October 23(1850) First National Women’s Rights Convention meets in Worcester. The landmark gathering’s participants deliver speeches and debated strategy for the advancement of women, inspiring national efforts to “secure…political, legal, and social equality with man.”

October 24(1789) Newly elected president George Washington arrives in Boston during his tour of the Eastern States. The town marks his one o’clock arrival with a ‘federal discharge of cannon’ and the ringing of bells. Vice President John Adams and Lt. Governor Samuel Adams escort Washington to his lodgings.

October 25(1848) 300,000 New Englanders descend upon the Common in celebration of the completion of Boston’s first municipal water system. The city’s residents would have for the first time a supply of pure drinking water, transported via aqueduct from Natick’s Lake Cochituate.

October 26(1934) Red Sox trade Lyn Lary and $250,000 for shortstop Joe Cronin in what is deemed one of the best trades in team history. The seven-time All-Star’s jersey number (#4) would be retired in 1984.

October 27(2004) The Boston Red Sox defeat the St. Louis Cardinals to win baseball’s World Series. Beantown’s men and women weep tears of bliss, washing away the 86 year-old ‘Curse of the Bambino.’

October 28(1818) Abigail Adams dies. As wife to John Adams, she provided the statesman with assistance in matters of love, family, and politics. Her vivid personality and intellectual curiosity are evident in the voluminous correspondence she maintained with many of the era’s luminaries.

October 29(1727) An earthquake off the Massachusetts coast causes damage from Boston to Portland, Maine. The City of a Hill’s alarmed theologians would churn out sermons on the subject, among them Cotton Mather’s The Terror of the Lord. Mather wrote a letter to the Massachusetts Governor, requesting him to impose a public fast to appease God’s wrath.