The latest edition of the Mapping Feminist Cambridge walking tour, this time featuring Harvard Square, will launch next week. Sign up to reserve your spot!
The Women’s Commission is thrilled to launch the third and final tour of the Mapping Feminist Cambridge series, Harvard Square 1970s-1990s, with two walking tours July 25, 6-8pm and August 11, 2-4pm. Click below to sign up:
Throughout the 1970s to 1990s, Harvard Square activists organized around labor rights, housing justice, education, lesbian advocacy, music, poetry, and more. Come learn about women’s entrepreneurship in the emerging hospitality sector and how many of the restaurants and inns from this era became long-standing establishments, hear about the vibrant music scene in coffee houses and on street corners, discover feminist art tucked into alley ways, and learn how Cambridge youth were also making their mark. While organizing at Harvard University is included in this tour, the primary focus is on local grassroots activism and organizing.
319th Harvard commencement interrupted by Saundra Graham and activists from the Riverside neighborhood, photographed by Associated Press on June 11, 1970 (via Digital Commonwealth)
Mapping Feminist Cambridge is a series of three historic tours focused on the feminist movement in Cambridge from the 1970s–1990s. From the takeover of 888 Memorial Drive, to the formation of the first domestic violence shelter on the East Coast, to one of the earliest feminist bookstores, to the home of one of the initial women’s studies courses – Mapping Feminist Cambridge is a vibrant account of feminist organizing and politics. Each tour – Inman Square, Central Square, and Harvard Square – spans several organizations and provides context about the movement and its priorities including racial equity, reproductive health care and abortion access, women in film and print, healing for survivors, lesbian and bisexual visibility, political collectives, and so much more.
Pontiac hood ornament pre-1956. The company was known for using Native American imagery in its branding. Image via Pinterest
Advertisement for the 1904 Crestmobile. Original caption by Doug Brown.
July 12 is “Collector Car Appreciation Day.” Believe it or not the day was established by US Senators – John Tester (D-MT) and Richard Burr (R-NC) who sponsored Senate Resolution S. Res 513:
So, the thought occurred that it would be fun to look back at how Cambridge newspapers and directories reflected the advent of motor vehicles—aka motor carriages, automobiles, or cars—back in the day. We’ll let the local newspaper articles and adverts tell the story themselves without much added narrative. In the decade between 1890 and 1899 the word “automobile” appeared in the Cambridge newspapers 31 times.
In the next ten years (1900-1909) the word appeared 2,993 times; and between 1910-1919 a total of 8,028 times. Mentions peaked between 1920-1929 with 10,137.
We begin with a vehicle that was not the first automobile, but surely one with one of the most imaginative names yet:
Cambridge Tribune April 18, 1903
The Crestmobile was manufactured between 1901 and 1904:
Cambridge Chronicle July 19, 1902 (excerpt)
via Wikipedia
And how about the idea of an EV 125 years ago?!
Cambridge Tribune May 12, 1900
This idea of course led to the need for charging stations:
Cambridge Chronicle July 13, 1901
The advent of cars led to the growing need for “automobile stables”:
Cambridge Chronicle June 16, 1900
Or “automobile houses”:
Building permit for an automobile house. The Cambridge Tribune June 14, 1902
Not to mention clothing fashions – “automobile garments”:
Cambridge Tribune November 3, 1900
Speaking of fashion, “automobile red” was the latest thing in 1901:
Cambridge Chronicle December 21, 1901
The car business is booming in Harvard Square according to The Ferry-Morison Motors Co.:
The Cambridge Tribune August 11, 1913
The Harvard Automobile Company
The Cambridge Tribune July 20, 1907
Car designs over time:
FORD
Shown below is the Cambridge Ford Motor Company Assembly Plant under construction in 1913 at the corner of Brookline St and Memorial Drive. Today some know it as “the Polaroid Building” as it was later owned by this company.
Ford Motor Company Assembly Plant at 640 Memorial Drive under construction. Image from the Collections of The Henry Ford.
The Cambridge Tribune August 11, 1913
REO
“REO” stood for Ransom E. Olds, the man who founded the Oldsmobile Company in 1897. He founded the REO Co. in 1905. Cambridge Chronicle January 10, 1920
Match book cover advertising Ofgant Chevrolet Co. of Cambridge (via eBay)
A Brief Look at Sales History
“Over the course of the 20th century, the number of operational motor vehicles in the United States grew significantly, from just 8,000 automobiles in the year 1900 to more than 183 million private and commercial vehicles in the late 1980s. Generally, the number of vehicles increased in each year, with the most notable exceptions during the Great Depression and Second World War.” (Source: Statista Research Department)
Source: Wikipedia
And think of all the ancillary businesses that automobiles created: repair shops, sales rooms, oil lubricants, tires, parking garages, parts and finishings manufactories, service stations, and more!
Today’s post was written by CHC volunteer Kathleen M. Fox
