Posts Tagged ‘West Cambridge’
“The Absolute Majority of the Population”: Women in Twentieth-Century Cambridge
This article was originally published as a chapter in Cambridge in the Twentieth Century, edited by Daphne Abeel, Cambridge Historical Society, 2007. Inspired by Cambridge Historical Society’s 2020 theme—Who are Cambridge Women?—the author, Eva Moseley, has reviewed the manuscript and made a few updates which are noted in the text that follows. “The Absolute Majority…
Read MoreAn Intrepid Lady of Brattle Street: Sara Chapman Bull
By Ted Hansen Beginning in 1879, until her death in 1911, Sara Chapman Bull lived in Cambridge, first at “Elmwood” (the Oliver-Gerry-Lowell House), and from 1889 until her death at 168 Brattle Street. A number of facts about her should pique our interest: Sara Bull was born Sara Chapman Thorp in 1850 in Oxford, New…
Read MoreA Tribute to Preservationist Roger Webb
We were saddened to learn of the passing of historical preservationist Roger Webb, a good friend and long-time member of the Society. We will truly miss his warmth, enthusiasm, and seemingly endless energy. During the course of his long and storied career, Roger facilitated the preservation of numerous historic buildings throughout Massachusetts and the country.…
Read MoreThe Old Hooper-Lee House by Thomas Coffin Amory
From the Proceedings, Volume 16, p. 21-25 [The following is taken, by permission, from the little-known article by Thomas Coffin Amory (H. C. 1830) entitled “Old Cambridge and New,” in the Register of the New England Historic-Genealogical Society for July, 1871. It gives an interesting picture of the house some sixty years ago — very…
Read MoreThe Hooper-Lee-Nichols House by Mary Isabella Gozzaldi
Read April 25, 1922 From the Proceedings, Volume 16, p. 18-20 This house has been sometimes called the oldest house in Cambridge, and its large central stack chimney shows that it belongs to an early period of New England architecture; but it was originally a farmhouse in Watertown, as Sparks street was the westerly limit…
Read MoreLiving in the Hooper-Lee Nichols House
This August, former HLN House resident Malcolm Fraizer visited us with his daughter, Holly, and his grandchildren, Daniel and Ruth. While I know this building as my office, Malcolm called it home. It was fun for me to hear how the spaces were used back when it was a bustling household. For example, the Bosphorus…
Read MoreAndrew Craigie: Mover and Shaker of East Cambridge
by Daphne Abeel Craigie Street, just to the west of Harvard Square, memorializes Andrew Craigie (1754-1819), but his most significant legacy is his development of East Cambridge. He also arranged to move the courthouse and the jail from Harvard Square to East Cambridge. That move, combined with his building of the Canal (or Craigie) Bridge…
Read MoreA Reservoir’s Wall on Reservoir Street
By Michael Kenney, 2013 On a summer day, the passerby on Reservoir Street will find an embankment of wildflowers and shrubs filling the slope behind a massive granite retaining wall. That wall, broken at one point by a driveway rising and turning out of sight, is what remains of the reservoir that supplied water to…
Read MoreGrowing Up on Observatory Hill
By Rolf Goetze, 2013 As a youngster, I remember tricycling among the trees and bushes at the Harvard Botanical Gardens, off Linnaean Street, before they turned into Harvard apartments. Back then, in the early 1940s, I also recall sledding down Observatory Hill, cluttered by neither trees nor buildings – a site now covered by tennis…
Read MoreCambridge Trees
By Lois Lilley Howe Read January 25, 1950 This article originally appeared in the Cambridge Historical Society Proceedings, Volume 33, pages 94-99 In the records of The Cambridge Plant Club I find that on February 25th, 1901 “Miss Prince of Boston,” no further identified than this, read “an Interesting paper on Trees in our neighborhood.” This was…
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