Posts Tagged ‘immigration’
Catholic churches have long served as East Cambridge’s cornerstones
By Beth Folsom, 2025 For many who settled in East Cambridge, the Catholic Church was an important and enduring institution. Catholicism was largely a faith practiced by newcomers to the neighborhood in the 19th and early 20th centuries, but despite having a religion in common, members of the area’s various ethnic communities preferred to worship…
Read MoreNov. 24: Making It in East Cambridge
Making It in East Cambridge: Industry and Innovation History Cafe with Mike Kuchta Monday, November 24, 20256-7 pmEast Cambridge History Center, 625 Cambridge Street (the former Mayflower Poultry site) Beginning in the early 1800s, East Cambridge grew into a regionally- and nationally-important center of manufacturing, activity which largely disappeared by the late 1960s. Prominent local industries included…
Read MoreFeb 16: We Were Here
Monday, February 16, 20266:30 pmFoundry Theater101 Rogers Street, CambridgeFree; no registration required Back by popular demand! We Were Here: An Enhanced Performance Arranged and written by Betsy Bard and Micaela León Perdomo, We Were Here is a play exploring the history of immigrant workers at the Blake & Knowles Foundry in East Cambridge by Youth…
Read MoreThe Rise of Industry in East Cambridge
From Salt Marshes to Industrial Hub: The Story of East Cambridge The area we now know as East Cambridge was for many centuries largely salt marshes and mud flats that, at low tide, virtually cut the area off from other parts of the city, as well as from Boston. The rich oyster beds contained there…
Read MoreEast Cambridge Ethnic Heritage Center
By Beth Folsom, 2025 The Cambridge Public Library announced in the summer of 1979 that it had received a $36,500 grant under the Library Services and Construction Act to create an Ethnic Heritage Center at the East Cambridge Branch Library. According to the Cambridge Chronicle, the goal of the center was “to provide resource materials…
Read MoreAug 22: Saudade in the Squares
August 22, 20255:00 PMMulticultural Arts Center41 Second St, East Cambridge, MA 02141Free Join the Multicultural Arts Center (MAC) and History Cambridge for a special History Café celebrating the many immigrant communities that have shaped East Cambridge across generations. Experience a powerful new exhibition, Pressing Against the Thorns by Portuguese-American artist José L. Santos, whose work honors the…
Read MoreLessons in East Cambridge history: Reflections on two centuries of newspaper coverage
By Beth Folsom, 2025 This is the third year of History Cambridge’s Neighborhood History Center model of programming, in which we choose one of Cambridge’s 13 neighborhoods on which to focus for a calendar year. For the past six months, I have delved into the history of this year’s neighborhood, East Cambridge, by reading the nearly…
Read MoreCambridge Street pop-up and the social history of gardening in East Cambridge
By Beth Folsom, 2025 History Cambridge joins with the Cambridge Plant & Garden Club and East Cambridge Business Association on Saturday for a pop-up event celebrating Cambridge Street, the lifeline of the East Cambridge neighborhood. The event takes place in Cambridge Courtyard, the meeting spot tucked beside the train tracks on Cambridge Street, where History Cambridge will share…
Read MoreThe Pit That Wants to be a Pond: An Industrial and Environmental Tour of North Cambridge
Thanks to everyone who came out to learn more about North Cambridge through an industrial and environmental lens. We were pleased to be joined by Eric Grunebaum to learn more about the history of Jerry’s Pit. We appreciated everyone’s insights and great questions! This tour will explore the development of North Cambridge through the lens…
Read MoreWatershed: An Excursion in Four Parts
by Emily HiestandFirst published by The Georgia Review and Beacon Press in 1998. Updated slightly in 2021 for publication in This Impermanent Earth, and in 2024 for History Cambridge. Part One | Street Like travelers who want to keep some favorite place from being overly discovered, the residents of our neighborhood sometimes confide to one another in a near-whisper, “There’s no…
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