Central Square at the junction of Massachusetts Avenue, Magazine Street, River Street, and Western Avenue, looking south.
Central Square at the junction of Massachusetts Avenue, Magazine Street, River Street, and Western Avenue, looking south, 1910.
Central Square at the junction of Massachusetts Avenue, Magazine Street, River Street, and Western Avenue, looking south, 2010.

This intersection has been the heart of Central Square for more than 100 years. From left to right in the historic photograph: the brick Holmes Block, built in 1886 by the grocer Joseph A. Holmes (replacing an “ancient and rickety” store); the First Baptist Church (1881); the Central (later Olympia) Theater (1910-1954) in the flatiron building; and the Central Building (1885), the original home of the YMCA. The automobile in the intersection was not in the original shot but was pasted onto the photograph. In the modern photograph, both the Holmes Block and the Central Building have been replaced, and the theater is gone. The intersection is significantly narrower, although the First Baptist Church remains a strong presence.

Historic image: Courtesy of Historic New England, ca. 1910

Photograph: Phyllis Bretholtz, 2010

“Central Square: Then and Now” portrays the history and vibrancy of Central Square over the past century. The project is a collaboration of the Clear Conscience Café, the Cambridge Historical Society, the Cambridge Historical Commission, and Phyllis Bretholtz.