Neighborhood History Centers
From The Port to Porter Square, from Harvard to Strawberry Hill, Cambridge’s neighborhoods have evolved through the centuries but always have their own special stories to tell. Every year we’ll highlight a different pocket of the city in our Neighborhood History Centers, based in community centers, store fronts, and public spaces around town.
In 2023, we begin this initiative with Cambridgeport, recognizing that it is a dynamic and diverse neighborhood with a fascinating history. Our overarching goal is to engage residents in discussions about the relevance of the neighborhood’s history as well as building a more complete and nuanced historical record.
In 2024, we are exploring North Cambridge. Over the past century, North Cambridge has seen much of its large-scale industrial production taper off, but its churches, schools, and small businesses have allowed the neighborhood to retain its sense of community and character. Changing demographics and development have affected the area in both positive and negative ways, but residents’ sense of neighborhood identity remains strong.
2025 is all about East Cambridge. The area that we now know as East Cambridge was for many centuries largely salt marshes and mud flats which, at low tide, virtually cut the area off from other parts of the city, as well as from Boston. Even as much of the city has undergone gentrification, East Cambridge – while not untouched by these developments – has retained much of its character as a center for mixed-use, working- and middle-class community that has characterized it over the past two centuries.
