Here’s a collection of some of the sights and events taking place in and around Boston from 1970 to 1979. Below, images of the blizzard of 1978, a victory parade for the Bruins after they won the 1970 Stanley Cup, enforcement and opposition to school segregation by busing, a Celtics game in Boston Garden, urban renewals and restorations, a St. Patrick’s Day parade in South Boston, anti-war protests, charm-school lessons, and much more.
Boston in the 1970s
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![A motorcycle cop directs traffic outside Haymarket Square in Boston in 1979]()
Read moreA motorcycle cop directs traffic outside Haymarket Square in Boston in 1979. #
Spencer Grant / Getty -
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![About a dozen people wearing green hats and clothing play instruments and dance on a parade float.]()
Read moreBoston College students ride a parade float through the streets of South Boston in celebration of St. Patrick's Day in 1973. #
Ted Spiegel / Corbis via Getty -
![A man wearing a business suit sits cross-legged in the window of a tall building, with Boston visible behind him.]()
Read moreRoy Lobdell, an assistant councilor at law, meditates during his lunch hour in the tower of the John Hancock Building in Boston on February 4, 1977. #
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![Several people relax on a beach with two airliners visible taxiing in the distance.]()
Read morePeople enjoy Constitution Beach in East Boston, within sight of Logan Airport, in July of 1973. #
Michael Philip Manheim / U.S. National Archives -
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![A large crowd gathers in a park near a statue.]()
Read moreA view of a large crowd that had gathered in front of the Massachusetts State House, on Boston Common, to protest the Kent State University shootings, in 1970. #
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![Thousands of people gather together in a protest in a city park.]()
Read moreAn aerial view of a large crowd participating in an anti-war demonstration held on Boston Common in April 1970. #
Spencer Grant / Getty -
![A view of the historic buildings of Boston's Quincy Market.]()
Read moreAn aerial view showing construction work taking place at Boston's Quincy Market in 1974. Quincy Market was incorporated into the new Faneuil Hall Marketplace, which opened in 1976. #
Spencer Grant / Getty -
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![A professional basketball game, seen from the sidelines.]()
Read moreThe Boston Celtics play a game against the New York Knicks in Boston Garden in 1972. #
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![A portrait of Larry Bird sitting on the sidelines of a basketball game.]()
Read moreLarry Bird, a new player with the Boston Celtics, photographed on the sidelines during a game versus Detroit. #
Bettmann Archive / Getty -
![Several nursing students wearing uniforms put on small caps.]()
Read moreMassachusetts General Hospital student nurses don new caps in 1972. #
Spencer Grant / Getty -
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![The Pope rides in an open-top car past large crowds.]()
Read morePope John Paul II arrived in Boston in October 1979 for a six-day visit to the United States. #
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![A woman directs nine younger women near a swimming pool.]()
Read moreCharm-school teacher Carol Nash tutors would-be models in downtown Boston in 1979. #
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![A skyscraper is seen with about 20% of its windows replaced with sheets of plywood.]()
Read moreThe John Hancock Tower, seen with plywood window fillers, in Boston's Back Bay in 1974. The blue reflective windows that were initially installed started failing shortly after they were put in place, many falling away from the building and crashing to the streets below. Eventually all of the windows—more than 10,000—were replaced with new glass. #
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![Spectators watch as runners crowd together at the start of the 1973 Boston Marathon.]()
Read moreSpectators watch as runners crowd together at the start of the 1973 Boston Marathon. #
Ted Spiegel / Corbis via Getty -
![A crowded marketplace is seen near many buildings downtown.]()
Read moreThe marketplace at Boston's Haymarket Square, seen in 1973 #
Ernst Halberstadt / U.S. National Archives -
![College crews practice on the Charles River.]()
Read moreCollege crews practice on the Charles River, with a view of downtown Boston in the background, in 1977. #
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![The rock band The Cars performs on stage.]()
Read moreThe Cars (from left: Elliot Easton, Ric Ocasek, Benjamin Orr, and Greg Hawkes) perform at Boston's Paradise Theater on June 29, 1978. #
Ron Pownall / Getty -
![An orchestra performs in a band shell in front of a large audience.]()
Read moreThe Boston Pops Orchestra performs at the Hatch Memorial Shell on the Charles River Embankment in Boston in 1972. #
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![Several children throw sticks and rocks at a partially-demolished school building.]()
Read moreA group of local kids in a South Boston neighborhood trash an abandoned school building during its demolition, in 1971. #
Spencer Grant / Getty -
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![A man stands behind an architectural model of a large office building.]()
Read moreMassachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis looks over a model of the new State Transportation Building that will be built in the Park Plaza theater district, on August 22, 1978, in Boston. #
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![A huge crowd surrounds several men riding in a convertible car during a vistory parade.]()
Read moreA surprised Bobby Orr (center) finds himself being hugged by an avid fan who leapt into his arms during a victory parade for the Boston Bruins in downtown Boston, after the Bruins won the Stanley Cup with a win over the St. Louis Blues in 1970. Looking on are teammates John Adams (left), Don Marcotte, and Bill Speer. #
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![A small group of national guardsmen stand in a V-formation, holding out their batons.]()
Read moreNational Guardsmen are put through riot training in Boston's Commonwealth Armory on October 18, 1974. Massachusetts Governor Francis W. Sargent called up the Guard to quell school violence, following orders to desegregate schools by busing students to other districts. However, by this time, the city had been relatively calm and the Guard remained in the armories. #
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![Motorcycle police escort school buses on a street.]()
Read moreMotorcycle police escort school buses on a street in Boston as schools are desegregated in 1974. #
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![Thousands of people march together in a street.]()
Read moreThousands of white students boycotted classes and joined their parents in a noisy, three-and-a-half-mile protest march through South Boston on October 4, 1974, the 16th day of a court-ordered plan to integrate Boston's public schools by busing. #
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![Police clash with a group of white students.]()
Read morePolice clear an area around Boston's South Boston High School after Black students arrived for classes at the predominantly white school on September 12, 1974. Thousands of Boston schoolchildren refused to enter court-ordered desegregated school on the first day of classes. #
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![Two students hold hands through their windows as their bus arrives at a high school.]()
Read moreThe second week of the second phase of integration of the Boston school system began on September 15, 1975, with security somewhat relaxed and no trouble reported. Here, students grasp hands through a window as their bus pulls up in front of Charlestown High School. #
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![A baseball player swings his bat, having just hit a pitch.]()
Read moreCarl Yastrzemski of the Boston Red Sox swings and watches the flight of his ball against the Baltimore Orioles during a Major League Baseball game at Boston's Fenway Park, circa 1978. #
Focus on Sport / Getty -
![Two people stand on a railroad platform amid clouds of steam.]()
Read moreA passenger and a railroad worker confer in a cloud of steam on a winter afternoon at Boston's South Station in 1972. #
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![A man stands beside his car, pushing it with the door open.]()
Read moreDrivers push their cars to a gas station during the "oil crisis" that caused nationwide gasoline shortages, in Roslindale, Massachusetts, in 1973. #
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![Many cars and trucks sit buried in deep snow on a highway.]()
Read moreCars and trucks sit stuck on Route 128, near Dedham, Massachusetts, on February 9, 1978, after the blizzard of 1978 struck. Drivers could only wait as Army and civilian plows and tow trucks approached. #
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![A woman hangs laundry on a line among several three-decker houses.]()
Read moreMary Bruno hangs laundry outside her home in East Boston, close to Logan Airport, in May 1973. #
Michael Philip Manheim / U.S. National Archives -
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![A street scene beneath an elevated rail station.]()
Read moreA scene at Washington Street below Egleston station, looking toward Egleston Square, in February 1973 #
Ernst Halberstadt / U.S. National Archives -
![Senator Edward M. Kennedy speaks before a podium.]()
Read moreEdward M. Kennedy gestures while answering a question after his speech to a local advertising club in Boston on May 2, 1970. The Massachusetts senator criticized President Richard Nixon's Cambodian policy and said the United States was facing "a very dark hour" because the president's policies would bring "nothing but an increased level of violence and expansion of the war." #
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![A crowd of people march behind a banner that reads "Gay Pride 1977."]()
Read moreA view of a gay-pride parade taking place on Boston's Commonwealth Avenue in 1977 #
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![A teenager rides a skateboard in a park.]()
Read moreFrank McGrath, 14, of Arlington, Massachusetts, rides a skateboard through an obstacle course on Boston Common on March 9, 1977. #
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