The Proceedings of the Cambridge Historical Society, Volume 42, 1970-1972 Contents Officers 5 PAPERS The History of The Utilities in Cambridge BY HARDING U. GREENE 7 Where the Old Professors Lived BY ESTHER LANMAN CUSHMAN 14 Cambridge Historical Commission: Progress and Prospects BY ROBERT BELL RETTIG 31 MIT in Cambridge, 1911-1970 BY O. ROBERT SIMHA 48 illustration facing page 56 The Romance of Brick BY G. BURTON LONG 67 maps, pages 68 and 69 A 125th Anniversary: From Village, Town, City, to ? BY CHARLES W. ELLIOT 2ND 77 map, page 86 Biographical Sketch of Thomas Shepard BY DAVID C. DOW, M.D. ​ 95 The Harvard University Archives: A Source of Cambridge History BY HARLEY P. HOLDEN 110 A School for All Seasons BY JEANETTE PALACHE BARKER 123 Contents of the Proceedings Volumes 1-43, 1905-1975 136 Annual Report of the Treasurer 160 Members 164 The Cambridge Historical Society ​LIST OF OFFICERS, 1970-1972 1970 President Mr. Charles W. Eliot, 2nd Vice-Presidents Mr. Arthur E. Sutherland Mr. Amos N. Wilder Mrs. James Donovan Secretary Mrs. T. North Whitehead Treasurer Mr. John L. Simonds Curator Mrs. H. Ropes Cabot Editor Mr. Foster M. Palmer 1971 President Mr. Charles W. Eliot, 2nd Vice-Presidents Mr. George Macomber Mr. Amos Wilder Mr. Harley P. Holden Secretary Mrs. T. North Whitehead Treasurer Mr. John L. Simonds Editor Mr. Foster M. Palmer 5 1972 President Mr. Charles W. Eliot, 2nd Vice-Presidents Mr. George A. Macomber Miss Eleanor R. Appel Mr. Harley P. Holden Secretary Mrs. T. North Whitehead Treasurer Mr. John W. Cobb Curator Mrs. H. Ropes Cabot Editor Mr. Foster M. Palmer MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL 1970 Mr. Dwight H. Andrews Mrs. Robert W. Harwood Miss Eleanor R. Appel Mr. Harley P. Holden Mr. Richard C. Evarts Mr. Albert B. Wolfe 1971 Mr. Dwight H. Andrews Mr. Richard C. Evarts Miss Eleanor R. Appel Mrs. Robert W. Harwood Miss Elizabeth Droppers Mr. Albert B. Wolfe 1972 Mr. Dwight H. Andrews Mr. Norman Pettit Mrs. Casimir deRham, Jr. Mr. Amos N. Wilder Miss Elizabeth Droppers Mr. Albert B. Wolfe The History of the Utilities in Cambridge BY HARDING U. GREENE FIND in looking back over the Proceedings of the Cambridge Historical Society that much I ​ of the​ information which might well be included in a history of the utilities in Cambridge has already been discussed at previous meetings. I have reference particularly to the talk by Lois Lilley Howe in 1939 about her father, Estes Howe, and his connection with the very beginnings of utilities in Cambridge including gas, transportation, and water. Then in 1962 Foster M. Palmer read a paper, "Horse Car, Trolley, and Subway" and later, in 1967, John Davis did the history of Cambridge water. Because of your knowledge of the subjects in these papers, my talk will be somewhat diluted. Going back to the beginning of the nineteenth century, Cambridge is described in 1804 in the Gazetteer of the Western Continent as having "a number of very pleasant seats, 2,450 inhabitants, about 100 dwelling houses and four college buildings." The four buildings referred to are Harvard Hall, Hollis, Massachusetts, and Holden Chapel. The college had between one hundred fifty and two hundred twenty students. In the eastern part of the town there was a thriving commercial settlement. If we move forward to nearly the middle of the century, at the time Cambridge became a city in 1846, it appears that the utilities available to Old Cambridge were water from a well, pumped by hand; light from candle dips or whale oil lamps; and transportation by omnibus. There was, of course, no electricity available, nor telephone service. Then just after the middle of the century came Estes 7 Howe and his friends, who included Gardiner Greene Hubbard, Judge Willard Phillips, Herbert H. Stimpson, Charles C. Little, and John Livermore. They were the entrepreneurs who could look forward to the time when greater needs for water would take place; when whales might become scarce; and to the time when omnibuses would not accommodate the requirements of the generations to come. In 1852 the Cambridge Gas Light Company was incorporated with Estes Howe as its treasurer, a position which he held until his death. The Cambridge Water Works were started shortly after and in 1856 were authorized to take water from Fresh Pond. It was in 1856 also that horse cars began running from Harvard Square to Bowdoin Square in Boston. Shortly this service was to be extended from Harvard Square to Mount Auburn. But to return to the gas industry, which originated in England in the early part of the century: there in 1807 street lights were turned on on Pall Mall and in 1812 Parliament granted a charter to the London and Westminster Gas Light and Coke Company, and the first gas company in the world came into being. In this country it was 1816 when a demonstration by Rembrandt Peale of what gas lighting was like took place in his Baltimore Museum, and a year later the Baltimore company had its beginning. Boston had gas for lighting in the 18205s and the gas company that Mr. Howe and the Cambridge group started, Cambridge Gas Light Company, built its first plant in 1852 on Bath Street. Do you know where Bath Street was? Bath Street was a curving short street from Mt. Auburn Street to the river just beyond Ash Street, near where Memorial Drive was later to end before its extension, and here the first Cambridge plant was built to use coal brought up the river to a stone dock. This coal was heated in retorts to drive off gas which was then stored in a holder and piped into Harvard Square for the start of the company's distribution in this city. The gas was turned on in 1853 and in that year the company had about five miles of gas mains, which extended to the Square and somewhat beyond in different directions. Christ Church on Garden Street was one of the company's early customers. The story is told by Gardiner Day in his book The Biography of a Church: A Brief History of Christ Church that in the 8 late 1850's there was being considered the need for additional lighting in the church and the plan was made to cut windows in the chancel in order to supply the light. Just in the nick of time the gas became available and the church put in the necessary equipment to light with gas, thus saving the structure which had been built a hundred years earlier from being mutilated. The gas company had 162 customers in 1864. Just before the Civil War gas street lights in Cambridge numbered three hundred. At the war's end in the middle of the decade the number of such street lamps was up to over four hundred. However, in the 1870's the company faced a severe and long depression, and in addition to that the advent of kerosene on the market tended to hold down the sale of gas for at least a while. Then as we approached the 1880's, the gas company directors foresaw further competition and at a director's meeting it was stated, "We must not shut our eyes to the fact that we have a formidable competitor in the electric light." Actually, the Cambridge Electric Light Company was organized in 1886, a few years after the first electric plant on Pearl Street in New York. Just before the depression of the 1870's the board of directors of the gas company had found it imperatively necessary to decide what measures should be taken for the increase of the supply of gas to "our rapidly growing community." It was stated that "the present demands equal the ultimate capacity and due to increase in consumers in another winter we would be unable to fulfill the demands." Construction was authorized for a new plant on an area that was then being developed for industry in what is now Kendall Square. The land was bought on Court Street (now part of Third Street) and the plant constructed and put in operation in 1873. The location was advantageous in that it gave an easier point of delivery for fuel, which no longer had to be brought up to the original plant site on Bath Street. In 1881 across the river the Boston Symphony Orchestra was being organized by Mr. Henry Lee Higginson and the utility business in Cambridge was definitely again on the increase and a great many additional inhabitants were moving into the city and the 9 building of homes and residential areas was expanding extremely rapidly. However, the gas business was still largely lighting. It is interesting to note that at a directors' meeting the superintendent suggested that "each director purchase a stove and see for himself if there is really any virtue or merit in them." This was probably good advice. There were only two gas stoves in use in Cambridge at that time. As years passed there were changes in the method of production of the gas, both in Cambridge and elsewhere, but it was not until the 1950's that natural gas was brought by pipeline to the eastern part of Massachusetts. However, the existing gas plant in Cambridge was continued in operation for some years, in order to supplement the natural gas supply in the peak periods of the winter time. A very small electric generating plant, the beginning of the Cambridge Electric Light Company's supply, was built in what is now called Kendall Square near the West Boston Bridge, and we are told that in 1887 the company was supplying seventy-seven public arc lights on Cambridge streets, as well as seven commercial arcs and 847 incandescent lamps.