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2 unusual facts about Massachusetts General Court


John Winthrop, Jr. Iron Furnace Site

In 1641, the Massachusetts General Court set forth a plan for "discovery of mines" and for the manufacture of iron.

Seal of Plymouth County, Massachusetts

The County of Plymouth was established on the second day of June in 1685 by the General Court of Plymouth Colony, then sitting at Plymouth.


Big Dig ceiling collapse

On July 13, 2006, the leaders of the state legislature, Senate President Robert Travaglini and House Speaker Sal Dimasi, called upon Turnpike Authority chairman Matthew J. Amorello, who provided oversight of the project, to consider stepping down from his position and accepting a diminished role.

Braintree Instructions

The Braintree Instructions was a document sent on September 24, 1765 by the town meeting of Braintree, Massachusetts to the town's representative at the Massachusetts General Court, or legislature, which instructed the representative to oppose the Stamp Act, a tax regime which had recently been adopted by the British Parliament in London.

Commonwealth Classic

In 1995, the basketball rivalry was officially designated as the "Commonwealth Classic" by then-Massachusetts Governor William Weld and members of the Massachusetts General Court who were among the nearly 20,000 spectators to watch the game at the new FleetCenter (now the TD Banknorth Garden).

Henry Bradford Nason

His father, Elias Nason (born at Walpole, Massachusetts, in 1768; died at Easthampton, Massachusetts, in 1853), was a manufacturer of straw and cotton goods, a merchant, and served his town, Foxborough, as justice of the peace and as representative in the Massachusetts General Court.

Livermore Falls, Maine

It would be granted by the General Court of Massachusetts in 1771 as Port Royal, awarded to heirs of veterans who served in the campaign against Port Royal in Jamaica.

Pownal, Maine

The town was set off and incorporated by the Massachusetts General Court on March 3, 1808, named in honor of former Governor Thomas Pownall, who had died three years before.


see also

Otis family

Samuel Allyne Otis (1740-1814), Speaker of the Massachusetts General Court; Representative to the Second Continental Congress; First Secretary of the United States Senate; Son of James Otis, Sr. and father of Harrison Gray Otis.