What is the history of Cambridge, Massachusetts?
Cambridge was established as the town of “Newtowne” in 1630, located at the first convenient Charles River crossing west of Boston. Newtowne was one of a number of towns (including Boston, MassachusettsBoston, Dorchester, MassachusettsDorchester, Watertown, MassachusettsWatertown, and Weymouth, MassachusettsWeymouth) founded by the 700 original Puritan colonists of the Massachusetts Bay Colony under governor John Winthrop. The original village site was the heart of today’s Harvard Square, while the town included a much larger area than the present city, with various outlying parts becoming independent towns over the years: Newton, MassachusettsNewton (originally Newtown) in 1690, Lexington, MassachusettsLexington (Cambridge Farms) in 1712, and Arlington, MassachusettsArlington (West Cambridge) and Brighton, MassachusettsBrighton (Little Cambridge), which was annexed by Boston in 1807. In 1636 Harvard College was founded by the colony to train minister (religion)ministers and Newtowne w
