Cambridge founded 1630 as capital of Massachusetts Bay Colony... Originally a planned city on a three-by-four grid... Now mostly Harvard dorms... 64 house lots in a one-third mile radius surrounded by a fence... On the Charles so only small craft can access... Elected officials built homes in Boston and Charlestown... Didn't want to move... After a year, only 10 families... By 1635, 500 people, 86 families because of the Great Migration... 1635, Hooker's parishioners all moved to Hartford, Connecticut... Only 11 families remain... Shepard's flock moved into abandoned homes... Founded first college in British America... 400 pounds pledged in 1636... Will be located in Newtowne...
Changed name because of Cambridge, England... Classes start in 1638... Harvard named for minister in Charlestown... Died of consumption and gave half of estate and 300-book library to college... Died 1638... Town 35 miles long from Billerica to Newton... V shaped... Less than a mile wide at Harvard Square... 70 acres dedicated to pasture... Only college in America for 50 years... Even at Revolution, only 12... Attracted first printing press... Provincial Congress met here... Continental army based here... Massachusetts constitution drafted here 1779... Brattle house... Reclaimed by son Thomas in 1776... Street not as wide, formal garden... Also a little creek where sidewalk is...
Brattle Hall built in 1789 as a live theater and meeting space for Cambridge Social Union, now CCAE... 1948 theater converted to movies... Also Architect's Corner built in 1966... Design Research one of first furnishings importer... Also Architects Collaborative... Blacksmith's house... Longfellow lived nearby... Chestnut tree near Cafe of India... 1946 the Window Shop helped European resettlers... Christ Church oldest church still standing... First Parish on other side of burial ground... First church has rooster on top... Puritans weren't separatists, Pilgrims were... Puritans Congregationalist... 1686 Church of England imposed, resulting in King's Chapel...
No Church of England in Cambridge until 1759... Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts... Opened 1761... Originally five windows, split in half, added two... Designed by architect of King's Chapel... East Apthorpe first priest... Fears of Anglican bishop... Apthorpe's house called the Bishop's Palace... Unitarianism started in England, first Unitarian church in Boston 1789, 1810 a major movement... Cambridge's church split, original church in center of square... Burial ground 1635 not the original site... Churches postdate ground by 100-200 years... Vassal family tomb in basement of Anglican church... Cambridge Common shared pasture land...
Originally to Linian Street... Shrunk, fenced in... Need to feed 10,000 soldiers... Slaughterhouses on Charlestown side, cattle would graze on common... Mt. Auburn Cemetery founded 1835... Old milestone 1734... William Dawes' route... Five milestones remain... Originally stood in center of square... Other side 1794 directions to new bridge... Unitarian parish building paid for by Harvard... Used for graduation until Memorial Hall... Emerson gave address in 1837... First bit of Transcendentalism... Churches are 0 Church and Garden Street... Movie theater originally University Theater... Entrance originally on Massachusetts Avenue, cut through...
Known for 1970 live performances, Leonard Bernstein lectures, play "Oh, Calcutta!" banned in Boston but staged in Cambridge, and Bob Dylan/Bruce Springsteen concert... Rolling Stone review.. Used to be one auditorium... 1827 house... Palmer Street originally an alley with stables... Coop built in 60s... Starbucks a carriage house... Nearby firehouse... Abercrombie building on site of 1790 wooden building with posts, 1896 electric street car couldn't make corner with sharp point, so they remodeled it as rounded, removed one post, 1990s debate about demolishment, removed all but 1890 facade, preserving next door brick building...
Brattle Street from a creek leading to a pond in Harvard Yard... Brattle Square originally Creek Lane... Subway opened in 1912, sidewalks 5-6 feet lower originally... Creeks converged at 1 Brattle Square... Tunnel for subway under here no longer used, trains once stored near Kennedy School... Winthrop Street part of original 1630 layout... Ground level behind Charlie's is original level... Stone wall 1700s... Until 1909, Charles was tidal... Newtowne Market 1635-1699... Stone thing only 15 years old... Winthrop Street part of grid... Harvard undergraduate life on original grid... JFK originally Boylston originally Wood...
Harvard didn't have enough dorms until 1920, wealthy didn't live on campus, gold coast apartments along Mount Auburn... No fraternities, but dine in clubs, final clubs... Used to be 12-plus along Mount Auburn... Some still operate, building used otherwise.. Fox Club green shutters on corner... Grendel's Den Pi Eta... Brick with green shutters near For Eyes was Sigma Alpha Epsilon... John Hick's house, white with shutters originally a couple blocks over, killed in British ambush... 1920 Harvard dorms built (called houses)... Still lumberyards, coal docks, subway power plant... Harvard bought up land... ice house with freight dock at end of Dunster...
Houses named after Harvard prexy... Dorms copy historic building elements... Tower has 17 bells bought from Bolshevik monastery, rung Sunday afternoons... Mount Auburn all private dorms, Ridgely Hall, Claverly Hall bought by Harvard... Each dorm had own identity, Adams House with older recycled buildings had fringe elements, theater, leftists, gays... Also dorms in yard itself... Now for first years... Now you don't choose dorms, too cliquey, random assignment... Lampoon building designed by Edwin Wheelright... Ibis pranks with Crimson...
Fly Club, Phoenix SK, Iroquois Club, Spee Club... Nantucket Nectars headquarters used to be in old Delta Upsilon club with ivy... East Apthorp's home 1760 10 Linden St., yellow wood with shutters... Now housing for Adams House master... Fairfax actually three buildings... Gnomon Copy storefront dates to 1907, French art nouveau...
J. August building houses Porcellian Club, top of the line, named after roast pig at inaugural banquet... George Washington didn't want to stay in Wadsworth because of Longfellow house... College house dorm built 1832-1870... Coop was site of courthouse... Lyceum Hall built there, Emerson, Charles Dickens, glee club... Out of Town News is old subway entrance... Old Harvard Yard.
As time allows, I will add links to some of the people, places, and things encountered during the tour.
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