12.20.99
The Massachusetts Century -- 100 Years of Highlights

• 1900
  A wave of immigrants from Europe -- an estimated 9 million people during the decade -- lands on America's shores between 1900 and 1909. Thousands of Portuguese, Polish and Italian families settle in Southeastern Massachusetts.
  
  
• 1904
  Textile workers begin striking in Fall River in July after being told they have to take a 12.5 percent pay cut. Within a few days, every mill in the city closes and 23,000 workers are without wages. In January 1905, the workers return to their looms -- with the 12.5 percent cut in their pay.
  
  
• 1910
  The U.S. Census Bureau announces that Fall River has the highest mortality rate in the nation, with 19.1 deaths per 1,000 people. Most of these deaths are children. In 1910, 1,105 children under 5 die in Fall River.
  
  
• 1911
  On April 5, the state legislature votes against giving voting rights to women.
  
  In June, President William Howard Taft visits Fall River during the city's four-day Cotton Centennial.
  
  
• 1913
  Lloyd G. Balfour and three partners scrape enough money together to start the L.G. Balfour Co. The class-ring giant and memorabilia maker would put Attleboro on the map as the jewelry capital of the world.
  
  
• 1912
  The Somerset Pottery Co. closes, ending the town's internationally-known and century-old pottery industry.
  
  
• 1919
  Massachusetts Gov. Calvin Coolidge calls out the National Guard to break a strike by Boston policemen on Sept. 9. His tough action propels him to the vice presidency, and eventually the presidency when Warren Harding dies in 1923.
  
  
• 1920
  On Sept. 13, Somerset is hit by the worst hail storm in its "living memory.'' It strikes the village around 11 a.m., ruining crops, destroying hothouses and breaking more than 1,000 panes of glass.
  
  
• 1921
  On June 14, Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, anarchists and Italian immigrants, are convicted of murdering two men in South Braintree on what is viewed today as highly flimsy evidence. Their convictions come at a time of deep prejudice against immigrants. They are executed on Aug. 23, 1927.
  
  
• 1928
  On Feb. 2, a fire "gnawed out the vitals of Fall River,'' the Providence Journal reports. The blaze wipes out the central business district, and is listed as a contributing factor, along with the Depression, to Fall River's bankruptcy in 1931.
  
  
• 1937
  The famed Fall River Line closes, ending a luxurious era of ship travel to and from New York City.
  
  
• 1938
  With no advance warning, a hurricane with 120-mile-an-hour winds and a 20-foot storm surge slams into Southeastern Massachusetts on Sept. 28. The hurricane kills more than 300 people, destroys nearly 2,000 homes and causes an estimated $100 million in damage here and in Rhode Island.
  
  
• 1940
  On Feb. 6, Wetamoe Mill fire in Fall River causes $450,000 in damage.
  
  
• 1941
  In February, a decade after declaring bankruptcy, Fall River regains control of its finances, which had been run by a state finance board.
  
  On Dec. 7, Charles Braga Jr. becomes the first Fall River resident to lose his life in World War II. He is killed in the surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The Braga Bridge over Interstate 195 is named in his honor.
  
  
• 1942
  On Nov. 28, a fire races through the Cocoanut Grove nightclub in Boston, killing 492 people -- the second deadliest fire in U.S. history.
  
  
• 1949
  On Sept. 24, Somerset holds a parade to welcome home swimmer Shirley Mae France, who fell just short in her bid to become the second woman to swim the English Channel.
  
  
• 1954
  On Dec. 23, the world's first kidney transplant is conducted at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston. The operation's success leads to making life-saving organ transplants commonplace.
  
  
• 1956
  On Sept. 23, the Italian liner Andrea Doria sinks off Nantucket after a collision with the Swedish freighter Stockholm; 52 die.
  
  
• 1957
  On May 6, U.S. Sen. John F. Kennedy, D-Massachusetts, is awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his book, Profiles in Courage .
  
  
• 1960
  On Nov. 9, Massachusetts native son John F. Kennedy beats Richard Nixon in one of the closest presidential elections in U.S. history.
  
  
• 1963
  On Nov. 22, President Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas.
  
  
• 1964
  On Jan. 12, a massive explosion destroys the Thompson Chemical Co. off Route 152 in Attleboro, killing seven people. The blast can be heard as far away as Boston and New Bedford.
  
  
• 1965
  The greatest electrical failure in history, on Nov. 9-10, blacks out seven Northeastern states and most of two Canadian provinces.
  
  
• 1968
  On June 6, another native son, Robert Kennedy, dies 25 hours after being shot in Los Angeles. He had just won the California Presidential primary.
  
  
• 1969
  On July 18, Sen. Ted Kennedy drives his car off Chappaquiddick Bridge, resulting in the death of Mary Jo Kopechne.
  
  
• 1972
  In Novemeber, Massachusetts is the only state that votes for George McGovern over Richard Nixon.
  
  
• 1974
  On Aug. 26, a riot engulfs the Swansea Mall construction site as 1,000 unionized workers rampage through the site, angry that the builder is using non-union labor.
  
  
• 1977
  Groundbreaking is held for the Seekonk Public Library April 25. Because of a gas leak and construction complications, the building doesn't open until 1981.
  
  
• 1978
  The Great Blizzard of '78 begins on Feb. 6. Before it ends, a day and a half later, it dumps 28 inches of snow on eastern Massachusetts.
  
  
• 1982
  On May 11, a horrific fire destroys Notre Dame de Lourdes Church in Fall River and 34 surrounding homes and businesses, leaving 302 people homeless. An army of 450 firefighters from Fall River and two dozen neighboring communities fought the inferno.
  
  
• 1983
  Cheryl Ann Araujo is raped in a bar in New Bedford named Big Dan's March 6. The case becomes a national sensation and is later made into a movie. Four men are convicted and sentenced to prison terms ranging from six to nine years. She later dies in a car crash.
  
  

• Hoyle

  1986
  On Oct. 26, Mark G. Hoyle of Swansea, a hemophiliac, dies at 14 of AIDS. His struggle with the disease and the compassionate support he receives from the people of Swansea gains national headlines. Swansea welcomed Mark into school, at a time when school districts across the country were banning students with AIDS.
  
  
• 1988
  Between June 3 and April 24, 1989, the bodies of nine women are found along New Bedford-area highways -- the victims of what police believe is a serial killer, who has not been found.
  
  
• 1993
  The Education Reform Act of 1993 is passed by the state legislature. It kicks off seven years of reforms, ranging from teacher certification to the dreaded MCAS tests for students.
  
  
• 1994
  On Dec. 24, seven people, including five children, die in a house fire on Alden Drive in North Attleboro.
  
  
• 1996
  On a snowy night in December, an English bulldog named Diamond runs away from his home in Swansea. Diamond's disappearance touches off a controversy that leads to the resignation of the dog officer, and gives Swansea a reputation as a dispassionate killer of stray dogs.
  
  
• 1998
  In July, three Seekonk High School students drown in the rain-swollen Ten Mile River.
  
  
• 1999
  On Nov. 5, fire destroys the old "Castle'' building at LaSalette Shrine in Attleboro.
  
  

A yearlong Providence Journal series about life in Rhode Island.
Produced in cooperation with the Rhode Island Historical Society.