Boston bicameral legislature takes office.

Members are sworn into office at Faneuil Hall. Under the new city charter, the eight-member Board of Aldermen is elected at-large to one-year terms; the 48-member Boston Common Council is made up of four representatives elected from each ward to one-year terms. According to the charter, “the executive powers of the said corporation . . .shall be vested in the Board of Aldermen,” which chooses department heads and commission members. The powers of the Aldermen are changed in 1885.*