The state's main cruise port will be named for former Boston Mayor Raymond Flynn, who helped shepherd the marine industry in Boston during his time in office.
A new sign will mark the MassPort facility, currently known as just Cruiseport Boston, as Flynn Cruiseport Boston.
Flynn's numerous grandchildren filled the governor's office Thursday for the bill signing ceremony. South Boston politicians new and old, including U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch, came to congratulate Flynn.
In brief remarks, Flynn asked his grandchildren to think of the waterfront laborers like his own father, as well as the many immigrants who entered the country through Boston's port.
"The waterfront has meant so much. Not just to my family but to so many immigrant families that came from different parts of the world. This was the port of entry, of hope and opportunity," Flynn said.
Flynn himself worked as a longshoreman in his youth.
"I want you to think of all the people who worked hard. Dockworkers, fishermen, laborers, carpenters. All those people who helped build the port of Boston making it the welcoming place that it is," Flynn told his grandchildren.
"It's just so fitting that, Ray, given your salty character at times and your work ethic, and being, you know, just a real champion for the working people of Boston and across the Commonwealth. It's really perfect," Lynch said.
“He is the epitome of what a public servant should be, always a consummate professional, and a dedicated family man. It gives me great pride to sign legislation that will ensure Mayor Flynn’s legacy is honored in his native South Boston forever," Baker wrote of Flynn in a statement on the commemoration.
About 300,000 passengers come through the port each year, according to MassPort. The facility is the home port to four cruise liners, the Norwegian Dawn, the Rotterdam, the Veendam and the Serenade of the Seas.
Flynn left City Hall in 1993 when President Bill Clinton named him ambassador to the Vatican.
The law signed by Baker also conveyed a parcel of land from state to city control to create several new parking spaces along East 1st Street.
