CAMBRIDGE, MASS. Although it has become one of the most important manufacturing cities of New England, the chief fame of this suburb of Boston, separated from it by the Charles River, is as an educational and literary center. Old Cambridge, the southwest portion, on which the original town was laid out, is the attractive residential section and the seat of most of the educational institutions. Brattle Street is one of the beautiful residential streets of New England.
Newton, as the city was originally called, was founded in 1630 by Governor Winthrop with the in tention of making it the capital of the colony, but this plan was abandoned. It was soon named Cambridge, as most of the chief settlers were graduates of Cam bridge University, England. The tax for wooden palisades around the town in 1632 led the Watertown precinct to make the first protest in America against taxation without representation. The Bay Psalm Book, the first book to be printed in the United States, was printed here. At the opening of the Revolution Cambridge was the headquarters of the colonial army, and remained such until the British abandoned Bos ton. Until after the Civil War Cambridge was the center of American cultural life.
In Cambridge are located Harvard University, the oldest college in the country (founded 1636), Rad cliffe College for women, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Andover Theological Seminary, as well as other less famous schools. The public school system and the city government are among the best in the country. In Old Cambridge is the famous Washington Elm, under which Washington is said to have taken command of the American army, July 3, 1775. Near by is the Craigie House in which Wash ington had his headquarters, and which later became the poet Longfellow's home. The poet Lowell was born and lived most of his life at " Elmwood" in Cam bridge. Other noted men who lived here are Oliver Wendell Holmes, W. H. Channing, the two Agassizes, and John Fiske. Population, about 110,000.