Kevin White is inaugurated mayor.

In the first inaugural ceremony held at Faneuil Hall in 50 years, White declares, “All of us are diminished as growth and change swallow up the familiar neighborhood where a man could find the comfort of friends, pride in common activities, and a share in the civic enterprise.” Rather than hold the traditional post-inaugural luncheon with the Boston City Council and School Committee at the Parker House, it is shifted to the French Room of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, and the inaugural ball that evening at the Sheraton Boston hotel is described by Boston Globe reporter Christopher Lydon as an “uninhibited display of black-tie elegance.”