Evacuation: A Very Boston Holiday (1901)

This Day in Esoteric Political History

Jody Avirgan & Radiotopia

History

4.6 • 982 Ratings

🗓️ 16 March 2023

⏱️ 18 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

It’s March 16th. Today we mark Evacuation Day (technically the 17th), a day in which Boston marks the retreat of troops during the Revolutionary War. Over the years, the holiday has been combined and conflated with St. Patrick’s Day, making it the most Boston of holidays.

Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss why the holiday gained traction in the first part of the 20th century — and why in the last decade or so it’s receded a bit.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to this day in esoteric political history from radiotopia.
0:07.0	My name is Jody Avagan.
0:10.0	Today we commemorate Evacuation Day, March 17th. Now some of you, especially those in the
0:16.0	Boston area, will know exactly what we're talking about. Others may never have
0:20.3	heard of this, but in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, which includes Boston,
0:23.8	and a bunch of other big cities, not only is evacuation day kind of a well-known thing, it is a holiday,
0:29.6	and up until recently schools were off, most businesses were closed, state workers got a paid holiday,
0:35.1	and if you're thinking to yourself, whether you're in Boston or not, wait a minute, March 17th,
0:40.0	isn't that also St. Patrick's Day?
0:42.4	Well you're right, and it is not exactly a coincidence.
0:44.7	There's an interesting history here
0:46.0	about how these two days ended up on the same day
0:49.0	in the most Irish of cities.
0:50.8	So let's talk about the connection between the two and the very Boston holiday
0:55.7	here as always Nicoleheimer of Vanderbilt and Kelly Carter Jackson of Wellesley. Hello there
1:01.6	Happy evacuation day Jody. Thank you. hello there. Happy evacuation day, Jody.
1:03.7	Thank you.
1:04.4	Hey there.
1:05.3	And Kelly, you are in the Boston area.
1:07.2	We were just talking about this and we'll get to this,
1:10.6	but you were pointing out that it's not actually that big of a deal anymore
1:13.7	and your kids. No kids still have school there's it's not but did you have a second where you're like
	...

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