Next History Hang Spotlights North Cambridge’s Industrial, Environmental Past
By Beth Folsom, 2026 Roughly 10,000 years ago, the end of the last ice age meant that the glaciers covering most of what we now call North Cambridge were beginning to recede, leaving in their elevations like Observatory Hill, Strawberry Hill, and Avon Hill, along with large accumulations of rock and vast deposits of clay.…
Read More“Great Marsh” to Little League: A Century at Glacken Field
By Jen Craft, 2026 Little League players cheered on by parents and coaches. Toddlers splashing in the fountains. Elementary schoolers climbing playground structures. Dogs leading their owners to favorite sniff spots. All are modern-day images of neighborhood life at Strawberry Hill’s beloved Glacken Field and Playground. A little over a century ago, this recreational area…
Read MoreThe History of the Future: Predictions From Cambridge Past
By Beth Folsom, 2026 1896 marked a major anniversary for the city of Cambridge. Fifty years before, in 1846, Cantabrigians had decided to incorporate as a city rather than a town, and in 1896 residents were both taking stock of the past fifty years and anticipating what the next fifty might bring. Anniversaries are often…
Read More“The Greatest Curiosity of Cambridge”: Chinese Comes to Harvard
By Beth Folsom, 2026 An August 1879 article in the Cambridge Chronicle announced that “there was a written agreement dated Shanghai, 26th of May, ‘79, between [Francis] Knight, on behalf of the President and Fellows of Harvard College, and Ko Kum Huo, to teach the Chinese language at Harvard College for three years, at a…
Read More“Saving Dana Park” Melds Gaming, AI, and Local History
By Beth Folsom, 2026 Tucked into a Cambridgeport block off of Magazine Street sits Dana Park, part of the city’s landscape since the mid-1800s. How did the park come to be, and what might happen if it were to be taken from the Cambridge public and placed into private hands? These are some of the…
Read MoreCommemoration of Cambridge’s 275th Anniversary Reflects City’s Changing Face
By Beth Folsom, 2026 In December 1905, a large audience assembled in Sanders Theater to hear an array of “notable men” speak on the occasion of the 275th anniversary of the founding of the city we now know as Cambridge. The Cambridge Historical Society had been formed earlier that year, and this anniversary celebration was…
Read MoreDebate Over Fugitive Slave Act Raises Questions of “Lawful Authority”
By Beth Folsom, 2026 On April 5, 1851, the Cambridge Chronicle reported that “an alleged fugitive named Robert Symmes was arrested in Boston on a warrant from Geo. T. Curtis, Esq., U.S. Commissioner. Symmes is alleged to be the slave of James Potter, of Chatham County, Ga.” In his struggle against arrest, Symmes allegedly “inflicted…
Read MoreMetacom’s Resistance: Marking 350 Years of Conflict, Coexistence, and Indigenous Presence
by Beth Folsom, 2026 There is much ado about marking the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence this July, but this year also marks 350 years since the conflict that many of us know as King Philip’s War. Alternately called Metacom’s War or Metacom’s Resistance, this three-year conflict between groups of Indigenous New Englanders…
Read MoreRevolutionary History Series Continues With a Focus on Indigenous Relations
By Beth Folsom, 2026 In January 1776, General George Washington met with a delegation of diplomats from the Caughnawaga Mohawk Nation at their Cambridge camp, where they had been staying for over a week, awaiting word of a possible commission for their leader, Atiatoharongwen, in the Continental Army. As Dr. Ben Pokross recently explored in…
Read MoreDo your own research (on Cambridge history)
By Michael Kuchta, 2025 As the city of Cambridge approaches its 400th anniversary and the nation its 250th, many people find themselves more interested in our collective past. You may be curious about the history of your street or neighborhood. Who built these buildings and when? Who lived and worked here? What products were made nearby?…
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