Framingham Online News

Patriots' Day in Framingham

April 19, 2010 (11:59 pm EST)
Filed under: General Interest by Randy Harris

Minuteman Statue, Buckminster Square, Framingham, MA USA

Minuteman Statue, Buckminster Square, Framingham, MA USA

FRAMINGHAM, MA - While many locals think about the Boston Marathon and a three day weekend -- many forget, or never knew the significance of April 19th which is celebrated as Patriots' Day in the State of Massachusetts.

Patriots' Day commemorates the original American Patriots, the Revolutionary War soldiers who fought the British at Lexington and Concord, on April 19th in the year 1775.

Many don't realize the significance Framingham's own Minutemen played in the War for Independence.    Before the first shot was fired on the battlefields of Lexington and Concord, Framingham residents readied themselves and worked closely with other patriots throughout the greater Framingham area in 1775.

The next time you are driving from Framingham Center towards Downtown, as you head south on Main St., and it divides, (Main St. to the left, Maple St. to right, and straight ahead is Union Ave.), consider for a moment as you pass the statue of the Minuteman, that you have just passed through the same location where Framingham residents gathered and planned and mustered to defend us against tyranny and oppression long before we were born.

Below are excepts from our Framingham Historic Timeline, (written by former Town Historian, Stephen Herring).

February 22, 1775 - British General Gage sends out spies to chart the way to Worcester for his invasion. They stay at Buckminster's tavern and observe the Framingham minutemen drilling.
April 19, 1775 - General Gage sends his Redcoats against Lexington and Concord instead of Framingham and Worcester. Framingham sends it's minutemen, and one man is wounded.

On April 19th, 1775, the original Patriot's Day, Framingham was there.   The Minuteman statue in Buckminster Square stands as a reminder of the events which not only shaped Framingham,  but shaped a nation.

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