HUB History - Our Favorite Stories from Boston History

Sky Jockeys, Knights of the Air, and Man-Birds were just a few of the terms that newspapers around the country used to describe the early aviators who converged on Boston in September 1910. The first Harvard-Boston Aero Meet was the largest and most exciting air show that the world had ever seen, and it left Boston gripped by a bad case of aeroplane fever. Famous pilots from the US and around the world, including even Wilbur Wright, would compete for cash prizes in a number of categories, including a high-stakes race to Boston Light in the outer harbor. Tens of thousands of spectators gawked at the spectacle, reporters provided breathless coverage, and the military watched carefully to see if these newfangled flying machines could ever be useful in warfare. The event was so successful that the organizers extended it by three days beyond what was originally scheduled, then followup meets were scheduled for the next two years.

Please support us on Patreon and check out the full show notes at: http://HUBhistory.com/144/

Aeroplane Fever Honey Fitz flies with Claude Grahame-White Honey Fitz Honey Fitz, Grahame White, and President Taft Cromwell Dixon’s dirigible View of Squantum Second Boston Light course Third Boston Light course Final Boston Light course Grahame-White’s monoplane Grahame-White clinches the Boston Light prize bomb dropping target Boston Light cigar ad Transit options to the airfield Poster poster The triplane that crashed Wilbur Wright sold postcards that he carried on flights

• Harvard is the first college with an aeroplane
• 1907 map including Squantum Point, before the airfield
• About the Atlantic land company
• Map of Atlantic Land Company development
• Summary of the 1910 meet
• Military interest in the 1910 meet
• 1910 Harvard graduates magazine, published right before the meet
• Harvard Crimson coverage of the 1910 aero meet
• A large collection of photos of the 1910 Harvard Boston Aero Meet
• LA Herald “Big Flock of Men-Birds Flies at Harvard Field”
• LA Herald, Wilbur Wright to debut new plane design at Harvard
• A 2018 Harvard Crimson retrospective on the meet
• A 2003 Harvard Magazine article with lots of photos
• If you have a Globe subscription
  • Mar 10, 1910, competing aero meets
  • July 28, 1910, Aero Meet originally announced for Soldiers Field
  • Aug 2, 1910, competing cities, Harvard officially sanctioned
  • Aug 7, 1910, meet moved to Squantum, Boston Light course revised
  • Aug 8, 1910, work begins on the airfield at Squantum
  • Aug 13, 1910, work continues on airfield
  • Aug 14, 1910, excursion trains to bring tourists, example of racist “Asa Spades” comic
  • Aug 17, 1910, Squantum is the best field in America
  • Aug 17, 1910, Prizes announced
  • Aug 19, 1910, directions to the meet by elevated train, streetcar, steam train, and automobile
  • Aug 20, 1910, Point Allerton lifesavers to monitor Boston Light course
  • Aug 26, 1910, Boston is suffering from aeroplane fever
  • Aug 30, 1910, Final Boston Light course set
  • Sep 2, 1910, Wilbur Wright and others prep on day before meet
  • Sep 3, 1910, opening day
  • Sep 3, 1910, Dixon and Grahame-White give exhibition flights
  • Sep 4, 1910, First day’s results
  • Sep 6, 1910, 100,000 spectators
  • Sep 8, 1910, Ads for products and services related to the aero meet
  • Sep 10, 1910, Honey Fitz flies with Grahame-White while President Taft watches
  • Sep 11, 1910, two extra days added
  • Sep 13, 1910, pilot fights cops on the airfield
  • Sep 13, 1910, Grahame-White’s Boston Light flight
  • Sep 13, 1910, records set, rifle shooting
  • Sep 16, 1910, police leadership worried about safecrackers with planes
  • Sep 5, 1910, Cromwell Dixon’s dirigible out of control
  • Sep 17, 1910, meet closes, prizes awarded
  • Sep 17, poem
  • Oct 5, 1910, meet loses $21,000
  • Sep 28, 1910, airfield improvements dismantled
  • Nov 29, 1910, planning for second meet, glider meet
  • Jul 23, 1911, Ad for the play “The Aero Girl”
  • Nov 19, 1911, 1911 meet loses $11,000
  • May 18, 1912, Russell Green composes “Take Me Down to Squantum, I Want To See Them Fly.”
• Contemporary coverage of the 1911 glider meet in Aero magazine
• The New York Times on the opening of the 1911 meet
• Official program of the 1911 meet
• Harvard Crimson coverage of the 1911 aero meet
• Crimson coverage of the 1911 glider meet
• Harriet Quimby’s death in 1912
• Sheet music for “Take Me Down to Squantum, I Want To See Them Fly”

Boston Book Club

A few months ago, we featured the book The Race Underground, by Doug Most. It details the race between Boston and New York to build the nation’s first subway system. We just discovered the PBS American Experience documentary based on the book, which was released in 2017, which is described as follows:

In the late 19th century, as America’s teeming cities grew increasingly congested, the time had come to replace the nostalgic horse-drawn trolleys with a faster, cleaner, safer, and more efficient form of transportation. Ultimately, it was Boston — a city of so many firsts — that overcame a litany of engineering challenges, the greed-driven interests of businessmen, and the great fears of its citizenry to construct America’s first subway. Based in part on Doug Most’s acclaimed book of the same name, The Race Underground tells the dramatic story of an invention that changed the lives of millions.

Love it or hate it, the T is intrinsic to the Boston experience. To give context for the film, PBS offers several interesting articles and features on related subject matter, including Benjamin M. Schmidt’s article “What the Maps Miss,” which examines how subway maps have led city dwellers to develop mental maps that are very different from geography, and it includes an overlay of a distorted T map on Google maps to illustrate his points.

The film can be viewed on Netflix, Amazon, iTunes, and the film and supporting material are available on PBS.

Upcoming Event

As you know by now, Increase and Cotton Mather cast a long shadow over the early history of Boston. Through his prolific writing, Cotton is a source for researching the religion, history, and even science of the Bay colony in the 17th and 18th centuries. On August 9, a lunchtime talk at Massachusetts Historical Society will focus on one of Cotton’s most influential religious writings, and it will be led by Dr. Jan Stievermann, who’s a professor of the history of American Christianity at Heidelberg University in Germany.

The talk is titled “Cotton Mather’s Biblia Americana 1693-1728: America’s First Bible Commentary and Storehouse of Early-Modern Learning,” and it draws on Professor Stievermann’s recent book exploring Mather’s landmark work. Here’s how the MHS describes the event:

With the ongoing edition of Cotton Mather’s massive Biblia Americana scholars of early America are now gaining access to the first comprehensive Bible commentary produced in the colonies. This talk will give an introduction to the riches of the Biblia as a source for the study of colonial New England and its place in early-modern intellectual history.

The event begins at noon on Friday. It’s free and open to the public, and pack a lunch to enjoy while Dr. Stievermann is giving his talk.