The Commission seeks a full-time Archivist to organize and maintain its public archive and create in-person and online programming that promotes the archive and highlights Cambridge history. The archive is founded on an architectural inventory containing survey forms, photographs, and documentation on all 13,000± buildings in the city that is currently being digitized. Other collections include both historic and contemporary materials, such as atlases, papers and manuscripts, books, objects, and ephemera. The photograph collection is estimated to contain more than 60,000 images in all forms. These unique resources are used daily by staff, residents, researchers, and building professionals. The Archivist will oversee the Digital Projects Archivist, who also coordinates the Commission’s social media presence, and supervise relevant interns and volunteers.
Click here to view the full job posting and application instructions.
Of course, Queen Anne never actually set foot in Cambridge. But the style of architecture named after her arrived from England in the late 1800’s. The predominant architect of the style in England was Richard Norman Shaw. It was named “Queen Anne” because of a slightly misconceived idea that the style popular during her reign (1704-1714) was conglomeration of renaissance ornament glued to essentially medieval buildings. But, as it turns out, Shaw and others, while interested in medieval architecture, were far more influenced by Elizabethan and Jacobean buildings. Many Americans first saw the Queen Anne style at the Philadelphia Centennial in 1875, where the British government built several houses in that style. It took off in popularity soon after.
Balanced asymmetry, and abundance of building materials and decorative details are the most predominant exterior features of Queen Anne style. Towers, gables, wrap around porches, Palladian windows, and an assortment of decorative shingles, terracotta tiles, decorative brick work, dentils, columns, spindles, bay windows, balustrades, set back entrances, and wood or slate roofs might all be included. The excess of decoration frequently came to be referred to as “gingerbread.” One might almost call the style “hodge-podge,” except that the asymmetrical variations and exaggerated decoration were intentional design decisions.
Clipping of example Queen Anne diagram from “A Field Guide to American Houses” by Virginia McAlester.
The three examples below demonstrate varieties on the theme.
298 HARVARD STREET
Designed in 1888 by Boston architect J. A. Hasty and built for William Haskett Wood, (1846-1912) on the “Old Morse Estate.”
This house includes six varieties of window treatment, two triangular pediments, a large corner tower with conical roof, decorative millwork, and standard and fish-scale shingles. The exterior front façade features a decorative triangle gable on the left with intricate acanthus carving and recessed panels, supported by shingled brackets. This is balanced on the right by a round tower with an “eyebrow-like” segmental dormer. In between on the roof, and slightly set back is a classic gabled dormer with shingled brackets.
Gable detailing. Photo courtesy of The Harder Group.
Across the second floor are several horizontal courses of shingles, followed by many more courses of fish scale shingle. The three second floor windows reflect the decorative styles and millwork of the windows above them. On the left sculpted millwork, the center more classic, and on the right curved lintels as above in the tower, with fish-scale and other fretwork.
The first-floor porch joins a bay window on the left with the round tower window on the right. Four sets of double turned posts supporting the porch roof, and just below the porch gutter runs a decorative panel of millwork. The deeply recessed front door is bordered by two Palladian style windows. The article below (Cambridge Chronicle, November 3, 1888) describes the luxurious interior. And, should you be concerned, “the plumbing will be of the most approved pattern.”
Interior architectural detail at stairhall. Photo courtesy of The Harder Group.
Interior stained glass window with “W” crest for Mr. Wood. Photo courtesy of The Harder Group.
William Haskett Wood was one of those fortunate businessmen whose name matched his profession: lumber dealer. He arrived in Cambridge in 1867 and clerked with lumber dealers Gale, Dudley & Co. Within five years he had formed a partnership with George W. Gale. When this firm dissolved in 1881 Wood went on to buy out Burrage Bros. (wharf at the junction of Broadway, third and Main streets) center of operations. He married Anna M. Dudley. The family lived in the house for approximately 25 years, it passing out of the Wood family at some time between William Wood’s death in 1912 and 1916, when Joseph E. Doherty, Cambridge Water Commissioner lived in the home. In its lifetime this building has been a private home, a Jewish Community Center, the Castle School, (a residential program for troubles children 13-17), and the KLH Day Care Center. In its present incarnation it is a condominium complex.
39 GARFIELD STREET
Built 1885-1886 for Edward Augustus Shepherd (1859-1945)
A much simpler version of Queen Anne Style can be seen in the house at 39 Garfield Street. Although the asymmetry is not as great as 298 Harvard Street, it is evident in the offset entrance and variety of windows and their placement. The peak of the gable is “standard” shingle, but around and below the Palladian windows is fish scale shingle. Other typical decorative features include the cutwork on the eaves, decorative spandrels on the wrap around porch and carving in the tympanum over the front porch stairs. Rosettes (or sunflowers?) featured in the spandrels and tympanum are common decorative details of the style. The skirt below the front rail is also decorative cutwork.
Edward A. Shepherd was a wholesale hay and grain dealer in Boston, and served as both auditor and treasurer of at the Boston Chamber of Commerce. He was married to Helen D. Strean. The family lived in the house for approximately 58 years. His house is surrounded by several other Queen Anne style homes on the street.
33 AGASSIZ STREET
Built 1890 for Horace Phelps Blackman (1833-1917) by Boston architect Eugene L. Clark
The first thing one notices about this house is the use of fieldstone on the first story, “from the fields of Arlington and Lexington.” The usual asymmetry is reflected in the placement a gable with an oriel window on the left, with a tower on the right. Two imposing stone arches surround a window and front door on the first floor. There are a variety of shingle applications: fish scale on the gable and pediment of the gable window, with variegated horizontal courses on the second floor. Tall chimneys with decorative brickwork are another common feature of the style, and one can be seen here on the Lancaster Street side of the house. The side façade also includes a gable with Palladian windows, second floor balcony and a porch. The interior is lavishly finished with mahogany and oak, and described in the newspaper article from 1891 below.
Cambridge Tribune February 14, 1891Interior stairhall, photo courtesy of real estate listing.
Horace P. Blackman was a piano forte and organ maker, first with Chickering of Boston, and subsequently with the Mason & Hamlin Organ & Piano Co. He retired from business in 1892 and served as Alderman in 1893. He became involved in real estate investment. By 1900 he listed himself as “capitalist” of the census that year. He was married to Lydia Lucretian Flint. The Blackman family lived in the house for approximately 32 years.
According to an article in the Scientific American (April 25, 2014), honey bees arrived on the scene about 130 million years ago, having evolved from wasps at a time when “The vast supercontinent of Gondwana was beginning to break up, with South America drifting off to the west of Africa, and Australia moving majestically off to the east. Antarctica decided to head south…”
Fast forward to humanity entering the scene. Honey bees buzzed their way into the culture of civilizations as symbols of:
-the sun, community & celebration: Druids.
-royalty and power: Egyptians.
-the attributes of Christ: Christians.
-Mother Goddess, representing mutual support and fertility: Minoans.
-Aristaeus, god of bee-keeping: Greeks.
-immortality and resurrection: Merovingian royalty.
They were the Italian Renaissance sculptor Bernini’s symbol, and, in general, a symbol for industry, hard work and dedication.
Because of that hard work and dedication, honey bee communities have often served as a model for human society. They appear on the seal of the Massachusetts Historical Society (MHS), which “features a beehive with several honeybees buzzing around it.” (MassHist.org)
Massachusetts Historical Society seal, via masshist.org
The inscription reads “sic Vos Non Vobis” which translates roughly to “you work, but not for yourselves.” It was chosen in 1833 to represent the mission of the MHS.
Of course, the main attraction of honey bees is what they produce: honey.
TO GET THE HONEY YOU GOTTA KEEP THE BEES
Image via ShutterStock
Instructive articles about raising bees in Cambridge can be found as early as 1847 in the Cambridge Chronicle. Here is a startling idea—bees rob one another (who knew?)
Cambridge Chronicle May 20, 1847
There was the advice to add salt to their diet:
Cambridge Chronicle September 21, 1848
And in 1850, E. W. Stewart was advertising his newly patented “improvement in the rearing and feeding of Bees, for the production of honey.”
Cambridge Chronicle July 4, 1850
The article goes on: “…the food comprises a compound from which the bees will feed very eagerly, and in preference to any flower or artificial food ever before discovered: and sometimes in a single day the value of ten swarms has produced a hundred lbs. of honey, which readily brings the highest price in any market making it a source of very great profit to anyone who should keep bees enough to make a business of it. The honey is the best flavored and is as white and clear as any ever beheld….”
Here’s a comment about women’s suitability as bee keepers that would hardly fly today:
Cambridge Tribune May 4, 1918
While E. W. Stewart extolled the profitability of raising bees in 1850 (above), by 1918 keepers were being admonished that standard “box hives” were definitely not profitable.
Cambridge Tribune December 14, 1918
AND NOW TO THE MAIN EVENT: THE HONEY
Image via Dreamstime.com
Honey became a part of cuisine as soon as humans discovered it. It is believed that mead, which is made with wine and honey, may have been the “first alcoholic beverage known to man.” Greeks and Romans referred to it as “the nectar of the Gods.” In mid nineteenth century, buying honey in the comb seemed to be Cantabridgians’ favorite way to obtain the delectable nectar:
Cambridge Chronicle September 22, 1850
Cambridge Chronicle September 25, 1852
“Extracted honey,” which was less sought-after, came predominantly from California as in this advert of 1890, and mentioned in the following article.
Cambridge Chronicle October 25, 1890
Philip Seymour Crichton, an accountant and émigré from Canada, was keeping bees at his home on Hammond St. near the Harvard Divinity School. The article mentions the general preference for honey on the comb rather than extracted honey from California:
Cambridge Chronicle September 17, 1910
Cambridge Chronicle November 2, 1912
Cambridge Chronicle December 18, 1915
PRACTICAL AND MEDICAL USES OF HONEY
Honey wasn’t just for sweetening food and drink. It was also used as a main ingredient in toothpastes:
Cambridge Chronicle July 19, 1856
For treating burns:
Cambridge Chronicle October 13, 1860
And as an ingredient in soaps:
Cambridge Chronicle February 27, 1858
HONEY AND WAR
Honey bees just fly around doing their business, oblivious to the fact that their efforts played a part in supporting the war effort in both WWI and WWII, when citizens were exhorted to save sugar by substituting honey:
Cambridge Tribune November 24, 1917
Cambridge Sentinel August 17, 1918
Cambridge Tribune September 14, 1918
Cambridge Sentinel October 26, 1918
World War II
Cambridge Sentinel March 7, 1942 (excerpts below)
Cambridge Sentinel July 11, 1942
FUN BEE FACTS
“Honey Bee” by wwarby via Creative Commons
Cambridge Chronicle July 29, 1847
Cambridge Sentinel March 7, 1942 (excerpts)
Cambridge Sentinel January 9, 1915
BEES IN 2021
“Commercial honey bee operations are essential to agricultural production in the U.S., pollinating $15 billion worth of food crops each year. Honey bee colonies are moved around the country to pollinate important agricultural crops such as almonds, blueberries, and apples. Minimizing their losses and ensuring the health of both commercial and backyard colonies is critical to food production and supply.” (BeeCulture.com)
Alarmingly, these days honey bees are in decline. According to the annual survey by the Bee Informed Partnership (BIP) “beekeepers across the United States lost 45.5% of their managed honey bee colonies from April 2020 to April 2021.” (Auburn University Jun 24, 2021.)
Some bees abandon their hives for no apparent reason, a condition called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). It is speculated that a combination of pesticides, limited space, inadequate food supply, parasites or a virus targeting bees’ immune systems may be the cause. Fortunately, this has led to an uptick in interest in beekeeping.
Today’s post was written by CHC volunteer Kathleen Fox
Wilde is referring to the saying “the world’s mine oyster,” from Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor. In the story, the character Falstaff is haggling with another man over money. After Falstaff refuses to give him a single penny, the man replies “Why, then, the world’s mine oyster, which I with sword will open.” His meaning: I’ll get anything I want any way I can—i.e. stabbing with a sharp instrument as in shucking oysters to find the pearl. Over time, the phrase morphed to mean “You are in a position to take the opportunities that life has to offer.” (Oxford English Dictionary)
“An oyster, that marvel of delicacy, that concentration of sapid excellence, that mouthful before all other mouthfuls, who first had faith to believe it, and courage to execute? The exterior is not persuasive.” (Henry Ward Beecher 1813-1887, brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe)
Even when induced to pry open the shell however, the creature inside was somewhat intimidating. As Jonathan Swift said, “He was a bold man that first ate an oyster.”
No kidding! Just look at them:
Image: bbcgoodfood.com
Though it’s a little hard for some of us to see how anyone found them tempting, LOTS of people did. Oysters have been eaten for eons, but at the beginning of the 19th century in America only the wealthy could afford them. This changed by mid-century when improved harvesting techniques, canning, refrigeration, and railroad express delivery brought the price down substantially. The oyster craze swept the country; eventually even the ordinary working family could afford oysters. Oysters became cheaper than meat, fish, and poultry as a source of protein. By 1885, oysters cost $0.03 each (equivalent to $0.73 today) and dropped to $0.01 (equivalent to $0.25 today) each by 1889.
The oldest restaurant in Boston—the famous Union Oyster House—opened its doors in 1826 under the name Atwood & Bacon’s Oyster House on Union St. in Boston’s Haymarket. It is reputed that Daniel Webster ate there regularly, consuming six plates of oysters at a single sitting. Over the years it became known simply as the Union Oyster House:
Union Oyster House or Capen House, Union St. Built ca. 1714, became oyster house in 1826. Photo: 1855. From Boston Pictorial Archive via Digital Commonwealth
Atwood was “Hawes” Atwood. Originally from Wellfleet, Mass., the Atwoods were active in the oyster business for generations and it is likely that S. C. Atwood in the Cambridge advertisement below was related in some way to Hawes. S. C. mentions his catering experience in Boston. Hawes’ son, Benjamin F. Atwood, also had an oyster house in Boston, and there is a David Atwood appearing in the Cambridge City Directory from 1872 as an oyster dealer living on Seaver Place, with his business at Fanueil Hall Sq.
Cambridge Chronicle November 3, 1866
The earliest reference to oysters in the Cambridge newspapers that have been digitized is the advertisement below for Benjamin Seaver’s Temperance Oyster Saloon. The influence of the Temperance Movement of the 1820’s and ‘30’s was increasing, and Seaver may have thought that providing a “dry” place to eat might lure more customers:
Cambridge Chronicle July 16, 1846
On the other hand, by a few months later, Seaver may have had a change of heart. His ads no longer mention the temperance angle.
Cambridge Chronicle December 3, 1846
Cambridge Chronicle December 10, 1846
George M. Teague, who owned several different eating establishments in Cambridge, did not mention temperance in the advert below, but the following article of the same date about the restaurant did:
Cambridge Chronicle February 20, 1851. #418 Main St, corner Magazine.
Cambridge Chronicle February 20, 1851
Poor George Teague: his first wife died, and 12 years later in 1890 he married his second wife. Three years later (and four years before his own death) the notice below suggests that it was not a good match:
Cambridge Chronicle September 2, 1893
Teague had assumed ownership of the eatery from D. Stone, who in 1847 advertised “City Lunch,” at the same location, under Joseph A. Holmes Co. on Main St. This was in the same building as the Cambridge Chronicle.
Cambridge Chronicle April 8, 1847
Also, in 1851 Charles H. Foster advertises his Oyster Saloon under Lyceum Hall (built 1841) in Harvard Square. The Harvard Coop demolished the Hall in 1924, but the columns of the current façade are reminiscent of the original. Note the sign for “Restaurant” in the lower right. Over the years there were several iterations of restaurant at the location, including one run by Charles F. Belcher, who also briefly ran the concession at the Mt. Auburn Cemetery Reception House.
Cambridge Chronicle September 27, 1851
Lyceum Hall ca. 1860. Image: Southwest Harbor Public Library.
Close by, in at least 1848, John Goodridge had an “Oyster Saloon” on Brattle Street in Harvard Square several years before this advert below appeared in 1852 (Brighton St. was the current JFK Street):
Cambridge Chronicle February 21, 1852
HOW TO EAT OYSTERS
Oysters are an excellent source of vitamin B12 and are also rich in minerals, including selenium, zinc, and iron. The best way to get all of their nutritional benefit is to eat them raw. It was once thought that one should eat oysters only in months whose name contains an “R,” which excludes May, June, July and August. The theory was that one might avoid oysters during this time as there are bacteria levels in “red tides” in the summer months, or to give oysters a break while they spawn. Some claimed that summer oysters had a bad taste.
Cambridge Chronicle May 10, 1873
Cambridge Chronicle October 29, 1853
These days, oyster farming is highly regulated and these conventions no longer apply.
Oysters were eaten in pies, pickled, escalloped, stewed, fried, raw, or in soups. According to an article in the Salem Register in 1850 (March 11), “Stewed oysters and boiled eggs are digested in three hours and a half—an hour more than is required by the same articles raw.” Mmm…
Fried: Cambridge Tribune April 21, 1888
Pickled: Cambridge Chronicle October 7, 1847
Stewed: Cambridge Chronicle March 28, 1868
Oysters were sold by the quart or gallon:
Cambridge Chronicle March 22, 1856
(Maybe this was the problem that befell this Maine lady after eating four quarts)
Cambridge Chronicle December 13, 1873
And eaten with style
Cambridge Chronicle December 27, 1873 (excerpt from article on the American Restaurant)
Today’s post was written by CHC volunteer Kathleen Fox. Check back soon to read part two!
Today, we continue to mourn the loss of the great Bob Moses, but celebrate his life and legacy in Cambridge, Mississippi, and nation-wide. Robert Parris Moses was born in 1935 in New York City, where his parents Gregory and Louise, a janitor and homemaker, respectively, prioritized education in the home. Raised in a public housing complex, Moses attended New York City’s public but highly selective Stuyvesant High School, before graduating from Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y., eventually earning a master’s degree in Philosophy in 1957 from Harvard. He continued his education at Harvard, but the death of his mother and subsequent illness of his father reportedly forced Moses to abandon his doctoral studies, and return to New York, where he became a math teacher in the Bronx.
Bob Moses in Mississippi, 1963. Photo by Harvey Richards
When news spread about the civil rights movement, specifically the denial of African Americans the right to register and vote in the South, he was compelled to leave teaching in 1960 and travel to Mississippi. The young civil rights advocate tried to empower Black Mississippians—often sharecroppers—to vote. Moses faced violence from the KKK, local police forces, and other white segregationists for his successful attempts. At one point during a voter-registration drive, a sheriff’scousin bashed Mr. Moses’ head with a knife handle. Bleeding, he kept going, staggering up the steps of a courthouse to register a couple of Black farmers. Only then did he seek medical attention. There was no Black doctor in the county, Mr. Moses later wrote, so he had to be driven to another town, where nine stitches were sewn into his head. When he tried to file charges against a white assailant, an all-white jury acquitted the man, but luckily a judge provided protection to Moses to the county line so he could leave. Undeterred, Bob continued his fight.
Bob Moses in NY, 1964. Roberty Elfstrom photographer, via Getty.
Bob Moses at SNCC conference in Waveland, MS, November 1964, Photo by Danny Lyon.
As his notoriety grew, Moses would withdraw from the primary ranks of the movement, fearing that his presence would overshadow its needs. He turned his attentions to protesting the Vietnam War, noting in a 1965 speech that “the prosecutors of the war” were “the same people who refused to protect civil rights in the South.” He spoke out against the war and worked with young leaders to march and protest in cities all along the east coast. Suspiciously, he was drafted soon thereafter, despite being five years over the age limit. Denied conscientious-objector status, Moses and his wife Janet moved first to Canada and then to Tanzania, where he taught school. There, the couple began a family; three of their four children were born on the continent.
Bob Moses (right) protesting the Vietnam War in Washington, DC, Aug. 6, 1965. Moses and fellow protestors were splashed with red paint by counter-protesters.
Moses lived in the Port neighborhood of Cambridge with his family for a number of years before moving, eventually settling in Florida. The family lived at a house at the corner of School and Cherry streets. They restored the house and were given one of our first ever Cambridge Preservation Awards. Another lasting legacy in Cambridge is the Moses Youth Center on Harvard Street in the Port neighborhood of Cambridge, so named after Bob and his wife Janet. The building was renamed after the couple in 2015 by the Cambridge City Council in honor of the couple’s “tremendous contributions to the continuing civil rights movement and their unwavering dedication to the progress of all Cambridge residents.” Bob Moses died on Sunday, July 25 at the age of 86 in Hollywood, Florida. He is survived by his wife Janet, daughters Maisha and Malaika, sons Omowale and Tabasuri, and seven grandchildren.
Bob, Maisha, and Janet Moses, 2018 photo by Cambridge Community Foundation.
View of Fresh Pond Hotel, 1896 (Cambridge Historical Commission)
The Fresh Pond Hotel was built in 1796 on the bluff overlooking the pond on eight acres of land that Jacob Wyeth had purchased from his father, Ebenezer Wyeth.
Detail: Peter Tufts, A Plan of The First Parish in Cambridge, 1813
By the early 1790’s the West Boston Bridge and the Concord Turnpike had made the area attractive to wealthy Bostonians escaping heat and crowds in the city, and Jacob Wyeth’s hotel became a popular resort. Wyeth hired the architects Joseph Moore and John Walton to design the hotel building in the Federal style, which was later updated to the newly popular Greek Revival style.
Lithograph depicting the Fresh Pond Hotel, ca. 1845 (History Cambridge)
Other factors contributing to the hotel’s success were “the building of Mount Auburn Cemetery and Watertown Branch Railroad (which brought people directly to Fresh Pond). It wasn’t long before the Hotel became a buzzing social center. It gave people a place to escape the city heat in the summer and offered fishing, fowling, sailing, rowing, bowling, fine dining with wines and other alcohols, and an orchestra for dancing.”
Cambridge Chronicle, April 8, 1847
Cambridge Chronicle, August 10, 1861
When, in the 1880s, the hotel was refused a liquor license, business began a downhill slide which lead to its closing. In 1885, the property was sold to the Sisters of St. Joseph who converted the building for their convent.
Cambridge Chronicle, March 14, 1885
Cambridge Press, March 23, 1889
In 1892 the former hotel/convent went up for auction and was bought by John E. Perry, a Cambridge Alderman. He moved the building to 234 Lakeview Avenue, where it was converted to apartments. Although the exterior clapboards were replaced by stucco, the interior space retains much of its original detail. It is on the National Register of Historic Places.
234 Lakeview Avenue, August 2019 (Google Street View)
Today’s post was written by CHC volunteer Kathleen Fox.
Sources
“Inside the Architecture: Fresh Pond Hotel” by NeighborMedia Archive. https://www.cctvcambridge.org/node/614987. Building Old Cambridge, Susan E. Maycock and Charles M. Sullivan, Cambridge Historical Commission. MIT Press 2016.
Imagine this: The year is 1850, and you are standing at the current intersection of Somerville and Massachusetts avenues at Porter Square, looking toward West Cambridge (now Arlington). To your left are acres of cattle and sheep pens. There is a cacophony of bellows, snorts, and grunts along with mooing and bleating. At the weekly Wednesday Cambridge Cattle Market, you can inspect up to 2,500 cattle and sheep for sale. Think of the sounds. Think of the manure!
In the early 1800s, cattle drovers en route to Boston from Maine, New Hampshire, and western Massachusetts would stop near Union Square (now called Porter Square) in Cambridge to water themselves at the Davenport Tavern and their cattle at feed lots across the street. In 1833 Sylvester Edson of Vermont bought the pens, erected a slaughterhouse, and built a hotel adjacent to the cattle market. In 1837 the hotel was purchased by Zachariah B. Porter (1797-1864, also a Vermont native), who already had a successful hotel across the Charles at the Brighton Cattle Yards. Of course, he renamed the hotel the Porter House, from which we derive the name “Porter Square” and, as some attest, the “Porterhouse steak.”
The cattle market, hotel, and associated businesses soon created the need for a local bank. In the early 1850s, George Meacham and others established the Cattle Market Bank. Meacham was a real estate investor, North Cambridge landowner, and prominent cattle broker. He became a director and subsequently president of the bank.
Cambridge Walling Map, 1854
Some cattle were driven over roads from New Hampshire or Vermont in droves of 100 to 200 at a time. In 1903 Charles O. Stickney recalled:
“…as many as 4000 head on the road between Exeter, N. H. and Cambridge. It was no uncommon sight to see from 100 to 200 cattle in a drove, and the road packed with droves half a mile or more. Years ago full one-half of the drovers who went to Brighton and Cambridge were Maine men. New Hampshire also had a large number of drovers…”
Cambridge Tribune March 7, 1903
Most of the cattle transported to Cambridge arrived in railcars over the Fitchburg and Vermont Central Railroads and were off-loaded at what became known as Porter’s Station:
Cambridge’s first railroad station, built by the Fitchburg Railroad in 1844; second story added later. Photo ca. 1865.
In September of 1849, after it had been in business for just five weeks, the Cambridge Chronicle described Porter’s operation, noting in particular the number of cattle cars that pulled up at the station: a total of 168!
Cambridge Chronicle September 20, 1849
Market Prices: Cambridge Chronicle October 4, 1849. “Beeves” was a term used for any cow, steer, or ox raised for its meat.
Two months later, the paper wrote admiringly of a remarkable 3,700 lb. ox for sale:
Cambridge Chronicle December 13, 1849
Some cattle arrived at the Medford station via the Northern, Nashua, and Lowell railroads. Cattle drovers then herded them the two miles to the Cambridge Cattle Market.
Winslow Homer: Cambridge Cattle Market. 1859, wood engraving. Ballou’s Pictorial Drawing-Room Companion, edited by Maturin Murray Ballou. p. 8.
The one-year anniversary of the Market was big news. On October 23, 1850, the Boston Evening Transcript reported that there were “no less than three thousand five hundred head of cattle, and eight thousand sheep, while at the dinner table sat six hundred market-men.” The anniversary dinner was free—on the house at Porter’s Hotel. In just one year, the cattle market had grown from eight acres to fourteen and from 50 cattle pens to 188.
Of course, maintaining sanitary conditions and eliminating disease amongst the cattle was crucial. The notice below outlined the rules and regulations the cattle market. (Note that “no Cattle shall be killed after 6 o’clock in the afternoon.”)
Cambridge Chronicle September 12, 1868
“Milt’” refers to the cattle’s spleen.
THE DEMISE OF THE MARKET
Cambridge’s population was growing and with it the need for more housing. Around 1870 the value of real estate in North Cambridge started to increase rapidly. Rising property values and the need for a more streamlined transportation route to the Boston market, not to mention the odiferous and noisy nuisance of the stockyard and its rowdy drovers, pushed the Cambridge market’s move to the newly constructed “Union Cattle Market” in Watertown near the Arsenal. The wood of the sheds and pen railings at Cambridge were sold for firewood and Porter and George Meacham’s land divided into housing lots.
Cambridge Chronicle June 4, 1870
New EnglandFarmer October 29, 1870
The Cambridge City Directory of 1872 still included the cattle market on its fold-out map:
Cambridge City Directory 1872
THE HOTEL
Following Edson, the hotel’s original owner, the hotel changed hands and names several times (Cattle Market Hotel and Cattle Fair Hotel) before Zachariah B. Porter renamed it the Porter House Hotel, or Porter’s Hotel.
Porter’s Hotel, 1831; demolished 1909
Like the Davenport Tavern before it, Porter’s Hotel was remembered fondly by drovers, cattle brokers, and other passers-by. Again, the recollections of Charles O. Stickney:
Cambridge Chronicle October 25, 1902
Zachariah Porter’s well-known hospitality and delicious menu attracted more customers than just cattle men. His dance hall was frequently used for soirees and his large dining hall for celebratory occasions. Harvard students and prosperous Cantabrigians began dining at the hotel. Many of them were coming for a singular specialty.
THE PORTERHOUSE STEAK
It is generally believed that the name “Porterhouse Steak” derived from Porter’s establishment, though occasionally others served up alternative stories. In 1923 a daughter of Amos Pike, who had managed the hotel, and who had herself known the cook, Mary Harvey, gave an interview in which she attempted to end the debate. However, the anonymous author of this article was unconvinced.
Cambridge Chronicle August 25, 1923
THE DEMISE OF THE HOTEL
After Zachariah Porter’s departure, the hotel had several owners: Amos Pike, Francis Locke, Davis Locke, and Edgar I. D. Houck, who took it over in 1894, and his widow, Cora Houck. After the turn of the century, the business began a downhill slide. The combination of license irregularities and the increasing value of the real estate led to its ultimate demise.
Cambridge Chronicle September 15, 1900
Houck’s case went to trial, but he was proven not guilty.
Cambridge Chronicle September 15, 1900
Cambridge Chronicle March 7, 1903 (excerpt)
In 1907, Brooks & Conley moved the hotel to the rear of the property and erected a row of stores directly on North (Massachusetts) Avenue. The hotel finally met its end in 1909.
Cambridge Chronicle September 18, 1909
Today, all that is left of the thriving old cattle market is the Cattle Pass under Walden Street Bridge. Built in 1857 as a pathway for cattle from the freight cars to the stockyards, it was renovated in 2007-2008.
Cattle Pass under Walden Street, 2009
Union Square was renamed Porter Square in 1899. The champions of the market, Zachariah B. Porter and George A. Meacham, are both buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery
Today’s post was written by CHC volunteer Kathleen Fox.
SOURCES Porter Square Neighbor’s Association Cambridge Historical Commission Genealogy Bank Newspapers.com Cambridge Public Library digitized newspaper collection
Welcome to the final installment of our series on supermarkets in Cambridge!
SUPERMARKETS
The 1920’s and 30’s saw a flourishing of these new supermarkets in Cambridge:
Cambridge Chronicle July 20, 1929
Cambridge Chronicle November 11, 1932
Cambridge Chronicle February 17, 1938
Cambridge Chronicle March 3, 1938
Cambridge Chronicle May 12, 1938
And finally, the evolution of supermarkets in one location: 115 Prospect Street.
Cambridge Chronicle June 11, 1942: First National
Cambridge Chronicle November 15, 1979: Bread and Circus
Cambridge Chronicle March 10, 1994: Whole Foods
FUN FACTS ABOUT GROCERY SHOPPING Excerpts from: The Evolution of the Supermarket Industry: From A&P to Walmart by Paul B. Ellickson, March 15, 2015
7 Inventions That Made Grocery Shopping Easier
Shopping Carts The first shopping cart was invented in 1937 by Sylvan Goldman, who was distressed at seeing women who quit shopping when their own wicker baskets got too heavy with groceries. His solution was to design a “folding basket carrier.” These carts didn’t take off right away, despite the convenience they offered. It wasn’t until the rise of the supermarket that more shoppers recognized the benefits of using one.
Supermarkets By 1960, over 70 percent of the nation bought their groceries at supermarkets. But it’s more than just groceries these supermarkets had to offer: Along with food, supermarkets provided a convenient way for shoppers to buy beverages and household products.
Grocery Bags Carrying several heavy brown paper bags that had been in use for decades could be challenging. It became more convenient to carry groceries in plastic bags equipped with handles. These plastic bags made their debut in the United States in 1979 but it wasn’t until 1985 that a large majority of supermarkets offered plastic bags.
Credit Cards Credit cards were invented in 1958, but it took grocery stores a long time to accept this form of payment. Before grocers accepted credit cards, most customers paid by check which caused increased wait times in line. Before 1991, only 800 supermarkets accepted credit cards. After 1992, more than 5,000 supermarkets began to take this convenient form of payment.
Self-Checkout The first-self checkout, called “the service robot,” was invented in 1992. By 2003, supermarkets across the country offered self-checkouts.
Online Shopping Nowadays, people don’t even have to set foot in the store to buy their groceries. They can buy their groceries online from the convenience of their own home and have them delivered. According to the latest statistics, there are about 93 million online grocery purchasers.
Today’s post was written by CHC volunteer Kathleen Fox.
“There are no bad images; that’s just how your face looks at times.” -Henri Cartier-Bresson
Today it’s hard to imagine life without photography in all media, but the arrival of popular photography in the mid-19th century created a remarkable transformation in how we understood the world … something akin the arrival of telephones. Photography increased our vision and hence our perception of the world around us. Without photography, we wouldn’t talk about “snap-shots” (coined by Sir John Herschel in 1860), “photo,” “close-up,” “pin-hole,” flash bulb,” or “shutterbug.”
THE START OF IT ALL
Several inventors made advances towards photography in the 19th century, but Louis Daguerre (1787-1851) clinched it with his invention of the daguerreotype in France in 1829.
Image: Wikipedia
The first daguerreotype operation in Cambridge seems to have been Mr. Clark Moore’s mobile studio. Imagine the astonishment at the Cambridge Chronicle‘s office on Main Street when one December day in 1849 the editor looked out his window and saw this “Daguerreotype Saloon” pass by!
Cambridge Chronicle December 13, 1849
Cambridge Chronicle Building, 1855. Demolished by 1865 – Now 689 Mass Ave. Image: CHC
Mr. Moore went on to establish his permanent studio at the corner of Main and Essex streets.
Cambridge Chronicle September 20, 1851
Fast forward a decade and photography had really seized the public’s attention:
Cambridge Chronicle March 1, 1862
A search of the local newspapers reveals that in the decade 1850-1859 the word “daguerreotype” appeared 91 times. The word “camera” only six times and the word “photographic” nine times. By 1890-1899, “daguerreotype” appeared only 12 times, “camera” 317 times, and “photographic” 696 times.
Articles appeared coaching would-be photographers on how to take the best portrait photograph:
Cambridge Chronicle January 28, 1865
Next appeared witty descriptions of surviving the application of ice tongs during the process:
Cambridge Chronicle July 5, 1873
PHOTOGRAPHY AS ART
This technology opened a new way of creating the sort of dignified portraits that had been traditionally captured by trained portrait painters. In this vein, many photographers referred to themselves as artists.
Cambridge Chronicle September 16, 1899
Cambridge Chronicle February 20, 1869
Cambridge Chronicle September 16, 1899
Cambridge Chronicle March 1, 1884
G.W. PACH’s studio was founded by him and his brothers in New York City. Wildly successful, they subsequently opened branches in Cambridge, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. They advertised heavily in Cambridge. Note the reference to his “Art Studio” in the advertisement:
Cambridge Directory 1880
Cambridge Chronicle October 31, 1896
From Boston Elevated Railway Collection: Workers making borings near Harvard Square. The Pach Bros. building (demolished in 1916) can be seen in the background (August 17, 1906).
In 1880, the Pach Bros. published a pamphlet “devoted to the interests of the photographic art …”, to “the building up of the glorious cause of art, and to convey such information as will lead to a greater interest in artistic efforts.”
Cambridge Chronicle January 3, 1880
COMPETITION FOR THE TRADITIONAL ARTISTS IN PORTRAIT PAINTING
“From today, painting is dead!” (Attributed to French artist Paul Delaroche commenting on daguerreotypes).
Most probably portrait photography substantially ate into traditional painters’ business. “By 1859, Charles Baudelaire was denouncing photography as ‘the mortal enemy of art.’ ‘If photography is allowed to stand in for art in some of its functions,’ Baudelaire fumed, ‘it will soon supplant or corrupt it completely.’” (Baltimore Sun)
Cambridge Tribune October 22, 1898
But it may also have given artists a boost. Now they could advertise their skill at painting portraits from photographs. And, since photography had captured the “realism” market, painters had more freedom to use looser styles, emphasizing qualities of light, and creating more atmospheric portraits.
Cambridge Chronicle July 26, 1884
The fine print: “we are connected with one of the best-known Photographic Establishments in Boston, and parties desiring portraits or Colored Work will be furnished with sitting free of expense.”
AND THEN CAME GEORGE EASTMAN “You press the button – we do the rest.”
Original Kodak camera. Image: Time Magazine
George Eastman launched the Kodak – the first successful roll-film camera – in 1888. “The camera was sold loaded with film, and both had to be sent back to the factory for processing. Over 13,000 cameras were sold in the first year. (http://www.alternativephotography.com/history-photographic-words/)
Cambridge Chronicle June 7, 1890
Other varieties of cameras soon hit the market:
Cambridge Chronicle April 23, 1887: “the detective camera”
Cambridge Chronicle October 3, 1891: “the Hawkeye camera”
Cambridge Chronicle May 22, 1897: “the Falcon camera”
Cambridge Chronicle May 7, 1898: “the Munroe Camera”
Cambridge Chronicle January 13, 1894: “the Photoret Snap Shot and Time exposure camera”
Image: Liveauctioneers.com
Photographic equipment was frequently sold in hardware stores:
Cambridge Chronicle June 12, 1897
Cambridge Tribune August 5, 1893
PHOTOGRAPHY CLUBS
The advent of Eastman’s Kodak camera advanced amateur photography substantially. Cambridge alone had seven different photographic clubs: The Old Cambridge Photographic Club (1892) was founded by Alice C. Allyn. Others included the YMCA Camera Club, Cambridge Camera Club (1888), Lechmere Camera Club (1896), Harvard Cambridge Club, the Tech. Camera Club, and Cambridge Heights Camera Club. Many of these clubs focused on landscape, or nature, photography.
Cambridge Tribune April 7, 1888
Butterfield was known for his landscape photographs:
Cambridge Chronicle September 25, 1886
Many women also took up photography, including Alice M. Longfellow, a daughter of the poet, “whose pictures of nature are a cherished heritage of the whole American people. … Miss Longfellow’s landscape views are noted for delicacy of gradation, poetic feeling and beauty of sentiment.” (Cambridge Chronicle November 16, 1889). Others were Delia Stickney and Cornelia Horsford.
One post can’t do justice to the range of popular, nature, and scientific photography in Cambridge in the late 19th century. Many well-known names and institutions are missing from this account. For instance, George Kendall Warren, who photographed Harvard graduates; Augustus Story, who was the chief photographer on the 1882 scientific expedition to New Zealand to observe the Transit of Venus; and the Harvard Observatory collection.
BUT FOR AMATEURS….
Move over George Eastman…. Here comes Edwin Land!
Image: pixscope.net
Today’s post was written by CHC volunteer Kathleen Fox.
Today we are marking National Eyewear Day, June 6.
Cambridge Chronicle May 20, 1916
Cambridge Chronicle December 28, 1878
It is widely held that Italians invented eyeglasses as early as the 1200’s. What really launched popular demand for eye glasses – spectacles — was the invention of the printing press. More to read – more the need. By the 1700’s someone had invented an “over the ear” eyeglass, which was much easier to use than those pinched on the nose. Then Benjamin Franklin came along and invented the first pair of bifocal lenses, by cutting two different lenses in half and stacking them on the other in a frame. (Source: https://allabouteyes.com/see-past-fascinating-history-eyeglasses/)
A survey of Cambridge newspapers reveals that in the mid-1800’s most advertisements for spectacles and eyeglasses were for businesses in Boston, but one of the earliest in Cambridge was B. W. & J.N. Gibbs, jewelers on Main Street. A “periscopic” lens was good for both near and far sightedness. $1.37 1/2 per pair!
Cambridge Chronicle April 15, 1847.
As shown above, most eyeglasses were sold at jeweler’s stores:
Cambridge Chronicle November 16, 1878
Over time many jewelers became opticians and/or included optical departments in their shops. In 1891, James Marshea advertised as a watch and clock maker also selling spectacles, assuring customers that eyes were examined by a trained lady optician. By 1900, Marshea was offering specialized services: not only were eyes examined professionally, but eyeglasses were fitted with lenses ground on site to individual specifications. And, the shop offered free scientific examinations.
Cambridge Tribune January 2, 1891
Cambridge Chronicle April 14, 1900
Cambridge Chronicle June 30, 1900
Cambridge Chronicle August 31, 1901
But, especially among travelling salesmen, there were many quacks and fakes. Opticians were not regulated until well into the 20th century.
The Optical Journal and Review of Optometry, Volume 27. March 23, 1911
Reflecting back on the bad old days, J. C. Bloom, who began his practice in 1889, wrote that in the days of the travelling salesman in the west, “When a person came in to get a pair of glasses, you would look him over, ask his age, and then reach into one of the boxes that had the mounted goods and you would reach from box to box until the patient said he could see. He would ask what the price was, and it was anywhere from $150 to $5.” (https://www.eyetoeyeoptical.net/AboutUs/eyeglasshistory/index.aspx)
Eventually opticians established their practices independent of jewelry stores:
Cambridge Chronicle June 16, 1888
FASHION IN EYEWEAR
In the beginning there were monocles, worn mostly by wealthy men; lorgnettes, used by the stylish; and pince-nez, all in frames of silver or gold. Then came celluloid eyeglass frames, developed in the 1860’s and 1870’s using a material invented by the English chemist Alexander Parkes in 1858. In 1870 the American inventor John Wesley Hyatt and his brother established Hyatt’s Celluloid Manufacturing Co. in New York where they produced, among many other things, commercially successful eyeglass frames, such as those offered by the jeweler A.J. Applegate in 1882. (https://www.britannica.com/technology/celluloid)
Large round tortoise shell glasses became fashionable around 1914. The time had now come when “the average human disfigurement, often an injury, seldom a person, instead of being ashamed that his eyes are on the blink, actually seems to be proud of it.” (https://www.eyetoeyeoptical.net/AboutUs/eyeglasshistory/index.aspx)
Gold eye glass frames were still popular (look at the price!)
Cambridge Chronicle April 15, 1890
“Kryptok Lenses” were a type of round bifocal, which made the line between near and far lenses less obvious.
Cambridge Chronicle June 17, 1911
Cambridge Chronicle January 25, 1913
Cambridge Chronicle June 8, 1912
* * * *
Finally, this next advertisement is not only about eyeglasses but artificial eyes as well–it just seemed too good to leave out. The business was in Boston, but they advertised in Cambridge newspapers.
Cambridge Chronicle May 11, 1901
Today’s post was written by CHC volunteer Kathleen Fox.
