Timeline of Cambridge, Massachusetts facts for kids

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

17th century

• 1630 - English settlers arrive.
• 1632 - First Parish meeting house built.
• 1636 - The "New College" founded.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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 established.[1]
• 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.[2]
  • 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.

20th century

1900s–1940s

• 1900 - Population: 91,886.
• 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 Square Business Association founded.
• 1911 - Cambridge Housing Association formed.
• 1912 - Kendall/MIT (MBTA station), Central (MBTA station), and Harvard (MBTA station) 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.
• 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 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.
• 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.
• 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.[3]
• 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
  • 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.[4]
• 1991
  • City Bicycle Committee and Ig Nobel Prize established.
  • MÄK Technologies in business.[5]
• 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
  • Veggie Planet and Oleana in business.
  • 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.
  • Lorem Ipsum bookshop in business.
  • Sister city relationship established with Southwark, London, England.
  • Cambridge Somerville Resource Guide begins publication.
  • February 4: Facebook launched at Harvard College.
• 2005
  • Papercut Zine Library opens.
  • Cambridge Local First network organized.
  • 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.
  • Sofra bakery and Hungry Mother restaurant in business.
  • 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.[6]
  • 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; Boston Marathon bombings suspects manhunt 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.
  • Kensho Technologies in business.
• 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.

Images for kids

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  Harvard alumni procession, Harvard Square, 1836

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  Cambridge Observatory, 1849

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  Harvard Square, ca.1880s-1900s

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  Washington Elm, Cambridge Common, ca.1880s-1900s

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  Cambridge Public Library, 1891

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  Central Square and Mass. Ave., 1910s

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  Overview of Harvard Square area, 1919

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  Harvard Bridge and MIT, ca.1920