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.

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 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.
 * 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.

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 - 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, 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.
 * 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.
 * 1991
 * City Bicycle Committee and Ig Nobel Prize established.
 * MÄK Technologies in business.
 * 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.
 * 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.



Published in the 19th century

 * 1800s-1840s
 * 1848-1894
 * 1901-1921
 * 2003-present
 * 1848-1894
 * 1901-1921
 * 2003-present
 * 1901-1921
 * 2003-present


 * 1850s-1870s
 * 1886 ed.
 * . 1875-
 * 1875, 1876, 1878, 1879
 * 1880, 1889
 * 1890, 1899
 * 1900, 1909
 * . 1875-
 * 1875, 1876, 1878, 1879
 * 1880, 1889
 * 1890, 1899
 * 1900, 1909
 * 1890, 1899
 * 1900, 1909


 * 1880s-1890s
 * George F. Crook, ed. Cambridge annual for 1886-1888.
 * 1894- . 1890s
 * . 1894?
 * George F. Crook, ed. Cambridge annual for 1886-1888.
 * 1894- . 1890s
 * . 1894?
 * 1894- . 1890s
 * . 1894?

Published in the 20th century

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