Although over 30 communities in the colonies eventually renamed themselves to honor Benjamin Franklin. The Massachusetts Town of Franklin was the first and changed its name in 1778.
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The creation of the Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts, which was formerly private town and state owned land, marked the first time the federal government purchased land for a park.
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The first American Nobel Prize winner was Albert A. Michelson of Worcester, MA. Michelson was chairman of Clark University's Physics Department whose prize-winning work concerned the measurement of light.