2. Settlement of Cambridge
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THE settlement
of Cambridge commenced in 1631. It was the original intention of the settlers
to make it the metropolis of the Province of Massachusetts. Governor Winthrop,
Deputy-Governor Dudley, and the Assistants, having examined the territory
lying contiguous to the new settlements, upon view of this spot, “all
agreed it a fit place for a beautiful town, and took time to consider further
about it.” (4) On the 29th of December,
1630, “after many consultations about a fit place to build a town for
the seat of government, they agreed on a place N.W. side of Charles river,
about three miles W. from Charlestown; and all, except Mr. Endicot and Sharp
(the former living at Salem, and the latter purposing to return to England)
oblige themselves to build houses there the following spring, and remove
their ordnance and munitions thither, and first call the place NEWTOWN.
(5)
The town was laid out in squares, the streets intersecting each other at right angles. One square was reserved for the purpose of a market; and remains open, to this day, still retaining the name of Market Place. (6) The street, leading by the Town Spring to the southward, was called Creek Street. The street, parallel to this, leading from the College to the Causeway, Wood Street. The street, parallel to this, leading from the First Church to Marsh Lane, Water Street.The street eastward, and parallel to this, from Braintree Street to Marsh Lane, Crooked Street, or Lane (7) The street, from the Parsonage to Wood Street, Braintree Street. The street southward, and parallel to this, running from the Town Spring to Crooked Lane, Spring Street. The street, parallel to this, and farther south, running from Creek Street to Crooked Lane, Long Street. South of this a lane on the margin of the marsh, called Marsh Lane. A lane leading from Crooked Street or Lane into the Neck, called Back Lane. Back Lane was narrow and crooked, and is now discontinued and inclosed; and, in its stead, a new street, 45 feet wide, and straight, has been laid out a few rods to the southward of that lane. |
THE settlement of Cambridge commenced in 1631. It was the original intention
of the settlers to make it the metropolis of the Province of Massachusetts.
Governor Winthrop, Deputy-Governor Dudley, and the Assistants, having examined
the territory lying contiguous to the new settlements, upon view of this spot,
“all agreed it a fit place for a beautiful town, and took time to consider
further about it.” (4) On the 29th of December,
1630, “after many consultations about a fit place to build a town for the
seat of government, they agreed on a place N.W. side of Charles river, about
three miles W. from Charlestown; and all, except Mr. Endicot and Sharp (the
former living at Salem, and the latter purposing to return to England) oblige
themselves to build houses there the following spring, and remove their ordnance
and munitions thither, and first call the place NEWTOWN. (5)
The town was laid out in
squares, the streets intersecting each other at right angles. One square was reserved
for the purpose of a market; and remains open, to this day, still retaining the
name of Market Place. (6) The street, leading by
the Town Spring to the southward, was called Creek Street. The street, parallel
to this, leading from the College to the Causeway, Wood Street. The street, parallel
to this, leading from the First Church to Marsh Lane, Water Street.The street
eastward, and parallel to this, from Braintree Street to Marsh Lane, Crooked Street,
or Lane (7) The street, from the Parsonage to Wood
Street, Braintree Street. The street southward, and parallel to this, running
from the Town Spring to Crooked Lane, Spring Street. The street, parallel to this,
and farther south, running from Creek Street to Crooked Lane, Long Street. South
of this a lane on the margin of the marsh, called Marsh Lane. A lane leading from
Crooked Street or Lane into the Neck, called Back Lane. Back Lane was narrow and
crooked, and is now discontinued and inclosed; and, in its stead, a new street,
45 feet wide, and straight, has been laid out a few rods to the southward of that
lane.
According to agreement, the Deputy-Governor, secretary Bradstreet, and other principal
gentlemen, in the spring of 1631, commenced the execution of the plan, with a
view to its speedy completion. The Governor set up the frame of a house where
he first pitched his tent; and the Deputy-Governor finished his house, (8)
and removed his family. On some considerations, however, “which at first
came not into their minds,” the Governor, in the ensuing autumn, took down
his frame, and removed it into Boston, with the intention of making that the place
of his future abode; greatly to the disappointment of the rest of the company,
who were still resolved to build at Newtown. Having promised the people of Boston,
when they first sat down with him there, that he would not remove, unless they
should accompany him; they now petitioned him, “under all their hands,”
that, according to his promise, he would not leave them. About this time, also
Chicketawbut, the Chief of the Indians in the neighborhood of Newtown, visited
the Governor with high professions of friendship; which rendered him less apprehensive
of the danger from the Indians, and less solicitous for a fortified town. Together
with these considerations, to influence the Governor to this new resolution, Boston
was now “like to be the place of chiefest commerce.” (9)
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Newton
in 1636 as reconstructed by the Cambridge Historical Comission
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Various
orders of the Court of Assistants shew, however, that Newtown, still designed
for the metropolis, was taken under legislative patronage. On the 14th of June,
1631, the Court, in consideration of “Mr. John Masters’ having undertaken
to make a passage from Charles river to the New Town, 12 feet broad, and 7 deep,
promises him satisfaction.” On the 5th of July, the Court ordered, “that
there be levied out of the several plantations 30 pounds for making the Creek
from Charles river to Newtown.” (10) In the
course of the same year, a thatched house, in Boston, taking fire from the chimney,
and becoming burnt down; “for prevention whereof,” observes the Deputy-Governor,
“in our New Town, intended to be built this summer, we have ordered, that
no man there shall build his chimney with wood, nor cover his house with thatch.”
(11) On the 3rd of February, 1632, the Court ordered,
“that 60 pounds be levied out of the several plantations, towards making
a palisado about the New Town.” (12)
An historian, who was in New England, at this time, and who left it the year
following observes: “Newtown was first intended for a city, but, upon more
serious considerations, it was thought not so fit, being too far from the sea;
being the greatest inconvenience it hath. This is one of the neatest and best
compacted towns in New England, having many fair structures, with many handsome
contrived streets. The inhabitants most of them are very rich.” (13)
In some of the first years, the annual election of the Governor and Magistrates
of the Colony was holden in this town. The people, on these occasions, assembled
under an oak tree, which long remained a venerable monument of the freedom,
the patriotism, and the piety, of the ancestors of New England. (14)
The first considerable accession to the society appears to have been in August,
1632, when “the Braintree company which had begun to sit down at Mount
Woolaston by order of Court, removed to Newtown. These were Mr. Hooker’s
company.” (15) Mr. Hooker, however, having
not yet come to New England, they were still destitute of a settled minister.
But a preparation for the privilege of the public ministry, and of the ordinances
of the gospel, was an immediate and primary object of their pious attention.
This year, accordingly, they “built the first house for public worship
at Newtown, with a bell upon it.” (16)
The removal of the Governor into Boston having occasioned a misunderstanding
between him and the Deputy Governor, “the ministers, for an end of the
difference, ordered, that the Governor should procure them a minister at Newtown,
and contribute some towards his maintenance for a time; or if he could not by
the spring effect that, then to give the Deputy, towards his charges in building
there, 20.pounds” The Governor accepted this order, and promised a compliance
with it. The Deputy governor, however, on the reception of one part of the order,
returned it to the Governor, professing to full a persuasion of the Governor’s
love to him, and so high an estimation of it, that “if he had given him
100 pounds, instead of 20 pounds, he would not have taken it.” Notwithstanding
the variance, which had subsisted between these venerable men, “yet they
peaceably met about their affairs, without any appearance of any breach or discontent;
and ever after kept peace and good correspondency together in love and friendship.”
(17)
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Thomas
Hooker sculpture by Francis L. Wadsworth (1950), located east of the State
House of Connecticut.
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Samuel
Stone
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Harvard Square Library
Cambridge, Massachusetts
www.harvardsquarelibrary.org
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F. Vetter, D.D., Director 73 Upland Road, Cambridge, MA 02140 617/547-9077, hfvetter@post.harvard.edu |
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