Timeline of Cambridge, Massachusetts

17th century

• 1630 - English settlers arrive. Site selected by John Winthrop the Younger.
• 1632 - First Parish meeting house built.
• 1636 - [History of Harvard (MBTA station)|Harvard University|The "New College"] founded.
• 1636 - Newe Towne was established as a town in the Massachusetts Bay Colony on September 8.
• 1638
• * Newe Towne renamed "Cambridge."
• * John Harvard, a Puritan minister, bequeaths his library and half his monetary estate to the college.
• 1639
• * New College renamed Harvard College for benefactor John Harvard.
• * First printing press in Cambridge.
• 1640 - Bay Psalm Book printed.
• 1642 - Harvard holds its first commencement.
• 1662 - Great Bridge built.
• 1663 - Algonquin-language Mamusse Wunneetupanatamwe Up-Biblum God published.
• 1682 - Cooper-Frost-Austin House built.
• 1685 - Hooper-Lee-Nichols House built.
• 1688 - Cambridge Village, later renamed Newton, separated from Cambridge.

18th century

• 1713 - Town of Lexington separated from Cambridge.
• 1720 - Harvard's Massachusetts Hall built.
• 1727 - William Brattle House built.
• 1759
• * Christ Church congregation founded.
• * Vassall House built.
• 1760 - Apthorp House built.
• 1767 - Elmwood built.
• 1775
• * April 18: William Dawes traverses the town en route to sounding warnings on eve of Battles of Lexington and Concord.
• * April 19: Skirmishes between retreating British troops and American patriots at Watson's Corner and elsewhere in North Cambridge.
• * May 12: The New-England Chronicle in publication.
• * July 3: George Washington takes command of American army.
• 1780 - May 19: New England's Dark Day.
• 1782 - Harvard Medical School founded.
• 1793 - West Boston Bridge built.
• 1796 - Fresh Pond Hotel built.

19th century

1800s–1840s

• 1800 - Printer William Hilliard in business.
• 1805 - Harvard Botanic Garden founded.
• 1807
• * Cambridge and Concord Turnpike opens.
• * Little Cambridge separates from Cambridge and is renamed Brighton.
• * West Cambridge, later renamed Arlington, separated from Cambridge.
• 1809
• * Craigie's Bridge opens.
• * Birth of Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., physician, poet and polymath.
• 1810 - Amicable Fire Society founded.
• 1814 - Cambridge Humane Society and Female Humane Society founded.
• 1815 - Harvard's University Hall built.
• 1816 - Middlesex County Courthouse (Massachusetts) built.
• 1817 - Harvard Law School founded.
• 1818 - New England Glass Company established.
• 1824 - East Cambridge Charitable Society formed.
• 1826 - Frederic Tudor and Nathaniel Wyeth begin harvesting ice at Fresh Pond.
• 1827 - First Evangelical Congregational church and Second Baptist Church established.
• 1830 - Population: 6,072.
• 1831
• * Mount Auburn Cemetery founded.
• * Cambridge Market Hotel built.
• 1832 - Cambridge Fire Department and Cambridge Book Club established.
• 1833
• * Hunt & Co's Circulating Library in business.
• * First Parish meeting house built, corner Church St. and Mass. Ave.
• 1835 - West Cambridge Social Library active.
• 1837
• * August 31: Emerson gives "American Scholar" speech.
• * East Cambridge Anti-Slavery Society formed.
• * Henry Wadsworth Longfellow moves to Craigie House.
• 1839
• * Hopkins Classical School established.
• * Harvard College Observatory founded.
• 1840
• * Cambridge Magnolia begins publication.
• * St. John's Mutual Relief Society organized.
• * Population: 8,409.
• 1841 - Cambridge Lyceum organized.
• 1846
• * Cambridge Chronicle begins publication.
• * Stickney-Shepard House built.
• * Lexington and West Cambridge Railroad begins operating.
• * Alvan Clark & Sons telescope maker in business.
• * City chartered.
• * James D. Green becomes mayor.
• * Population: 12,500.
• 1847 - Great Refractor telescope installed.
• 1848 - Franklin Library Association founded.
• 1849 - Cambridge Athenaeum incorporated.

1850s–1890s

• 1850 - Howard Benevolent Society organized.
• 1852
• * Cambridge Water Works Corporation chartered.
• * Riverside Press established.
• 1854 - Cambridge Cemetery consecrated.
• 1856 - Population: 20,473.
• 1857
• * Cambridge Circulating Library in business.
• * Walden Street Cattle Pass built.
• 1858 - Harvard Glee Club founded.
• 1859 - Museum of Comparative Zoology founded.
• 1860 - Cambridge Horticultural Society organized.
• 1861 - Veterans' Services established.
• 1862 - Sanitary Society active.
• 1865 - Old Cambridge Mutual Relief Society organized.
• 1866
• * Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology and New Church Theological School founded.
• * Cambridge Press newspaper begins publication.
• 1867 - Episcopal Theological School founded.
• 1868 - Cambridge Mechanics Literary Association organized.
• 1869
• * Old Cambridge Baptist Church built on Harvard Street.
• * North Cambridge Choral Society organized.
• 1870 - Soldiers' Monument dedicated on Cambridge Common
• 1871
• * Cambridge Social Union founded.
• * Alpha Glee Club organized.
• 1872 - Cambridge Choral Society formed.
• 1873
• * The Harvard Crimson newspaper begins publication.
• * Basket Club formed.
• 1875
• * Church of the Ascension organized.
• * Kennedy Steam Bakery built.
• * Population: 47,838.
• 1876 - Harvard Lampoon begins publication.
• 1877 - Harvard's Memorial Hall built.
• 1878
• * The Cambridge Tribune newspaper begins publication.
• * Harvard's Sever Hall built.
• 1879 - Cambridge Public Library established.
• 1880 - Population: 52,669.
• 1881 - Cambridge Club active.
• 1882
• * Society for the Collegiate Instruction of Women incorporated.
• * Harvard Cooperative founded.
• 1883
• * Cambridge YMCA opens.
• * Browne & Nichols School founded.
• 1884 - Odd Fellows Hall built.
• 1886 - Cambridge Hospital, Cambridge English High School, Cambridge Latin School, and Cambridge School for Girls established.
• 1887 - Cambridgeport Cycle Club organized.
• 1889
• * City Hall, Brattle Hall, and William James' house built.
• * Buckingham School founded.
• * Cambridge Plant Club established.
• 1890 - Population: 70,028.
• 1891 - Harvard Bridge built.
• 1892 - Old Cambridge Photographic Club formed.
• 1893 - Road built around Fresh Pond.
• 1894
• * Radcliffe College chartered.
• * Cambridge Walking Club founded.
• 1895
• * Lechmere Canal built.
• * Keezer's clothier in business.
• * W. E. B. Du Bois earns PhD from Harvard University.
• 1896 - Cambridge Political Equality Association established.
• 1897 - Cambridge Skating Club founded.
• 1900 - Population: 91,886.

20th century

1900s–1940s

• 1901 - Swedenborg Chapel built.
• 1903
• * Cambridge Sentinel newspaper begins publication.
• * Busch–Reisinger Museum opens.
• 1904 - Harvard's Phillips Brooks House Association established.
• 1905 - Cambridge Historical Society founded.
• 1906 - Longfellow Bridge opens.
• 1908
• * Andover Theological Seminary relocates to city.
• * Harvard's Business School established.
• 1909 - Lesley School founded.
• 1910
• * Harvard Extension School founded.
• * Harvard Square Business Association founded.
• * Population: 104,839.
• 1911 - Cambridge Housing Association formed.
• 1912 - The Kendall/MIT, Central, and Harvard MBTA stations open.
• 1913
• * Harvard University Press and Harvard Legal Aid Bureau established.
• * Cohen harness maker in business.
• 1914 - Cambridge Planning Board established.
• 1915
• * Anderson Memorial Bridge and Harvard's Widener Library built.
• * Cooperative Open Air School founded.
• 1916
• * Massachusetts Institute of Technology moves to Cambridge
• * Tasty Sandwich Shop in business, a diner restaurant in Cambridge, open from 1916 to 1997 at 6 John F. Kennedy Street. Behind the counter is chef Don Valcovic,
• 1917
• * Wursthaus restaurant in business.
• * Arthur D. Little Inc., Building constructed.
• 1923 - Washington Elm dies on Cambridge Common.
• 1924 - The Church of St. Paul (Harvard Square) built.
• 1926 - Harvard Square Theater opens.
• 1927
• * John W. Weeks Bridge built.
• * Necco factory opens on Massachusetts Avenue.
• * Grolier Poetry Bookshop and Mac-Gray Corp. in business.
• 1928 - Boston University Bridge built.
• 1929 - Cambridge Community Center founded.
• 1930
• * First Church of Christ, Scientist built.
• * Longy School of Music moves to Cambridge.
• * Russian bells installed in Harvard's Lowell House.
• 1932
• * Harvard Book Store and MIT's Technology Press and School of Architecture established.
• * Harvard's Memorial Church built.
• 1936 - Harvard's Graduate School of Public Administration and Graduate School of Design established.
• 1938
• * Hayes-Bickford Cafeteria in business.
• * Harvard's Nieman Foundation for Journalism established.
• 1940
• * National Research Corporation in business.
• * Cambridge citizens vote to adopt proportional representation for elections of its city council and school committee, with first use in 1941.
• 1941
• * Magazine of Cambridge begins publication.
• * Harvard's Houghton Library built.
• 1942 - John B. Atkinson becomes city manager.
• 1945 - Cambridge Civic Unity Committee established.
• 1945 - Irving House established.
• 1946 - WMIT begins broadcasting.
• 1947
• * September 9: Computer bug found at the Harvard Computation Lab.
• * Demise of the Harvard Botanic Garden.
• * Edgerton, Germeshausen, and Grier in business.

1950s–1970s

• 1950
• * Cardullo's Gourmet Shop in business.
• * Joseph DeGuglielmo becomes mayor.
• 1951
• * Fresh Pond Drive-In opens.
• * WHRB incorporated.
• 1952
• * John J. Curry becomes city manager.
• * MIT School of Industrial Management and MIT Center for International Studies established.
• 1953
• * Brattle Theatre begins screening movies.
• * Harvard Model United Nations conference begins.
• 1954 - Wang Laboratories, Cheapo Records, and Hong Kong restaurant in business.
• 1955
• * Out of Town News, Casablanca bar, Elsie's eatery and Ferranti-Dege camera store in business.
• * Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory relocated to Cambridge.
• 1957
• * Cambridge Buddhist Association established.
• * Pangloss Bookstore in business.
• 1958
• * Club 47 opens.
• * Joyce Chen restaurant and Chez Jean restaurant in business.
• * Lisp (programming language) invented at MIT.
• * Smoot measurement established.
• 1959
• * Café Pamplona in business.
• * Harvard/MIT Center for Urban Studies and MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory established.
• 1960
• * Bartley's restaurant in business.
• * Harvard's Let's Go travel guides begin publication.
• * Out of Town News opens in Harvard Square and goes to last sixty years selling newspapers from all over the world.
• 1961
• * Julia Child moves to Cambridge.
• * October 14: Fire destroys the original WGBH television and radio studios, at MIT.
• 1962
• * Temple Beth Shalom founded.
• * Fresh Pond Shopping Center built.
• * Cambridge Electron Accelerator in operation.
• * Harvard's Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts built.
• * Cambridge Seven Associates in business.
• * Cambridge Sports Union founded.
• 1963 - Cambridge Historical Commission established.
• 1964 - NASA Electronics Research Center established.
• 1965 - Head of the Charles Regatta established.
• 1966 - Cambridge School Volunteers founded.
• 1967
• * Joseph DeGuglielmo becomes city manager.
• * Cambridge Forum, MIT's Center for Advanced Visual Studies established.
• 1968
• * Cambridge Housing Convention active.
• * Shrdlu computer program developed at MIT.
• 1969
• * Murder of Jane Britton
• * Student antiwar protest.
• * Union of Concerned Scientists, and Harvard's Institute for African and African-American Research founded.
• * Passim and Plough and Stars in business.
• 1970
• * The Middle East restaurant opens.
• * Rent control and Massachusetts Department of Transportation Volpe Center established.
• * Alfred Vellucci becomes mayor.
• 1971
• * Cambridge and Somerville Legal Services established.
• * Grendel's Den pub in business.
• * Revels performance series begins.
• 1972
• * Broadway Bicycle School in business.
• * Longfellow National Historic Site and Cambridge Women's Center established.
• * Harvard's Gund Hall built.
• * October: Protest in East Cambridge against police conduct.
• 1973
• * Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics established.
• * Draper Laboratory active.
• * T.T. the Bear's Place and Hacker's Haven car repair shop in business.
• 1974
• * Cambridge Food Co-op, city Arts Council, city Community Development Department, and Buckingham Browne & Nichols school established.
• * James Sullivan becomes city manager.
• * Cambridge Naturals in business.
• 1975 - Coffee Connection in business.
• 1977
• * Cambridge Rindge and Latin School formed.
• * River Festival begins.
• * Changsho restaurant in business.
• 1978
• * National Bureau of Economic Research active.
• * Formaggio Kitchen in business.
• 1979 - Harvard's Film Archive opens.

1980s–1990s

• 1980
• * American Repertory Theater and MIT's PiKa housing cooperative established.
• * MIT Museum active.
• 1981
• * American Academy of Arts and Sciences moves to Cambridge.
• * Cambridge College active.
• * Robert W. Healy becomes city manager.
• * Cambridge Center complex construction begins.
• 1982
• * Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research founded.
• * Biogen, Toscanini's, and Upstairs at the Pudding restaurant in business.
• * Sister city relationships established with Coimbra, Portugal, and Gaeta, Italy.
• 1983
• * Harvard Square Homeless Shelter and Albert Einstein Institution established.
• * Monitor Group and Cambridge Energy Research Associates headquartered in Cambridge.
• * Sister city relationships established with Tsukuba Science City, Ibaraki, Japan; and Dublin, Ireland.
• * Pegasystems Inc. and Forrester Research in business.
• * Premiere of Marsha Norman's play Night, Mother.
• 1984
• * MIT Media Lab,, and city Police Review & Advisory Board established.
• * Sister city relationship established with Ischia, Italy.
• * Porter MBTA Red Line station opens.
• * Conflict Management Group headquartered in city.
• * Thinking Machines Corporation and Charles Hotel in business.
• 1985
• * Alewife (MBTA station) opens.
• * Harvard's Arthur M. Sackler Museum built.
• * Dante Alighieri Society building inaugurated.
• * Memorial Drive partially pedestrianized along Riverbend Park.
• 1986
• * Garment District (clothing retailer) in business.
• * Thinking Machines' Connection Machine invented.
• * MIT flea market begins.
• 1987
• * Sister city relationships established with Yerevan, Armenia; San José Las Flores, Chalatenango, El Salvador; and Catania, Italy.
• * Cambridge becomes a Peace Messenger City.
• * Catch a Rising Star in business.
• * Joseph P. Kennedy II becomes U.S. representative for Massachusetts's 8th congressional district.
• 1988 - Cambridge Community Television and Cambridge Eviction Free Zone established.
• 1989
• * Cambridge Sane/Freeze active.
• * Sister city relationship established with Kraków, Poland.
• 1990
• * CambridgeSide Galleria built.
• * Sapient Corporation in business.
• 1991
• * City Bicycle Committee and Ig Nobel Prize established.
• * MÄK Technologies in business.
• 1992
• * Boston Dynamics and Dewey, Cheetham & Howe in business.
• * Kenneth Reeves becomes mayor.
• * Sister city relationship established with Florence, Italy.
• 1993
• * City master plan published.
• * MIT's The Tech newspaper web edition begins publication.
• * Timothy J. Toomey, Jr. becomes state representative for 29th Middlesex district.
• 1994
• * Islamic Society of Boston mosque opens.
• * Rialto restaurant in business.
• 1995
• * Kendall Square Cinema opens.
• * Porter Square Neighbors Association formed.
• * Cybersmith and Phoenix Landing in business.
• 1996
• * Cambridge Health Alliance and On The Rise nonprofit established.
• * City Dance Party begins.
• * Sheila Russell becomes mayor.
• 1997
• * City website online.
• * Cambridge Civic Journal begins publication.
• * Sister city relationship established with Galway, Ireland.
• * French-American International School active.
• 1998
• * Akamai Technologies in business.
• * MIT's Center for Reflective Community Practice active.
• * Francis Duehay becomes mayor.
• * Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet & Society founded.
• 1999
• * Cambridge Innovation Center in business.
• * Mike Capuano becomes U.S. representative for Massachusetts's 8th congressional district.

21st century

• 2000
• * Zipcar in business.
• * Anthony Galluccio becomes mayor.
• * MIT's Kismet (robot) introduced.
• 2001
• *New water treatment plant at Fresh Pond opens.
• 2002 - Michael A. Sullivan becomes mayor.
• 2003
• * Novartis research division headquartered in city.
• * Longwood Players active.
• * MIT's Poverty Action Lab and Harvard's Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation founded.
• * Sister city relationship established with Santo Domingo Oeste, Dominican Republic.
• 2004
• * Broad Institute, Community Charter School of Cambridge, and ActBlue established.
• * MIT's Stata Center built.
• * Sister city relationship established with Southwark, London, England.
• * February 4: Facebook launched at Harvard College.
• 2005
• * Sister city relationships established with Cienfuegos, Cuba; Yuseong, Daejeon, Korea; and Haidian, Beijing, China.
• * Cambridge Day begins publication.
• * Patricia D. Jehlen becomes state senator for 2nd Middlesex district.
• 2006
• * Green Decade Cambridge incorporated.
• * Kenneth Reeves becomes mayor again.
• * Harvard's Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston established.
• * HubSpot in business.
• 2007
• * Microsoft New England Research & Development Center opens.
• * Cambridge Science Festival begins.
• * MIT's Center for Future Civic Media established.
• * Unitarian Universalist Service Committee headquartered in Cambridge.
• * Anthony Petruccelli becomes state senator for 1st Suffolk and Middlesex district.
• 2008
• * Alliance of Cambridge Tenants, and Google Inc. branch established.
• * ImprovBoston moves to Cambridge.
• * Harvard Square Library incorporated.
• * E. Denise Simmons becomes mayor.
• * ROFLCon meme convention begins.
• * Central Square Theater built.
• * Jon Hecht elected state representative for 29th Middlesex district.
• 2009
• * July: Henry Louis Gates arrest controversy
• * West Cambridge Youth and Community Center opens.
• * Kendall Square Association established.
• * Cambridge Open Studios active.
• * Trader Joe's grocery in business at Fresh Pond.
• 2010
• * David Maher becomes mayor.
• * Population: 105,162; metro 4,552,402.
• * Sal DiDomenico becomes state senator for Middlesex, Suffolk and Essex district.
• 2011
• * January 6: Aaron Swartz arrested.
• * Area Four restaurant, Veggie Galaxy restaurant and Danger!awesome in business.
• 2012
• * MIT/Harvard edX launched.
• * Henrietta Davis becomes mayor.
• * Hack/reduce nonprofit founded.
• * Sinclair and Amazon office in business.
• 2013
• * Richard Rossi becomes city manager.
• * Cambridge Open Data Ordinance drafted.
• * Cambridge Happenings in publication.
• * April 18–19: MIT officer killed; manhunt for Boston Marathon bombing suspects takes place.
• * November: Municipal election.
• * December: Katherine Clark becomes U.S. representative for Massachusetts's 5th congressional district.
• * Marjorie Decker becomes state representative for 25th Middlesex district, Dave Rogers becomes state representative for 24th Middlesex district, and Jay Livingstone becomes state representative for 8th Suffolk district.
• 2014
• * City open data portal launched.
• * H Mart grocery and Alden & Harlow restaurant in business.
• * David Maher becomes mayor again.
• 2015
• * January 2015 North American blizzard.
• * September 6: Lawrence Lessig presidential campaign, 2016 headquartered in city.
• * December 3: Fire.

Published in the 19th century

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• . 1875-
• *,,,
• *,
• *,
• *,

• George F. Crook, ed. .
• 1894-.
• . 1894?

Published in the 20th century

• +
• 1995-

Published in the 21st century