MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE of TECHNOLOGY CENTENNIAL Celebrating a Century in Cambridge 1916-2016
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Produced by the MIT Alumni Association with special, thanks to the MIT Department of Facilities and MIT Museum Collections.
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CHARLES ER ESPLANADE PARKWAY outgrew its original Back Bay campus in the early 20th century and found a new MIT location across the Charles River in Cambridge. Some 50 acres—wedged between automotive and candy factories and the river—had been filled in and was first intended for luxury housing. Several factors made the housing option unlikely and allowed the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to scoop up the land for $750,000 in 1912. MIT transformed that plot into 168 urban acres over the next century as the Institute grew, driven by research and discoveries as well as the politics and priorities of a changing nation. The new campus represented a new way of thinking about education in a highly visible location. It was a bold move.
cover: Postcard image from the Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division ofArt, Prints, and Photographs: Photography Collection, The New York Public Library. back cover and this page: Atlas of the City of Cambridge, G.W. Bromley and Co., 793o. Campus maps courtesy of MIT Department of Facilities.