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18-587: South Boston High School was built on Telegraph Hill in Dorchester Heights in 1901. It was the first high school in the South Boston neighborhood. During the Boston busing crisis in the 1970s, several racial incidents took place at the school. On September 12, 1974, the first day of school, only 124 students attended. The school anticipated an enrollment of about 1,300. On November 20, several fights broke out in

36-579: A repeat of the Battle of Bunker Hill , withdrawing from Boston to Nova Scotia on March 17, 1776. The British evacuation was Washington's first victory of the war . It was also a huge morale boost for the Thirteen Colonies . Saint Patrick's Day parades have been held in Boston since 1876, but Evacuation Day was not declared a holiday in the city until 1901 amid interest in local history that also resulted in

54-616: Is 115 feet (35m) tall, built of Georgia white marble capped with octagonal cupola and weather vane, and is generally reminiscent of a church steeple in the Federal style . The monument is now operated by the National Park Service as part of Boston National Historical Park . Notes Sources Evacuation Day (Massachusetts) Evacuation Day is a holiday observed on March 17 in Suffolk County, Massachusetts (which includes

72-630: Is observed as the holiday Evacuation Day in Suffolk County, Massachusetts. A 40-acre (16 ha) area of Dorchester Heights, centered on Thomas Park and the monument, was listed as the Dorchester Heights Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001, encompassing the period of residential development of the area beginning in the later decades of the 19th century. The Dorchester Heights monument area

90-619: The Fortification of Dorchester Heights . After the battles of Lexington and Concord , Revolutionary sentiment within New England reached a new high, and thousands of militiamen from the Northern colonies converged on Boston, pushing the British back within what were then relatively narrow city limits. In June 1775 British soldiers under General William Howe attacked and seized Bunker Hill , but in

108-600: The South Boston Education Complex , houses Excel High School. It is located on 95 G St. South Boston, MA. Dorchester Heights Dorchester Heights is the central area of South Boston . It is the highest area in the neighborhood and commands a view of both Boston Harbor and downtown. Dorchester is remembered in American history for an action in the American Revolutionary War known as

126-477: The 1850s, a roughly elliptical park with ornamental plantings and walkways. During restoration work in the 1990s, archaeologists uncovered evidence of the Revolutionary War fortifications, previously thought to have been destroyed by the park's construction. The Dorchester Heights Monument , located at the center of Thomas Park, was completed in 1902 to designs by Boston architects Peabody and Stearns . It

144-582: The artillery, pulled by oxen, was moved and installed, without being noticed by the British, at Dorchester Heights, a point of strategic importance due to its elevation and commanding view of all of Boston and Boston Harbor. In response, Howe planned a counteroffensive to take the fortified positions on the Heights, but bad weather forced him to reconsider. The Royal Navy evacuated the British Army from Boston on March 17, 1776, along with many Loyalists . March 17

162-474: The black students at the end of the school day. the students were able to escape when the crowd chased after three decoy buses. In 1975, the Boston School Committee was stripped of most of its control over Boston school integration. Judge W. Arthur Garrity Jr. said that desegregation was not working at South Boston High School and accused the school committee of thwarting his court order. The school

180-472: The cities of Boston , Chelsea , and Revere , and the town of Winthrop ), and also by the public schools in Somerville, Massachusetts . The holiday commemorates the evacuation of British forces from the city of Boston following the siege of Boston , early in the American Revolutionary War . Schools and government offices are closed. If March 17 falls on a weekend, schools and government offices are closed on

198-496: The construction of the Dorchester Heights Monument . The state made it a holiday in Suffolk County in 1938. The large Irish population of Boston at that time played a role in the establishment of the holiday. A 1941 law established the holiday in Suffolk County, signed in both black and green ink. Evacuation Day activities are limited in the areas that observe the holiday. The Allied War Veterans of South Boston mark

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216-533: The day with a ceremony on Dorchester Heights. The city of Boston offers free parking for the day. In 2010, the state legislature debated eliminating Evacuation Day and Bunker Hill Day as official holidays, citing the expense of giving state and local workers paid days off. The state's 2011 budget required all state and municipal offices in Suffolk County to be open on both days. (federal) = federal holidays, (abbreviation) = state/territorial holidays, (religious) = religious holidays, (cultural) = holiday related to

234-621: The following Monday in observance. It is the same day as Saint Patrick's Day , a coincidence that played a role in the establishment of the holiday. The 11-month siege of Boston ended when the Continental Army under the command of George Washington fortified Dorchester Heights in early March 1776 with cannons captured at Ticonderoga . British General William Howe's garrison and navy were threatened by these positions, and they were forced to decide between attack and retreat. Howe decided to retreat in order to prevent what could have been

252-465: The fort across hundreds of miles to Boston. This added artillery gave Washington the firepower needed to make a decisive move. On the night of March 4, 1776, as 800 American soldiers stood guard along the river of Dorchester shores, 1,200 American soldiers occupied Dorchester Heights. They began working through the night to build structures suitable to defend against the British Army. A large portion of

270-654: The process sustained many losses. Following this encounter, the Continental Congress in Philadelphia gave George Washington the title of commander-in-chief and sent him to oversee the Siege of Boston . The stalemate in Boston lasted for months, only breaking when Colonel Henry Knox returned from Fort Ticonderoga in New York, having led a team of sleds loaded with tens of thousands of pounds of artillery in winter from

288-403: The school. It began when a white male student let a door slam in the face of a black female student. An even more violent incident occurred several weeks later on December 11, when Michael Faith, a white male student, was stabbed by another student, a Black male. News of his stabbing spread quickly around the neighborhood and by mid-afternoon, about 700 people had surrounded the school to confront

306-433: Was placed into receivership that year under the administration of a district superintendent. South Boston High School continued to receive negative attention for the violence that erupted there in 1974. In 1980, Michael Tierney and Danis Terris founded and launched Mosaic, a publication consisting of autobiographical stories, photographs and poetry from students at South Boston High School. The school building, now renamed

324-468: Was separately listed on the National Register in 1966. An area near the top of Telegraph Hill was used as the site of a reservoir to provide water to South Boston in 1849, with water provided from Lake Cochituate in the western suburbs. This reservoir was later filled in and South Boston High School was built on the site in 1901. The rest of the summit of the hill was developed as Thomas Park in

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