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Posts Tagged ‘commemoration’

Pathway would have highlighted Cambridge’s history in the lead-up to the bicentennial

July 31, 2025
The image is a photograph of an outdoor interpretive sign titled "OLD CAMBRIDGE: The Transformation of Old Cambridge." The sign provides historical information about Cambridge, Massachusetts, divided into sections: THE FORCES OF CHANGE AND GROWTH: Discusses the period before 1880, public water supplies, sewers, and bridges, and the impact of the Boston subway and Harvard Square as a principal entry to Boston. It mentions the city's population growth from 18,000 in 1850 to more than 10,000 by 1890, and the expansion of housing and commercial buildings. FACING THE RIVER: Details efforts by Charles Eliot and the Cambridge and Metropolitan Park Commissions to develop parkland along the Charles River, including Memorial Drive. It also mentions the landfilling of tidal flats to create new land. THE EXPANDING HORIZONS OF KNOWLEDGE AND ART: Focuses on the physical expansion of Harvard University (1867-1900), including the construction of Widener Library. It also discusses the establishment of institutions like the Germanic Museum, the Peabody Museum, and the Fogg Art Museum. The text mentions prominent figures like Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, James Russell Lowell, and John Adams. It concludes by stating that Cambridge became a center of "science, law, philosophy, economics, government, and medicine," and a "center of authority and creative activity." The sign also features: An aerial photograph of the Charles River. An old photograph of Harvard Square with a trolley. A detailed map of Old Cambridge, showing the Charles River and various historical sites and buildings. Small illustrations of historical buildings below the map. At the bottom, the logo for the "CAMBRIDGE HISTORICAL COMMISSION 1977." The sign is set outdoors, with a brick ground visible beneath it and trees in the background.

By Beth Folsom, 2025 With a headline reading “Freedom Trail Here, Too,” the Cambridge Chronicle of April 12, 1962, detailed the recommendations of the Cambridge Historic Districts Study Committee for a pathway that would highlight 30 sites of colonial and revolutionary history in the city. The article was published just before the anniversary of the…

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