 |
|
Prepared
at the institute of Geographical Exploration.
Harvard University 1834. |
| Fearing that the settlements
in Boston and Charlestown were dangerously exposed to attack by sea,
Governor John Winthrop and his aides were determined to find an inland
site to establish a new capital. A decision was made in 1630 to settle
the new community at Newtowne ( renamed Cambridge in 1638 ), and the
construction of residences began in the following year. Events conspired
to prevent Newtowne from becoming the next capital; however, the General
Court, in 1636, appropriated funds for a college... and in 1637, appointed
twelve of the most eminent men of the colony "to take order for
a College at Newtowne". The area map at the right shows the relationship of Cambridge to its neighboring communities. The village proper, labeled"Towne" is protected by a fortification called the "Pallysadoe". The Cambridge boundaries then stretched many miles into the wilderness and included present-day Brighton as well as Newton, south of the Charles River. In 1632, a meeting house was constructed at the southwest corner of the present Mt. Auburn and Dunster Streets. Little is known of the characteristics of this building except that it had a bell with which to call the worshipers together. |
|
Thomas
Hooker's interpretation of congregational polity.
Click for text |
 |
| A church was gathered
in 1633 of which Thomas Hooker was minister, but he and the church
moved to Connecticut in 1636... in part, at least, to secure additional
land for cattle and crops. The meeting house was the location in 1637
of the trial of Anne Hutchinson who had claimed that most of the ministers
of the colony were guilty of unsound teaching and that God spoke to
her "by an immediate revelation". Her assertions were regarded
as highly dangerous and a threat to social order. From 1646 to 1648, here met the sessions of the synod that drew up the statement of congregational polity known as the Cambridge Platform. The first Meeting house fell into disrepair, and in 1650, was replaced by a larger one in a new location. |
 |
|
Old
Cambridge and Environs in 1638
Cambridge Historical Commission |
Cambridge, Massachusetts