Posts Tagged ‘Kendall Square’
A 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 MoreEarly Days at Newtowne Court
By Jane McGuirk Richards, 2014 We moved into Newtowne Court, door 30, apartment 265, in 1938, when I was one year old. We were among the first families to move in. There were seven of us, five children—two sets of twin girls and a single boy. Newtowne Court was a new concept in low income…
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…
Read MoreThe Blake & Knowles Steam Pump Works in East Cambridge: The Female Foundry
“Our women are strong, and fully capable of doing the work which is required of them.”
Read MoreWhy the “Longfellow” Bridge?
By Franklin Reece, 2015 In 1905, the magnificent Longfellow Bridge was nearing completion, even as the Cambridge Historical Society came to life. And today, 110 years later, the iconic bridge is being restored, just as the society enters an exciting new stage of life. The bridge was an engineering marvel. Designed to mimic the artistic…
Read MoreNew Wine in Old Bottles
By Michael Kenney, 2017 Sunday brunch time and weekday happy hours, the courtyard at the corner of Broadway and Hampshire Street is a lively place, with hipsters and families enjoying the bars and restaurants grouped around the open brick-paved space. Hard to believe, but it was even more bustling a century ago, when shifts of…
Read MoreCambridge Day: Historical Society’s Kendall Square events to look at what made it happen, what’s next
September 30, 2017 By Marc Levy “Biotech has helped transform Kendall Square into what’s been called ‘the most innovative square mile on the planet’ – but, well, why? Why here and not somewhere else? And what’s next? “The Cambridge Historical Society asks these question at two free events in October, starting with Monday’s ‘Why Here?’…
Read MoreBoston Woven Hose and Rubber Company: Eighty-Four Years in Cambridge (Part 2) by Alden S. Foss
[Continued from last week] Two Wars And Two Depressions, 1899-1951 There is an artist’s drawing of our plant made about 1915. Actually, it reminds me of the first time I saw Al Jolson. He comes on stage as a chauffeur, long linen duster, linen cap, goggles, and of course black-faced. He starts to…
Read MoreBoston Woven Hose and Rubber Company: Eighty-Four Years in Cambridge (Part 1) by Alden S. Foss
Boston Woven Hose and Rubber Company: Eighty-Four Years in Cambridge By Alden S. Foss The Boston Woven Hose and Rubber Company was founded in 1880. Based on a survey made by the Cambridge Chamber of Commerce, it is the oldest of the dozen largest industrial concerns continuously in business in Cambridge. It is now…
Read More10/02/17: Past — “Why Here?” – The first installment of the 2017 Fall Symposium
Update – watch the event: Our 2017 Symposium’s theme is “Made in Cambridge: What’s Happening in Kendall Square?” On Monday, October 2nd at the Cambridge Public Library, we held the first part of our 2017 Fall Symposium: “Why Here?” Our moderator was Henrietta Davis, former Mayor of Cambridge, and our speakers were Sam Lipson, Director…
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