67 Facts About Massachusetts

Massachusetts is home to the urban core of Greater Boston, the largest metropolitan area in New England and a region profoundly influential upon American history, academia, and the research economy.

Massachusetts was transformed into a manufacturing center during the Industrial Revolution.

Massachusetts has played a powerful scientific, commercial, and cultural role in the history of the United States.

In 2004, Massachusetts became the first U S state to legally recognize same-sex marriage as a result of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court's decision in Goodridge v Department of Public Health, and Boston is a hub of LGBT culture and LGBT activism in the United States.

Massachusetts residents have been described by the World Population Review as having the highest average IQ of all U S states, exceeding 104, and the state's public-school students place among the top tier in the world in academic performance.

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Massachusetts was originally inhabited by tribes of the Algonquian language family, including: Wampanoag, Narragansett, Nipmuc, Pocomtuc, Mahican, and Massachusett.

The Massachusetts Bay banished dissenters such as Anne Hutchinson and Roger Williams due to religious and political conflict.

In 1652 the Massachusetts legislature authorized John Hull to produce coinage.

Massachusetts asked that a writ of Quo warranto be issued against Massachusetts for the violations.

Massachusetts was a center of the movement for independence from Great Britain; colonists in Massachusetts had long uneasy relations with the British monarchy, including open rebellion under the Dominion of New England in the 1680s.

In 1820, Maine separated from Massachusetts and entered the Union as the 23rd state as a result of the ratification of the Missouri Compromise.

Massachusetts was the first state to recruit, train, and arm a Black regiment with White officers, the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment.

In 1852, Massachusetts became the first state to pass compulsory education laws.

The 1969 closure of the Springfield Armory, in particular, spurred an exodus of high-paying jobs from Western Massachusetts, which suffered greatly as it de-industrialized during the last 40 years of the 20th century.

In Eastern Massachusetts, following World WarII, the economy was transformed from one based on heavy industry into a service-based economy.

In 1966, Massachusetts became the first state to directly elect an African American to the U S senate with Edward Brooke.

On May 17, 2004, Massachusetts became the first state in the U S to legalize same-sex marriage after a Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruling in November 2003 determined that the exclusion of same-sex couples from the right to a civil marriage was unconstitutional.

On November 8, 2016, Massachusetts voted in favor of the Massachusetts Marijuana Legalization Initiative, known as Question 4.

Massachusetts is located along the Atlantic Flyway, a major route for migratory waterfowl along the eastern coast.

Lakes in central Massachusetts provide habitat for many species of fish and waterfowl, but some species such as the common loon are becoming rare.

Climate change in Massachusetts will affect both urban and rural environments, including forestry, fisheries, agriculture, and coastal development.

State of Massachusetts has developed a plethora of incentives to encourage the implementation of renewable energy and efficient appliances and home facilities.

Massachusetts is the fastest-growing state in New England and the 25th fastest-growing state in the United States.

Many areas of Massachusetts showed relatively stable population trends between 2000 and 2010.

Massachusetts has large Dominican, Puerto Rican, Haitian, Cape Verdean and Brazilian populations.

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Massachusetts has avoided many forms of racial strife seen elsewhere in the US, but examples such as the successful electoral showings of the nativist Know Nothings in the 1850s, the controversial Sacco and Vanzetti executions in the 1920s, and Boston's opposition to desegregation busing in the 1970s show that the ethnic history of Massachusetts was not completely harmonious.

Massachusetts was the first state in North America to require municipalities to appoint a teacher or establish a grammar school with the passage of the Massachusetts Education Law of 1647, and 19th century reforms pushed by Horace Mann laid much of the groundwork for contemporary universal public education which was established in 1852.

Massachusetts is home to the oldest school in continuous existence in North America, as well as the country's oldest public elementary school (The Mather School, founded in 1639), its oldest high school (Boston Latin School, founded in 1635), its oldest continuously operating boarding school (The Governor's Academy, founded in 1763), its oldest college (Harvard University, founded in 1636), and its oldest women's college (Mount Holyoke College, founded in 1837).

Massachusetts is home to the highest ranked private high school in the United States, Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, which was founded in 1778.

In 2013, Massachusetts scored highest of all the states in math and third-highest in reading on the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

Massachusetts has three foreign-trade zones, the Massachusetts Port Authority of Boston, the Port of New Bedford, and the City of Holyoke.

Sectors vital to the Massachusetts economy include higher education, biotechnology, information technology, finance, health care, tourism, manufacturing, and defense.

Massachusetts is the sixth-most popular tourist destination for foreign travelers.

In 2010, the Great Places in Massachusetts Commission published '1, 000 Great Places in Massachusetts' that identified 1, 000 sites across the commonwealth to highlight the diverse historic, cultural, and natural attractions.

Fruit cultivation is an important part of the state's agricultural revenues, and Massachusetts is the second-largest cranberry-producing state after Wisconsin.

In 2018, Massachusetts consumed 1, 459trillion BTU, making it the seventh-lowest state in terms of consumption of energy per capita, and 31 percent of that energy came from natural gas.

In 2014 and 2015, Massachusetts was ranked as the most energy efficient state the United States while Boston is the most efficient city, but it had the fourth-highest average residential retail electricity prices of any state.

Massachusetts has 10 regional metropolitan planning organizations and three non-metropolitan planning organizations covering the remainder of the state; statewide planning is handled by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation.

Several stations in western Massachusetts are served by the Vermonter, which connects St Albans, Vermont to Washington DC.

Massachusetts has a total of 1, 110 miles of freight trackage in operation.

Massachusetts has 39 public-use airfields and more than 200 private landing spots.

Major non-interstate highways in Massachusetts include U S Routes 1, 3, 6, and 20, and state routes 2, 3, 9, 24, and 128.

In 2006, Massachusetts became the first state to approve a law that provided for nearly universal healthcare.

Government of Massachusetts is divided into three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial.

In U S presidential elections since 2012, Massachusetts has been allotted 11 votes in the electoral college, out of a total of 538.

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Massachusetts has shifted from a previously Republican-leaning state to one largely dominated by Democrats; the 1952 victory of John F Kennedy over incumbent Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr.

Since the 1950s, Massachusetts has gained a reputation as being a politically liberal state and is often used as an archetype of modern liberalism, hence the phrase "Massachusetts liberal".

Massachusetts is one of the most Democratic states in the country.

Additionally, Massachusetts provided Reagan with his smallest margins of victory in both the 1980 and 1984 elections.

Massachusetts had been the only state to vote for Democrat George McGovern in the 1972 Presidential Election.

Massachusetts is the most populous state to be represented in the United States Congress entirely by a single party.

In 2008, Massachusetts voters passed an initiative decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana.

Voters in Massachusetts approved a ballot measure in 2012 that legalized the medical use of marijuana.

Massachusetts was an early center of the Transcendentalist movement, which emphasized intuition, emotion, human individuality and a deeper connection with nature.

Famous painters from Massachusetts include Winslow Homer and Norman Rockwell; many of the latter's works are on display at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge.

Tanglewood, in western Massachusetts, is a music venue that is home to both the Tanglewood Music Festival and Tanglewood Jazz Festival, as well as the summer host for the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Massachusetts is home to a large number of museums and historical sites.

Plimoth Plantation and Old Sturbridge Village are two open-air or "living" museums in Massachusetts, recreating life as it was in the 17th and early 19th centuries, respectively.

Long-distance hiking trails in Massachusetts include the Appalachian Trail, the New England National Scenic Trail, the Metacomet-Monadnock Trail, the Midstate Trail, and the Bay Circuit Trail.

Massachusetts is one of the states with the largest percentage of Catholics.

Massachusetts General was founded in 1811 and serves as the largest teaching hospital for nearby Harvard University.

State of Massachusetts is a center for medical education and research including Harvard's Brigham and Women's Hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute as well as the New England Baptist Hospital, Tufts Medical Center, and Boston Medical Center which is the primary teaching hospital for Boston University.

Massachusetts is home to five major league professional sports teams: seventeen-time NBA Champions Boston Celtics, nine-time World Series winners Boston Red Sox, six-time Stanley Cup winners Boston Bruins, six-time Super Bowl winners New England Patriots, and Major League Soccer team New England Revolution.

Many other Massachusetts colleges compete in lower divisions such as DivisionIII, where MIT, Tufts University, Amherst College, Williams College, and others field competitive teams.

Massachusetts is the home of rowing events such as the Eastern Sprints on Lake Quinsigamond and the Head of the Charles Regatta.

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Massachusetts is the home of the Cape Cod Baseball League, and Premier Lacrosse League team Cannons Lacrosse Club.

Massachusetts has produced several successful Olympians including Thomas Burke, James Connolly, and John Thomas; Butch Johnson (archery); Nancy Kerrigan (figure skating); Todd Richards (snowboarding); Albina Osipowich (swimming); Aly Raisman (gymnastics); Patrick Ewing (basketball); as well as Jim Craig, Mike Eruzione, Bill Cleary, and Keith Tkachuk (ice hockey).