A history of Cambridge
Human occupation in Cambridge dates back some 11,000 to 13,000 years. A seasonal population of Algonquians was established here in 1630 but reduced by European-introduced diseases and tribal wars when a fleet of 11 ships arrived carrying 700 passengers from England. The newcomers settled several villages around Massachusetts Bay and secured a deed from the female chief of the Massachusett tribe, who was living near the confluence of Alewife Brook and the Mystic River. In 1640 the General Court ordered that she be paid about 23 pounds for the land occupied by Cambridge and Watertown and given a coat every winter during her lifetime.
Newtowne, as Cambridge was called by the colonists until 1638, was laid out in an orderly grid of streets, bounded today by Eliot Square and Linden Street, Massachusetts Avenue and the River. Each family owned a house lot in the village, planting fields outside and a share in the common land. Boston was 8 long miles away by ferry. Soon Newtowne had a meetinghouse, a school and a marketplace (site of today’s Winthrop Square). Harvard College, one of the first colleges in America, was founded in 1636 to train young men for the ministry and positions of leadership.
By the time of the American Revolution, Cambridge was a quiet New England farming village clustered near the Common and college. Most residents were descendants of the original Puritans and were farmers, artisans and tradespeople. A small group of Anglicans lived apart and had grand homes along Tory Row (now Brattle Street). The Tories’ houses and their church, Christ Church, still survive. During the war, the provisional government confiscated many Loyalist estates – George Washington used the Vassal-Craigie-Longfellow House as his headquarters for nine months in 1775-1776. During the Siege of Boston, the general supervised the construction of three earthenwork forts along the Cambridge side of the Charles River. The remains of one, Fort Washington, can still be seen in Cambridgeport.
The West Boston (now Longfellow) Bridge opened in 1793, cutting the distance between Cambridge and Boston to 3 miles from 8. Cambridgeport grew up along the roads leading to the bridge. Pleasant residential neighborhoods spread out from Massachusetts Avenue, while Central Square became the city’s true downtown.
East Cambridge was opened for development in 1809, when the Canal Bridge, next to the present Museum of Science, was completed. The area was the city’s major industrial center until the 1880s. Furniture and glass factories were among the industries attracted to East Cambridge by cheap land, water transportation, and close proximity to Boston. Andrew Craigie, a leading Cambridge speculator, lured the Middlesex County courthouse and jail to East Cambridge by offering to donate new buildings in 1813.
Cambridge became a city in 1846, uniting three rival villages – the rural Old Cambridge centered around the college, Cambridgeport and East Cambridge.
Waves of immigrants have enriched the city, and waves of industries and technologies have come and gone. Students from around the world study at Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Lesley University.
The city is represented by a nine-member city council whose members select one of their own to be mayor, and there is a six-member School Committee, presided over by the mayor, and a superintendent of schools. (Adapted from the Cambridge Historical Commission)
Data sources: Cambridge Community Development Department using U.S. Census Bureau 2024 1-year American Community Survey.
A history of Somerville
Settled in 1629, what is now Somerville was originally part of Boston’s Charlestown with Malden, Woburn, Stoneham, Burlington and parts of Cambridge, Arlington, Medford and Reading. The first white settlers found a community of indigenous people at Mishawum, the Native American name for Charlestown. The banks of the Mystic River and mouth of the Charles River (the Quinobequin) were their fishing and gathering places. These were Pawtuckets, ruled by Nanepashemit, or New Moon, and later by the Squaw Sachem. The Squaw formally deeded Charlestown in 1639, along with Cambridge and Watertown.
Much of Somerville’s land was used for pasturage, and it become known as Charlestown’s Cow Commons, or the Stinted Pasture. The land between Winter Hill Road (now Broadway) and Charlestown Lane (now Somerville Avenue) was reserved as common land for “milk cows, working cattle, goats and calves” and remained largely uninhabited until 1681. Dairy farms supplied milk and cheese to Charlestown and the North End of Boston, with a main passage along Charlestown Lane, which became known as Milk Row. Somerville’s land was also used for quarrying and brick making. In what is now the Ward 2, Ten Hills and Powderhouse areas, outcroppings of bedrock were quarried for foundation stone, fence posts and headstones. Somerville stone was used for the next two centuries for walls and foundations, and in a few cases, for the construction of buildings.
During the period of the American Revolution, Somerville’s Powder House was used to store gunpowder for Revolutionary War soldiers, and Paul Revere’s famous midnight ride from Boston to Lexington and Concord after the British invaded in 1775 passed through the town. On Jan. 1, 1776, general George Washington ordered the Grand Union Flag, America’s first colonial flag, to be raised over the fort on Prospect Hill for the first time.
Somerville became a city in 1842 and was incorporated in 1872 to better serve its own rapid urbanization and population growth. Waves of immigrants have enriched the city, making Somerville now one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the United States, with more than 50 languages spoken in its public schools. Recent immigrants hail from countries such as El Salvador, Haiti and Brazil. The city is home to a highly diverse mix of blue-collar families, young professionals and college students. After New York City, Somerville has more artists per capita than any other U.S. city.
The city is represented by a city council in which seven members represent individual wards and four additional members serve at-large. There is also a School Committee, presided over by the mayor and the superintendent of schools. (Adapted from from the city’s “about” page and Chapter 1 of “Beyond the Neck: The Architecture and Development of Somerville, Massachusetts,” Landscape Research, 1990)
Data sources: Census.gov and the city of Somerville
Chapter 40B. A state law that allows local approval of developments if at least 20 percent to 25 percent of the units are designated as long-term affordable.