t is Dorchester Day 2003, that annual remembrance of the founding of our town by pilgrims in the year 1630.

It has been 373 years since English voyagers first stepped foot here. Historians say the name Dorchester was taken from the small town in Dorset, England, from where the early settlers had emigrated.

Almost 40 years ago, the late Larry Etter, an historian for the Dorchester Historical Society, chronicled a brief history of our town. He noted that Dorchester was the first settlement of the Massachusetts Bay Company, a group which set sail for America in a fleet of 14 vessels. The first to reach our shores, on May 30, 1630 was the ship the Mary and John; some 140 persons came ashore to settle in a place which was called "Mattapanock" by the Native American Indians who lived here.

It was the beginning of this town, which would become a welcoming home to immigrants from every corner of the world right up until the present day. Dorchester's original borders spread out from a cluster of early homes in Meeting House Hill. Our town land, called "Unquety" by the Indians, extended southwest into the wilderness area, including the present day towns of Milton, Canton, Sharon, Foxboro and Wrentham, almost as far as the present day border of Rhode Island.

The early Dorchester was home to many firsts in this new land:

•The first Grist Mill, built on the Neponset River by Israel Stoughton in 1633;

• The first public school, built in 1639, the progenitor of the present-day Mather School;

• The first "Towne Meeting", called for October 8, 1633, "to settle and set down such orders as may tend to the general good", while choosing 12 "Selectmen" to administer community affairs.

• The first chocolate manufacturing began in 1765 at Lower Mills, when the Walter Baker company was formed on Adams Street;

• The first silver-plate was manufactured in America by Roswell Gleason, whose estate on Mt. Bowdoin near Codman Square was dismantled in the late 1980's and brought to the Museum of Fine Arts.

The modern-day celebration of Dorchester Day began on June 25, 1904, with a band concert and orations on Savin Hill. The affair was attended by a local politician, John F. Fitzgerald and his family, who noted the beauty of the area and vowed to create a public park on that land when elected Mayor. That first observance was paid for with $135 raised by the Dorchester Historical Society.

The first Dorchester Day Parade was held on June 10, 1905, and the city government appropriated $1000 to cover the costs.

This weekend, Dorchester people will come together again to celebrate our community. Parade organizers Ed and Karen Crowley and their committee of public-spirited volunteers have raised almost $50,000 to provide what is expected to be the town's biggest and best parade.

This first Sunday in June has also become an important annual event in the lives of present and former residents. Dorchester people have grown and prospered and many have settled outside our borders, yet thousands of them- OFD'ers- return to their neighborhood homeland to join friends and relatives for the event. Open houses and backyard cookouts abound, and it is a time to celebrate our great history and our inspiring diversity.

We like to remind all that the first letter in the name Dorchester is a Capital D- and that stands for Diversity. It is at once our proud heritage and our biggest strength.

-Ed Forry