Gather for Juneteenth to honor those who endured slavery and seized freedom on Brattle Street 250 years ago, their descendants, and the long history of Black freedom activism in Cambridge and beyond.
This free, all-ages event is marking its fourth year in 2025! Denise Washington (#Pop-Up Poetry Series), a descendant of Darby Vassall, has curated the Juneteenth Gathering at Longfellow House-Washington’s Headquarters NHS each year. Join us for the Juneteenth Gathering, A Denise Plays Hard Event, featuring speeches, poetry, music, historical displays, family activities, and refreshments. All are welcome!
Event Details
🎤12:30-1:00 PM DJ Steve Gousby 👋1:00-1:15 PM Welcome 🎶1:15-2:30 PM Juneteenth # Pop-Up Poetry, A Denise Plays Hard Event, including:
Drum procession – Chibuzo Dunun
Remarks and Libation – Edmund Barry Gaither (Director and Curator of the Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists)
The Black National Anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing” – led by Judge Milton Wright
Denise Washington & The #Pop-Up Poetry Ensemble: Akili Jamal Haynes, Lenny Bradford, Stephen O’Neal
The Cambridge Museum of History & Culture, in collaboration with the Office of Mayor E. Denise Simmons, invites you to view its pop-up public history exhibition, How Sweet It Is: The History of Candy Making in Cambridge.
How Sweet It Is tells the story of Cambridge’s once-booming candy industry. Home to confectionery factories, Cambridge helped shape the nation’s sweet tooth with everything from candy bars and caramel to fine bonbons. The exhibition focuses on “Confectioners Row,” a stretch of Main Street where many candy companies once operated and where the exhibition will now be displayed.
The exhibition is co-curated by Jeremy Spindler and Jeffrey Myers of Spindler Confections, and presented in collaboration with the museum’s tremendous partners, Spindler Confections & Savory Delights, BXP, Cambridge Redevelopment Authority, Cambridge Arts, the Cambridge Historical Commission, History Cambridge, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Visitors to the exhibit will enjoy historic photographs, vintage packaging, company histories, and stories of the people and innovations that made Cambridge a true “Candy Land.” The exhibit will be running for the month of June, 2025 (National Candy Month). The location is ADA accessible.
Save the date! It’s time for our annual Preservation Awards.
Each year, the Cambridge Historical Commission honors projects and individuals that have made outstanding contributions to protect the city’s historic character and built environment. The 2024-25 Preservation Awards will recognize projects completed between January and December 2024.
This year, the awards ceremony takes place both in person and on Zoom on Thursday, June 12th. The in-person reception will be held in the City Hall Sullivan Chamber at 795 Massachusetts Ave in Central Square, Cambridge. Light refreshments will be served beginning at 5:30pm followed by an engaging presentation showcasing each project with an introduction of project principals. This event is free and open to the public.
Please RSVP for the in-person event via email to our Assistant Director Kit Rawlins at krawlins[at]cambridgema.gov. If you would like to watch the program on Zoom, register here: https://tinyurl.com/CHCAwards2025. We hope to see you there!
For questions, call our office at 617.349.4683 or email histcomm[at]cambridgema.gov
Together with hundreds of other Jane’s Walks simultaneously worldwide, our walk will honor Jane Jacobs, the urban visionary and author of Death and Life of Great American Cities.
View west from intersection of Concord Ave and present-day Bond St showing Astronomical Observatory and St. Peter’s Church (detail; originally published in Gleason’s Pictorial, 1851)
Join us this Saturday May 10th from 10-11:30am as we explore “The Complex Layering of a Cambridge Neighborhood.” This walk will explore the summit and backslope of Observatory Hill, where many modest workers’ houses have been or are being transformed into luxury homes. Charles Sullivan, Executive Director of the Cambridge Historical Commission, will guide us through this fascinating tour, a “walking conversation.”
135 Garden St: Preservation Award-winning renovation of former candy factory, now a residence
We will begin and end in front of St. Peter’s Church, at 100 Concord Ave, opposite the rear of the Harvard Observatory.
Built in 1847, as Cambridge’s second Catholic church, St. Peter’s aimed to accommodate the large influx of Irish immigrants in the 1840s. We will walk by a variety of brickyard laborers’ cottages, many of which have been dramatically altered with contemporary designs.
21 Kelley St: Renovated worker’s cottage
More recent houses now sit on long-depleted claypits. A wayward California bungalow is tucked behind a Greek Revival domicile on Garden Street, adjacent to an early 20th century planned Garden City-style neighborhood meant as a bulwark against spreading three-deckers.
97 Garden St: blueprint section showing studio and residence of noted artist and former architect George T. Plowman
Post-World War II veterans’ housing occupies Harvard’s former Botanic Garden, across the street from the home of famed botanist Asa Gray. Today, residents are concerned that these historical layers may soon disappear.
88 Garden St: view of Asa Gray House in its original location on the grounds of the Harvard College Botanical Gardens
This tour is free, open to one and all, and will occur rain or shine. RSVP is appreciated but not required. Contact Glenna Lang with any questions or RSVPs: lang.glenna[at]gmail.com.
113 Garden St: Architect’s rendering of the Taylor Square Fire Station
On the night of April 18, 1775 while Paul Revere was bolting on horse from Charlestown to Lexington warning of the advancing British, his colleague William Dawes Jr. (1745-1799) was likewise galloping out of Boston in the opposite direction. Dawes was a second sergeant in the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Co. of Massachusetts. Earlier, having already managed to steal a couple of cannons out from under the nose of British soldiers, he was already active in acts of subterfuge.
Dr. Joseph Warren of Bunker Hill fame organized both men, believing two riders had a better chance of getting through than just one. The 30-year-old Dawes, member of the Sons of Liberty and father of six children, departed around 9:00 pm, about an hour before Paul Revere. Sticking to the Boston side of the river, Dawes crossed the Boston Neck (120 ft wide at high tide), successfully crossing through the British checkpoints. It is generally thought that because his profession as a tanner often required him to ride out on business (not to mention his pretending drunkenness in taverns to pick up intelligence from British soldiers), he was a familiar face to the sentries who let him through without question. This trip was no exception.
After crossing the Neck, Dawes galloped through what is now Roxbury, Brookline, and Allston, finally crossing over “The Great Bridge” to Cambridge. Most Cantabrigians are familiar with what is now known as the Anderson Memorial Bridge, which connects the Harvard Square side of the Charles River with the Harvard Stadium side. But did you know the role this bridge played in the Revolution?
Boston Neck in the red circle on the right; Cambridge red circle on the left. Arrow showing Great Bridge location. Detail: Boston, 1775, Siege, Battle of Lexington & Concord, Framed Revolutionary War Map courtesy Battlemaps.us.
Built in 1660 from “Little Cambridge” on the south side of the Charles to Cambridge on the north, this timber bridge was the first to span the Charles River. Over the centuries, deteriorating conditions led to several repair iterations, including adding a draw for barges passing upstream. The bridge that we see today – the Anderson Memorial Bridge – was rebuilt in 1915.
After Dawes crossed the river late that night, well prepared Cambridge citizens removed its planks to impede British General Hugh Earl Percy and his troops from literally following in Dawes’s hoofprints. According to the diary of British Lt. Frederick Mackenzie in Gen. Percy’s army, the troops did not mobilize until 8:45am on the 19th:
“…that they were- to march out of town to support the troops that went out last night. A quarter before 9, we marched in the following order, Advanced Guard, of a captain and 50 men; 2 Six pounders, 4th Regt., 47th Regt, 1st Batt. Of Marines, 23rd Ret., or Royal Welch Fusiliers, Rear Guard, of a Captain & 50 men. The whole under the Command of Brigadier General Earl Percy. We went out of Boston by the Neck, and marched thro’ Roxbury, Cambridge and Menotomy, towards Lexington. In all the places we marched through, and in the houses on the road, few or no people were to be seen; and the houses were in general shut up.”(Diary of Frederick Mackenzie, officer of the regiment of Royal Welch Fusiliers during the years 1775-1781)
Thats a lot of soldiers! Percy’s troops found the bridge planks, reinstalled them, and eventually followed in Dawes’s path to Lexington.
Portrait of Hugh Percy, Second Duke of Northumberland by Gilbert Stuart, c. 1788, High Museum of Art
(Later that summer, in July of 1775, George Washington also passed over the bridge to attend the funeral of Col. Thomas Gardner, who was wounded in the Battle of Bunker Hill and died on July 3, 1775 at home in Little Cambridge, now Brighton).
The Anderson Bridge about 1900. The tugboat with smokestack on the left is waiting for the draw to open. Cambridge Historical Commission
Arriving on the north bank of the Charles, Dawes would have stepped onto a causeway crossing the mud flats, passing alongside the “Colledge” Wharf at the end of Wood Street. Wood St led up to what is now Harvard Square and was subsequently called Brighton Street in 1838, renamed to Boylston Street in 1882, and renamed to its current designation, John F. Kennedy (JFK) Street, in 1982.
The Route
Recreated map: Cambridge in 1775 by Robert Ballou Lillie (1949) with path of William Dawes in red
It is startling to realize that along his way through Cambridge Village (as it was referred to at the time), Dawes would have passed by some of the same buildings and places that we still see today. Today, we see the house of carpenter John Hicks at 64 JFK Street, across from the Eliot Street intersection. Dawes would not have passed the house at its current location: it was originally built in 1762 on the corner of Dunster and Winthrop Streets and later purchased by Harvard and moved to its current location at 64 JFK St in 1928.
Photograph of John Hicks House as it appeared in Historic Guide to Cambridge by Hannah Winthrop Chapter D.A.R. (1907) when standing at its original location of Dunster and Winthrop Sts
But Hicks, also an active patriot, having already taken part in the Boston Tea Party, was no doubt aware of Dawes’s travels just a block away. In fact, the next afternoon, April 19, while ambushing the retreating British soldiers at the corner of Mass Ave and Rindge Ave (then called Watson’s corner), Hicks was shot dead. Later, General Israel Putnam used the house for his office during the war.
The Hicks house today at 64 JFK Street. Image: Kathleen Fox
The first location, still in the same place that Dawes would have passed, was the Market between Winthrop Street and Mount Auburn Street, then known as Long Street and Spring Street. This land was originally that of Sir Richard Saltonstall. Following his return to England, the lot was designated a public marketplace in 1635. In 1834, it was enclosed as a park and dubbed “Winthrop Square.” The current park reflects the restoration done in 1987.
Image: Kathleen Fox
Winthrop Square in 1889. Cambridge Historical Commission
Winthrop Park today. Image: Kathleen Fox
And just past Mt. Auburn St on the left, Dawes would have passed the Ebenezer Bradish’s Blue Anchor Tavern, a popular watering hole for political discussions, where monthly meetings of Selectmen took place. The “joint was jumping” on the night of the 18th as news of the British troops arrival spread. The original tavern building is long gone, but the place is marked by a Cambridge Historical Commission blue oval. Today, this is the location of Union Square Donuts, 15 JFK St.
Contemporary view of the former location of the Blue Anchor Tavern. Images: Kathleen Fox.
Wood Street ended at what was then a small common and is now is now Harvard Square. Dawes passed The Courthouse on the left, situated about where the Harvard Coop is today. The small common is now the traffic island and entrance to the MBTA.
Court house (1758) and Prentice-Webber House (1750). Harvard University Archives Image: https://hls.harvard.edu/today/two-professors-six-students-three-rooms/. Harvard Law School Historical and Special Collections. Boyd, William (Harvard College Class of 1796). Mathematical thesis, 1796
Middlesex County Courthouse, Harvard Square (1758). Harvard University Archives, HUC 8782.514 (82). Robert Hallowell, “Northeasterly Perspective View of Cambridge Court House Taken from “the Stone Bridge”
Across from the Courthouse was the Fourth Meeting House, built in 1758. This is now the site of Lehman Hall, across from the Harvard Square Kiosk.
Fourth Meeting House Marker
Location of marker in Harvard Square (Google Street View)
If Dawes looked to his right while riding past the Courthouse, he would catch a fleeting view of Wadsworth House, located just to the right of the Fourth Meeting House. Built in 1726, Wadsworth House was the residence of Harvard presidents until 1849. It served as Gen. Washington’s first command center for two weeks before moving to the Vassall estate on Brattle St (now the Longfellow House). While Washington’s HQ was in Wadsworth, then-president of Harvard, Samuel Langdon, was permitted to continue living in one of its rooms. The two small wings seen below were added in 1783.
View of Wadsworth House ca. 1920. Cambridge Historical Commission
Continuing out what is today Mass Ave, Dawes passed five Harvard buildings that in 1775-1776 were used as barracks for Provincial troops. The Paul Revere print below (1767) shows three of these five buildings (left to right): Harvard, Stoughton, and Massachusetts Halls. Hollis Hall, not visible in the print, is tucked in behind the northeast corner of Harvard Hall, and Holden Chapel is also out of view to the left of Harvard Hall. Both were in existence at the times of Dawes’s ride. Massachusetts Hall accommodated 640 soldiers; Stoughton: 240; Harvard Hall an indeterminant number; Hollis Hall 640; and dinky Holden Chapel, believe it or not, housed 160 men.
“Westerly view of the Colledges in Cambridge, New England, 1767 ; Revere view of Harvard” (1767). Revere, Paul, 1735-1818, creator, engraver. Chadwick, Joseph, artist, approximately 1721?-1783. Harvard University Archives.
Massachusetts Hall (above right)was built in 1720 as a student dormitory. Today, the first two floors are taken up with the office of the president, provost, general counsel, vice presidents and their support staff. The upper two floors still serve as dorm rooms for about 24 Freshmen.
Massachusetts Hall, Harvard University, photographed by Ralph Lieberman (2012). Harvard Fine Arts Library, Special Collections
Stoughton Hall (middle building in the Revere print above) was completed in 1700 and served as a student dormitory. Over time it was deemed in such need of repair that it was declared “an unsubstantial piece of masonry,” and taken down in 1780. The current University Hall, built between 1813-1815, took its place. The second brick Stoughton Hall is seen today is on Mass Ave to the left of the Holden Chapel. It was opened in 1806.
Stoughton Hall photographed by William Notman & Son, 1874. Theodore Roosevelt Collection 560.12-021, Harvard University
Harvard Hall (left building in Revere’s print above). The first Harvard Hall, built in 1682, served as the university library, chapel, lecture hall, dining hall and meeting place. When it was destroyed by fire in 1764, lost were nearly of the Library’s books, along with various “philosophical apparatus” such as telescopes, medical instruments, and microscopes. By 1766 it had been rebuilt. The Harvard Hall in the Revere engraving represents the rebuilt building.
Harvard Hall photographed by Ralph Lieberman, 2012. Harvard Fine Arts Library, Special Collections.
Hollis Hall. In a quirk of fate, Hollis Hall (completed in 1763), had been designed by Thomas Dawes, who it turns out, was a cousin of our man William Dawes.
Holden Chapel was erected in 1744 by the wife of the Honorable Samuel Holden (1675-1740). He was a member of the British Parliament who was “…deeply interested in the cause of learning and religion in New England.” After his death, Holden’s wife donated four hundred pounds sterling to erect the Chapel in his honor.
Postcard featuring Holden Chapel, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Harvard Fine Arts Library, Special Collections A.00934.
Recently, Holden Chapel underwent an historic preservation project which restored the western pediment that Dawes saw to its original colors.
Holden Chapel today, facing Mass Ave. Image: Kathleen Fox
After being dismissed in May of 1775, Harvard students resumed their classes in October of that year in Concord, Mass. When the British departed Boston in 1776, so did the provincial soldiers quartered at Harvard. Jamming so may mostly young soldiers (average age around 22) into such cramped and uncomfortable quarters resulted in substantial damage, requiring sizeable renovations.
Back across Mass Ave, past the Courthouse on the left, just before today’s intersection of Garden St and Mass Ave was the Old Burying Ground (est. 1636), looking much as it does today, including this way sign to Boston:
The Old Burying Ground Image: Kathleen Fox
Old milestone to Boston, Old Burying Ground, Cambridge. Photograph undated. Cambridge Historical Commission
The Burying Ground was adjacent to Christ Church, which was built in 1761 facing the Cambridge Common. Services were few during the Revolution, although General Washington is said to have occasionally worshipped there. As were the Harvard buildings, Christ Church was also used as a barracks, with the same sad results of damage by the soldiers. It was not fully back to use until around 1790.
Detail of a watercolor of Christ Church (ca. 1871) by Joshua Green. Harvard University Archives
Left wing of Old Christ Church, Garden Street, Cambridge, Mass.-1, photographed by Leon H. Abdalian on October 25, 1929. Boston Public Library Arts Department via Digital Commonwealth
Finally, just before heading out the Road to Menotomy, Dawes would have passed the Cambridge Common on his left. Originally, this “Cow Common” extended all the way up to Linnean Street. In 1724, the Common was reduced to the size we see today. In the 1770’s, prior to April 1775, it was used as a training ground for the local militia. As the story goes, it was on the Common that George Washington officially took command of the Continental Army. During the war, thousands of militia men not already housed in Harvard buildings camped on the Common in wretched conditions. On the northwest side of the Common, Dawes might have noticed the home of Dr. Benjamin Waterhouse at 7 Waterhouse Street, which still stands today. The street was named after Dr. Waterhouse, a Harvard professor of medicine who introduced the small pox vaccine.
7 Waterhouse St as it appeared in Historic Guide to Cambridge by Hannah Winthrop Chapter D.A.R. (1907)
7 Waterhouse St. today. Image via Google Street View (Nov 2020)
Today, Cambridge Common is a National Historic Landmark.
William Dawes and his heroic gallop the night of April 18, 1775 is remembered today by Dawes Island, a traffic island between Garden St, Mass Ave, and the Common. His name is inscribed in the pavement, along with brass replicas of his horses hoofprints. Dawes fought in the Battle of Bunker Hill. In 1776, he was commissioned as major of the Boston Militia and served as a quartermaster in central Massachusetts. He died in 1799. His great-great grandson, Charles Dawes, was President Calvin Coolidge’s vice president.
Dawes Island sign. Image: Kathleen Fox
Dawes Island, with bronze plaque at left and other historical markers photographed by Howard Lange. The Descendants of William Dawes Who Rode Association
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Text and hoofprints marking the path of William Dawes in Harvard Square. Image: Kathleen Fox
View of Cambridge Village from the North in 1776. Model based on original research by Robert H. Nylander, Cambridge Historical Commission
Today’s post was written by CHC volunteer Kathleen M. Fox
Diary of Frederick Mackenzie, giving a daily narrative of his military service as an officer of the regiment of Royal Welch Fusiliers during the years 1775-1781 in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New York (1930) by Frederick Mackenzie. https://archive.org/details/diaryoffrederick21ptunse/page/n7/mode/2up.
Picture this: you are on Mass Ave headed for Arlington and Porter Square is in the rearview mirror. After about ¾ of a mile, you come to the intersection at Cedar Street and Cameron Ave. You have arrived! You are at the Junction.
Cambridge Chronicle April 1, 1893
As the name implies, this neighborhood originated on North Ave (now Mass Ave), centered around the junction of these streets and, critically, the railroad tracks of the Lexington & Arlington line. The Junction, extending approximately a half mile in any direction from this intersection, became important enough that the Cambridge Chronicle a devoted a weekly column to the neighborhood.
Lamps were put up in 1875 to illuminate the dangerous intersection. In 1880, the Chronicle reported “…It is proposed to erect a new depot on the Lexington Railroad near Cedar Street.” Thirteen years later, after the railroad was well established, the same paper reported: “…Previous to the time this name [the Junction] was given, the locality was not of enough consequence to own a name of its own or require one to distinguish it as a district of the city.” (April 1, 1893).
The Junction
Detail: Atlas of the City of Cambridge, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts (G.M. Hopkins & Co., 1873)
The North Cambridge Railroad Station at “The Junction”
North Cambridge Station at Mass Ave and Cedar St. Image gift of F. O’Connell to Steve Surette.
Due to company buyouts and route changes over the years, several railroad companies are associated with the Junction. In 1846, it was the Lexington and West Cambridge Railroad, renamed in 1867 to the Lexington and Arlington Railroad. In 1869, that railroad was purchsed by the Boston and Lowell Railroad. In 1887, it was purchased by the Boston and Maine Railroad, and in 1903 it was called the Arlington Branch of the Boston and Maine. The station itself was originally called the North Avenue Station. By 1894, it was called the Cambridge Station. In 1930, it was the North Cambridge Station.
In 1887, there were 22 trains leaving Boston for the North Cambridge Junction on the Boston & Lowell line. By 1893 there were 28 trains (each way) between Cambridge Junction to Boston on the Boston & Maine RR. It was a complex interchange. In 1900 (Jan. 20) the Cambridge Chronicle reported:
“At the Junction there are four main tracks and seven sidings, making all in all eleven tracks. Now,for these tracks there are at twenty-seven switches, four movable frogs and six locks. These areworked by nineteen levers which are in the signal tower. There are twenty-nine facing point locksthrown by fourteen levers.” Got it?
Massachusetts Avenue at Railroad Crossing looking west, about 1930. Note the horse drawn carriage parallel to the trolley on the left. Image courtesy Frank Cheney.
When WWI broke out in 1917, station agent Joseph Pierce (J. P.) Quilty’s wife, Helen E. [O’Brien], a former operator for the Boston & Maine Co., opened a school of telegraphy at the Cambridge Junction. The school’s purpose was to train women to take over for men who were drafted for military service. There was a proviso: the student had to agree to work for the railroad after being trained.
Business North of the Junction
The area on the north side of the Junction was primarily concerned with commercial manufacturing. Businesses included the Clark Bros. Hay, Grain & Coal plant; the Climax Box Co.; J. Sewall & Co. lumber yard; Middlesex Wagon Manufactory; and various railroad buildings. The proximity to the railroad sidings made this an attractive location for hauling raw materials and shipping outgoing products.
Detail: Bromley, G.W. and W.S. Bromley, Atlas of the City of Cambridge, Massachusetts (Philadelphia : G.W. Bromley & Co., 1894)
The Clark Brothers
Cambridge Chronicle April 1, 1893
The Clark Bros. (Augustine W. & Charles N.) went into business at the Junction in 1886. They ran
“a grain elevator and warehouse of commodious size with a capacity of 25,000 bushels of grainand for the storage of twenty cars of hay and straw. In the rear of this warehouse are locatedthe coal pickets, wood sheds, and yard stable. Cars from the Boston and Main railroad unloaddirectly into the coal pockets from a trestle. The pockets have a capacity of 1,500 tons and,including the yard, there is a total capacity of 3,000 tons. …Over 500 cords of wood are carriedin stock at all times…the plant is equipped with electric power and is excellently adapted to meetthe requirements of the trade.” (Cambridge Chronicle May 6, 1911)
In 1915, the Clark Bros. suffered a catastrophic fire that “completely wrecked the plant.” A year and a half later they were back in business at the same address, 2464 Mass Ave.
R.S. Easter & Son
Cambridge Chronicle April 8, 1893
Robert Small Easter was born in 1835 on Prince Edward Island. He came to Cambridge with his parents around 1848. Easter studied blacksmithing, and by the age of 21 had started his own business at the Junction just behind the railroad depot. In addition to blacksmithing, his business expanded to include wagon making. We know he was at that location around 1860 because of the reference to Cameron Ave in the clip of the obituary below. Around 1897, due to ill health, he returned to Canada. Easter died in 1913. His obituary recalled:
Cambridge Chronicle January 8, 1913
Camp Cameron
Camp Cameron (at the corner of Cameron Ave and Mass Ave) was established in 1861 as a boot camp for soldiers in the Civil War. Numbers fluctuated, but at times the camp housed than 2,000 men. The camp closed in January of 1863 and the soldiers transferred to the more secure Fort Independence on Castle Island in Boston. Today, the site is a small park and the entrance to the continuation of the Alewife Greenway.
Contemporary view of 2409 Mass Ave. Image: Google street view
Alewife Greenway. Image: Kathleen Fox
M. T. Cavanagh & Son Groceries and Provisions
Born in Canada in 1832 to Irish parents, Michael T. Cavanaugh had arrived in Cambridge by at least 1865. He started off as a dry good peddler in Cambridge, and by 1876 had established his grocery store at 346 North Avenue, (later 2429 Mass Ave) where he did business for 40 years. Michael died at the age of 75 in 1906.
Storefront of M.T. Cavanagh & Son Groceries. Image courtesy Mary Lyons.
Brosnan’s Fish Market
Below is a tantalizing photo of J. J. Brosnan’s fish market, “Junc Cash Fish Market.” The business was noted as being located at the Junction in an 1897 newspaper article when it was bought by fish dealer F. D. Norton. John Joseph Brosnahan was baptized in Cambridge in 1871, son of Thomas and Honora Brosnahan. Anyone know any more?
View of J. J. Brosnan’s fish market at present-day 2419 Mass Ave. Photo courtesy Steve Persson.
The Climax Paper Box Co.
Cambridge Chronicle June 10, 1927
Who knew Cambridge had a reputation for building boxes? Between 1903 and 1911, nine different paper box companies were advertising in the Cambridge papers, including the Climax Paper Box Co. The company was established in 1907 on Cottage Park Ave. by G. M. Bond. The products produced were primarily confectionary and decorative soap boxes. By 1913 the company had 160 employees, of whom only 30 were men. The company appears to have been a good employer: every June the plant closed while the employees took their two weeks’ vacation, and Bond regularly took all his employees on jaunts to places such as Canobie Lake or Nahant Beach. The Climax Co.’s ball team was part of the Industrial Baseball League, composed of other Cambridge manufacturing companies including Aston Valve, Boston Woven House, University Press, Gray & Davis, and the Boston Confectionary Co. In 1912, the Climax Box Co. output was 12 million boxes.
In 1921, Climax absorbed the Moore Paper Box Co. In 1931, the company merged with four other paper manufacturing companies, becoming part of the Consolidated Paper Box Co. Operations on Cottage Park Ave were closed and the building was sold in 1935. Today, the factory is the Emerson Lofts Apartment Building at 22 Cottage Park Ave.
Image: Zillow.com
Middlesex Wagon Factory and Repository
James A. Henderson. Image: Ancestry.com.
Cambridge Chronicle April 1, 1893
James A. Henderson (1825-1892) was one of nine children born to Robert Henderson, who, along with his brother John J. Henderson, founded the renowned Henderson Carriage Co. at 2443 Mass Ave in North Cambridge.
In July 1894 a disastrous fire demolished James Henderson’s Middlesex Wagon Co. Arson was suspected. The premises consisted of a three-story main building, a blacksmith’s shop, another 3-story repository for wagons, and in the middle of all these businesses, the Henderson’s 14 room home. The family escaped unscathed.
Cambridge Chronicle August 25, 1894
After James’ death in 1892 his son Wilbert Henderson took over the business and built a new three-story wood frame building that included room for five stores and several apartments. It was called “Middlesex Block” in honor of his father’s company. The first occupants included Mrs. Armstrong’s dry good store, Thomas Marnell’s shoe store, a barber, a drug- store and Wing Hung Lee’s laundry.
Cambridge Chronicle June 22, 1895
Junction News Stand
The Cambridge Sentinel 19 August 19, 1905
Across Mass Ave from the Middlesex Block was the Junction News Stand, established by Alfred Belanger. Born in Canada, Belanger arrived in Cambridge in 1891. His advert noting “French Literature a Specialty” reminds us once again of the number of French Canadians living in North Cambridge. Belanger was a man of many trades, active in Democratic politics, subsequently known as a carpenter, roofer, and fire insurance agent. By 1908, Belander had sold the news stand to Josephine Larose.
Businesses South of the Junction
South of the of the railroad tracks the businesses primarily consisted of small storefront businesses, including provision dealers, real estate agents, a drug store, florists, newspaper stands, dry goods stores, a bowling alley, and a pool hall. One of the buildings that housed these small businesses was the Lonergan Block, aka “The Flatiron Building.”
Detail: Atlas of the City of Cambridge, Massachusetts (G.M. Hopkins & Co., 1930)
In 1907, real estate investor David E. Lonergan (1865-1923) bought a triangular piece of land at the intersection of Cedar St and North Avenue. By 1909 he had erected a two-story building with room for eight shops on the ground floor. Lonergan matched the shape of the building to the shape of the block, and henceforth it was popularly referred to as Cambridge’s own “Flat Iron Building.” (Later, there was another triangular building at the intersection of Mass Ave and Main St at 1 Lafayette Square, also called “the Flat Iron building”). Some of the stores in Lonergan’s Flat Iron Building had addresses on Harvey St, others on Mass Ave. The storefronts filled up quickly:
Cambridge Chronicle September 18, 1909
A. J. Millican along with J. A. Carlisle opened The Standard Furniture Company in the Flat Iron Building—also in 1909. By 1915 it was renamed Millican Furniture Co.
Cambridge Chronicle May 15, 1915
And then there was Herman, The Shoeman, selling his “Educator” shoes:
Cambridge Chronical October 30, 1909
“Educator” shoes were made by the Rice & Hutchins Co. of Boston. These shoes were marketed to let the child’s foot grow as it should.
Original advertising ink blotter for Rice & Hutchins Educator Shoes, most likely from the 1920’s. With an ink stamp from the Bay State Shoe Store in Worcester Mass. Image courtesy atticpaper.com
Over time the Flat Iron Building businesses included Lynch’s Drug Store (subsequently removed to his own property at 2392-2406 Mass Ave—see below); tailor J. A. D’Orvilliers; a Chinese Laundry; Connor’s grocery; and Alfred Deloria, optician. John T. Keane’s bowling alley and pool room was in the back of the building with its entrance off Harvey St:
Cambridge Chronicle August 31, 1912
The Flat Iron Building suffered three fires within 7 years. The 1911 fire, the smallest and soon extinguished, started in a trash pile in the basement of Joseph Cincotta’s fruit store. The fire of 1915, probably started in the furniture store in the cellar or in the bowling alley, produced serious damage:
Cambridge Chronicle March 13, 1915 (excerpt)
The 1918 fire was a true conflagration, destroying, among others, John D. Lynch’s drug store. David E. Lonergan died in 1923. Today what was Lonergan’s Flat Iron Building is the site of the Friendly Corner:
View of businesses at 2408-2420 Mass Ave. Image: Kathleen Fox.
Bock Florist
Cambridge Tribune June 2, 1888
Immediately behind the Flat Iron Building and existing before that building was erected was William Bock’s Florist on what would become Alberta Terrace in 1911. (The street was named after the Canadian province—another allusion to the predominance of French Canadians in North Cambridge.)
Detail: Bromley, G.W. and W.S. Bromley, Atlas of the City of Cambridge, Massachusetts (Philadelphia : G.W. Bromley & Co., 1894)
William A. Bock (c. 1944 Germany – 1902 Cambridge) came to this country in 1866. Following his employment with the famed Cambridge nursery Hovey & Co. near Inman Sq, Bock moved to North Cambridge in 1870, becoming manager of S. G. Reed’s greenhouse. By 1873 Bock had bought the premises and began expanding his own business. By 1887 Bock had 10,000 feet “under glass.” The greenhouse was heated by five hot water boilers that consumed about 100 tons of coal a year!
Bock also developed many new breeds of plants, often naming them after well-known historical figures such as the geraniums H. W. Longfellow and Gen. W. S. Hancock. One new breed of a Bouvardia was named “President Cleveland,” which he sent to the President in 1886. In return he received a handwritten note from the Cleveland administration thanking him for the honor.
Advertisement for W.A. Bock Nursery ca. 2390 Mass Ave (present location of Alberta Terrace). Source; Cambridge Tribune April 18, 1887.
After William A. Bock died in 1902, his wife Wilhemina Bock aimed to continue the business, but she died only two years later in 1904. By 1910 real estate developer Ervin R. Dix had bought the property and was beginning to erect apartments at the rear of the lot on Cedar Street before doing the same on the Mass Ave.
Cambridge Chronicle November 12, 1910
Lynch’s Drug Store
John D. Lynch in 1945. Image: Cambridge Historical Commission.
John D. Lynch (1882/83-1963) graduated from the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy at age 21, and by age 22 had his own pharmacy business. By the outbreak of WWI, he had established pharmacies on Mass Ave, in Inman Square, and Putnam Square as well as in Malden. All but the Mass Ave store were sold soon after he was drafted for National Guard Duty prior to the war. In addition to being a pharmacist Lynch held many political and business roles in Cambridge, including serving as Mayor of Cambridge from 1936-38 and 1946-47, sitting on the boards of several banks, and acting as president of the North Cambridge Board of Trade. Lynch was one of the first occupants of Lonergan’s “Flat Iron Building” in 1909. His store boasted “…one of the finest soda fountains in this part of the city and the delicious drinks dispensed make this section of the store a popular rendezvous. For the convenience of patrons, the store has a long-distance telephone booth and is also a post-office sub-station…” (Cambridge Chronicle May 6, 1911)
John D. Lynch’s Drug store in the Flat Iron Building
John D. Lynch Drug Co. at Mass Ave and Cedar St, ca. 1920. Now the site of stores including the Friendly Corner.
Lynch’s business recovered from the fire of 1918 and remained at the Flat Iron Building until 1922, when he purchased the block just south at 2392-2406 Mass Ave, corner of Norris St. The new building became known as “Lynch’s Block.”
Lynch’s Block at 2392-2406 Mass Ave between Alberta Terrace and Harvey Street. Note the Magazine A.A. (extreme left) located in Lynch building, which also houses Mayor John D. Lynch’s drug store. July 15, 1936. Image: Cambridge Historical Commission
Cambridge Chronicle July 7, 1923
Lynch had a hall on the second floor which he rented out for business associations and club meetings, dances and private parties.
Cambridge Sentinel October 23, 1925
The Magazine A A Club (Magazine Athletic Association) opened on the ground level of the building in May 1933. They were a rowdy bunch, getting suspended liquor licenses several times due to drunkenness, permitting “gambling machines,” staying open after hours and other shenanigans – all while the owner, John D. Lynch, was Mayor. The club ultimately lost its liquor license and was closed in 1937.
Over the years other businesses in the Lynch block included several food markets, real estate companies, furniture stores, lunch counters, clothing stores, shoe stores, and J. P. Carbonneau the “Tonsorial Artist”:
Cambridge Chronicle February 10, 1923
Cambridge Sentinel August 7, 1926
The Junction Traffic Mess
Traffic at the Junction was complicated as trains, horse wagons, trolleys, and pedestrians all tried to navigate the intersection. Poles for electric lights, trolley and telephone wires, traffic signals and junction crossing gates created a confusing landscape. Trains sometimes obstructed traffic on Mass Ave and collisions were not uncommon:
Cambridge Chronicle October 28, 1893
Wagon wheels got caught in the tracks, as happened to this milk wagon in 1910:
Cambridge Chronicle July 9, 1910
Crossing gates and warning bells were installed, but there were still near misses:
Cambridge Chronicle January 15, 1916
Urban Behavior Problems
Not only were there traffic problems at the Junction, but minor unlawful infractions occurred as well:
Cambridge Chronicle September 30, 1893
Cambridge Chronicle March 18, 1916
As Time Went By…
In 1894 when North Street was renamed Massachusetts Avenue, street numbers also changed. In 1927 several changes took place. This evolution was linked to efforts to improve long-haul trains scheduled from Boston, including rerouting trains through Porter Square. The number of passenger trains running through the Junction was greatly reduced until they finally didn’t stop at the Junction at all. Freight trains continued until 1987. The rails were eventually removed and replaced by the Alewife Greenway, a bicycle path running from the Alewife MBTA station across the old Junction to Davis Square in Somerville.
Contemporary view of the entrance to the Alewife Greenway. Image: Kathleen Fox.
North Cambridge Station (N.C. Junction until 6/20/1910; abandoned 1927) at 2445 Mass Ave. Image: Cambridge Historical Commission.
Multi-story apartments, condos, and business buildings took over the neighborhood and the old West End Street Railway barns became Trolley Sq.
Each year, the Cambridge Historical Commission honors projects that have made outstanding contributions to the preservation of the city’s historic character and built environment. The 2025 Preservation Awards will recognize individuals and organizations for projects completed within the last year. The awards will be announced and presented at a ceremony in late May or early June 2025.
Above: 2024 Preservation Award-winning project 15 Inman Street, an historic 19th Century building located in Mid-Cambridge, near Central Square. The building was first restored and renovated by CHA to house four affordable units in 1988. In recent years, CHA began planning for restoration efforts to bring back its look and character, while ensuring that this important community asset is available for families as a comfortable, unique, affordable and desirable place to call home for decades to come. Roof replacement at the building was completed in 2023. This was followed by the window and siding replacement.
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 city’s historic resources.
To nominate a project, including your own, please submit a completed nomination form and supporting documentation by Noon on Friday, March 14, 2025 to:
Cambridge Historical Commission 831 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02139
In 1953, Xonnabel and Emory Clark began their married life with a 1,500-mile journey from New Orleans to Cambridge. Xonnabel, a graduate of Dillard University, had been awarded a scholarship to Harvard’s Graduate School of Education. Emory, who had served in WWII, had a degree in pharmacy from Xavier University.
Xonnabel Green Clark, third from left. Still from “A Special Class Reunion,” Harvard Graduate School of Education, May 23, 2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhTD7gtwj3A
In the Boston area, Emory found that drugstore owners were unwilling to hire an African American pharmacist. In Cambridge, he went door to door to every drugstore on Mass Ave in search of work. Many praised his manner and experience but were unwilling to risk hiring a black man for fear of losing customers. Eventually, he was offered a position as a clerk at Cole’s Drug Store in Central Square. Emory was soon promoted to pharmacist. His wife Xonnabel believes the offer of a clerk position was a way for the store owner to gauge the response of customers who were more accustomed to being served by white employees. This decision paid off, as many Black Cantabrigians took notice of Emory’s expertise and began to fill their prescriptions at Cole’s. Emory also started a shaved ice pushcart business, with a goal of raising capital to one day own and operate his own pharmacy. He eventually upgraded the pushcart to an ice cream truck and made daily trips to Columbia Point to serve Boston regulars.
Xonnabel Clark, Ed.M.’54 (far right) with classmates Barbara Cage, Ed.M.’54 and Rosetta Sanders, Ed.M.’55 as they appeared in “A Special Class Reunion,” Harvard Graduate School of Education, May 23, 2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhTD7gtwj3A.
After receiving her master’s degree, Xonnabel became a teacher and counselor at the Hecht House in Boston and in the Newton Public Schools. She was also a devoted member of the Grace Vision United Methodist Church on Magazine St. During these years, the Clarks raised a family of five children.
In 1969, Emory bought the site of a defunct filling station at 407 Concord Ave. For two years, he worked to appeal zoning restrictions and gain financing and neighborhood support for a community pharmacy. “Emory’s Pharmacy” opened in 1971 – the first African American-owned and operated pharmacy in Cambridge. Emory’s Pharmacy operated until 1990, and today, “Emory J. Clark Square” at the corner of Concord Avenue and Fern Street honors his achievement.
We know Emory Clark’s story through the letters, photos, and documents that Xonnabel collected over the years. As well as being a distinguished educator, she is an historian – of Emory’s story and of the Grace United Methodist Church. In 2017, she embarked on a new project when a friend asked for book suggestions on African American history. In response, Xonnabel created “Roots and Wings: Notes Related to African American History and Culture,” a compilation of excerpts, articles, lyrics, photos, reading recommendations, and personal reflections. It was “a most rewarding extension of an unending learning process,” she wrote.
Today’s post was written by CHC volunteer and former intern, Susan Keane.
Due to weather, this event has been postponed to Sunday February 23, 2025 | 2-4pm
The Cambridge Museum of History & Culture invites you to experienceGrace: The History of Black Churches in Cambridge, an exhibition honoring Black History Month that shall be on display throughout February at the Kendall Public Lobby. Throughout this nation’s history, Black Churches have been a cornerstone of community, culture, and resilience, and this has certainly been the case in Cambridge. Black Churches have played an essential role not only in the spiritual lives of their congregants, but also serving as incubators for social justice, education, and community building. Gracestrives to illuminate part of the rich history and contributions by highlighting just some of these enduring institutions, focusing on their collective, enduring legacy in our community. By showcasing the history of these important institutions, Grace aims to foster a deeper understanding of their significance in Cambridge’s past, present, and future.
The Grace Exhibitis made possible by the generous work of community curators: Chandra Salvi Harrington, Deacon Cheryl Maynard, Dr. Cheryl Townsend Gilkes, Dr. Janie Ward, Dr. Kris Manjapra, Lynette Riley-Belle, Patricia Weems, Reverend Dr. Ellis I. Washington, Reverend Lorraine Thornhill, Sister Danita Callender, and Valerie Beaudrault, in fellowship with church congregations across the city. We would like to thank our generous sponsors for the tremendous support and incredible platform to connect, share, and learn: BXP, Cambridge Arts, The Cambridge Historical Commission, The Cambridge Redevelopment Authority, The Office of Mayor E. Denise Simmons, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
For more information about The Cambridge Museum of History & Culture, please their website at www.cambridgehistorymuseum.com or connect with them by phone at (617) 349-4327.
Join Black History in Action for Cambridgeport (BHAC) this Sunday, February 9th, for a panel discussion titled “In our Midst: The Grace of the Black Church”
Panelists include: ⭐ Mayor Denise Simmons, Moderator ⭐ Dr. Melissa Wood Bartholomew, Harvard Divinity School ⭐ Rev. Jeffrey Brown, Twelfth Baptist in Roxbury ⭐ Rev. Irene Monroe, Theologian, Syndicated Columnist
The Black Church names myriad places, but it also names an idea and paradigm of endurance, renewal, liberation, and grassroots community organizing.
At historic St. Augustine’s African Orthodox Church, learn from panelists about the places and the ideas that define the ongoing grace of the Black churches in our midst. This panel is presented in conjunction with the exhibition “Grace: The History of Black Churches in Cambridge” at The Kendall Public Lobby this February—more details on these events at the links below:
