equipment.
Job training programs—Boston’s Office of Jobs and Community Service (JCS) receives funding from the U.S. Department of Labor, HUD, and the Massachusetts Departments of Education and Transitional Assistance. The state provides matching grants from the Workplace Training Fund to pay for employee training. The state’s 32 One-Stop Career Centers provide job finding assistance and career counseling for potential employees; and listing services, job fairs, and recruiting assistance for employers. JCS provides planning and oversight to a large network of community-based organizations who provide residents with a rich variety of training programs. These include basic education, GED and diploma programs, English as a Second Language, job readiness, and a variety of skills training. Additionally, JCS is a partner in a one-stop career center called The Work Place, which coordinates the functions of the Boston Neighborhood Jobs Trust, oversees various human service programs, and houses Read Boston, a major literacy initiative to ensure that all children are reading-proficient by the third grade. There are incentive grants for training when hiring an unemployed worker, or someone receiving public assistance.

Development Projects

The real estate market in Boston continues to thrive with multi-million dollar projects. A special focus is development of the South Boston Waterfront area, and the Fort Point Channel Arts District. Artists for Humanity has a new ”green,” environmentally-aware 23,500 square foot center providing studio and gallery space for teaching art to inner-city youth. In 2006, construction will begin on a 22,000 square foot addition to Boston’s Children’s Museum, also in South Boston. Nearby will be a 400-room Marriot Renaissance Hotel, expected to cost $140 million, which will open in 2007. Boston Harbor Residences, a high-end, two-tower rental and condominium development, opens in 2005. Breaking ground in 2005 is the massive $230 million Battery Wharf mixed-use project in the North End, which will be composed of four buildings and include high-end condos and the luxury Regent Boston hotel.
In 2004, the Onyx Hotel, a hip, pet-friendly boutique hotel, opened in North Station. The Salton stall office building at 100 Cambridge St. was completely overhauled, and in 2004 re-opened as a 279,000 square foot mixed-use tower of condominiums, office and retail space. In the Fenway neighborhood, Trilogy, a $200-million, 651,000-square-foot mixed use development, broke ground in 2004 to bring housing, 42,000 square feet of retail space, and underground parking to Boylston St. and Brookline Ave. Construction will begin soon on a new emergency and trauma center for the UMass Memorial Medical Center, in Worchester, which is expected to cost $129 million. In the Longwood Medical Area, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center will start construction on a 700,000 square foot research center, the first building of which will open in 2007. Also in Longwood, the Massachusetts Mental Health Center will get a $200 million make-over in 2005, adding medical offices, research space, and housing, both market value and low-income apartments. A new Intercontinental Hotel at 500 Atlantic Avenue will feature 424 hotel rooms on the first 12 floors, with luxury condos on the floors above, in a $255 million development.
Economic Development Information: Boston Redevelopment Authority, One City Hall Square, Boston, MA 02201; telephone (617)722-4300; fax (617)248-1934. Mass Development, 160 Federal Street, Boston, MA 02110; toll-free (800)445-8030. Boston Business Journal, 200 High Street,Suite 4B, Boston, MA 02110; telephone (617)330-1000; fax (617)330-1016

Commercial Shipping

Boston is the oldest continuously active port in the America’s. Today, Boston’s exports include grains and metals and its imports are petroleum products, automobiles, and general container cargo. In 2004 the port handled 1.3 million tons of general cargo, 1.5 million tons of non-fuels bulk cargo and 12.8 million tons of bulk fuel. Boston’s popularity as a port is easily understood: it accommodates even the largest ocean going freighters. One of the best natural harbors in the United States, the Fort Point Channel is 40 feet deep and 7 miles long. Nearly 40 miles of docks and wharves line the shores of Boston’s inner harbor, mainly between South Boston and Charlestown. The Massachusetts Port Authority operates the docks.
Facilities include the Conley Container Terminal, the center of container handling, with 2000 feet of berthing space; Boston Auto port, processing nearly 100,000 cars a year; Commonwealth Pier, a huge dry dock in South Boston; and Fish Pier, one of the world’s largest and oldest in the country. Cruiseport and Black Falcon Cruise Terminal is a stopping point for 15 cruise lines, such as Norwegian and Cunard. Boston’s shipping needs are also accommodated by the network of highways running through and around the city, a large commercial trucking fleet, railroads, and delivery services.

Labor Force and Employment Outlook

As the home of world-renowned colleges and universities, Boston boasts a highly educated work force. The minority population, including the Hispanic population, is on the increase. Educational institutions are an important source of new, highly skilled professionals for the city’s labor force.
Wages in the Boston area tend to be high, as are taxes and office lease rates. Entrepreneurial software and biotechnology companies attracted to the assets of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have tended to locate in East Cambridge, just across the Charles River from Boston. Analysts have given the city high marks in recent years for improvements in management, and a strong academic and research base should continue to stand Boston in good stead.
The following is a summary of data regarding the Boston metropolitan NECTA labor force, 2004 annual averages.
Size of nonagricultural labor force: 2,398,900
Number of workers employed in …
natural resources and mining: 1,200
construction: 100,500
manufacturing: 231,200
trade, transportation and utilities: 424,100
information: 72,800
financial activities: 182,800
professional and business services: 374,200
educational and health services: 431,600
leisure and hospitality: 206,900
other services: 85,700
government: 288,000
Average hourly earnings of production workers employed in manufacturing: $18.65
Unemployment rate: 4.9% (March 2005)
Largest private employers                                                                    Number of employees
Massachusetts General Hospital
Corporation                                                                                                            14,907
Fidelity Investments                                                                                               11,250
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center                                                                      8,568
Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Inc.                                                                             8,421
Boston University                                                                                                      8,297
Children’s Hospital                                                                                                     5,116
New England Medical Center                                                                                     5,077
John Hancock Life Insurance Co.                                                                              4,793
Boston Medical Center                                                                                              4,650
Harvard (business and medical
schools)                                                                                                                      4,557
Cost of Living
When compared with the national average, living in Boston is expensive, even more so than in other New England cities. The high cost of housing contributes to the overall expense. According to the Tax Institute, in 2005 Massachusetts residents had a much lower state and local tax burden than they used to: the state now ranked 32nd in the nation, and its personal income tax ranked it 12th lowest among states who have an income tax.
The following is a summary of data about key cost of living factors for the Boston area.
2004 (3rd Quarter) ACCRA Average House Price: $466,429
2004 (3rd Quarter) ACCRA Cost of Living Index: 135.4 (U.S. average = 100.0)
State income tax rate: 5.3%; 12% on short-term capital gains.
State sales tax rate: 5.0% on most items; does not include food and clothing
Local income tax rate: None
Local sales tax rate: None
Property tax rate: $10.73 per $1,000 valuation (residential); $32.68 per $1,000 valuation (commercial and other)
Economic Information: Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, One Beacon St., Fourth Floor, Boston, MA 02108; telephone (617)536-4100. Boston Assessor, telephone (617)635-4287. The Tax Foundation, 2001 L Street, N.W. Suite 1050,Washington, D.C. 20036, telephone (202)464-6200

Education and Research

Elementary and Secondary Schools

Boston’s school district is one of the nation’s 60 largest. Boston spends nearly 30 percent of its annual budget on school matters, and its system excels in special education classes. The Boston School Committee is a seven member board, whose member are appointed by Mayor Menino. In 2005 the district was a finalist for the Broad Prize for Urban Education, the fourth time in as many years.
The following is a summary of data regarding the Boston public schools as of the 2004-2005 school year.
Total enrollment: 58,310
Number of facilities
elementary schools: 66
elementary and middle schools: 11
middle schools: 18
high schools: 25
other: 7 early learning centers, 6 special education centers
Student/teacher ratio: 13:1
Teacher salaries minimum: $40,707
maximum: $76,336
Funding per pupil: $10,739 (2003-2004)
Several prestigious private secondary schools also operate in Boston, among them the Commonwealth School, known for its focus on humanities and languages. Boston University’s Academy, a five-year private preparatory school on its campus, permits students to take freshman-year college classes while still in high school. Boston also has an active parochial school system.
Public Schools Information: Boston Public Schools, Central Administration Office, 26 Court St., Boston, MA 02108; telephone (617)635-9000

Colleges and Universities

In the mid-2000s, the New England Board of Higher Education reported 68 colleges and universities in the Boston metropolitan area, at which approximately 250,000 students were enrolled. Once nicknamed the ”Athens of America,” Boston is home to some of the most venerable institutions of learning in the country. Boston University, founded in 1839, excels in medicine, law, foreign studies, and computing. Tufts and Harvard universities maintain their medical schools in Boston to take advantage of the teaching/learning opportunities offered by city hospitals such as Massachusetts General. Among the four-year liberal arts schools in Boston are Emerson, which publishes the Emerson Review twice yearly, and Emmanuel, a Roman Catholic women’s institution. The University of Massachusetts maintains a commuter campus in Boston. Northeastern University is a small, mostly residential school, Wheelock College focuses on early childhood education and human services, and Simmons College and Suffolk University are small co-educational schools.
Boston-area technical schools include the Franklin Institute of Boston (for engineering), Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Sciences, Boston Technical Center, the Northeastern Institute of Industrial Technology, the New England School of Art and Design, the Women’s Technical Institute and Wentworth Institute of Technology (for engineering). Boston’s fine arts schools include The Berklee College of Music, a world renown independent school of music, not only in performance, but in composition, recording engineering, and music management. Boston’s other fine arts schools include the Boston Conservatory of Music (with the Boston Chamber Music Society in residence), Massachusetts College of Art, the Art Institute of Boston, New England Conservatory of Music, and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts. Among the city’s two-year colleges are Bay State Junior College, Bunker Hill Community College, Fisher College, Labourne College, and Roxbury Community College.
Nearby institutions of note include Harvard University, Rad-cliffe College, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, along with Boston College in Chestnut Hill and Brandeis University in Waltham.

Libraries and Research Centers

Boston’s public library system, established in 1854, serves patrons in the city and several suburbs and is the nation’s first instance of a tax-supported system. It maintains 26 neighborhood branches that house more than 13 million topics and a bookmobile, and has over 2.2 million visitors a year. The main library, an Italian Renaissance building in downtown Copley Square, contains a rare topic collection and is decorated with murals by John Singer Sargent and art work by other famous American painters and sculptors. The President John F. Kennedy Memorial Library and Museum is also found in Boston, along with a number of specialized law, finance, technical, and educational libraries.
Many research institutions are grouped in and around Boston, covering topics ranging from engineering to philosophy. Boston University facilities conduct research on foreign affairs, communication, computing, medicine, polymer chemistry, and a host of other subjects. Harvard University’s research efforts include business, international affairs, law, medicine, physics, computers, and more. Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s research programs focus on engineering, biotechnology, ocean studies, chemistry, robotics, electronics, and others. Research institutes of colleges include the Boston Biomedical Research Institute, the Boston Sickle Cell Center, and the Alzheimer’s Disease Re-search Center, three offerings that serve to underline Boston’s prominence in the medical research field.
Public Library Information: Main Library, Boston Public Library, 700 Boylston St., Boston, MA 02117-0286; telephone (617)536-5400; fax (617)236-4306

Health Care

Few places in the country have more doctors than Boston— more than 500 per 100,000 people—and health care is among the best. More than 20 inpatient hospitals are located within the city, including Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Beth Israel Hospital, Children’s Hospital, New England Deaconess Hospital, the New England Medical Center and Boston Medical Center. The city is also home of the medical and dental schools of Tufts, Harvard, and Boston universities.
Boston’s history of medical research is a long one. Massachusetts General was the first hospital to use anesthetic and to reattach a severed human limb. It also worked with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Shriners Burn Institute to pioneer the development of artificial skin. Brigham & Women’s Hospital gained national recognition for its testing of the birth control pill. In addition to fine hospitals and renowned medical schools, Boston is also home to a Comprehensive Cancer Treatment Center. A number of cardiac rehabilitation centers and hospices for the critically ill also operate facilities in Boston.
Health Care Information: Massachusetts Medical Society Headquarters, 860 Winter Street, Waltham Woods Corporate Center, Waltham, MA 02451-1411; telephone: (781)893-4610 or (781)893-3800

Recreation

Sightseeing

Boston’s great appeal to visitors and residents alike is its compactness; it is a very walk able city and many of its attractions are planned around that fact. Maps are available at the National Park Service Visitor Center on State Street. The Freedom Trail, a 2.5-mile walking tour, passes the sixteen major sites of colonial Boston. A red line painted on the sidewalk marks the way. The trail begins at the Boston Common, with 48 acres and the oldest public park in the United States. The next stop is the gold-domed State House, built in 1795. Designed by Charles Bulfinch, it sits atop what remains of Beacon Hill. Next is Park Street Church, birthplace of the Abolitionist Movement, and farther on is the Granary Burying Ground, resting place of such notables as Mother Goose, victims of the Boston Massacre, John Hancock, Samuel Adams, Paul Revere, and Peter Faneuil. King’s Chapel, formerly an Anglican Church, became the nation’s first Unitarian Church. Ben Franklin’s statue stands on the grounds of the country’s first public school, the Boston Latin School, which was opened in 1635.The Old State House, built in 1713, was the scene of the Boston Massacre and revolutionary rhetoric such as the first reading of the Declaration of Independence. Faneuil Hall is next door, and a step down the street is Paul Revere’s house and Old North Church. Copp’s burying ground, the USS Constitution, and the Bunker Hill Monument complete the Trail.

The Declaration of Independence was read in front of the (1713) Old State House, now home to the Museum of Boston History.
Boston’s long-standing commitment to equality is highlighted in another walking tour, the Black Heritage Trail. In existence for more than 350 years, Boston’s African American community predates the Civil War by 120 years. Abolitionist meeting places and Underground Railroad stops are featured on the tour. Sights of a modern nature include a view from the 740-foot-high observation deck in the John Hancock Observatory or a glimpse of the stars through a telescope at the Boston University Observatory. Boston’s parks are popular regional attractions, including the famous Harbor Islands. Next to Boston Common is the 24-acre Boston Public Park featuring an ornamental lake and swan boat rides. The parks follow the Fenway, a tree-lined boulevard, south to Jamaica Plain and the Arnold Arboretum, a botanical garden. The Esplanade, which runs along the Charles River, is a popular park and home of the Hatch Shell, where the Boston Pops plays its summer concerts. The Boston Harborwalk is a public walkway along the waterfront, connecting neighborhoods, parks, restaurants and attractions along the trail from Charlestown to Dorchester.
In Cambridge, Harvard University’s several gardens draw crowds, as do its Fogg Art Museum and Harvard Coop.A bit north, in Charlestown, are the Charles River Dam and the Charlestown Naval Yard. Boston’s varied neighborhoods prove popular with visitors year after year. Beacon Hill, in downtown Boston, was settled by prosperous Yankee ship builders and their families, known as the Boston Brahmins. The elegant townhouses, gas lamps, and lacy iron fences still line the streets of Beacon Hill. The Back Bay is home to Boston’s newer developments, including Copley Place, the John Hancock Building, and the Prudential Tower. The South End and its brick bow-windowed homes are undergoing a revitalization as new residents and businesses move back into the area. Boston’s Chinatown houses the country’s third largest Chinese population, along with restaurants and stores specializing in traditional Chinese fare and ware. The North End is home to Boston’s Italian community, while South Boston remains a solidly Irish enclave.
Lovers of the New England countryside might consider a day trip to Concord, thirty miles west of Boston. Attractions there include Fruit lands, a collection of small museums displaying treasures from nineteenth-century transcendentalism and other mystical movements, and Shaker Village.

Arts and Culture

Boston, home to a number of major museums, a world-class symphony, several legitimate theaters, and a premier dance company, is considered one of the nation’s top cultural centers. Rated outstanding by music lovers the world over, the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) performs at Symphony Hall. An offshoot of the BSO, the Boston Pops, has gained fame under the batons of the late maestro Arthur Fiedler and maestro/composer John Williams, and currently maestro Keith Lockhart. Other orchestras include the New England Conservatory Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Conservatory Orchestra, and the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra. Chamber concerts are programmed by the Handel and Hayden Society, while the Boston Musica Viva plays contemporary music.
Theatergoers in Boston can enjoy everything from tragedy to comedy, all performed by well-regarded professional troupes. Major groups include the American Repertory Theatre, and the Huntington Theatre Company. Several smaller repertory companies, small theaters, university groups, and a Boston’s Children’s Theatre augment the professional stage offerings. Dance is popular in Boston, which is home to the Boston Ballet, the fourth largest ballet company in America, and Dance Umbrella, New England’s largest presenter of contemporary and culturally diverse dance from around the world. The Boston Ballet performs at the Wang Center for the Performing Arts, an opulent former motion picture palace. Other dance groups include the Art of Black Dance and Music, Beth Soll and Company, the Boston Flamenco Ballet, Concert Dance Company of Boston, and the Ramon de los Reyes Spanish Dance Theatre. Boston supports the Boston Lyric Opera, and many nightclubs featuring musical performances from rock and roll to folk music.
The Museum of Fine Arts is world renowned for its Oriental, Egyptian, and classical collections. The Museum of Science, complete with dinosaurs, space capsules, an Omni Max Theatre, and the Charles Hayden Planetarium, sits on a finger of land jutting into the Charles River. Italian Renaissance art is the attraction at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, considered one of the world’s finest private art museums. The Institute of Contemporary Art offers a multimedia look at the newest in art, while the Computer Museum, the first in the United States devoted exclusively to computing, houses a venerable computer, the MIT Whirlwind. The museum has merged with, and is now housed at, the Museum of Science. The New England Aquarium, with 2,000 fish and sea animals, occupies a five-story building on Boston’s waterfront. Hands-on exhibits and tours are offered, as are whale-watching cruises.
Among the attractions at the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University are works by Rembrandt, William Blake, and the French impressionists. German art is featured at the Busch-Reisinger Collection, which is on display at the Fogg Museum. The Botanical Museum and the Gray Herbarium, both part of Harvard, exhibit two of the finest flora displays in the world. Also at Harvard, the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology displays relics of the Mayans, Pacific Islanders, and Native Americans. Other Boston museums include the USS Constitution Museum, Children’s Museum of Boston, the museum at the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Library, the Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists, the Sports Museum of New England, the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, the Museum of African American History and the Boston Tea Party Museum and Shop.
Arts and Culture Information: Greater Boston Convention-Visitor’s Bureau, telephone (888)SEE-BOSTON

Festivals and Holidays

Many of Boston’s festivities center around historic, religious, and maritime events. The celebration by the Irish community of St. Patrick’s Day on March 17, a day that is also known locally as Evacuation Day, commemorates the retaking of Boston from the British by the Colonial Army during the Revolutionary War. In early June, costumed residents march through Boston in the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Parade. The Battle of Bunker Hill Day follows on June 17, the anniversary of one of the bloodiest battles of the Revolutionary War. June 24 through June 26 is Boston’s First Folk Festival. The New England Spring Flower Show, one the oldest and biggest indoor shows in the country, draws 170,000 visitors during a 9-day period.
For six days at the beginning of July, Boston’s HarborFest jubilantly celebrates the nation’s birthday. Events include a Chowderfest, Children’s Day, the reading of the Declaration of Independence from the balcony of the Old State House, and the July Fourth rendition of the 1812 Overture, replete with cannon, and followed by a dazzling fireworks display. The Italian Feasts take place each weekend from late June through August in Boston’s North End. Their major event is the Feast of St. Anthony in June. On December 15, in a reenactment of the Boston Tea Party, citizens playing the parts of disgruntled colonists disguise themselves as Native Americans and dump crates of British tea into Boston Harbor. The year culminates with First Night, a 10-hour jubilee of indoor and outdoor performances, a parade and fireworks, welcoming the new year.

Sports for the Spectator

Boston is home to five professional sports teams whose games annually draw hundreds of thousands of fans. The professional basketball team, the National Basketball Association’s Celtics, play their home games at the city’s downtown Fleet Center, as do the Boston Bruins, the National Hockey League team. The Boston Red Sox, the city’s professional baseball team, compete in the American League East. They play their home games at Fenway Park, one of the country’s most beloved ball parks, from April to October. The New England Patriots, part of the National Football League’s East Division, and the New England Revolution of the MLS play their games at Gillette Stadium in suburban Foxboro. The Patriots, like Boston’s other professional teams, are eagerly followed by scores of fans throughout New England.
A popular annual event is the Boston Marathon, run on the third Monday in April, which in Massachusetts is the holiday Patriot’s Day. Boston’s is the oldest marathon; thousands of runners from around the country and the world participate annually in this event.
In October, the focus shifts to the Charles River and the Head of the Charles Regatta international sculling event. Horse racing is scheduled from spring through late fall in and around Boston. Flat and harness racing are run at Suffolk Downs in East Boston. Parimutuel betting is permitted by law. Athletes at Boston-area colleges and universities compete in a wide range of collegiate sports. College hockey fans come out in February for the Beanpot, an annual tournament between Harvard, Boston University, Boston College, and Northeastern for the city championship. Polo matches are held at nearby Myopia Polo Grounds in Hamilton, MA.

Sports for the Participant

Its proximity to water makes Boston a natural attraction for sports enthusiasts. Anglers can enjoy saltwater fishing in the Atlantic Ocean or fresh water fishing in inland rivers. Boaters can sail the Atlantic coastline or canoe inland. Swimmers can choose between public beaches along the ocean or civic pools within the city. Municipal golf courses, tennis courts, baseball diamonds, playgrounds, and tot lots are maintained in the city. Since 1995, more than $120 million has been spent to rehabilitate the city’s 215 parks. Ice skating outdoors is popular in the winter months at the Frog Pond on Boston Commons and throughout the year at the city’s indoor municipal facilities. Boston is close to excellent ski runs, horseback riding trails, and mountain climbing areas.

Shopping and Dining

Boston’s shopping areas range from carefully restored colonial shops to gleaming glass and steel towers. Quincy Market, dating from 1826, is a cobblestone square surrounded by small shops in renovated warehouses. Nearby, Faneuil Hall’s ground floor contains a modern shopping mall. Downtown Crossing, Boston’s original marketplace, is an outdoor pedestrian mall encompassing several streets. It is anchored by a Boston institution, Filene’s Department Store, which is noted for the zeal of the shoppers hunting for bargains in its basement. Copley Place, an indoor mall connecting four office buildings and two hotels, has upscale stores such as Tiffany & Co., Louis Vuitton, and Neiman Marcus. Other popular shopping sites are Charles Street on Beacon Hill, a mecca for antique hunters, and Newbury Street, referred to by locals as the new Rodeo Drive. Across the Charles River in Cambridge is the Harvard Coop, world famous as a comprehensive supplier to the university’s students and its entire academic community.
With almost two thousand restaurants, Boston offers everything from traditional seafood dishes to continental and ethnic cuisines. Fresh saltwater catches include clams, lobster, oysters, bluefish, and scrod. Boston has been called ”Beantown,” a term that originated with the Puritans who, out of respect for the Sabbath, did not cook on Sunday. Instead, they relied on food prepared the day before, and one popular menu item was baked beans. Clam and seafood chowders, baked beans, and Indian pudding are still staples on many Boston menus.
Continental cuisine, sometimes blended with American nouvelle cuisine, is now the specialty of several respected Boston restaurants. Ethnic specialties include a small but flavorful sampling of restaurants in downtown Boston’s Chinatown. At the North End, diners relish northern Italian specialties such as pasta and cappuccino. In neighborhoods such as Dorchester and Jamaica Plain, a wave of immigration has brought restaurants specializing in the cuisines of Vietnam, Ireland, Spain, and other ethnicities.
Visitor Information: Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau, Two Copley Place, Suite 105, Boston, MA 021166501; toll-free (888)SEE-BOSTON; fax (617)424-7664

Convention Facilities

Boston is a popular meeting site for groups of all kinds and sizes. Completed in 2004, the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center has 516,000 square feet of contiguous exhibit space, 82 meeting rooms, and a 40,000 square foot ballroom. Built on the South Boston waterfront, it is minutes from Logan Airport. Another major venue is the John B. Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center, encompassing more than 289,000 square feet of meeting, exhibition and banquet space. Five exhibit halls and 37 meeting rooms can host large conventions or several small conventions simultaneously. Thirteen major hotels are located within walking distance of the center, which is in Boston’s Back Bay area, convenient to shopping and other amenities.
World Trade Center Boston offers a ground-floor Main Hall measuring 120,000 square feet; on that floor are theater seating for 5,000 participants and classroom and banquet seating for 3,000 diners. Located on Commonwealth Pier, it opened in January 1986, for the purpose of furthering international trade among and economic development of all the New England states.
Unique meeting and reception sites in Boston include the facilities of a Victorian mansion, a lounge, a ballroom-style entertainment complex, and a rock dance club among many others. The metropolitan area supports about 45,000 hotel rooms; 17,000 of them are in Boston and Cambridge. Suburban to Boston are the meeting and exhibition facilities of the Royal Plaza Trade Center, which contains 43,000 square feet of exhibit space and the Bayside Expo Center, which offers 240,000 square feet of exhibit space and 17,000 square feet of additional meeting room space.
Convention Information: Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau, Two Copley Place, Suite 105, Boston, MA 02116-6501; toll-free (888)SEE-BOSTON; fax (617)424-7664. Massachusetts Convention Center Authority, 415 Summer Street, Boston, MA 02210; telephone (617)954-2000; fax (617)954-2299

Transportation

Approaching the City

Visitors arriving in Boston by air arrive at Logan International Airport, located in East Boston just two miles from downtown Boston. Its location in Massachusetts Bay puts Boston’s airport 200 miles closer to Europe than New York City. In 2005, Logan was ranked the nation’s 19th busiest airport; it is served by 39 airlines. Logan can be reached by car, by public transportation on the ”T” Blue Line, and by water aboard the Airport Water Shuttle.
Boston’s access routes by automobile include Interstate-90, the Massachusetts Turnpike, which is the major east-west artery. Massachusetts Service Route 9, another east-west road, accommodates suburban traffic. I-93 runs north-south through Boston where it is called the Northeast Expressway. Encircling the city is Massachusetts Service Route 128. More than seven hundred high-technology firms have established facilities along Massachusetts SR 128 and I-495, making them heavily traveled freeways.
Boston can also be reached by railroad and by bus. The city is served by three Amtrak lines: the Downeaster connects Boston with Portland, Maine; the Regional, serving cities along the coast south to Newport News, Virginia.; and the Acela Express, a 150-mph train that makes the trip from Washington, D.C. in 7 hours. South Station and North Station, the Amtrak and Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority terminals, are on opposite sides of Boston’s downtown business district. Those arriving by Greyhound/ Trailways and Peter Pan Bus Lines disembark at the Greyhound Bus Terminal downtown.

Traveling in the City

Boston is a very walkable city, and walking tours depart from a number of locations. According to local sources, driving in Boston can be a confusing experience even for natives. Heavy traffic, narrow one-way streets, limited parking, traffic rotaries, and jay-walking pedestrians combine to make driving difficult in Boston, especially in the downtown area. Most residents leave their cars at home and ride Boston’s superb public transportation, known as the ”T.” This rapid transit system includes elevated lines, subways, and surface routes. Trolleys, street cars, and buses supplement the ”T.” Private transportation includes Amtrak commuter trains, taxis, and ferry boats.
The ”T” is operated by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA). Boston’s system is the oldest in the country, and all five lines converge downtown. Boston is one of only five U.S. cities to use trolleys and street cars as a regular part of its transportation system. Amtrak runs two commuter trains from surrounding suburbs into Boston, one of which is operated by the MBTA and is known locally as the ”Purple Line.” Two ferry systems convey passengers on the rivers and channels around Boston.

Communications

Newspapers and Magazines

Boston’s two major daily newspapers, The Boston Globe and the Boston Herald, are both published in the morning. The Boston Globe, established in 1872, is New England’s largest daily and Sunday newspaper. The respected The Christian Science Monitor is published in Boston on weekdays. An international edition is also available. Local business news is featured in the Boston Business Journal.
Boston Magazine, Boston’s city magazine, is published monthly. Tourist-oriented publications include Panorama and The Boston Phoenix, an alternative weekly publication providing detailed arts and entertainment information, and WHERE magazine, published monthly. Magazines of national interest published in Boston include the Harvard Business Review, Inc. Magazine, Horticulture, Animals, Health Journal, and The Writer. For many years, Boston has published The Atlantic Monthly, one of the nation’s oldest literary magazines. As might be expected with Boston’s many educational and high-tech institutions, the city also publishes an array of academic and technical journals, both commercially and for professional societies.

Television and Radio

The Boston area is the sixth largest media market in the country, served by five major networks, a public broadcasting station, and a Spanish language station. Special programming includes the Christian Science Monitor Syndicate and a channel for the hearing impaired. Cable television is also available. More than 20 AM and FM radio stations in the Boston area program a variety of music, talk shows, interview programs, and religious offerings. As a special service to travelers, Tunnel Radio broadcasts travel and road conditions inside Boston’s heavily traveled South Station Tunnel.
Media Information: The Boston Globe, 135 Morrissey Blvd., Boston, MA 02107; telephone (617)929-2000

Boston Online

Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau. Available www .bostonusa.com
The Boston Globe. Available www.boston.com
Boston Public Library. Available www.bpl.org
Boston Public Schools. Available www.boston.k12.ma.us
City of Boston. Available www.cityofboston.gov
City of Boston Redevelopment Authority. Available www .cityofboston.gov/bra
Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce. Available www .bostonchamber.com
Massachusetts Business Development Corporation. Available www.mass-business.com
Massachusetts Convention Center Authority. Available mccahome.com
Massachusetts Medical Society. Available www.massmed.org
Massachusetts Office of Business Development. Available www.state.ma.us/mobd