Date/Location: Sunday June 16, 2024, Longfellow House-Washington’s Headquarters NHS, 105 Brattle Street (Rain location: Christ Church Cambridge, 0 Garden St)
Gather for Juneteenth to honor those who endured slavery and seized freedom on Brattle Street on the eve of the American Revolution, their living descendants, and the long history of Black freedom activism in Cambridge and beyond. This free, all-ages event will feature a community gathering with speeches by living descendants, Juneteenth # Pop-Up Poetry, A Denise Plays Hard Event; music, historical displays, family activities, and refreshments.
Event Details đ€ 12:30-12:50 PM Welcome speakers đ¶ 12:50-2:00 PM Juneteenth # Pop-Up Poetry, A Denise Plays Hard Event, including: Drum procession with Chibuzo Dunun Libation + Lift Every Voice and Sing Music + poetry, Denise Washington & Akili Jamal Haynes đ§ș 2:00-3:00 PM Interactive history and family activities Catered refreshments Partner/resource tables Juneteenth StoryWalk
Each year, the Cambridge Historical Commission honors projects and individuals that have made outstanding contributions to protect the cityâs historic character and built environment. The 2023-24 Preservation Awards will recognize both buildings and individuals for projects completed between January and December 2023.
This year, the in-person reception will be hosted by awardee, Middlesex County Juvenile Court at 121 Third St in East Cambridge. The awards ceremony takes place Thursday, May 30th beginning at 6:00pm and will include an engaging presentation showcasing each project, along with an introduction of project principals. This event is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served, and on-site parking is available! As the venue is an active courthouse, security screening is in effect.
Please RSVP for this event via email to our Assistant Director Kit Rawlins at krawlins[at]cambridgema.gov. We hope to see you there! đą
Map showing Charles River Bridges as of 1800. From Bull in The Garden, A History of Allston-Brighton by William P. Marchione
The reason Little Cambridge is the least known neighborhood is because it doesnât exist anymore. Farther south than youâd think, it was south of the Charles River in what is now Brighton. Back in the day, this area was officially known as âSouth Cambridge,â âSouth Side,â the Third Parish,â or the âThird Precinct.â Colloquially, it was mostly known as âLittle Cambridge.â By todayâs paths, you would travel there by crossing the Anderson bridge at the south end of JFK Street in Cambridge, continuing south on North Harvard Street, taking a right at Western Ave, and heading toward Market St in Brighton.                  Â
Cambridge Village. Map of the original allotments of land and the ancient topography of Watertown (proper) by Henry Bond, 1751
The Beginning
In 1629 the Massachusetts Bay Company received a royal charter from the king of England for a large swath of land which included Cambridge. Subsequently, in 1634, further land south of the Charles was granted to Cambridge for grazing. The town then âcontracted with William Patten âto keep 100 cattle on the other side of the river for the space of seven monthsâ for 20 pounds.â (Marchione) The name changed in 1807 when it became its own incorporated municipality named Brighton.
The first settlers to take up residence in South Cambridge were the Holly (sometimes Holley), Champney, Dana, and Sparhawk families. Samuel Holly was born around 1588 in England. He arrived in Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1636 and is listed as a property owner in Little Cambridge in 1639. After he died in 1843, Elizabeth, his second wife, married John Kendall in 645. Legend has it that Elizabeth was hanged as a witch in 1647. It is difficult to prove the veracity of this story, but it is an interesting tidbit reflecting the times.
Richard Champney (born ca. 1604 in England and died 1669 in Little Cambridge) emigrated around 1634. A farmer and real estate investor, Champney became a ruling elder of the church. With civil government tethered to parish hierarchy, this was a highly important position in the community. Champney died in Cambridge in 1669 leaving 40 acres in Little Cambridge to Harvard College. He is buried in the Old Burying Ground in Harvard Square.
Detail: Plan of Newton lot (40 acres) given to Harvard by Richard Champney, drawn by surveyor David Fisk(?) in 1704. UAI 15.750 Box 4, Folder 64, Harvard University Archives.
Today, we associate the Dana family mostly with Old or Mid-Cambridge. However, Richard Dana Sr. owned land in Little Cambridge as early as 1659. He served as a selectman, juror, and constable. In 1648, he married Ann Bullard with whom he had 14 children. One of these offspring, Daniel (1663-1738) was the great-great-grandfather of Richard Henry Dana Jr., author of Two Years Before the Mast, a memoir recounting his two-year sea voyage on a merchant ship from Boston to California.
Nathaniel Sparhawk (born in 1598 in England and died in 1647 in Little Cambridge) emigrated from Dedham, England around 1636-38 when he was about 40 years old. He became a church deacon and deputy to the General Court. Another real estate investor, by the time of his death, Sparhawk had acquired land on both sides of the river amounting to about 1,000 acres total.
By 1690 the population of Little Cambridge was about 125 souls.
The Politics of Parishes
The politics of the Parish system were complex. As mentioned above, until a civil structure of government devolved, the townâs governance was managed by the parishes. Whatever subject â approving a new minister, paying to maintain parishes, developing civil rules and regulations â there would be those on both sides of the issue, causing delays in implementation.
As the population grew, the demand for a separate parish on the south side of the Charles River likewise increased. Attendance at services at the First Parish church (located in Harvard Square) was impeded by distance and the unreliability of the ferry – particularly in the winter when the river froze. Even after the âGreat Bridgeâ across the Charles was built making travel easier, proponents for a separate parish persisted. In 1774 Little Cambridge received permission to have a minister come to their side of the river to preach in the winter. But parishioners wanted more, and the first petition for a separate parish was submitted in 1747. However, the politics of tax issues around who would pay for maintaining a new parish impeded the process. It was not until 1783 that the request for their own parishâthe Third Parishâwas granted. This group was not alone in its desire for their own parish: the âfarmersâ living in what is now Lexington, having twice as far to go to church, had the same concern. This assembly received permission for their own parish, the Second Parish, in 1779, a little ahead of Little Cambridge. As youâll see below, the same politics played out around building the Great Bridge.
The Ferry and Subsequent Great Bridge of 1660
There had been a ferry across the Charles in the vicinity of Dunster St as early 1635. A Mr. Joseph Cooke was the ferryman, charging a penny for an average one-way crossing and three pennies on âLectureâ days at the First Parish. (Paige) But by 1656 calls for a bridge to replace the ferry bubbled up. Little Cambridge proposed that Cambridge should build a bridge, and that they would agree to pay their fair share of the cost. Arguments about who else benefited from the bridge, and hence should help defray the cost, went back and forth. The project became entangled in disagreements about how many âLecturesâ per week there should be in the First Parish church and which preachers were unwilling to give up their pulpits. It was not until around 1662/63 that the bridge was finally built. The new structure was dubbed the âGreat Bridgeâ as it was the largest bridge in the Massachusetts Bay Colony at the time. It included a âdrawâ to enable boats to pass upstream or down and was the sole bridge across the Charles for nearly 130 years.
The Great Bridge about 1900; a tugboat waits to pass through the draw. Cambridge Historical Commission.
Inevitably the bridge fell into disrepair and haggling once again ensued. Finally, the General Court agreed that whoever repaired the bridge could charge a toll: âone penny for every person; three pence a head for every horse and man; six pence for every cart; two pence a head for every horse of other neat cattle; one half a penny a head for sheep, goats, or swine.â Later, the Court also agreed to give the communities that benefited from the bridge an allocation to offset the cost of maintenance. The bridge was rebuilt repeatedly throughout its lifetime, once in 1685, 1733, and again in 1862. With the building of Harvardâs stadium in 1904, concern for the bridgeâs upkeep and beautification became a more serious priority. In 1907, the Cambridge Municipal Art society lobbied for a replacement bridge, but there were several issues that would impede the bridgeâs eventual construction in 1913.
Cambridge Sentinel, November 23, 1912
The Anderson Bridge, ca. 1913. Library of Congress. Detroit Publishing Co. Collection
The Great Bridge had an enormous impact on the economy and commerce of Little Cambridge, which included farming, nurseries, and, most significantly, the cattle and abattoir business. We featured the Porter Square Cattle Market, established in the early 1800s, in an earlier blog post. It turns out there was another cattle market in townâin Little Cambridge.
Whereâs the Beef?
Picture this: the year is 1776. The continental Army needs food. Little Cambridge citizen Jonathan Winship and his son contracted with the U.S. government to provision the troops with meat. Initially the cattle slaughtering was done elsewhere, but it didnât take long for the Winships to recognize the profitability of owning their own slaughterhouse. According to the Brighton Allston Historical Society, by 1790 âJonathan Winship II was the largest meat packer in Massachusetts, putting up some 5,000 barrels of beef a year for foreign markets aloneâŠ. By the 1820s the Brighton Cattle Market was receiving between two and eight thousand head of cattle every Monday.â (emphasis added)
Cattle Yards in Brighton Center ca. 1850. Brighton Allston Historical Society.
The cattle/abattoir business was a huge economic driver, generating a multitude of support jobs. To accommodate the tradesmen involved in buying, selling, and herding cattle, the Cattle Fair Hotel was built in the village center. The proprietor was our old friend Zachariah Porter, who went on to build the hotel in Porter square that is named after him.
Cattle Fair Hotel in 1865 at the corner of Washington and Market Streets. Brighton Allston Historical Society.
Cattle Fair Hotel, Brighton by Mack, Dixon & Company. February 1834. Accessed via Digital Commonwealth.
Cattle werenât the only livestock slaughtered at the 50-60 abattoirs that evolved in Little Cambridge. As reported in the Boston Allston Historical Society (BAHS), by 1837 ânearly 33,000 head of beef cattle, 110,000 sheep, and 17,000 swine were sold at the Brighton Market, in addition to large numbers of oxen, horses, and poultry.â
Detail: Cattle Market Hotel on the Atlas of Suffolk County, Vol. 7 (G.M. Hopkins & Co., 1875)
Jonathan Winship Cattleyards plaque, Brighton, photographed by Peter H. Dreyer. Peter H. Dreyer slide collection, Collection #9800.007, City of Boston Archives, Boston.
Today the Stockyard Restaurant at 135 Market Street, Brighton commemorates that long-ago cattle business.
Exterior view of The Stockyard restaurant photographed by Terrence B. Doyle for Eater Boston.
Back to the Revolution: one of Little Cambridgeâs most prominent citizens was Colonel Thomas Gardner (1724-1775). Before the war he held a variety of positions: selectman, representative to the General Court and in the Provincial Congresses, the Revolutionary Council of Safety, and the Committee of Correspondence. In the spring of 1775, he was commissioned Colonel of the 1st Middlesex Regiment. Shortly thereafter, on June 15, 1775, he was wounded at the Battle of Bunker Hill. Returning to Little Cambridge to recuperate, he died two weeks later on July 3, the day after George Washington had assumed command of the Continental Army in Cambridge. Gardner was held in such high regard that Washington, in his General Orders, July 4, 1775, ordered:
           âCol. Gardner is to be buried to morrow [sic] at 3, Oâ Clock, P.M. with the military Honorsdue to so brave and gallant an officer, who fought, bled and died in the Cause of hiscountry and mankind. His own Regiment, except the company at Malden, to attendon this mournful occasion. The places of those Companies in the Lines on Prospect Hill,to be supplied by Col. Glovers regiment till the funeral is over.â
Detail: George Washington Papers, Series 3, Varick Transcripts, -1785, Subseries 3G, General Orders, -1783, Letterbook 1: July 3,- Sept. 30, 1776. July 3, 1775. Manuscript/Mixed Material. https://www.loc.gov/item/mgw3g.001/
General Washington attended Colonel Gardnerâs funeral.
As Time Went OnâŠ
The Boston Evening Post, September 22, 1766
In 1769 a schoolhouse was built. In 1777 there were about 315 people living in Little Cambridge. Eight of the families were slaveholders, including the Winships, Sparhawks, and Gardners. Historian Lucius Paige notes that the City Clerk’s records for 1777 show the population of those “‘on the south side of Charles River in Little Cambridge, from sixteen years of age and upwards, 66 whites, 4 blacks.”
The grandsons of the first Jonathan Winship, Jonathan III and his brother Francis Winship, went on to apply the family business savvy to another industry. In 1820 the brothers founded a nursery known as Winship Gardens on 40 acres overlooking the Charles River. Jonathan III, known as âCaptâ for his previous career as worldwide sailor and trader, was a horticulturist, a founding member of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, and a champion of the Mount Auburn Cemetery across the river.
In 1793, the West Boston Bridge was built, providing a second route to Boston for those on the north side of the river, substantially minimizing the commercial traffic over the Great Bridge through Little Cambridge. The negative economic impact of this was substantial.
Becoming Brighton
Over time, the burgeoning population of Little Cambridge was piqued by the cityâs failure to make improvements to the Great Bridge, which citizens felt had a severe impact on their economy. They appealed to the Massachusetts State Legislature for permission to divorce themselves from Cambridge. In 1807 they won the right to do so. The new town was incorporated as Brighton, in honor of Brighton, England. Colonel Stephen Dana was elected Town Clerk, and Nathaniel Champney, Thomas Gardner, Jr., Jonathan Livermore, Dudley Hardy, and Benjamin Hill as Brighton’s first Board of Selectmen. Brighton was annexed to Boston in 1874.
Seal of Brighton, Massachusetts. Boston Public Library.
Today’s post was written by CHC volunteer Kathleen M. Fox
SOURCES
Baldwin, T. W. (Thomas Williams). (1914-15). Vital records of Cambridge, Massachusetts, to the year 1850. Boston, Mass: [Wright & Potter Print. Co.]. https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001262127.
Gardner, Frank A. Gardner Planter, and Some of His Descendants (1907)
Harvard University. Corporation. Records of land and property owned by Harvard University, 1643-1835. Plan of Newton lot (40 acres) given to Harvard by Richard Champney, drawn by surveyor David Fisk(?) in 1704. UAI 15.750 Box 4, Folder 64, Harvard University Archives. (seq. 2).
Howard, Cecil Hampden Cutts (comp.) Materials for a Genealogy of the Sparhawk Family in New England (1892)
Marchione, William P. Bull In The Garden: A History of Allston-Brighton by William P. Marchione (1986). Trustees of the Public Library of the City of Boston http://www.bahistory.org/BullInTheGarden.pdf.
Peter H. Dreyer slide collection, Collection #9800.007, City of Boston Archives, Boston
Detail: Map of Cambridge as existing in 1635, by Charles D. Elliot, 1880 (Reconstructed from earlier maps and surveys)
Here is a little-known tidbit about living in any New England town in the in the 1600s-1770s. Anyone who was not an âadmittedâ member of the town â as determined by the townsfolk and/ or the Parish â but came to town to work, was permitted to stay for a brief period of months. After that, they might have been told they had to leave. This process was called being âwarned out.â How did this arrangement come to be?
The concept of âwarning outâ arrived in New England along with the first English settlers, who brought with them familiar English customs. One of these was the tradition that every town was responsible for financially supporting its own poor. Since that could become expensive, the townâs solution was to allow any newcomer up to three months residence after which they could be told to leave or âwarned out.â Quoting from the towns earliest records, Cambridge historian, and Town and City Clerk, Lucius Paige (1802-1896) highlights the beginning of this policy in 1636:
âwhosoever [sic] entertains any stranger into the town, if the congregation desire it, he shall set the town free of them again within one month after warning given them or else he shall pay 19 shillings (??) 8 pence unto the townsmen as a fine for his default, and as much for every monthly shall there remain.â (December 5. 1636)
By 1723, the outside transient issue was still a problem: â⊠of late years, sundry person and families have been received and entertained amongst us, to the great trouble of the Selectman and damage of the townâŠvotedâŠthat henceforth no freeholder nor inhabitant in said town shall receive or admit any family into our town to reside amongst us for the space of a month, without first having [notified and obtained] the allowance and approbation of the freeholders and inhabitants of said town, or of the Selectmen âŠâ
Most outsiders appear to be less wandering transients than people hired by townsmen to work as servants or as laborers. In some cases, arrangements were made for a young person (typically young boys) to reside with a townsperson for general, educational reasons. Townsmen (or women) were then required to inform (âNotifyâ) the Selectmen with details about the personâs name, age, and background. Keeping track of the new arrivals in this way enabled the town to send the âwarning outâ at the appropriate time. Typically, the outsider was permitted to stay from 1-3 months.
There were exceptions to being cast out. These included anyone who married into an inhabitantâs family, or those sent to town for educational reasons, or âmen or maid servants upon wages, or purchased servants or slaves.â The grounds for allowing a person to remain in town are not entirely clear. There may have been some combination of proving themselves to be good workers, providing positive recommendations from permanent residents, continuing to be decent members of the local parish, or providing proof that they could support themselves. If those under scrutiny were still required to leave, they were usually sent back to the town from whence they came.
The following examples illustrate the variety of reasons and circumstances for taking a person into oneâs household. Those accepting âoutsidersâ into their household appear to have been well established and prosperous. Those they took in were often much less so. Affluent members of society appear more often in official and personal records, and therefore the newcomers are difficult to trace. These examples are taken from the records of 1788-1794, published in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Vol. CXLVI: January 1992 and transcribed by Ann Smith Lainhart.
Farmer John Foxcroftâs 1789 description of William Banks no doubt served as a recommendation for allowing him to remain in town:
âThis is to inform you that on Thursday the sixteenth instant, I admitted into my Farm house Mr. Benjamin Pratt his wife & four childrenâŠtogether with a young man named of William Banks of whose character & Circumstances I have such an opinion that I have entrusted him with the care of my farmâŠâ (Previously, in 1788, Foxcroft took into his home Hannah Holding, 27 years old.)
Gershom Cutter, on the other hand, wrote implying that Lucy Wright should not be able to remain in town:
âThis is to inform you, that on the 15th of July last, I admitted into my house as a boarder, one Lucy Wright a Widow, formerly Lucy Morton, daughter of [blank] Morton, who keeps the White Horn Tavern in Boston; her Circumstances are at present, I suppose, indigent; She is about 32 years of age. I give you this information in order that you make take the steps of the law to prevent her being chargeable to this town.â Gershom Cutter June 4, 1789
Thomas Gardner III, (1761-1810) who lived across the river in âLittle Cambridgeâ (now Allston/Brighton) took in eight people in between 1789 and 1798, including:
âThis may certify that I took into my house
-a young man from Pelham in the State of New Hamshire [sic], of nineteen years of Age, by the name of Ezra Johnsonâ
– a young Woman from Newtown of Seventeen Years of age by the name of Abigail Weld.â
âŠa Boy from Needham of twelve years of age by the Name of Jeremiah Gay.â
âŠa young woman from Watertown came to live with me upon hire, the 12th of October 1789, by the name of Hannah Learned of Eighteen years old. â
Thomas Gardner III was the son of Revolutionary hero Captain Thomas Gardner (1774-1775) whose estate was in Little Cambridge. Captain Gardner was killed at the battle of Bunker Hill and his funeral was attended by General George Washington. An elementary school in Allston and the town of Gardner, Mass are named after him.
Thomas Gardner House, 1780. Image: Raphael Tuck post card on eBay
Rev. Caleb Gannett (1745-1818) was a distinguished inhabitant who also lived in Little Cambridge and hired several African Americans, one of whom was Peter Waters who had served in the Revolution:
âPeter Waters, a blackman, born in Maryland, served in the American Army in the late war; afterwards lived in Newton & thence came into the Subscribers employment March 15th. 1789. Caleb Gannettâ
Also:
âPompey Parsons a black man age 42 â brought from Africa when ten years old. Immediately after his arrival went to live with the Revâd. Mr. [Joseph?] Parsons of Bradford, with whom he continued two or three years, till his masterâs death; after which he was under the care of Dr Scott of Boston, till 21 years old which town (Boston) he has since considered as the place of his residence. He came into the Subscriberâs service the 13th of last month,â March 25, 1790
After he was admitted to Harvard College at the age of 14 and received his MA in 1766, Gannett preached in local towns before returning to Harvard to become a tutor of Natural Philosophy and Mathematics. He was an early member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, member of the Cambridge School Committee and Humane Society, the Massachusetts Historical Society, and a Justice of the Peace. In 1779, Harvard asked him to become the College Steward, a position he held until his death in 1818. In this role, Gannett was responsible for managing the daily operations of the college dormitories, kitchen, catering, obtaining fuel, supervising staff, and collecting tuition and fees from students. It is possible that Peter Waters and Pompey Parsons worked for him at Harvard.
William Winthrop, son of Prof. John Winthrop of Harvard, was a gentleman farmer of Cambridge who also served as Town Clerk, Selectman, State Senator, Justice of the Peace, and Registrar of Deeds for Middlesex County. William hired ten individuals between 1786 and in 1793, one of whom he describes, oddly, as living in the house he bought for his own home:
âJoseph Winship, about 20- years born in Cambridge of Parents who [are?] inhabitants of Lexington & now receive a partial support from that [town], he has lived in this Town ever since his birth. When I purchased the house where I now live, I found said Winship in it & he has remained there ever since.â
The Winthrop notification below in 1790 appears to refer to the practice of placing children in prosperous households in order to be educated or raised for a period of time:
âThis is to acquaint you, that on the 29th day of December last past I admitted into my house, one Simon Fuller, Son of Edward & Ruth Fuller; the boy I am informed was born at Newton (where his parents were Inhabitants) on February 10th 1790[sic] & he is to live with me until he is 15 years old. I give you this information agreeable to a late law in order that measures may be taken if it is thought best, to prevent said Simon Fuller from becoming an Inhabitant of the town of Cambridge:
Simon Fullerâs father, Captain Edward Fuller, also appeared to be wealthy and was a Lieutenant in the army during the Revolution. After the war, Fuller served as Selectman of Newton, and for seven years represented the town in the State Legislature.
It was not uncommon for children to be âbound outâ (indentured) from almshouses. In some cases, this was a preferable alternative: circumstances at almshouses were generally appalling, as can be seen in the case of a boy taken in by Joseph Stacey Read:
âJune 1, 1790. Sir [Dr. T. L. Jennison, Town clerk of Cambridge] This is to give information to the Selectmen that I have taken into my family a boy named James Osburn, about twelve years old. He is taken from the Alms House in Boston, and bound to me by the Overseers of the Poor of that town Yours, Joseph Stacey Read. From the records of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts we know that James Osborn was âfreeâ in 1799.
Joseph Stacey Read (1754-1836) was a saddler and served as the Postmaster in Cambridge for several years.
View of Harvard Square looking west ca. 1870. The Joseph Read house (ca. 1782â90) is denoted with an arrow.
Priscilla Whiston, who, in 1789 had already brought into her household a young woman named Keziah Underwood, in 1792 wrote to the Selectman about another woman she had sheltered out of charity but could no longer house. Note that âstrollingâ did not necessarily refer to âladies of the night,â but rather destitute people wandering into towns looking for work:
âYour petitioner humbly sheweth that on the 13th of November last, [1791] she was obliged by all the ties of humanity to admit a strolling girl into her house, who calls herself Vice Ross; and that by applying to the Selectmen, she was desired to harbour her for a few days while they could make some enquiry concerning her place of abode: and that the said girl has tarried with her ever since that time. That your petitioner has been daily expectation of some decision from you upon the matter: that she does not wish to keep her any longer, unless by vote from you. She therefore requests that you would take it into consideration immediately, and give you her information how she must act. And your petitioner as in duty bound will ever pray.â (January 2, 1792)
Gideon Frost (1754-1803) was a grandson of Samuel Cooper whose father John Cooper had built the house in 1681. It still stands at 21 Linnaean Street in 1657 (below). (Gideonâs father Edmund Frost had married Samuel Cooperâs daughter Hannah). In 1790 he notified the Selectman about:
âUriel Lyon aged 29, born in Newport Rhode Island State, but last from Boston. Block maker by trade, (with) Lydia his wife (&) Lydia the daughter, came into Cambridge the first of February 1790 (admitted by Gideon Frost).â It is unclear where Uriel Lyon went next.
Because Gideon Frost purchased the house at 21 Linnaean Street it is now referred to as the Cooper-Frost-Austin House.
Exterior view of 21 Linnaean St photographed by Leon H. Abdalian in October 1920. Gift of John Booras to CHC.
Examples of âWarnings Outâ
Between November 7, 1791 and March 18, 1793, records show approximately 269 adults were warned out of town. Mostly these were laborers, servants, tradesmen, butchers, tanners, and those of similar occupations. The list includes many âspinsters,â one âphysicianâ two âEsquiresâ and a handful of âforeigners.â
On November 7, 1791, Cambridge Selectmen Moses Robbins, R. Richardson, George Prentiss, and Moses Griggs wrote to the Constables of Cambridge informing them of the list of individuals whom they wanted to be warned out. These were people who:
â⊠have lately come into this town, for the purpose of abiding therein, not having obtained the Towns consent therefor, that they depart the limits thereof, with their Children, and others under their care, if such they have, within fifteen days. And of this Precept with your doings thereon, you are to make Return into the Office of the clerk of the town, within twenty days next coming, that such further proceedings may be had in the Premises, as the law directs.â
These people included:
Isaac Higby (Higsby) for whom Gersham Swan had submitted a notification on November 8, 1789.
Philemon Robbins, butcher, and his wife Sally, of Lexington, for whom Nehemiah Cutter Jr. had submitted a notification on July 31, 1790.
Hannah Hammond, spinster, for whom Jonathan Livermore had submitted a notification May 3, 1790.
Joshua Winship, his wife Mary, and their children, whom Jonathan Winship had submitted a notification in April of 1789.
Luther Ware, for whom Richard Gardner had submitted a notification in 1790
Thomas Gibbs a âNegro manâŠwho came from Swanzey about 8 years ago [and?] was admitted to this town by Bowers, which negroman married a negro woman by the name of Ross about 3 months ago, a servant belonging to me. I give you this information in order that the steps of the law may [be?] taken to prevent themâŠfrom becoming chargeable to this town.) Jonathan Winship had notified their arrival in 1789.
Thomas and Hannah Cheeney (Cheney) for whomMary Jeffries in had submitted a notification in 1787: ââŠthey came to my house from Newtown, where I suppose they belong. Mr. Thomas Cheeney informs me that he was born at Newtown, – I give you this information in order that the Steps of the Law may be taken to prevent the above- named persons from being chargeable to this town.â
Bill from Benjamin How to the Town of Westborough for his service of warning two persons out of town, dated December 13, 1756. Westborough Public Library via Digital Commonwealth. https://ark.digitalcommonwealth.org/ark:/50959/z316rq830.
Changing the System: The End of Notifications and Warnings Out
During the 1700s, as cities and towns grew, more and more people migrated from farming villages into towns looking for work. Some were soldiers returning from wars. Job availability could not keep up with the influx. It became obvious that there needed to be a change in how society provided for the poor.
This dilemma led to the demise of the âNotifications and Warning Outâ as a system of social policy. Instrumental in this change was the Massachusetts Poor Relief Act of 1794. This Act required all towns in Massachusetts to build their own almshouse for care of the poor.
Even before the Massachusetts Poor Relief Act, Cambridge had already been working on the problem. In 1779, a location near Harvard Square was selected to build a dual poorhouse and workhouse. The mandate was to âprovide all necessary food, fuel, clothing, and medicine, proper for the occupants and tools and materials necessary to their proper employment.â And, that the warden of the Poorâs House âshall endeavor to form the paupers under his care to habits of economy, frugality, temperance, sobriety, and industry; particularly he shall keep them employed in such useful and profitable labors as they may be respectively able to perform, within doors or without doors, having regard to their different sexes, ages bodily strength, former habits of life, and all other circumstances, with the approbation of the Overseers.â
This first location did not work out. In 1786, the almshouse moved to North Cambridge, halfway between the Harvard Square area and what is now Arlington. After that, the facility was moved two more times: in 1818 and again in 1851. For more on the history of Cambridge Almshouses see âThe Cambridge Almshouses and Avon Home for Childrenâ by CHC Assistant Director Kathleen (Kit) Rawlins.
Todayâs post was written by CHC volunteer Kathleen M. Fox
Sources
âThe Almshouse and the Workhouseâ by Hollis R. Bailey. Proceedings of the Cambridge Historical Society, vol. 10.
âThe Beginnings of the First Church in Cambridgeâ by Hollis R. Baily. Proceedings ofthe Cambridge Historical Society, vol. 10.
Building Old Cambridge by Susan E. Maycock and Charles M. Sullivan, MIT Press (2016).
âCambridge, the Focal Point of Puritan Lifeâ by Henry Hallam Saunderson. Proceedings of the Cambridge Historical Society, vol. 32.
History of Cambridge, Massachusetts 1630-1877. With a Genealogical Register. by Lucius R. Paige (1877)
âThe Massachusetts Poor Relief Act, 1794â as published in The Eighteenth-Century Records of the BostonOverseers of the Poor, edited by Eric Nellis and Anne Decker Cecere (2006).
Massachusetts Reconnaissance Survey, 1980.
Mellen Family Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society.
Each year, the Cambridge Historical Commission honors projects that have made outstanding contributions to the preservation of the cityâs historic character and built environment. The 2024 Preservation Awards will recognize individuals and organizations for projects completed in Cambridge between January and December 2023. The awards will be presented at a ceremony in May 2024.
2023 Preservation Award winner: the 1839 Livermore-Fuller house at 8 Ellery Street
Seven project categories are eligible for Preservation Awards: restoration, rehabilitation, adaptive use, neighborhood conservation, landscape preservation, archaeology, and education. The award-winning projects will be selected based on the following:
historical and architectural significance of the preserved property;
exceptional quality of the project;
extent to which the project contributed to the preservation of the property; and
impact of the project on the preservation of the cityâs historic resources.
To nominate a project, including your own, please submit a completed nomination form and supporting documentation no later than Noon on Friday, February 23, 2023 to:
Cambridge Historical Commission 831 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02139
Note: All submitted materials become the property of the Cambridge Historical Commission and will not be returned.
For more information on the Cambridge Preservation Awards, or if you have questions regarding the nomination form, please contact the Commission: Telephone: 617.349.4683 | Email: histcomm@cambridgema.gov
We write this post in honor of Veterans’ Day, November 11, and to shine light on a comparatively little-known Cambridge chapter in the Civil War: that of Camp Cameron, the militia camp established in North Cambridge in 1861 and not to be confused with Camp Cameron in Washington, D. C. We tell the story as reflected in the newspapers of the dayâŠseeing the actual print image â even if a little blurry â most viscerally conveys the feeling of the times.
Picture this: You are walking north on Mass Ave between Porter Square and Alewife. About a half a mile up, directly across the street from the Friendly Corner Convenience store on the left, you see the Law Offices at 2409 Mass Ave, shown below. This is the exact location of Camp Cameron.
Google street view, March 2022
On April 15, 1861, three days after the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter, President Lincoln issued a proclamation calling for state militias to raise a total of 75,000 troops. Months before that proclamation, Cambridge attorney James Richardson saw what was on the horizon and had already begun recruiting men for a volunteer militia:
Cambridge Chronicle January 26, 1861
Col. James P. Richardson in his captainâs uniform in 1861 and Richardson’s recruiting broadside. Courtesy of Mrs Edwin R. Sparrow, âColonel Richardson and the Thirty-Eighth Massachusetts,â by Richard C. Evarts, Proceedings of the Cambridge Historical Society, Vol. 39
But before we get to the story of Camp Cameron: the very first militia camp was established in 1861 on Fresh Pond: an abandoned icehouse previously owned by ice dealers Reed and Bartlett was fixed up for barracks to hold 1,000 men. It was called Camp Ellsworth after Col. Elmer Ellsworth, a personal friend of Abraham Lincoln, and the first Union officer killed in the Civil War.
Detail of Map of the city of Cambridge for 1865 by J.G. Chase, courtesy Harvard Map Collection
Cambridge Chronicle June 8, 1861
Very damp, indeed. In fact, a marshy disaster. Lt. Amory of the army declared that the quarters were âunfit for the troops.â So, on June 13th, after only two weeks at Fresh Pond, the units departed for Camp Cameron on North Avenue in Cambridge, led by Col. Robert Cowdin (1805-1874).
Robert Cowdin, Civil war photographs, 1861-1865, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.
Camp Cameron, June 1861-January 1863
The new site consisted of 140 acres along the northeastern section of Mass Ave between Shea Road and what is now Clarendon Ave, extending up the hill to Holland St in Somerville. The land was leased every six months by the government from the Union Horse Railroad and real estate investor Gardner G. Hubbard, namesake of Hubbard Park off Brattle Street, and subsequent son in law of Alexander Graham Bell.
The camp was named after the Secretary of War Simon Cameron. That was another bad choice. Cameronâs reputation for corruption precipitated renaming the camp just a year later in August 1862 to Camp Day. The new designation honored Ralph Day (1802-1887), a successful Cambridge builder who was involved in projects like Porterâs Hotel. Active in Cambridge politics, Day had owned a substantial portion of the land since 1842. Day Street is named after him. By 1854, Day had also sold a large portion of his holdings to George Meacham, a local real estate developer and commissioner of the Cambridge Cemetery. Meacham served as a Colonel in the war, was wounded, and died in 1864. Meacham Road is named for him.
Detail: Map of the city of Cambridge, Middlesex County, Massachusetts by H.F. Walling (1854), Harvard Map Collection
Eventually the 30 buildings on the site housed about 1,000- 2000 recruits!
Daily Evening Traveller July 2, 1861 (Excerpt)
Detail: Russellâs Horse Railroad Guide for Boston and Vicinity, May 1862. Cambridge Historical Commission.
Just think of the noise and the smells! Up to 2000 men drilling, marching, and firing arms for target practice. There would be supply wagons clanking through the area, the smell of 30 fires cooking food, latrines, burning trash, and 90 baggage carts clattering down Mass Ave accompanying a regiment on the way to war. Not to mention bellows of up to 1,000 heads of cattle from the nearby Cattle Market at Porter Square, and the smell of the tannery near Alewife Brook.
An official flag raising ceremony took place at Camp Cameron on June 28, 1861. The event was reported on in this sentimental piece describing solders walking âarm in arm with ladies, âŠwhispering loving words into the ears of those who were soon to be separated from them, never, perhaps, to meet againâ:
Daily Evening Traveller June 29, 1861
Boston Herald September 28, 1861
The camp served as a short-term boot camp for the inexperienced volunteers from New England and New York before they shipped out to the war. Numbers fluctuated weekly as troops arrived and departed for the front:
Boston Evening Transcript July 1, 1861
Boston Evening Transcript August 11, 1861
Cambridge Chronicle August 17, 1861
Cambridge Chronicle September 28, 1861
Cambridge Chronicle December 28, 1861
Complaints soon arose around two issues at Camp Cameron. Despite the hopeful newspaper article below, the culinary situation at the camp was nearly intolerable, driving soldiers to regularly leave camp without a pass in search of edible sustenance.
Boston Evening Transcript June 21, 1861
One solder wrote âNine days I have been in camp with a hard board to lie on, without any blanket to cover me at night, and insufficiency of food by day.â (Excerpt from Boston Herald September 3, 1862). The same article described how âmany of the men are compelled to come into the city to get food enough to satisfy their hunger.â
Boston Herald September 3, 1862 (excerpt)
It was a letter to the editor from E. R. Mudge, a wealthy Boston dry goods merchant whose son had been in the army for a year, that triggered the above article. Mudge noted that not only were the rations bad, he called attention to the large number of deserters: Out of 61 recruits for the 2nd Regiment, who had enlisted and been sent to camp since âŠonly 31 could be found on Saturday. The rest had deserted.â A year later, Mudge generously put his financial resources behind the recruiting effort for the 2nd Massachusetts Volunteers.
Deserters? That was the second and more serious problem at Camp Cameron. With no perimeter fence nor gate, it was easy for recruits to become âbounty jumpers.â
Here is how the system worked: In addition to their payâgenerally about $13 per monthâeach recruit received a âbountyâ of $25 paid by the U. S. Government, and an additional $100 paid by the City of Cambridge. When the need arose for specialized troops, additional bounties would be offered:
Boston Journal October 7, 1862
On top of these amounts, some businessmen such as Mudge also contributed to supplementary bounties from their private funds to increase recruitment. $1,000 was a pretty handsome supplement!:
Commercial Bulletin August 23, 1862
Inevitably some neâer-do-wells took advantage of the loose security at camp to take off for parts unknown. Showing up in another town, they repeated their scam.
Boston Semi Weekly Advertiser November 5, 1862
Col. Hannibal Day (no relation to Ralph Day) was the General Superintendent of the Recruiting Services for the State of Massachusetts in 1861. Day also was aggrieved at the bounty jumping situation, which ultimately led to him closing the camp in January of 1863.
Who were these enlisted men?
On August 9, 1862, Congress passed the Recruitment Act, ordering a draft of an additional 300,000 militia. Each state was assigned a quota by the then Secretary of War, Edwin M. Stanton. If the state could not meet the quota, the government would establish a draft in that state to complete the roster. A second Enrollment Act, passed in 1863, increased the bounty paid to recruits, and, astonishingly, allowed individuals to avoid military service by paying someone else $500 to join in their place.
The newspapers published the names of those who had chosen to pay for another man to fight the fight:
Cambridge Chronicle August 9, 1862
This category of replacement is not to be confused with âRepresentative Recruits.â In 1864, the War Department allowed for those men ânot fit for military duty, and not liable to draft, from age or other causesâŠto procure at their own expense, and present for enlistment, recruits to represent them in the service.â These were called âRepresentative Recruits.â They were also listed in the papers:
Cambridge Chronicle August 9, 1862
A good description of the men volunteering appeared in theCambridge Chronicle of September 7, 1861. These were the men who made up Company C, 3rd Recruitment, Cambridge Volunteers, led by the above-mentioned James P. Richardson of Cambridge, during the three months the unit was stationed on the coast at Fort Monroe, VA.:
âWhole number composing the Company, 94. Born in Cambridge, 17; Boston, 16. In thirteen other cities and towns in Mass, one each. Total born in Massachusetts, 46. Born in New Hampshire, 10; Maine, 8; Vermont, 3; Connecticut, 1; New York, 4; District of Columbia, 1. Total American, 73 New Brunswick, 4; Nova Scotia, 3; Ireland, 7; England, 6; Scotland, 1. Ages. â Oldest man, 39 years; youngest man, 18 years, average age, 22-3-95 years. [sic] Tallest man, 6 feet 2 inches; shortest man, 5 feet 3 inches; average height, 5 feet ,7 one-half inches. Occupations. â Clerks, 15; printers, 9, carpenters, 7; cigar makers, 6; book binders, 6; shoemakers, 5; painters, 4; soap makers, 2; plumbers, 2; bacon curers, 2; butchers, 2; farmers, 2; teamsters, 5; laborers, 2; wheelwrights, 2; sash and blind makers, 2; confectioners, 2, lawyers, 2; policeman, baker, stereotype finisher, carriage maker, machinist, hack driver, blacksmith, sawyer, physician, silversmith, barkeeper, tinman, cook, tailor, provision dealer, harness maker, 1 each.â
Some recruits belonged to regiments with interesting nicknames. For example, The Irish Brigade â the Massachusetts 28th Regiment,â recruited at Camp Cameron, was made up primarily of Irish men â by birth or descent. Its nickname was the âFaugh-A-Ballagh,â Irish for âclear the way.â
Boston Herald January 2, 1862
28th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers flag, via Massachusetts State House Battle Flag Collection inventory
Boston Evening Traveller November 18, 1861 (excerpt)
It is not hard to image in the emotional impact made on citizens by the daily drumbeat of newspaper announcements concerning the camp:
Boston Evening Transcript September 6, 1861
Boston Semi Weekly Advertiser September, 1861
Frequently, notices included where the troops were being deployed. Today, reading these announcements, we recall the famous battles so familiar to us. But to soldiers at the time, places like Harperâs Ferry, Newbern, or Bull Run, or the Wilderness may have been unfamiliar or even unknown.
Boston Herald August 5, 1861
The Cambridge Chronicle June 15, 1861
Cambridge Chronicle May 17, 1862
Boston Evening Traveller June 24, 1861
Boston Semi-Weekly Advertiser February 15, 1862
Boston Evening Transcript March 15, 1862
Boston Herald June 13, 1862
Boston Morning Journal August 1, 1862
Boston Evening Transcript August 11, 1862
Boston Evening Traveller August 25, 1862
Boston Evening Traveller September 5, 1862
The Denoument
Camp Cameron/Day closed in January of 1863 and remaining soldiers were transferred to the more secure Fort Independence on Castle Island in Boston:
Boston Evening Transcript January 22, 1863
Perhaps in preparation for its closure, camp items were auctioned off in 1862 ahead of its close in 1863.
Boston Morning Journal April 26, 1862
âOne Wooden Building, 50 feet by 20. Ten temporary framed Wooden Buildings, battened and shingled, about 12 feet square. 29 Cast Iron Cylinder stoves, 3 sizes 600 feet 5-inch English Iron Funnel A lot of 8-inch Funnel 10 Cauldrons, with Russia Iron Covers 2 Iron Bedsteads 2 Husk Mattresses 4 Pair Sheets 2 Pillows 4 Pillow Cases 2 Chairs Half dozen Axes A quantity of Raye Straw, &c.
By order of Lieut. Col. H. Day, U. S. A., General Supt. Recruiting Services state of Mass. Terms of sale, cash.â
Between 1861 and 1865, 4,588 Cambridge men enlisted in the Union Army and Navy. (Cambridge Historical Commission)
In the 1890s, Camp St and Cameron Ave were named after the camp. Fair Oaks St, Seven Pines Ave, Glendale Ave, Malvern Ave, and Yorktown St in the same neighborhood were named after Civil War battles.
An historic marker honoring James S. Richardson and Company C can be found in Central Square near the site of Richardsonâs former law office on Richard B. Modica Wayâotherwise known as âGraffiti Alley,â the passageway between Central Kitchen and Tent City on Mass Ave. True to its location, the marker is now covered with graffiti. A mockup can be seen here:
Richardson, with a white beard, appears front center in the photograph below, depicting of a reunion of Company C in 1886.
Surviving members of Company C posed for a photograph in front of City Hall, 1886. City of Cambridge Annual Report, 1940.
To Richardsonâs left is Lieutenant Chamberlain. To the far left as you look at the picture stands drummer Charles Cobb, holding the drum he had carried throughout the war.
It was not until 1866 that President Andrew Johnson issued a formal proclamation announcing the end of the Civil War.
Where once there were thousands of men training for war, today there are baby strollers, bikes and pedestrians.
Photographed by Kathleen Fox
Todayâs post was written by CHC volunteer Kathleen M. Fox
JJ Gonson is a photographer known for her work documenting a variety of live music performances by punk and hardcore bands at various venues in Cambridge, Massachusetts. A Cambridge native herself, Gonson began photographing bands in the 1980s while studying photography at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University. A chance meeting with Mike Gitter, the current Century Media Recordsâ vice president A&R and the creator of the fanzine xXx on Cambridgeâs punk scene, led JJ to create a significant body of work focused on several local venues.
Descendents, performing at TT the Bear’s Place in Cambridge. Photo taken from the JJ Gonson Photograph Collection.fIREHOSE, performing at TT the Bear’s Place in Cambridge. Photo taken from the JJ Gonson Photograph Collection.Descendents, performing at TT the Bear’s Place in Cambridge. Photograph taken from the JJ Gonson Photograph Collection. fIREHOSE, performing at TT the Bear’s Place in Cambridge. Photo taken from the JJ Gonson Photograph Collection.
One of the most well-known was TT the Bearâs Place, formerly located at 10 Brookline St in Central Square, a prominent spot beloved by its patrons. TTâs hosted local bands as well as household names such as California punk rock band Descendents. TTâs thrived at the center of the local music scene during this time and was a local favorite up until its closure in July of 2015.
Photo taken in Ferranti Dege in Cambridge of JJ Gonson (left) and a friend. Photographer unknown. Photo taken from the JJ Gonson Photograph Collection.Photo taken in Ferranti Dege in Cambridge. Photo taken from the JJ Gonson Photograph Collection.Photo taken in Ferranti Dege in Cambridge. Photo taken from the JJ Gonson Photograph Collection.
As a Cambridge resident, Gonsonâs work also features many of the cityâs local businesses and prominent landmarks. The businesses in and around Harvard Square, as well as the university itself, appear in the collection alongside her punk and hardcore music subjects. The cityâs famed Mount Auburn Cemetery, the earliest example of a garden cemetery in the United States, is documented as well. Gonsonâs family and friends, as well as photographs of her home, also feature heavily in her work.
Hullabaloo, performing at TT the Bear’s Place in Cambridge. Photo taken from the JJ Gonson Photograph Collection.Hullabaloo, performing at TT the Bear’s Place in Cambridge. Photo taken from the JJ Gonson Photograph Collection.fIREHOSE, performing at TT the Bear’s Place in Cambridge. Photo taken from the JJ Gonson Photograph Collection. Hullabaloo, performing at TT the Bear’s Place in Cambridge. Photo taken from the JJ Gonson Photograph Collection.
The collection consists of primarily black and white photographic negatives, but also contains color negatives, photographic prints and contact sheets. A finding aid is available on ArchivesSpace, and the collection is open and available for research at the Cambridge Historical Commission.
Today’s post was written by CHC volunteer, Jordan Shaw.
Do you know who your street is named after? Maybe it’s one of the governors of Massachusetts listed below. From 1629 to 1685, governors were chosen by shareholders in the Plymouth Co. or Massachusetts Bay Co. (Carver, Danforth and Endicott). The role and terms of governors followed the twists and turns of Massachusetts and American political history, shifting between those locally appointed and royally appointed. After the Revolution, of course, governors were elected by the citizens with John Hancock being the first governor of the now independent Commonwealth of Massachusetts. This list derives primarily from records of the National Governorâs Association, and local historians Christopher Hail, Michael Kenny, and Lewis Hastings.
Adams Terrace: Samuel Adams (1722-1803), 2nd Governor of Massachusetts
Oil on canvas portrait of Samuel Adams by John Singleton Copley (ca. 1772). Deposited by the City of Boston to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
A Harvard grad, Samuel Adams was not successful in business, so he instead turned to politics. He worked as Boston tax collector, clerk of the Massachusetts House, member of the Continental Congress, and president of the Massachusetts Senate. Adams was also a signatory of the Declaration of Independence.
Fun Fact: One version of the story relates that on April 18, 1775, John Hancock and Samuel Adams were returning from Concord to Boston when they had second thoughts. They stopped at a relation of Hancockâs in Lexington (now the Clarke-Hancock house) carrying with them a fresh salmon intended for their dinner. Passing the time in political debate, the pair were surprised when Paul Revere (and subsequent William Dawes) each galloped up to warn them the British were coming. Not yet having dined on their superb fish, they were reluctant to leave. But depart they did, only to realize they had left behind the fish. By now it was very late at night, but they sent back for the fish, finally dining on it after midnight at their final destination: the modest home of Amos Wyman in the Burlington/Bedford neighborhood.
Ames Street: Oliver Ames (1831-1895), 37th Governor of Massachusetts
Portrait of Oliver Ames as published in The New England States, their Constitutional, Judicial, Educational, Commercial, Professional, and Industrial History, by William T. Davies (1897) – via Wikipedia
After dropping out of Brown University, Oliver Ames went into the family shovel business: the Ames Plow Co. He served in the Massachusetts State Militia but resigned before the Civil War. During the war, he paid a substitute to join the Army in his stead, a somewhat common practice at the time. His political career began in 1879 as a member of the Massachusetts State Senate. Later, he was Lieutenant governor from 1883-1887 and elected to governor for three terms, from 1887-1890.
Fun Fact: The town of Oliver, Nebraska is named after Oliver Ames.
Banks Street: General Nathaniel Prentiss Banks (1816-1894), 24th Governor of Massachusetts
Portrait of Nathaniel Prentiss Banks by Southworth & Hawes (1852) – via Wikipedia
Nathaniel Prentiss Banks was born in Waltham, Massachusetts, and was the son of a textile worker. He served in the Massachusetts Legislature and in the U. S. House of Representatives. He was elected Governor of Massachusetts (1858-1861) before becoming a Major General for the Union Army for the duration of the war. After the war, Banks returned to Congress. Overall, he served ten terms in Congress before retiring in 1891. He was an abolitionist and supporter of womenâs suffrage and was a Trustee of Harvardâs Museum of Comparative Zoology. Upon his death, the obituary in the Boston Sunday Herald noted that Banks âwas one of the most distinctively remarkable personages of our more recent historyâŠ.no public man ever had more enthusiastic followers.â
Fun Fact: as a youngster working the Lowell and Waltham textile mills his responsibilities replacing thread on bobbins led to his nickname as âBobbin Boy Banks.â
Carver Street: John Carver (ca. 1584-1621), 1st Governor of the Plymouth Colony
Portrait of John Carver (ca. 1620s) – via Wikipedia
John Carver, (born ca. 1584 in Holland; died 1621 in Massachusetts), was an affluent businessman. He negotiated with the Virginia Company of London for land in the future Massachusetts and raised money to underwrite the costs of the voyage. He arrived on the Mayflower in 1620 and was the first signer of the âMayflower Compact,â a framework for the governance of the Plymouth Colony. Carver died the year after arriving in Plymouth, but in that short time worked with the chief of the Wampanoag tribe to reach a peace agreement that lasted more than 50 years.
Fun Fact: There must be one, but it is hard to find a fun fact about anyone enduring the hardships of that early settlement.
Andrew Street: John Albion Andrew (1818-1867), 26th governor of Massachusetts
Portrait of John Albion Andrew (ca. 1861-66), New Bedford Historical Society via Digital Commonwealth
Andrewâs term of governor covered most of the Civil War, from 1861-1866. After studying at Bowdoin College, he arrived in Boston to study law with Henry Fuller, an uncle of abolitionist Margaret Fuller. An abolitionist himself, Andrew served as defense counsel for those indicted for assisting fugitive slave Anthony Burns. He was elected to the Massachusetts legislature in 1857. According to the Massachusetts Historical Society Andrew, âorganized the first Black regiment in the northââthe famed 54th Massachusetts Regiment.
Fun Fact: After retiring from government in 1866 his legal practice focused on reforms in divorce proceedings.
Danforth Street: Thomas Danforth (1623-1699), Deputy Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, 1679-1686
There is no known image of Thomas Danforth.
Danforth Street was originally named after another Massachusetts governor, Frederic Thomas Greenhalge (see below) but, for reasons that are not clear, it was renamed for Danforth around 1908. After serving as Treasurer of Harvard, Danforth was elected deputy governor in 1679. He was a conservative and was among those banning Quakers from the colony. King Charles reprimanded the colonists for this policy and demanded that they reverse it. Danforth and others replied, âcolonial government was essentially sovereign except where its laws conflicted with English law.â In 1684, Danforthâs hard line cost him the governorâs election, but he remained as deputy governor. In 1693, he participated in Superior Court hearings about witches (the trials having begun in Salem) and, in sympathy to those accused, enabled them to relocate to his properties west of Boston.
Fun fact: He and his wife Mary Withington had twelve children.
Endicott Street: John Endecott (ca. 1588-1665), 1st, 13th, 15th, and 17th Governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony
Portrait of John Endecott (ca. 1665) – image Mass.gov via Wikipedia
John Endecott first served as governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1629, and again four more times between 1644-1664. He served as deputy governor three times between 1631 and 1655.n He was also co-founder of Salem, Massachusetts. The Endecott family changed the spelling of their name to âEndicottâ in the 18th century.
Fun Fact: Between 1630 and 1649, John Endecott planted a pear tree on his property in Danvers. Around 375-ish years later, you can visit the still-thriving tree at 100 Endicott St in Danvers, Mass.
Everett Street: Edward Everett (1794-1865), 16th Governor of Massachusetts
Portrait of Edward Everett as published in The Public Library of the City of Boston: A History by Horace Greeley Wadlin (1911) – via Wikipedia
Edward Everett was a renaissance man. He entered Harvard at age 13 and graduated four years later as valedictorian of his class. This was followed up by an M.A. from Harvardâs Divinity School and a Ph.D. from the University of Gottingen, Germany. Upon returning to the United States, Everett became a pastor of the Brattle Street Unitarian Church, a professor of Greek at Harvard, and editor of the North American Review. He served in the U. S. House of Representatives for ten years before being elected governor in 1836, a position he held until 1840. He was then minister to England (1841-45), president of Harvard (1846-49), and Secretary of State under President Fillmore (1852-53). From 1853-54 he was a member of the U. S. Senate. But Everett may be remembered most for his two-hour oration at the dedication of Gettysburg National Cemetery just before President Lincolnâs two-minute, 272-word speech.
Fun Fact: Everett designed the first City of Cambridge municipal seal when it was incorporated in 1846.
The 1846 seal, as designed by Everett
The current city seal, as adopted in 1896
Eustis Street: William Eustis (1753- 1825), 11th Governor of Massachusetts
Portrait of William Eustis by Walter M. Bracket (1873) – via history.army.mil
William Eustis, like many other governors, graduated from Harvard. He trained to become a physician under Joseph Warren of Bunker Hill fame, served during the Revolutionary War, and was a medic in Shayâs Rebellion in Massachusetts (1786-87). His foray into politics began in 1788 when he was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives. He returned to serve two more terms: 1801-1805 and 1820-1823. Eustis was Secretory of War for President Madison and envoy to the Netherlands. After returning to America, he ran for governor of Massachusetts three times, but failed until 1823 when he was finally elected. Eustis died in office in 1825.
Fun Fact: Eustis was a close friend of Aaron Burr. Legend has it that Eustis once aided Burr by helping him find a home for âa young woman whose mother had been involved in an adulterous relationship with Alexander Hamilton.â
Gerry Street and Gerryâs Landing: Elbridge Gerry (1744-1814), 8th Governor of Massachusetts
Portrait of Elbridge Gerry by Nathaniel Jocelyn (ca. 1845-1847) Harvard Art Museums image via Wikipedia
Another Harvard man, Elbridge Gerry graduated in 1762. After working in the familyâs shipping business for a number of years, Gerry switched careers and entered politics. He was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives and General Court, a member of the Committee of Correspondence, a delegate to the Continental Congress, signatory of the Declaration of Independence, and delegate to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. After four attempts to gain the Governorship, he was finally successful in 1810 and was re-elected in 1811.
Fun Fact: âGerrymanderingâ is named after Elbridge Gerry his attempts at partisan redistricting.
Detail of “The Gerry-Mander. A new species of Monster which appeared in Essex South District in Jan. 1812.” From the collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society via Digital Commonwealth
As the story goes, in 1812 the subject of redistricting came up at a Boston dinner party of Federalists. Also at the dinner was cartoonist and illustrator Elkanah Tisdale. It was Tisdale who drew a map of the district which looked like a dragon with wings and claws. This has become the most common illustration we associate with the bill. Someone once said the form resembled a salamander, to which another guest retorted âNo, a âGerry-mander.ââ
Gore Street: Christopher Gore (1758-1827), 7th Governor of Massachusetts
Portrait of Christopher Gore by John Trumbull (ca. 1816) Harvard University Portrait Collection, Gift of Dr. William E. Payne, 1834
After graduating from Harvard in 1776 (what a year!), Christopher Gore established a legal career in Boston. In 1788, he was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives. Following his term, he served as U. S. Attorney for Massachusetts and was appointed by President Washington to serve as commissioner to England.
He remained there as chargeâdâaffairs in London for one year, after which he returned to Massachusetts and became a member of the Massachusetts State Senate from 1806-09. Gore returned to the Massachusetts House of Representatives for one year before beginning his term as Governor in 1809. After losing the next election, he instead served in the U. S. Senate from 1813-1816.
Fun Fact: Have you heard of Gore Place in Waltham? That was the country estate of Christopher Gore and his wife, Rebecca Amory Payne. The couple did not have children, but rumor has it that former Vice President Al Gore is somehow related to him. Perhaps a distant cousin? Another fun fact â Christopher Gore mentored an up-and-coming young lawyer named Daniel Webster.
Greenhalge Street (now Danforth Street): Frederic Thomas Greenhalge (1842-1896), 40th Governor of Massachusetts
Portrait of Frederick Thomas Greenhalge (18 November 1893), image Library of Congress via Wikipedia
Frederic Thomas Greenhalge grew up in Lowell Mass, where his family had emigrated to from England in 1855. Due to his familyâs financial straits, Greenhalge had to drop out of Harvard where he had intended to study law. He had a brief stint teaching school and studying law until the advent of the Civil War. He was unable to serve because of poor health, but nonetheless went on to work as a civilian commissary for the army in New Bern, North Carolina, where he contracted malaria. Returning north to study law, Greenhalge was admitted to the bar in 1865. He was judge of the Lowell Police court for ten years (1874-1884) and twice a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives. He served as Governor from 1894 until his death in 1896, while serving his third term.
Fun Fact: It was Greenhalge who proclaimed the first Patriotâs Day in Massachusetts in 1894. A spring celebration called âFast Day,â with fasting and prayers to stave off crop disasters had been in place for 200 years, but as its religious aspects had faded Greenhalge took the opportunity to âre nameâ the day, so to speak, in commemoration battles of the Revolution in Lexington and Concord.
Today’s post was written by CHC volunteer Kathleen M. Fox
John Muldoon, undated photograph. Image courtesy of Tracy (Halliday) Reusch.
John E. Muldoon, a furniture designer and self-taught architect, was born in East Cambridge in November 1864, the first child of William H. and Catherine (McKeever) Muldoon. William had been born in the neighborhood in 1840. When the Civil War began in 1861, the 21-year-old enlisted as a private in the U.S. Army; in 1864, during the long Siege of Petersburg, Virginia, William suffered a severe wound to his left arm, which was so damaged it had to be amputated. He was mustered out that same year and returned to Cambridge; he was home when John was born. The family lived on Fifth Street in East Cambridge; Johnâs only sister, Sarah, was born in 1866, his brother Samuel in 1872, and his youngest brother, William, in 1888. William the father worked at the nearby New England Glass Company, and later opened a tavern, âThe Cosmopolitan,â on Cambridge Street, and even became a teacher. He died in 1898.
Advertisement for William Muldoon’s tavern, ‘The Cosmopolitan’, Cambridge Chronicle, July 1884.
John Muldoon attended local public schools and was apprenticed as a carpenter while a young man. In 1887, he married Margaret A. Fay; the next year, they welcomed a son, called Willie. John began work as a furniture designer for the esteemed firm of Irving & Casson and could walk to work from his home, a double house he rented with his parents on Fifth Street.
Example design by Irving and Casson – A. H. Davenport — Historic New England Collections. Flower Box of Mahogany c.1900.
John was hired by his landlord to design and oversee construction of a new double-house to replace the existing building there. This would be Johnâs first known foray into the architecture field. The double house at 41-43 Fifth Street was built with modest proportions but exhibits more detail than many surrounding tenements of the time. Today many of the buildingâs Classically inspired elements are covered in vinyl siding, yet Muldoonâs affection for Classical design is still apparent in the original pilasters in the Ionic style that frame the two entrances under deeply overhanging eaves. An image from the 1960s (below) shows the original pilaster detailing at the bay windows with swags in the entablatures. He and his young family would occupy one unit with his mother and father living in another unit. This first known building commission for John Muldoon would set off a short, yet significant career as an architectural designer in Cambridge.
Muldoon family home, 41-43 Fifth Street. Before covered with vinyl siding. CHC Staff photograph 1965.
In 1892 John Muldoon, with no architectural training or academic degree, submitted the lowest bid for a new firehouse in East Cambridge and was awarded the contract. The brick structure, described in newspapers as being in the âDoric style,â was built on the corner of Otis and Third streets across from the Middlesex County Courthouse. The station, with its 85-foot hose drying tower, space to accommodate six horses, and (ironically) a smoking room for the firefighters, stood for just three years: in 1895 it and the rest of the block bounded by Cambridge, Otis, Second, and Third streets were razed to make way for the new Middlesex County Registry of Deeds.
“New” Ward 3 Fire Station designed by John Muldoon in 1892. It was demolished less than three years later. Cambridge Chronicle, May 7, 1892.
Muldoon was then hired by the City to design another fire station just a few blocks away at the corner of Gore and Third streets. Architecturally, the second station shares many similarities with the earlier building with a stronger emphasis on Colonial Revival design with bold pilasters and pediment. Historically, the building also exhibited a Palladian window on the second floor. The former station stands today as a noteworthy institutional project in Muldoonâs early architectural career and is likely to have gained him important future commissions in Cambridge, despite his lack of professional credentials.
Engine 3, 29 Third Street, as completed. City of Cambridge Annual Report, 1896.Engine 3, 29 Third Street, 2017.
Muldoonâs first major project outside East Cambridge came in 1894 when a young couple James and Mary Heffernan hired him to design a large residence at the corner of Cambridge Street and Highland Avenue. The dwelling, while clearly Colonial Revival in its detailing, features a more traditional Queen Anne corner tower capped with a conical roof. Its prominent site and handsome design may have helped Muldoon attract the attention of affluent Mid and West Cambridge residents, who might otherwise have overlooked the work of a furniture designer from modest East Cambridge. Upper- and middle-class residents took notice of Muldoonâs high-quality designs, which were as good as those of major architectural firmsâand cost a lot less.
Heffernan Residence, 81 Highland Avenue.
In 1895 while overseeing the construction of the second fire station, Muldoon was hired by Jeremiah W. Coveney, a former undertaker, Cambridge City Councillor, and State Senator, to design a dignified single-family home at the corner of Otis and Sixth streets. The design stood out in East Cambridge: a single-family detached house was a rarity in the dense neighborhood of tenements and rowhouses as were houses in the Colonial Revival style. The symmetrical design features two-story rounded bays flanking the central entry portico with a Palladian window above. Alterations in 1992, when the building was used as a funeral home, obscured some of the original detailing, but the Colonial Revival motifs largely remain intact.
Jeremiah Coveney House, 140 Otis Street, before renovations (1967).Jeremiah Coveney House, 140 Otis Street, after renovations (2021).
From 1895, John suffered a series of personal tragedies which put most of his projects on hold. In 1895 John and Margaretâs only child, Willie, died of diphtheria at age six. A year later, Margaret died while in Saratoga Springs, New York. After their deaths, John accepted a few small jobs in East Cambridge such as alterations to a neighborâs house on Fifth Street, two renovations on Otis Street, and designing a stable on Gore Street (since demolished). In 1898 John lost his father.
During these somber years, John met Ellen Frances OâConnell (1875-1920), a first-generation Irish immigrant who lived with her father and mother in East Cambridge. Her father, John Patrick OâConnell, was for years the advertising agent for the Sacred Heart Review, a prominent Catholic publication that was active from 1888 to 1918. John and Ellen married in 1900 and would have six children together: five daughters (Helen, Catherine, Mary, Sarah, and Betty) and one son, John E. Muldoon, Jr.
The year before the marriage, Thomas J. Casey, the Chief of the Cambridge Fire Department, commissioned John to design a residence for his family on Lexington Avenue. The Caseyâs stately, Colonial Revival double-house, a stoneâs throw from the recently built Engine 9 Fire Station (1896), which was not designed by Muldoon. The Casey Residence exhibits Muldoonâs exceptional understanding on Colonial-inspired design with its rounded bays, a columned portico, and intricate trim detailing on the façade and dormers. Inside, five types of wood were laid as flooring in distinct patterns and colors.
Chief Thomas Casey House, 166-168 Lexington Avenue.
Johnâs craftsmanship (and low costs) impressed developers in Mid-Cambridge, who commissioned him to design multiple properties in the neighborhood. In 1901 he designed three adjacent double-houses at 27-29, 31-33, and 35-37 Highland Avenue for the owner-developer John Elston. The three unique residences are an eclectic blend of Queen Anne and Colonial Revival influences and today are in varied states of preservation. Elston also hired Muldoon that year to design a duplex at 14-16 Ellsworth Park, a short dead-end street.
During his career designing buildings all over Cambridge, John remained employed as a designer at Irving & Casson. Though he split his time between roles as architect and designer, his employers at Irving & Casson must have given him their blessing; as in 1903, John was hired by them to plan and design a four-story, four-bay addition to the companyâs plant, that would be modest in size and located in the central corridor screened from Otis and Thorndike streets.
Irving & Casson Factory with Muldoon-designed addition from 1903 highlighted.
John Muldoonâs last known project in Cambridge was the two-family house he designed for himself and his family. In 1909 he purchased a house lot on Lexington Avenue from the heirs of his former client, Fire Chief Thomas J. Casey and erected the grand Colonial Revival style structure one sees today. The two-family house boasts a large, gambrel roof with its gable end facing the street, elaborate columned porticos surmounted by balustrades topped with urns, and bold corner quoins.
John Muldoon House (1909), 146-148 Lexington Avenue.
John Muldoonâs legacy in Cambridge cannot be overstated. He progressed from carpenterâs apprentice and furniture designer to a twenty-year career designing houses and buildings in Cambridge. Some of the cityâs best examples of Colonial Revival-style houses were designed and built by Muldoon, the self-taught architect.
While he seemingly retired from the architecture profession following the completion of his own home on Lexington Avenue, he remained employed at Irving & Casson until his death in 1937. He was 72 years old.
Muldoon House (center left) and neighboring Chief Casey House (right) on Lexington Avenue.
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How many times have you fumed at an interminably slow traffic light or at people ârunning the light,â or been ârear-endedâ while waiting? Itâs hard to imagine driving in the city these days without traffic lights, but 100 years ago there were none.
But first, we canât talk about traffic lights without a brief detour into the history of driverâs licenses. After all, the need for traffic lights arose from the number of cars on the road.
According to the American Automobile Association, in 1903, âMassachusetts (and Missouri) became the first states to require a driverâs licenseâŠ.when the first licenses were issued, they werenât used to prove a motorist was a capable driver. By and large, anyone with a pulse and a car could obtain oneâ
Rhode Island was the first state to require a written test to obtain a license in 1908. Amazingly, it wasnât until 1959 that all states required an exam to get a driverâs license. (South Dakota was the holdout.)
According to the Federal Highway Administration, in 2019, Massachusetts had 4,950,056 licensed drivers. No wonder we need traffic lights!
In the 1920s, licensed drivers were often referred to as âAutoistsâ in the press.
Cambridge Chronicle June 25, 1921
Prior to electric traffic lights traffic was directed by a traffic officer at intersections. This inevitably led to complaints about the officer holding up traffic in one direction in favor of waving through traffic in another direction. Discussions about installing traffic signals began in earnest in the mid-1920s when permission was given to âinstall a signal box for a new automobile traffic signal at the corner of Boylston [now JFK] and Mount Auburn Streets.â (Cambridge Tribune December 6, 1924) Permission was granted, and a few weeks later the Cambridge Tribune updated the situation: âIlluminated arrows direct the driver to the right, and an especial signal of red and yellow lights in combination, stops vehicular traffic while pedestrians cross the street in any direction safely.â (Cambridge Tribune December 27, 1924)
Central Square acquired its first traffic signal in 1924. This led to a kerfuffle about angle vs. parallel parking in town. The point of the traffic signal was to speed traffic but some felt that goal was hampered by âangle parking,â (car front end to curb). Of course, angle parking is much easier than parallel parking, hence the debate. Angle parking âdelayed the speed of autos, which is necessary because of the new traffic signal in Central square.â
Cambridge Sentinel June 21, 1924
Eight months later the issue remained unresolved:
Cambridge Sentinel December 13, 1924
Apart from the parking problem, the advent of traffic lights generated a lot of other discussions. Where should traffic lights be placed? Should there be âsafety islandsâ? How should they be timed? Should traffic officers trigger the lights? Should officers use loudspeakers? What colors should be used and in what sequence? Amber (what we now call yellow), green and red? Green and red only? Apparently, it was the amber light that caused the most confusion. In 1929, the Cambridge Sentinel reported on the results of a study of how many colors – – and what they mean – – are used in traffic lights in cities throughout the U. S.
The study noted, âWorking on the information that persons who are to some extent color blind constitute 5 percent of the population, the bureau of standards has selected colors which are distinguishable to most if not all persons having defective color visionâ (Cambridge Sentinel February 23, 1929)
In 1925 a traffic booth was installed In Central Square.
Cambridge Tribune March 28, 1925
The new electric traffic light worked automatically, thereby eliminating the need for a traffic officer. The Tribune went on, âIt has three controls so that traffic can be handled according to its call. By setting it on the first control, traffic will be allowed to go up and down the avenue for 30 seconds and across the avenue for 30 seconds; second control allows traffic to go up and down the avenue for 40 seconds, across the avenue for 20 seconds; third control allows traffic to go up and down the avenue 25 seconds, across the avenue for 35 seconds.â [Got that??]
âThe device has three colored spaces on each side. The top one which is read reads âStop,â the middle being white reads âChange of Traffic.â There are three seconds between the signals so that each one has a fair chance to get his or her car under control. The bottom space is green, and reads âGo.â On top of the device there is a red light which is lighted at all times so that it can be seen my any one, therefore eliminating trouble by saying that they could not see it.â
Shortly thereafter the Chronicle outlined two suggestions for improvements to the âauto-copâ made by pedestrians and traffic officers alike, ââŠby which Central squareâs new auto-cop might be distinctly improved uponâŠ.that the alarm bell, which rings to signal a traffic change, should be considerably louderâŠa more staccato noteâŠwould prove doubly effective⊠the second suggestion is that, during the interval of âtraffic change,â when these words are outlined in white light in the center of the device, all other signals should disappear. An approaching motorist will tend to keep aright on going as long as he sees the word âGoâ inviting him to do so.â (Cambridge Chronicle May 9, 1925.)
On June 5th, 1926, the Cambridge Chronicle reported that a ânewâ General Electric traffic signal had been put in operation the previous Saturday in Central Square. It featured a booth for a traffic officer who operated the signal.
That sounded hopeful. But the following year, after several traffic accidents involving officers, the police chief recommended what he called a âFifth Avenueâ system of lights for Massachusetts Avenue. (This system was named after the street in New York City where it was already in use.) Also known as the âwaveâ system, it coordinated traffic signals at each intersection so that if traffic moved at a given speed, they would never âhit the lightâ and be stopped. Itâs not clear from the newspapers whether or not this was adopted.
Philadelphia had an interesting method of activating the lights:
âMrs. I. T. Holton tests a new automatic traffic control installation which is being in tested in Philadelphiaâs suburbs. It is designed to allow a motorist to cut into a busy traffic artery from a side street. By sounding her horn Mrs. Holton is changing the lights through a device which gathers the sounds and uses them to motivate an electrical sequence.â (Cambridge Sentinel May 4, 1929.)
It took some time for motorists to get used to traffic lights on traffic islands:
Cambridge Chronicle November 15, 1929
The article continues, âCity Electrician OâHearn, who has charge of installing the traffic signal system of which the traffic lights on the âsafety islandâ are an important part, things that a change in reflectors will make them more conspicuous so that the motorists will pay more attention to them. He blames the motorists for the accidents âŠHe expects that the motorists will soon get used to themâŠâ
Jumping ahead about 7 decades, in 1994 the Cambridge Chronicle launched a new weekly column named âRoad Gripe of the Weekâ
Cambridge Chronicle February 17, 1994
Today Cambridge has 128 standard yellow, green, and red lights; 14 flash beacons operating nonstop, 33 rapid flash beacons activated by pedestrians, and 31 timed school zone beacons operating during school drop-off and pick-up times.
