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East Cambridge - Neighborhood 1
Neighborhood Description
East Cambridge, a neighborhood of about seven thousand residents, is bounded by Somerville to the north, the Charles River to the east, the Boston & Albany Railroad tracks to the west, and Kendall Square to the south. East Cambridge became a working class neighborhood with a sizable immigrant population in the mid-nineteenth century, with the beginning of the industrial revolution. For a many decades this neighborhood included a number of major manufacturing and industrial businesses. Since the early 1980’s major changes in land use have transformed large manufacturing and industrial areas into commercial and retail developments with a vibrant business and commercial center.
The central part of the neighborhood, one of the oldest residential neighborhoods in Cambridge, has a major commercial and transit center at Lechmere Square, with a longstanding neighborhood retail strip to the west along Cambridge Street. Middlesex County District Court facilities are also located near Lechmere Square. The southern part of East Cambridge, a former industrial area adjacent to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, it now serves as home to many offices and research labs, as well as several large apartment buildings. Kendall Square is the major commercial and transit center in the southern section. The Charles River waterfront contains hotels, luxury apartment buildings, high-tech businesses, a regional shopping mall, and the Boston Museum of Science. The upper part of East Cambridge, lying to the north of the Monsignor O’Brien Highway and bordering Charlestown and Somerville, is an underdeveloped area known as “North Point”, which is permitted for redevelopment over the coming decades.
- Link to Neighborhood Map (729 KB, PDF format)
- Link to Neighborhood Statistics
East Cambridge Neighborhood Study Update
The Community Development Department conducted the East Cambridge Neighborhood Study Update during 2005 and 2006. At a series of two public meetings, staff discussed planning work that has occurred in the neighborhood since completion of the original East Cambridge Neighborhood Study in 1989 and heard from residents about their current planning concerns.
In November 2006 the Department published the East Cambridge Neighborhood Study Update: Summary, Recommendations, and Action Plan, which summarizes the discussion from the neighborhood meetings and lists new and old recommendations, along with reports on the progress made in addressing each recommendation.This file is in PDF format and requires use of the free Adobe Acrobat viewer.
If you would like to receive a printed copy of the report, please contact Tracey Joyce in the Community Planning division at 617/349-4651 or tjoyce@cambridgema.gov.
East Cambridge Neighborhood Study
The original neighborhood study was conducted in 1988 and issued in 1989. These files are in PDF format and require use of the free Adobe Acrobat viewer.
- East Cambridge Neighborhood Study (single file, 7.5 MB)
- Title Pages, Credits and Table of Contents (295 KB)
- Introduction (846 KB)
- Neighborhood Profile (867 KB)
- Land Use and Zoning (1.2 MB)
- Cambridge Street Business District (734 KB)
- Traffic and Parking, Housing (831 KB)
- Parks and Open Space (457 KB)
- Conclusion, Implementation Steps and Appendix I: Demographic Tables (7.1 KB)
- Appendix II: Land Use and Zoning (974 KB)
- Appendix III: Cambridge Street and Appendix IV: Median Housing Prices (672 KB)
Analysis
of a portion of the East Cambridge neighborhood can be found in the Eastern
Cambridge Planning Study.
Also of Interest to Neighborhood Residents
- Cambridge Street Corridor Improvements Project. See also DPW Project Overview. Substantially complete 2005.
- East Cambridge Development Review Process and Guidelines. Completed 1985.
- East Cambridge Riverfront Plan. Completed 1978.
- Gold Star Mothers Park Improvements. Completed 2006.
- Kendall Square Map (509 KB)
- Lopez Avenue at Charles Street Pocket Park Development
- Eastern Cambridge Planning Study. Completed 2001.
- MIT Town Gown Report. Annual.
Neighborhood Organizations
The following list of neighborhood associations is solely offered as an aid the public. Please note that these organizations are independent of the City of Cambridge; any views and opinions they may express are strictly those of the neighborhood organization.
Go
To List of Neighborhood Organizations
Contact Neighborhood Planner
Neighborhood Planner: Jeff Roberts, jroberts@cambridgema.gov, 617/349-4639.
The Community Development Department TTY line is 617/349-4621.
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