New England Glass and the history of glassmaking in East Cambridge
By Beth Folsom, 2025 The Cambridge papers announced in April 1850 that the New England Glass Co. was building an enormous chimney for its glassworks site on North Street in East Cambridge. With a 30-square-foot base, the chimney would climb to 240 feet, “20 feet higher than the Bunker Hill Monument!” This construction was a…
Read MoreDr. Martin Luther King’s visits to Cambridge highlight evolution of the Civil Rights Movement
By Beth Folsom, 2025 On this Martin Luther King Day, we celebrate the work and legacy of King in the nonviolent pursuit of full civil rights and legal equality for Black Americans. But the goals, rhetoric and methods of the Civil Rights Movement were not static and, in fact, evolved considerably during the 1950s and…
Read MoreHow the highlighter was invented in Cambridge by Carter’s Ink, an innovator back to the 1800s
By Michael Kuchta, 2025 History Cambridge is spending 2025 focused on the history of East Cambridge, including the people who have inhabited the neighborhood, the occupations that employed them and the buildings, streets and public places they created. This is the story of a company that was based in East Cambridge for decades, Carter’s Ink.…
Read MoreHistory of poorhouses reflects changing attitudes toward those on the margins of society
By Heli Meltsner, 2024 This year, as part of its exploration of North Cambridge, History Cambridge highlights the ways in which the neighborhood has historically been home to industries and institutions Cantabrigians needed but wanted to push to the edges of the city’s boundaries. Slaughterhouses, tanneries and brickyards were all necessary industries, but those in the…
Read More‘The corner of the city he calls home’: North Cambridge through the eyes of Charlie Sullivan
By Marieke Van Damme, 2024 No matter what era you’re in, some things are universal – such as young people enjoying a good time. Where did North Cambridge teenagers go to party in the mid-1970s? Some went to a vacant, overgrown area near the train tracks just out of Porter Square, the site of a horrific…
Read MoreNew Years in Cambridge of the past held meaning as ways to address moments of crisis such as war
By Beth Folsom, 2024 For most of us in present-day Cambridge, the arrival of a new year brings with it both reflection on the past year and the promise of a new start; whether we want to eat healthier, get organized, start exercising or any other of the many resolutions we make each New Year’s, the…
Read MoreSetting up a Neighborhood History Center provided a physical connection with the past
By Beth Folsom, 2024 History Cambridge embarked on a new model of programming in January 2023 centered on the deeper exploration of one city neighborhood each year. Beginning with Cambridgeport and continuing in 2024 with North Cambridge, the Neighborhood History Center model has enabled us to delve more deeply into the people, places and events…
Read MoreIndustrial Age Cambridge supported bicycling, but with the genders and races together? Egads!
It seems there’s always been reasons for bicycling to be controversial in Cambridge, starting in the late 19th century when cycling gained popularity in Cambridge – and the nation as a whole – as a form of exercise and opportunity for social connection.
Read MoreCelebrations of Washington’s Birthday reflect tangled legacies of immigration, integration
Honoring Washington as a beloved president came to include minstrel shows in the early 1900s. That these performances were by prisoners in prisons playing the role of Washington’s enslaved people adds yet another layer of complexity.
Read MoreYou can treat your Valentine at one of North Cambridge’s historic businesses
American colonists began to mark Valentine’s day in the 18th century by exchanging handmade Valentine cards. Local businesses with significant history can help residents keep celebrating this Valentine’s Day.
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