Timeline of Cambridge, Massachusetts

This is a timeline of the history of the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States.

17th century

• 1630 - English settlers arrive. Site selected by John Winthrop the Younger.
• 1632 - First Parish meeting house built.
• 1636 - The "New College" founded.
• 1636 - Newe Towne was established as a town in the Massachusetts Bay Colony on September 8.
• 1638
• Newe Towne renamed "Cambridge."
• John Harvard, a Puritan minister, bequeaths his library and half his monetary estate to the college.
• 1639
• New College renamed Harvard College for benefactor John Harvard.
• First printing press in Cambridge.
• 1640 - Bay Psalm Book printed.
• 1642 - Harvard holds its first commencement.
• 1662 - Great Bridge built.
• 1663 - Algonquin-language Mamusse Wunneetupanatamwe Up-Biblum God published.
• 1682 - Cooper-Frost-Austin House built (date approximate).
• 1685 - Hooper-Lee-Nichols House built.
• 1688 - Cambridge Village, later renamed Newton, separated from Cambridge.

18th century

• 1713 - Town of Lexington separated from Cambridge.
• 1720 - Harvard's Massachusetts Hall built.
• 1727 - William Brattle House built.
• 1759
• Christ Church congregation founded.
• Vassall House built.
• 1760 - Apthorp House built.
• 1767 - Elmwood (residence) built.
• 1775
• April 18: William Dawes traverses the town en route to sounding warnings on eve of Battles of Lexington and Concord.
• April 19: Skirmishes between retreating British troops and American patriots at Watson's Corner and elsewhere in North Cambridge.
• May 12: The New-England Chronicle in publication.
• July 3: George Washington takes command of American army.
• 1780 - May 19: New England's Dark Day.
• 1782 - Harvard Medical School founded.
• 1793 - West Boston Bridge built.
• 1796 - Fresh Pond Hotel built.

19th century

1800s–1840s

• 1800 - Printer William Hilliard in business.
• 1805 - Harvard Botanic Garden founded.
• 1807
• Cambridge and Concord Turnpike opens.
• Little Cambridge separates from Cambridge and is renamed Brighton.
• West Cambridge, later renamed Arlington, separated from Cambridge.
• 1809
• Craigie's Bridge opens.
• Birth of Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., physician, poet and polymath.
• 1810 - Amicable Fire Society founded.
• 1814 - Cambridge Humane Society and Female Humane Society founded.
• 1815 - Harvard's University Hall built.
• 1816 - Middlesex County Courthouse (Massachusetts) built.
• 1817 - Harvard Law School founded.
• 1818 - New England Glass Company established.
• 1824 - East Cambridge Charitable Society formed.
• 1826 - Frederic Tudor and Nathaniel Wyeth begin harvesting ice at Fresh Pond.
• 1827 - First Evangelical Congregational church and Second Baptist Church established.
• 1830 - Population: 6,072.
• 1831
• Mount Auburn Cemetery founded.
• Cambridge Market Hotel (later Porter's Hotel) built.
• 1832 - Cambridge Fire Department http://www2.cambridgema.gov/CFD/AboutUs.cfm and Cambridge Book Club established.
• 1833
• Hunt & Co's Circulating Library in business.
• First Parish meeting house built, corner Church St. and Mass. Ave.
• 1835 - West Cambridge Social Library active.

• 1837
• August 31: Emerson gives "American Scholar" speech.
• East Cambridge Anti-Slavery Society formed.
• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow moves to Craigie House.
• 1839
• Hopkins Classical School established.
• Harvard College Observatory founded.
• 1840
• Cambridge Magnolia begins publication.
• St. John's Mutual Relief Society organized.
• Population: 8,409.
• 1841 - Cambridge Lyceum organized.
• 1846
• Cambridge Chronicle begins publication.
• Stickney-Shepard House built.
• Lexington and West Cambridge Railroad begins operating.
• Alvan Clark & Sons telescope maker in business.
• City chartered.
• James D. Green becomes mayor.
• Population: 12,500.
• 1847 - Great Refractor telescope installed.
• 1848 - Franklin Library Association founded.
• 1849 - Cambridge Athenaeum incorporated.

1850s–1890s

• 1850 - Howard Benevolent Society organized.
• 1852
• Cambridge Water Works Corporation chartered.
• Riverside Press established.
• 1854 - Cambridge Cemetery consecrated.
• 1856 - Population: 20,473.
• 1857
• Cambridge Circulating Library in business.
• Walden Street Cattle Pass built.
• 1858 - Harvard Glee Club founded.
• 1859 - Museum of Comparative Zoology founded.
• 1860 - Cambridge Horticultural Society organized.
• 1861 - Veterans' Services established.
• 1862 - Sanitary Society active (approximate date).

• 1865 - Old Cambridge Mutual Relief Society organized.
• 1866
• Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology and New Church Theological School founded.
• Cambridge Press newspaper begins publication.
• 1867 - Episcopal Theological School founded.
• 1868 - Cambridge Mechanics Literary Association organized.

• 1869
• Old Cambridge Baptist Church built on Harvard Street.
• North Cambridge Choral Society organized.
• 1870 - Soldiers' Monument dedicated on Cambridge Common
• 1871
• Cambridge Social Union founded.
• Alpha Glee Club organized.
• 1872 - Cambridge Choral Society formed.

• 1873
• The Harvard Crimson newspaper begins publication.
• Basket Club formed.
• 1875
• Church of the Ascension organized.
• Kennedy Steam Bakery built.
• Population: 47,838.
• 1876 - Harvard Lampoon begins publication.
• 1877 - Harvard's Memorial Hall built.
• 1878
• The Cambridge Tribune newspaper begins publication.http://cambridge.dlconsulting.com/cgi-bin/cambridge?a=cl&cl=CL1&e=
• Harvard's Sever Hall built.
• 1879 - Cambridge Public Library established.
• 1880 - Population: 52,669.
• 1881 - Cambridge Club active.
• 1882
• Society for the Collegiate Instruction of Women incorporated.
• Harvard Cooperative founded.
• 1883
• Cambridge YMCA opens.
• Browne & Nichols School founded.
• 1884 - Odd Fellows Hall built.
• 1886 - Cambridge Hospital, Cambridge English High School (Broadway & Fayette St.), Cambridge Latin School (Lee St.), and Cambridge School for Girls established.
• 1887 - Cambridgeport Cycle Club organized.

• 1889
• City Hall, Brattle Hall, and William James' house built.
• Buckingham School founded.
• Cambridge Plant Club established.
• 1890 - Population: 70,028.
• 1891 - Harvard Bridge built.
• 1892 - Old Cambridge Photographic Club formed.
• 1893 - Road built around Fresh Pond.
• 1894
• Radcliffe College chartered.
• Cambridge Walking Club founded.
• 1895
• Lechmere Canal built.
• Keezer's clothier in business.
• W. E. B. Du Bois earns PhD from Harvard University.
• 1896 - Cambridge Political Equality Association established.
• 1897 - Cambridge Skating Club founded.
• 1900 - Population: 91,886.

20th century

1900s–1940s

• 1901 - Swedenborg Chapel built.
• 1903
• Cambridge Sentinel newspaper begins publication.
• Busch–Reisinger Museum opens.
• 1904 - Harvard's Phillips Brooks House Association established.
• 1905 - Cambridge Historical Society founded.
• 1906 - Longfellow Bridge opens.
• 1908
• Andover Theological Seminary relocates to city.
• Harvard's Business School established.
• 1909 - Lesley School founded.
• 1910
• Harvard Extension School founded.
• Harvard Square Business Association founded.
• Population: 104,839.
• 1911 - Cambridge Housing Association formed.
• 1912 - The Kendall/MIT, Central, and Harvard MBTA stations open.
• 1913
• Harvard University Press and Harvard Legal Aid Bureau established.
• Cohen harness maker in business.
• 1914 - Cambridge Planning Board established.
• 1915
• Anderson Memorial Bridge and Harvard's Widener Library built.
• Cooperative Open Air School founded.
• 1916
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology moves to Cambridge
• Tasty Sandwich Shop in business, a diner restaurant in Cambridge, open from 1916 to 1997 at 6 John F. Kennedy Street. Behind the counter is chef Don Valcovic,

• 1917
• Wursthaus restaurant in business.
• Arthur D. Little Inc., Building constructed.
• 1923 - Washington Elm dies on Cambridge Common.
• 1924 - The Church of St. Paul (Harvard Square) built.
• 1926 - Harvard Square Theater opens.
• 1927
• John W. Weeks Bridge built.
• Necco factory opens on Massachusetts Avenue.
• Grolier Poetry Bookshop and Mac-Gray Corp. in business.
• 1928 - Boston University Bridge built.
• 1929 - Cambridge Community Center founded.
• 1930
• First Church of Christ, Scientist built.
• Longy School of Music moves to Cambridge.
• Russian bells installed in Harvard's Lowell House.
• 1932
• Harvard Book Store and MIT's Technology Press and School of Architecture established.
• Harvard's Memorial Church built.
• 1936 - Harvard's Graduate School of Public Administration and Graduate School of Design established.
• 1938
• Hayes-Bickford Cafeteria in business (approximate date).
• Harvard's Nieman Foundation for Journalism established.
• 1940
• National Research Corporation in business.
• Cambridge citizens vote to adopt proportional representation for elections of its city council and school committee, with first use in 1941.

• 1941
• Magazine of Cambridge begins publication.
• Harvard's Houghton Library built.
• 1942 - John B. Atkinson becomes city manager.
• 1945 - Cambridge Civic Unity Committee established.
• 1945 - Irving House established.
• 1946 - WMIT begins broadcasting.
• 1947
• September 9: Computer bug found at the Harvard Computation Lab.
• Demise of the Harvard Botanic Garden.
• Edgerton, Germeshausen, and Grier in business.

1950s–1970s

• 1950
• Cardullo's Gourmet Shop in business.
• Joseph DeGuglielmo becomes mayor.
• 1951
• Fresh Pond Drive-In opens.
• WHRB incorporated.
• 1952
• John J. Curry becomes city manager.
• MIT School of Industrial Management and MIT Center for International Studies established.
• 1953
• Brattle Theatre begins screening movies.
• Harvard Model United Nations conference begins.
• 1954 - Wang Laboratories, Cheapo Records, and Hong Kong restaurant in business.

• 1955
• Out of Town News, Casablanca bar, Elsie's eatery and Ferranti-Dege camera store in business.
• Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory relocated to Cambridge.
• 1957
• Cambridge Buddhist Association established.
• Pangloss Bookstore in business.
• 1958
• Club 47 (music venue) opens.
• Joyce Chen restaurant and Chez Jean restaurant in business.
• Lisp (programming language) invented at MIT.
• Smoot measurement established.
• 1959
• Café Pamplona in business.
• Harvard/MIT Center for Urban Studies and MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory established.
• 1960
• Bartley's restaurant in business.
• Harvard's Let's Go travel guides begin publication.
• Out of Town News opens in Harvard Square and goes to last sixty years selling newspapers from all over the world.
• 1961

• Julia Child moves to Cambridge.
• October 14: Fire destroys the original WGBH television and radio studios, at MIT.
• 1962
• Temple Beth Shalom founded.
• Fresh Pond Shopping Center built.
• Cambridge Electron Accelerator in operation.
• Harvard's Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts built.
• Cambridge Seven Associates in business.
• Cambridge Sports Union founded.
• 1963 - Cambridge Historical Commission established.
• 1964 - NASA Electronics Research Center established.
• 1965 - Head of the Charles Regatta established.

• 1966 - Cambridge School Volunteers founded.http://www.csvinc.org/about-us/mission-vision/
• 1967
• Joseph DeGuglielmo becomes city manager.
• Cambridge Forum, MIT's Center for Advanced Visual Studies established.
• 1968
• Cambridge Housing Convention active.
• Shrdlu computer program developed at MIT.
• 1969
• Murder of Jane Britton
• Student antiwar protest.
• Union of Concerned Scientists, and Harvard's Institute for African and African-American Research founded.
• Passim and Plough and Stars in business.
• 1970
• The Middle East restaurant opens.
• Rent control and Massachusetts Department of Transportation Volpe Center established.
• Alfred Vellucci becomes mayor.
• 1971
• Cambridge and Somerville Legal Services established.
• Grendel's Den pub in business.
• Revels performance series begins.
• 1972
• Broadway Bicycle School in business.
• Longfellow National Historic Site and Cambridge Women's Center established.
• Harvard's Gund Hall built.
• October: Protest in East Cambridge against police conduct.
• 1973
• Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics established.
• Draper Laboratory active.
• T.T. the Bear's Place and Hacker's Haven car repair shop in business.
• 1974
• Cambridge Food Co-op, city Arts Council, city Community Development Department, and Buckingham Browne & Nichols school established.
• James Sullivan becomes city manager.
• Cambridge Naturals in business.
• 1975 - Coffee Connection in business.
• 1977
• Cambridge Rindge and Latin School formed.

• River Festival begins.
• Changsho restaurant in business.
• 1978
• National Bureau of Economic Research active.
• Formaggio Kitchen in business.
• 1979 - Harvard's Film Archive opens.

1980s–1990s

• 1980
• American Repertory Theater and MIT's PiKa housing cooperative established.
• MIT Museum active.
• 1981
• American Academy of Arts and Sciences moves to Cambridge.
• Cambridge College active.
• Robert W. Healy becomes city manager.
• Cambridge Center complex construction begins.
• 1982
• Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research founded.
• Biogen, Toscanini's, and Upstairs at the Pudding restaurant in business.
• Sister city relationships established with Coimbra, Portugal, and Gaeta, Italy.
• 1983
• Harvard Square Homeless Shelter and Albert Einstein Institution established.
• Monitor Group and Cambridge Energy Research Associates headquartered in Cambridge.
• Sister city relationships established with Tsukuba Science City, Ibaraki, Japan; and Dublin, Ireland.
• Pegasystems Inc. and Forrester Research in business.
• Premiere of Marsha Norman's play Night, Mother.
• 1984
• MIT Media Lab, Institute for Resource and Security Studies, and city Police Review & Advisory Board established.
• Sister city relationship established with Ischia, Italy.
• Porter MBTA Red Line station opens.
• Conflict Management Group headquartered in city.
• Thinking Machines Corporation and Charles Hotel in business.

• 1985
• Alewife (MBTA station) opens.
• Harvard's Arthur M. Sackler Museum built.
• Dante Alighieri Society building inaugurated.
• Memorial Drive partially pedestrianized along Riverbend Park.
• 1986
• Garment District (clothing retailer) in business.
• Thinking Machines' Connection Machine invented.
• MIT flea market begins.
• 1987
• Sister city relationships established with Yerevan, Armenia; San José Las Flores, Chalatenango, El Salvador; and Catania, Italy.
• Cambridge becomes a Peace Messenger City.
• Catch a Rising Star in business.
• Joseph P. Kennedy II becomes U.S. representative for Massachusetts's 8th congressional district.
• 1988 - Cambridge Community Television and Cambridge Eviction Free Zone established.
• 1989
• Cambridge Sane/Freeze active.
• Sister city relationship established with Kraków, Poland.
• 1990
• CambridgeSide Galleria built.

• Sapient Corporation in business.http://www.sapient.com/en-us/sapientnitro/news/news-articles/a2087.html
• 1991
• City Bicycle Committee and Ig Nobel Prize established.
• MÄK Technologies in business.https://books.google.com/books?id=0t_GKF5rmsYC&pg=PA51
• 1992
• Boston Dynamics (robotics firm) and Dewey, Cheetham & Howe in business.
• Kenneth Reeves becomes mayor.
• Sister city relationship established with Florence, Italy.

• 1993
• City master plan published.
• MIT's The Tech newspaper web edition begins publication.
• Timothy J. Toomey, Jr. becomes state representative for 29th Middlesex district.
• 1994
• Islamic Society of Boston mosque opens.
• Rialto restaurant in business.
• 1995
• Kendall Square Cinema opens.
• Porter Square Neighbors Association formed.
• Cybersmith and Phoenix Landing (music venue) in business.
• 1996
• Cambridge Health Alliance and On The Rise nonprofit established.
• City Dance Party begins.
• Sheila Russell becomes mayor.
• 1997
• City website online.
• Cambridge Civic Journal begins publication.
• Sister city relationship established with Galway, Ireland.
• French-American International School active.

• 1998
• Akamai Technologies in business.
• MIT's Center for Reflective Community Practice active.
• Francis Duehay becomes mayor.
• Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet & Society founded.
• 1999
• Cambridge Innovation Center in business.
• Mike Capuano becomes U.S. representative for Massachusetts's 8th congressional district.

21st century

• 2000
• Zipcar in business.
• Anthony Galluccio becomes mayor.
• MIT's Kismet (robot) introduced.
• 2001
• New water treatment plant at Fresh Pond opens.
• 2002 - Michael A. Sullivan becomes mayor.
• 2003
• Novartis research division headquartered in city.
• Longwood Players (theatre group) active.
• MIT's Poverty Action Lab and Harvard's Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation founded.
• Sister city relationship established with Santo Domingo Oeste, Dominican Republic.

• 2004
• Broad Institute, Community Charter School of Cambridge, and ActBlue (nonprofit) established.
• MIT's Stata Center built.
• Sister city relationship established with Southwark, London, England.
• February 4: Facebook launched at Harvard College.
• 2005
• Sister city relationships established with Cienfuegos, Cuba; Yuseong, Daejeon, Korea; and Haidian, Beijing, China.
• Cambridge Day begins publication.
• Patricia D. Jehlen becomes state senator for 2nd Middlesex district.
• 2006
• Green Decade Cambridge incorporated.
• Kenneth Reeves becomes mayor again.
• Harvard's Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston established.
• HubSpot in business.

• 2007
• Microsoft New England Research & Development Center opens.
• Cambridge Science Festival begins.
• MIT's Center for Future Civic Media established.
• Unitarian Universalist Service Committee headquartered in Cambridge.
• Anthony Petruccelli becomes state senator for 1st Suffolk and Middlesex district.
• 2008
• Alliance of Cambridge Tenants, and Google Inc. branch established.
• ImprovBoston moves to Cambridge.
• Harvard Square Library incorporated.
• E. Denise Simmons becomes mayor.
• ROFLCon meme convention begins.
• Central Square Theater built.
• Jon Hecht elected state representative for 29th Middlesex district.
• 2009
• July: Henry Louis Gates arrest controversy
• West Cambridge Youth and Community Center opens.
• Kendall Square Association established.
• Cambridge Open Studios active.http://www2.cambridgema.gov/CAC/Community/Cambridge_Open_Studios_History.cfm?minor
• Trader Joe's grocery in business at Fresh Pond.
• 2010
• David Maher becomes mayor.
• Population: 105,162; metro 4,552,402.
• Sal DiDomenico becomes state senator for Middlesex, Suffolk and Essex district.
• 2011
• January 6: Aaron Swartz arrested.
• Area Four restaurant, Veggie Galaxy restaurant and Danger!awesome in business.
• 2012
• MIT/Harvard edX launched.
• Henrietta Davis becomes mayor.
• Hack/reduce nonprofit founded.
• Sinclair and Amazon office in business.
• 2013
• Richard Rossi becomes city manager.
• Cambridge Open Data Ordinance drafted.
• Cambridge Happenings in publication.
• April 18–19: MIT officer killed; manhunt for Boston Marathon bombing suspects takes place.
• November: Municipal election.
• December: Katherine Clark becomes U.S. representative for Massachusetts's 5th congressional district.
• Marjorie Decker becomes state representative for 25th Middlesex district, Dave Rogers becomes state representative for 24th Middlesex district, and Jay Livingstone becomes state representative for 8th Suffolk district.
• 2014
• City open data portal launched.
• H Mart grocery and Alden & Harlow restaurant in business.
• David Maher becomes mayor again.
• 2015
• January 2015 North American blizzard.
• September 6: Lawrence Lessig presidential campaign, 2016 headquartered in city.
• December 3: Fire.

See also

• Cambridge, Massachusetts history section
• List of mayors of Cambridge, Massachusetts
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Cambridge, Massachusetts
• List of National Historic Landmarks in Massachusetts, Cambridge section
• History of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• History of Harvard University
• of other municipalities in Middlesex County, Massachusetts: Lowell, Somerville, Waltham

References

Bibliography

Published in the 19th century

1800s-1840s

• 1848-1894
• 1901-1921
• 2003-present

1850s-1870s

• 1886 ed.
• . 1875-
• 1875, 1876, 1878, 1879
• 1880, 1889
• 1890, 1899
• 1900, 1909

1880s-1890s

• George F. Crook, ed. Cambridge annual for 1886-1888.
• 1894- . 1890s
• . 1894?

Published in the 20th century

• 1916 ed.
• + Chronology
• 1995- 2004-present
• (Timeline of boundary changes)

Published in the 21st century

External links

• 1960s-2000
• (map)
• Items related to Cambridge, various dates (via Digital Public Library of America).
• Cambridge Soldiers and Sailors Monument at the Massachusetts Civil War Monuments Project

Images