Boston: An Extraordinary Town Mixes History And The Future

This extraordinary old town is still young and hip – a vibrant mix of history and the future

- Dan Booth

In 1858, writer, physician and self-described Boston Brahmin Oliver Wendell Holmes penned a story in which one of his characters called the Massachusetts State House “the Hub of the solar system.” Holmes meant the comment to be satirical, but the epithet stuck and Bostonians soon not only adopted it, but expanded it; today, one of the city’s many nicknames is The Hub of the Universe.

While assuming such a grandiose title may seem a bit pretentious to outsiders, Boston is a city that can carry it off with a certain easy charm. Although Boston ranks as one of America’s oldest cities, dating back almost four centuries – the city celebrates its 400th anniversary in 2030 – there is a definite sense of youth and vitality; over a third of the population is under the age of 25.

Part of that phenomenon can be attributed to another of the city’s sobriquets, “The Athens of America.” Both Boston University and Boston College are in town, Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are just across the Charles River in Cambridge, and another 100 or so well-known institutions of higher learning are scattered throughout the Greater Boston area.

But the presence of these hallowed halls has done far more than inject youth into this historic town; these institutions have been a continual well-spring of innovation in the fields of science, medicine, technology, financial services and the arts.

First, A Bit of History

Much of this intellectual wealth comes from the sheer weight of history. For example, Massachusetts General Hospital is over 200 years old, being the third-oldest general hospital in the US and birthplace of the Harvard Medical School. MIT was founded in 1861 and has gone on to see its alums play roles in the development of computers, the World Wide Web, the transistor and mapping the human genome.