Cambridgeport originated soon after the completion of the West Boston Bridge in 1793. At that time there were only three farms in all of Cambridge east of Harvard Yard, none of which were near the bridgehead at today’s Kendall Square, and the only connection to Cambridge proper was via a causeway now traversed by Main Street. A new settlement sprang up on the nearest dry ground at Pelham’s Island, which was closer to Lafayette Square than it was to Kendall Square. The marshes on both sides of the causeway near the bridgehead remained unbuildable until real estate investors began to dig canals and create dry ground using the spoil. The area was known only as “the Neck” until 1805, when promoters convinced the U.S. Congress to designate Cambridge a port of delivery, thereby giving rise to the name of Cambridgeport.
As long as Cambridge remained a town, neighborhood names such as Cambridgeport and East Cambridge had no formal significance (see J.G. Hales, Map of Cambridge, 1830). When Cambridge became a city in 1846 it was divided into three wards, Old Cambridge, Cambridgeport, and East Cambridge (see H.F. Walling, Map of Cambridge, 1854). The Cambridgeport ward ran from Kendall Square west to Lee Street and from Somerville south to the Charles River. As the city grew the old wards were broken up, but the geographic identities of the three neighborhoods remained in popular usage.
Above: Cambridgeport and East Cambridge as depicted in 1830 and 1854.
The original Cambridgeport ward incorporated numerous smaller localities, including the residential neighborhoods of Dana Hill, Riverside, Pine Grove, and the early settlement of Pelham’s Island, which became known as the Lower Port (so called because it was downstream, and furthest from the settled areas of Cambridge). Businesses congregated at major intersections, and other neighborhoods took their names from those squares: Central Square, Lafayette Square, Inman Square, and Kendall Square. All were popularly understood to be part of Cambridgeport.
Traditional neighborhood distinctions began to break down after WWII. In 1949 the planning board divided the city into thirteen districts that were intended to facilitate demographic analysis of the 1950 census (see Cambridge Neighborhoods, 1949). A few of these arbitrary boundaries respected established neighborhoods, but most did not. In this scheme Cambridgeport was reduced to an area south of Central Square, while other neighborhoods traditionally associated with Cambridgeport were given only numbers. Squares were not delineated at all.
The new appellations gradually became current in the more transient communities around Harvard Square, but in 2018 the City Council allowed Area 4 to revert to its traditional designation as the Lower Port. Most neighborhood distinctions in Cambridge remain mysterious to newcomers and residents alike.
Today’s post was written by CHC Executive Director, Charlie Sullivan
