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John Winthrop ( 1588-1649
), first Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. This portrait by
an unknown artist hangs in the Massachusetts State House. The presence
at the Cambridge Church gathering of Governor Winthrop and other leaders
of the colony is an indication of the importance attached to the occasion
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LEGEND
FOR THE CAMBRIDGE ILLUSTRATION
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1. The Second Meeting
House
2. Harvard College
3. House of the Minister Thomas Shepard
4. Market Square
5. Creek Lane with road to Watertown
6. Town Wharf and Ferry Landing
7. Causeway through the Marsh
8. The Great Bridge across the Charles
9. First School House
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Model
of the Second Meeting House from the Harvard Diorama
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Drawing
of Cambridge in 1668 by Harold R. Shurtleff.
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In 1650, the town voted to repair its meeting house "with
a four-square roof covered with shingle". on second thought,
it was decided instead to build anew, in a new location "on
the watch-house hill", close to the present site of Lehman
Hall. "At a general meeting of the whole town, it was voted
and agreed, that the five men chosen by the town to repair the
meeting-house shall desist from the same, and agree with workmen
for the building of a new house, about forty foot square and
covered as was formerly agreed for the other." No adequate
drawing of the building exists, but a map of Boston dated 1693
shows a square building with a small tower or cupola which seems
to be a representation of the meeting house. The drawing of
Cambridge in 1668 and the Harvard diorama model are based on
an architectural reconstruction of similar buildings of that
day.
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