Timeline of Somerville, Massachusetts

The following is a timeline of the history of Somerville, Massachusetts, US.

Prior to 19th century

• 1630 - Charlestown settled.
• 1631 - Colonial Governor John Winthrop granted 600 acres of land known as Ten Hills Farm.
• 1703 - Windmill built (approximate date).
• 1714 - Peter Tufts House built.
• 1756 - Powder House in use.
• 1776 - Continental Union Flag raised at Continental Army fortifications atop Prospect Hill.

19th century

1800s–1860s

• 1803 - Middlesex Canal begins in operation.
• 1804 - Old Cemetery established.
• 1821 - Middlesex Bleachery and Dye Works established.
• 1834 - Ursuline Convent Riots.
• 1835 - Boston & Lowell Railroad begins operating.
• 1842
• Town of Somerville separates from Charlestown.
• Population: 1,013.
• 1844 - First Congregational Society formed.
• 1851 - American Tube Works established.
• 1852
• Somerville City Hall built.
• Somerville High School opens.
• 1853
• First Orthodox Congregational Church organized.
• First Universalist Society organized.
• 1854
• Tufts College opens.
• Union Glass Company established.
• 1856
• First Methodist Episcopal Church organized.
• Round House built.
• 1863 - Broadway Orthodox Congregational Church organized.
• 1864 - Circulating Library in business at Tufts' apothecary (approximate date).
• 1866
• Emmanuel Episcopal Church built.
• Somerville Carriage Repository and Manufactory established.
• 1867 - Perkins Street Baptist Church dedicated.
• 1869 - Morse Grammar School built.

1870s–1890s

• 1870
• Somerville Journal newspaper begins publication.
• St. Thomas Episcopal Church built.
• Boston and Lowell Railroad connected through West Somerville to the Lexington Branch.
• 1871
• City incorporated.
• Somerville Samaritan Society organized.
• 1872
• Somerville city government inaugurated.
• City seal design adopted.
• Population: 16,000 (approximate).
• 1873
• Public Library established.
• Luther V. Bell School built.
• Broadway Methodist Episcopal Church organized.
• 1874
• West Somerville Baptist Church organized.
• West Somerville Congregational Church organized.
• Sprague & Hathaway Portrait Copying House established.
• 1876 - Somerville Citizen newspaper begins publication.
• 1886 - Third Universalist Church established.
• 1890
• Broadway Winter Hill Congregational Church built.
• North Packing Company established.
• Population: 40,152.
• 1891 - Somerville Hospital founded.
• 1892 - McLean Hospital relocates to Belmont.
• 1898
• Somerville Historical Society incorporated.
• Historic Festival.
• 1899
• Forthian Club for women organized.
• First Unitarian Church built.
• 1900 - Population: 61,643.

20th century

• 1901 - Lyndell's Bakery relocates to Somerville.
• 1903 - Prospect Hill Monument built.
• 1909 - West Somerville Branch Public Library opens.
• 1910 - Population: 77,236.
• 1914
• Somerville Theatre built.
• Public Library central building constructed.
• Economy Grocery Store opens.
• 1915 - Pageant of World Peace.
• 1916 - First Universalist Church built.
• 1922
• 50th anniversary as city.
• Population: 95,000 (approximate).
• 1928 - Northern Artery constructed.
• 1935 - United States Post Office–Somerville Main built.
• 1936 - Mystic Valley Parkway constructed.
• 1941 - The Rosebud (diner) built.
• 1968 - Havurat Shalom founded.
• 1972 - City seal redesigned.
• 1973 - Steve's Ice Cream opens.
• 1980 - Assembly Square Mall opens.
• 1981
• Sister city relationship established with Trincomalee, Sri Lanka.
• Bertucci's pizzeria opens.
• 1983 - Somerville Community Access Television founded.
• 1984 - Davis (MBTA station) opens.
• 1985 - Alewife Linear Park established.
• 1987
• Brickbottom Artists Association active.
• Mixit Print Studio established.
• Joseph P. Kennedy II becomes U.S. representative for Massachusetts's 8th congressional district.
• 1988 - Somerville Museum opens.
• 1990 - Mike Capuano becomes mayor.
• 1991 - Candlewick Press established.
• 1998 - City website online (approximate date).
• 1999
• Dorothy Kelly Gay becomes mayor.
• Leverett Circle Connector Bridge opens.
• Somerville Open Studios begins.
• Mike Capuano becomes U.S. representative for Massachusetts's 8th congressional district.

21st century

• 2002 - P.A.'s Lounge opens.
• 2003
• Won-Buddhist temple opens.
• GreenGoat in business.
• 2004 - Joseph Curtatone becomes mayor.
• 2005
• Union Square Main Streets organized.
• Union Square farmers' market begins.
• Sikh Sangat Society Boston and Harry Potter Alliance headquartered in Somerville.
• 2006 - Honk! music festival begins.
• 2007 - Highland Kitchen restaurant in business.
• 2009 - Sister city relationship established with Tiznit, Morocco.
• 2010
• Population: 75,754.
• Sister city relationship established with Nordeste, Portugal.
• 2014
• Legoland in business.
• Assembly station opens.
• 2022
• Katjana Ballantyne becomes mayor.
• Union Square station opens.
• The remaining Medford branch of the Green Line Extension opens later in the year.
• 2026 - Jake Wilson becomes mayor.

See also

• History of Somerville
• List of mayors of Somerville, Massachusetts
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Somerville, Massachusetts
• Charlestown, Massachusetts (from which Somerville sprang in 1842)
• of other municipalities in Middlesex County, Massachusetts: Cambridge, Lowell, Waltham

References

Bibliography

Further reading

External links

• Items related to Somerville, various dates (via Digital Public Library of America).
• View of Charlestown, Mass., as seen from Somerville. Gleason's Pictorial, c. 1850s.
• Somerville's Civil War monuments at Massachusetts Civil War Monuments Project

Images