On April 18, 1689, after news reached Boston that James II of England had been overthrown, the colonists of Boston rose up against the rule of Sir Edmund Andros, the governor of the Dominion of New England. Andros had angered the local populace by enforcing the restrictive Navigation Acts, denying the validity of existing land titles, restricting town meetings, and appointing unpopular regular officers to lead the colonial militia. He also infuriated Puritans by promoting the Church of England. A well-organized “mob” of provincial militia and citizens took over the city and arrested dominion officials, without any casualties. Leaders of the former Massachusetts Bay Colony then reclaimed control of the government.
On April 18, 1775, as British troops leave Boston to confiscate the arsenal in Concord and to arrest Sam Adams and John Hancock in Lexington, Patriots Paul Revere and William Dawes set out on horseback from the city to warn Adams and Hancock and rouse the Minutemen.
On April 18, 1923, Yankee Stadium, “The House that Ruth Built,” opened in the Bronx.