Posts Tagged ‘industry’
‘Born In Cambridge’ authors plan a walking tour this month of Cambridgeport and its innovations
In their new book, “Born in Cambridge: 400 Years of Ideas and Innovators,” Karen Weintraub and Michael Kuchta argue that “the story of Cambridge reflects the story of America … Major events and trends that affected the nation left fingerprints here, too.” How the city and its residents react to those forces, though, makes for a compelling story of invention, reinvention and adaptation spanning four centuries.
Read MoreThe Foundry and Squirrel Brand Apartments share something: examples of adaptive reuse
Adaptive reuse – revitalizing an existing, often imperfect, structure for new purposes – exists in many forms, but is often good environmentally. From refurbishing building materials to “cultural recycling” of entire structures, it means avoiding complete demolition.
Read MoreSept. 29 — Soap & Bones: A Benefit for History Cambridge
What do you know about “Greasy Village”?
Join us as we explore this unique part of Cambridgeport and show your support for local history.
Read MoreOct. 6—Rescheduled History Café—”My Whole Life in Six Blocks”: Creating Workers’ Communities in Cambridge
For most of Cambridge’s history, people who worked here could walk to work.
When did this change, and why?
Read MoreChanging Tides in Cambridge Industry
By the early 20th century, Cambridge was an industrial center with a broad array of factories. People from all over the country and the world came to work here. Why?
Read More‘Changing Tides in Cambridge Industry’ talk will examine wave of labor and immigration
Since its beginnings as a colonial settlement, Cambridge has seen numerous shifts in its population, as waves of migrants arrived from various parts of the United States and around the world. As these new Cantabrigians arrived in the city needing work, many found jobs in the city’s industrial sector, most notably in the glass, brick, furniture, meatpacking and confectionary factories in Cambridge. Employment in many of these industries was dominated by different immigrant groups at different periods, with newer arrivals taking jobs in lower-paying, more physically demanding sectors. Eventually these ethnic groups would move up the socioeconomic ladder, finding employment in more lucrative and less strenuous industries while the next wave of newcomers replaced them. For many, similar work experience at home and the recommendation of friends, family or others of their same ethnicity led them to choose a particular industry. For others, their status as immigrants drastically limited the employment options open to them. Whether by choice or circumscription, the clustering of migrant groups in particular industries helped shape the labor landscape of Cambridge.
Read MoreA Brief History of Zoning in Cambridge
By Doug Brown, 2016 Just as we have a place for everything in a well-ordered home, so we should have a place for everything in a well-regulated town. What would we think of a housewife who insisted on keeping her gas range in the parlor and her piano in the kitchen?–Cambridge Tribune, March 8, 1919…
Read MoreWhen The Port Was a Port
By Michael Kenney, 2014 An early 20th century photograph of the schooner Henry Endicott heading up the Charles River towards the Broad Canal stands as evidence that there was a time when the “port” in Cambridgeport had any real meaning. The Henry Endicott was a 192-foot, three-masted schooner built in Bath, Maine, in 1908, for…
Read MoreWho Is Essential Cambridge? Part 1: War and Industry
What was the role of Cambridge women in industrial production?
Read MoreSelf-Guided Tour: The History of Candy Making in Cambridge
By Natalie Moravek, Intern In 1946, sixty-six candy manufacturing companies were listed in the phone book. The candy industry in the area began in 1765, on the banks of the Neponset River in Dorchester, when an Irish immigrant named John Hannon established a chocolate mill. The large and populated city made an ideal setting for…
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