Why Is the Boston Marathon on a Monday? 1775, 1897 and 1969
Why is Boston Marathon on Monday? Because it is run on Patriots' Day, the holiday that recalls the first battles of the American Revolutionary War, on April 19, 1775. It all got locked in during 1969, when this Massachusetts holiday became the third Monday of April.
By the PacePoster desk · · 3 min · 12 sources
01April 19, 1775: Shots Fired
At Lexington, then at Concord, Massachusetts, militiamen face British soldiers. At Lexington, a shot rings out: “historians still debate who fired it,” notes the American Battlefield Trust. These clashes start the American Revolutionary War. More than a century later, Massachusetts turns the date into a holiday.
021894: A Holiday for April 19
In 1894, Massachusetts creates Patriots' Day. According to the Kennebec Journal, it replaces Fast Day, an old day of penance inherited from the 17th century. The date is that of the battles: April 19, whatever the day of the week.
We will hold the race on whatever date Patriots Day is legally celebrated in Massachusetts
031897: 15 Men in Ashland
Three years later, John Graham, a member of the Boston Athletic Association (B.A.A.) and manager of the U.S. team at the 1896 Athens Games, comes home with an idea: a marathon in Boston. On April 19, 1897, 15 men show up in Ashland, in front of the Metcalf mill, for 24.5 miles to Boston. The start is given at 12:19 p.m., according to the next day's Boston Globe. John McDermott, of New York, wins in 2 hr 55 min 10 sec. Only ten runners make it to the end. That April 19, 1897, by the way, falls on a Monday, but it's a calendar coincidence.
04Seven Decades of Shifting Days
Until 1968, the race follows the date, not the day. According to B.A.A. archives reported by Boston.com, it has been held on every day of the week from Monday to Saturday: when April 19 fell on a Sunday, they ran on Monday. The last marathon held on a day other than Monday is the 1968 edition, on Friday, April 19. Amby Burfoot wins it.
05Why Is Boston Marathon on Monday? Since 1969
In February 1968, Governor John Volpe signs a law moving holidays to Mondays, Boston.com reports. Patriots' Day becomes the third Monday of April, starting in 1969. A Lexington lawmaker, Lincoln Cole, protests: nobody would think of moving the Fourth of July to the first Monday of July. Race director Will Cloney settles it: “We will hold the race on whatever date Patriots Day is legally celebrated in Massachusetts.” Only the pandemic has moved it since: in 2020, the April edition was postponed and then run virtually, and the 2021 race was held in the fall, according to the B.A.A.
06Red Sox and the “Scream Tunnel”
A Monday off needs some entertainment. According to the Boston Globe, the Red Sox have played at home, at Fenway Park, every Patriots' Day since 1959. Since 1968, the game has generally started around 11 a.m., so fans can walk over to Kenmore Square afterward and cheer on the runners. In Wellesley, around the halfway point, the college's students scream as the pack goes by. According to the college, quoted by Boston.com, the tradition dates back to 1897, when students supposedly cheered on a Harvard runner. The Boston Daily Globe of April 20, 1911, already describes “hundreds of Wellesley college girls” along the road.
Sources for this story (12)
Every fact was cross-checked in at least two independent sources. Where they disagree, the story says so.
- History of the Boston Marathon — Boston Athletic Association
- About / History — Boston Athletic Association
- Champions du Boston Marathon — Boston Athletic Association
- First Boston Marathon held — HISTORY.com (This Day in History, 19 avril)
- Le marathon de 1897 — The Boston Globe, 20 avril 1897 (archive reproduite par Boston.com)
- The silly story of the first-ever Boston Marathon — Citius Mag (Paul Snyder, 2017)
- Marathon Monday et Patriots' Day — Boston.com (Nik DeCosta-Klipa, 13 avril 2018)
- Patriot's Day or Patriots' Day? Punctuation confusion continues — Kennebec Journal / Centralmaine (Susan McMillan, 2014, mis à jour 2024)
- Lexington and Concord — American Battlefield Trust
- Why do the Red Sox play so early on Patriots Day? — The Boston Globe (Conor Ryan, avril 2025)
- Kissing, posters, and so much screeching: a history of the Wellesley College « Scream Tunnel » — Boston.com (Megan Turchi, 12 avril 2018)
- API Wikimedia Commons — licences des deux photos
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No. 04Boston 1967: The Bib They Tried to Rip Off Kathrine Switzer
Who was the first woman to run the Boston Marathon? Bobbi Gibb in 1966, without a number. Kathrine Switzer was the first to get a bib, in 1967: a 20-year-old student who entered under her initials and, a few miles in, had the race director charging at her to rip it off.
No. 20Rosie Ruiz, Boston 1980: The Winner Who Only Ran the Last Mile
On April 21, 1980, an unknown 26-year-old crosses the finish line of the Boston Marathon first among the women, in 2:31:56. A laurel wreath is placed on her head. There is just one catch: nobody saw her run.