USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : containing carefully prepared histories of every city and town in the county, Vol. I > Part 58
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On acconnt of the exigencies of the situation the college had dispensed with a public Commence- ment this summer, and contented itself with the conferring of degrees by " general diploma "; and in the autumn the work of the new college year was begun at Concord, where accommodations for one hundred and twenty-five students were pro- vided, and whither the library and apparatus were transported from Andover, where, in the first in- stance, they had been removed. While the army was busy over its intrenchments and with its skir- mishes and expeditions, the selectmen were hunting np guns to supply soldiers who were yet unarmed, and the town was protesting against the abnses of which the army contractors were showing them- selves guilty.
Meantime General Washington, not finding the permanent quarters which had been finally secured for him in the president's house suited to his
wants, had been established at Colonel Vassall's, on Brattle Street. Here he remained from the middle of July until the departure of the army the following spring. The southeast chamber he se- lected to sleep in, and the room beneath for his business apartment. About him here he gathered his military family, and here he set up the august and stately private and official life which well became his character and position. Here, too, he was joined by Mrs. Washington, who came riding into Cambridge from Virginia on the 11th of De- cember, having for companions Mrs. Gates, Mr. and Mrs. John Cnstis, and George Lewis. On Sunday, the 3d of September, it is noted that the General attended public worship at the parish meeting-house, Mr. Appleton's, the Rev. Abiel Leonard preaching to the troops. On a later occasion, probably the last Sunday, which was also the last day, of the year, he was present with his family at Christ Church, where, at Mrs. Washing- ton's request, service was read by Colonel William Palfrey. The church had only just been vacated by the troops, and was in a sorry condition. Mr. Serjeant, the rector, was a fugitive.
The first day of the new year was signalized by the unfolding to the army in Cambridge of the new Union flag of thirteen stripes, - the first national symbol of the thirteen colonies. Boston still lay yonder in a state of siege, and Cambridge still main- tained its fortified character and menacing attitude toward the beleaguered town. The disposition of troops was substantially unchanged. In February a stir was occasioned throughout the camp by the arrival of Colonel Knox, with a train of forty-two sleds loaded with artillery, drawn by eighty yoke of oxen. It was the artillery from Crown Point on the Hudson, pluckily transported by a slow and toilsome route through Great Barrington and Springfield. There were more than fifty pieces of ordnance, besides upwards of a ton of lead and a barrel of flints. It was a great acquisition for the army in view of its offensive plans in the direction of Boston. The works. at Lechmere's Point were at once properly equipped, and on the 2d of March the booming of cannon and mortar announced for miles around that the bombardment of Boston had begun. The ball which was lodged so long in the wall of the old Brattle Street meet- ing-house was undoubtedly one of those thrown at this time.1
This fire, which was participated in by batteries
1 Drake.
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in Roxbury and Charlestown, was intended by General Washington as a cover for a movement to occupy Dorchester Heights, which was successfully accomplished on the night of the 4th. For the moment a sortie and attack by the British were confidently expected, and four thousand picked men were on parade at Cambridge to meet the emer- gency. But circumstances interfered, and the evacuation of Boston followed instead. On the 17th, as the British moved out, the whole Ameri- can camp was on foot to move in, and by the 20th the town was once more in rightful possession.
The military days of Cambridge were ended.
Washington left for New York on the 4th of April, but it was reserved to Cambridge to have one more visit from him. This was in 1789, when he spent about an hour at his old quar- ters, and received a salute from the militia on the Common.
XIII. COLLEGE RECOVERY AND GROWTH. 1776-1836.
As has been already intimated, the college was a principal sufferer by the military occupation of Cambridge, and its slow recovery from the damages of war, and accompanying growth into an advanced strength and influence, may be regarded as giving shape to Cambridge history in the period imme- diately succeeding the Revolution. The patriotism of neither students nor government had been want- ing from the outset. As early as 1768 the Senior class had voted to take its degrees in " the manu- factures of this country," and at the Commence- ment that year the class appeared dressed accord- ingly. On the 3d of April, 1776, the day before General Washington's departure, he was honored with the degree of Doctor of Laws, conferred by a unanimous vote of the corporation and overseers sitting at Watertown. Later in the same month the governors and instructors were required to make a satisfactory declaration to the overseers of their political principles. By May the students quartered at Concord were clamorous for a return to Cambridge, and this was permitted in June. More than a year had elapsed since the college buildings had been given up to military occupa- tion. More than a year was yet to elapse before the material injury to the buildings was to be repaired. That injury was estimated at nearly £450.
In the autumn of 1777 the peace of the college
was again threatened by the arrival of Burgoyne's army, which had been taken prisoners at Saratoga on the 17th of October, and ordered to Cambridge to await transportation to Europe. The captive soldiers, to the number of several thousands, en- tered Cambridge by the Watertown road early in November, and a forlorn spectacle they presented, both British and Hessians. General Burgoyne was quartered in the Apthorp " palace," and Gen- eral Riedesel in the Sewall house, and application was made by General Heath for the college build- ings for the rank and file. Indeed, the application was reinforced by an order to clear the buildings for that purpose ; but happily the execution of this plan was averted, and the " troops of the Conven- tion," as the prisoners were rather euphoniously styled, were provided for in barracks. The cap- tured artillery was parked on the Common, and for another year Cambridge was alive with the scenes of an extraordinary military life. The pres- ence of so large a body of foreign troops, enemies, demoralized and idle, had unfortunate effects upon both the college and the town, notwithstanding the strict discipline which it was attempted to enforce. Friction was constant, quarrels were frequent, and vice and disorder abounded. Some peculiarly unhappy incidents occurred, and it was a day of general thankfulness when, in November, 1778, the last of the captive troops took their departure.
About 1771 the alphabetical arrangement of students' names was adopted in place of the un- republican arrangement by social rank which had been previously followed. The college officers at this time were a president, three professors, four tutors, a treasurer, and a librarian; the former receiving nominally a salary of £300, each of the professors one of £200, the treasurer £80, and the librarian £60. The derangement of the public currency by the war made great havoc with the college funds, the repair of which was the occasion of long-continued and varyingly successful nego- tiations with the General Court. The time was one of great natural trial to the financial condi- tion of the College, and the embarrassment was enhanced by the culpable and obstinate course of the treasurer, John Hancock, who from 1773 till 1793 abused his office by neglect and contempt of its duties and responsibilities, to the great incon- venience of the college and his own disgrace. It was not until two years after his death that the college succeeded in obtaining from his estate its own.
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Up to 1779 the corporation, with the exception of the treasurer, had consisted exclusively of clergy- men, or professors and tutors; but in that year a new departure in this respect was signalized by the election to the board of Hon. James Bowdoin, In 1780 the college was authorized by the Constitu- tion of Massachusetts to assume the title of Uni- versity. In 1786 a college uniform was prescribed for the students, with particulars of form and color, anil a system of distinctions for classes by means of " frogs" on the cuffs and around the buttonholes. The wearing of this uniform was compulsory, and the regulation continued in force without modifications for a number of years. The general system of college rules during these years embraces some curious items. For exam- ple : ---
" No Freshman shall wear his hat in the college yard, unless it rains, hails, or snows, provided he be on foot, and have not both hands full.
" No Undergraduate shall wear his hat in the college yard, when any of the Governors of the College are there : and no Bachelor shall wear his hat when the President is there.
" Freshmen are to consider all the other classes as their Seniors.
" No Freshman shall speak to a Senior with his hat on; or have it on in a Senior's chamber, or in his own if a Senior be there.
" When any person knocks at a Freshman's door, ex- eept in studying time, he shall immediately open the door, without inquiring who is there,
" The Freshmen shall furnish batts, balls, and foot-balls for the use of the students, to be kept at the Buttery,"
In 1772 the provincial legislature had author- ized a lottery for the benefit of the college, with a view to the erection of a new building. The an- thority was subsequently extended, as respected both the amount to be raised and the time allowed for it; and in 1804 a sufficient sum had been realized to warrant a beginning of the building. The present Stonghton Hall was the result. Hol-
Quadrangle, Harvard College.
worthy Hall, built by the proceeds of another lot- tery, was completed in 1813, and the same year saw the laying of the corner-stone of University Hall. The office of college proctor was instituted in 1805; and between 1808 and 1815 solid foun-
dations for the Medical department were laid. At the same time the Divinity School was in a state of transition from a mere professorship to an indi- vidual department, its latter character being per- fected in 1830. In 1814 a separate church was
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organized within the college, and separate worship begun in a chapel in University Hall. In 1815 a professorship of law was founded by the bequest of the late Hon. Isaac Royall, formerly of Medford, who had removed to England at the beginning of the Revolution ; and the full establishment of the Law School followed in 1817. The seeds of the Botanic Garden were planted in 1807.
It would be quite beyond the scope of this sketch to attempt anything like a complete recital of the particulars of the growth of Harvard College during this period. A few points only have been touched upon to show how the current, released from the restrictions imposed by the Revolution, was broadening and deepening under the impulse of the times. This chapter in the development of the institution was largely coincident with the administration of President Kirkland, whose name stands out even from the honored list of Harvard's presidents with a lustre peculiarly its own. The following paragraphs, from the hand of his succes- sor, are a just estimate of his personal worth and the ability of his career.
" The early period of the administration of Presi- dent Kirkland was pre-eminently distinguished for bold, original, and, in many respects, successful en- deavors to elevate the standard of education in the University, and to extend the means of instruction and multiply accommodations in every department. Holworthy Hall, University Hall, Divinity Hall, and the Medical College, in Boston, were erected. Liberal expenditures were incurred for furnishing University Hall, and for extensive repairs and alterations in Holden Chapel and in Harvard, Stoughton, Hollis, and Massachusetts Halls. The library, the chemical, philosophical, and anatomical apparatus of the University, and the mineralogical cabinet were enlarged ; and rooms for the lectures of the medical professors, and for the preservation of their collections and wax preparations, were fitted up in Holden Chapel. The grounds surrounding the College edifices were planted with ornamental trees and shrubberies, contributing to their beauty and usefulness. The salaries of the president and professors were satisfactorily raised. As professor- ships became vacant they were filled with young inen of talent and promise. Fifteen new profes- sorships were added to the ten which had previously existed. .
" The extraordinary enlargement of the means, and advancement of the interests, of learning in the University during this period are to be attributed
to the fortunate influx of the liberal patronage of individuals and the legislature; to the spirit of an age of improvement ; but most of all to the eminent men who then composed the corporation and brought into it a weight of talent, personal character, and external influence, combined with an active zeal for the advancement of the institution, previously un- paralleled ; and who, placing an almost unlimited confidence in its president, vested him with unpre- cedented powers in the management of its affairs, which he exercised in a manner liberal and trustful of public support. This confidence not only was known and avowed, but is distinctly apparent on the records of the college, and had unquestionably a material influence on all the measures and results of that administration."
No wonder that, as 1836 drew nigh, resolution was taken to commemorate the bi-centennial of the founding of the University; or that the resolution was carried into effect in form and spirit worthy of the occasion and the place. The plan originated with the president and fellows. It was heartily entered into by the alumni. Extensive prepara- tions were made. And the 8th day of September, 1836, was honored with a splendid ovation. A canvas-covered pavilion, enclosing nearly 18,000 square feet, was erected within the college grounds, appropriately decorated with flowers, evergreens, and streamers. Arches, mottoes, and other devices embellished the college buildings and grounds at large. By nine o'clock on the morning of the festal day a company of more than fifteen hundred had assembled in University Hall. Under the marshalship of Robert C. Winthrop, assisted by Benjamin R. Curtis, Robert T. S. Lowell, William Gray, Joseph Lyman, and others, a procession was formed through the yard to the meeting-house on the Square. Here there were devotional exercises, an ode, and an address by President Quincy. A banquet followed in the pavilion, at which Edward Everett presided and gave an eloquent address ; a long series of toasts and speeches filling out the time till eight in the evening. A grand illumina- tion of the college edifices, and of inany of the private buildings of the town, and a thronged reception by the president at his residence, closed the impressive festivities of the day.
The bi-centennial of the founding of Harvard University may properly be regarded as bringing its history down to the close of the period imme- diately preceding the present ; and the character- istic features of the remarkable growth of the
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institution during the past forty years are re- served for notice in the concluding chapter of this sketch.
XIV. MUNICIPAL DEVELOPMENT. 1776 -1876.
THE population of Cambridge in 1776 was 1,586; in 1876 not far from 48,000; and the growth of the town into the city, as suggested by this multiplication of figures, may be characterized as the period of municipal development.
The most immediate effect of the Revolution upon the social aspect of the town was the break- ing up and scattering of the circle of Royalists, whose homes and habits have been touched upon in previous chapters. The extent of the changes thus introduced is well set forth in this paragraph by Dr. Paige : -
" Judge Danforth retired soon after the out- break in September, 1774, to the house of his son in Boston, where he died October 27, 1777, aged about eighty-one. Judge Lee is said to have dwelt in Boston during the siege, after which he returned to his estate, which he enjoyed unmolested until his death, December 5, 1802, at the age of ninety-three. Captain Ruggles sold his estate October 31, 1774, to Thomas Fayerweather, and removed from Cambridge ; his subsequent history is unknown to me. All the others were regarded as enemies to the movement in behalf of liberty ; they became 'absentees,' and their estates, together with the estates of Ralph Inman, Esq., and Ed- ward Stow, a mariner, were seized for the public use, and were leased by the Committee of Corre- spondence. . ... Five of these estates were sub- sequently confiscated and sold by the common- wealth : the estates of Lechinere (144 acres) and Oliver (96 acres) to Andrew Cabot, Esq., of Sa- lem, November 24, 1779; the estate of Sewall (44 acres) to Thomas Lee of Pomfret, Conn., De- cember 7, 1779; the estate of Phips (50 acres) to Isaiah Doane of Boston, May 25, 1781; and the estate of Vassall (116 acres) to Nathaniel Tracy, Esq., of Newburyport, June 28, 1781. Inman returned soon, and his estate was restored to him. The heirs of Borland and the Widow Vassall suc- ceeded to the ownership of their estates in Cam- bridge; but several houses and stores in Boston, formerly belonging to Borland, were advertised by the agents of the commonwealth to be leased at auction, March 1, 1780. General Brattle conveyed all his real estate in Cambridge, December 13,
1774, to his only surviving son, Major Thomas Brattle, and died in Halifax, N. S., October, 1776. By the persevering efforts of Mrs. Katherine Wendell, the only surviving daughter of General Brattle, the estate was preserved from confiscation, and was recovered by Major Brattle after his re- turn from Europe, - having beenr proscribed in 1778, and having subsequently exhibited satisfac- tory evidence of his friendship to his country and its political independence. Besides the persons already named, there were a few other loyalists, or tories, in Cambridge, but not holding such a prom- inent position : John Nutting, carpenter, was pro- scribed in 1778; Antill Gallop, a deputy-sheriff, who had promised conformity in September, 1774, is said by Sabine to have gone with the British troops to Halifax in 1776; also George Inman (H. C. 1772, died 1789) and John Inman, sons of Ralph Inman, Esq.
" After the close of the war, it was proposed to permit the proscribed loyalists to return, - not in- deed to share in the administration of the govern- ment, but to reclaim their confiscated estates."
To this proposition the citizens of Cambridge did not, however, accede, and in a town-meeting in 1783 explicit instructions were given to their representatives in the legislature to oppose any such return by all means in their power.
A valuation of Cambridge in 1781 yields tlie following items : 417 polls, 229 houses, 246 barns, 1 store, 4 " distill-houses," mills, etc., 1,446 acres of English mowing, 777 acres of tillage land, 1,402 acres of salt and fresh meadow, 3,523 acres of pasture, 1,185 acres of wood and unimproved land, £ 6,619 money at interest and on hand, £990 in goods, wares, and merchandise, 219 horses, 182 oxen, 624 cows, 258 sheep and goats, 131 swine, £ 650 in "coaches, chaises, etc."
The first and most important step in the prog- ress of the century was the building of West Boston Bridge, and the consequent opening of Cambridgeport to population and travel. In 1792 authority was given by the General Court to Fran- cis Dana and associates to construct a bridge " from the westerly part of Boston, near the Pest . House (so called), to Pelham's Island in the town of Cambridge," and to build a " good road from Pelham's Island aforesaid, in the most direct and practicable line, to the nearest part of the Cam- bridge road." Pelham's Island was the name borne by a tract of upland and marsh, once belong- ing to Herbert Pelham, originally part of Simon
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Bradstreet's estate, whose boundaries " very ucarly coincided with Columbia Street on the west, School Street on the north, and Moore Street on the east; the east and west lines being extended across Main Street, beyond Goffe's Cove, so far as to embrace sixty acres in the whole lot." 1 Work on the bridge was promptly begun, and the structure was opened to the public in November, 1793. The cost was $ 76,700.
The opening of this bridge (which remained a toll-bridge until 1858), revolutionizing, as it did, travel between Cambridge and Boston, had an instantaneous effect upon the whole eastern part of Cambridge; and the possibilities of the future were eagerly grasped by the speculators. Fore- most among these was Royal Makepeace, a young man from Western, then Warren, Massachusetts, who had just come of age. In partnership with a townsman, Robert Vose, he established himself in this newly opened part of Cambridge, and pro- ceeded to business. On the north side of Main Street, directly opposite Osborn, the young firm built a store, and in addition to their regular trade as grocers embarked in real-estate operations on a large scale. Judge Dana, Leonard Jarvis, and others joined in the general movement. Lots were laid out, streets were opened, buildings went up, canals were dug, dikes were built, and last, but not least, in 1805, with a view to the further development of the enterprise, an act of congress was obtained making Cambridge " a port of entry," and this ambitious end of the town received the name of Cambridgeport. The " paper city " was now fully under way. The better to adapt it to commercial good fortune, an elaborate and costly system of canals and docks was planned and in part constructed, with a view to improvement of the water-front, and preparation was made for the erection of spacious warehouses.
The speculative mania spread. Mr. Andrew Craigie, who had been apothecary-general of the northern department of the Revolutionary army, began, meanwhile, quietly to buy up land at Lech- mere's Point, until, in 1807, by successive pur- . chases, he had become the owner of some three hundred acres, including pretty much the whole of what is now East Cambridge, and running up along the line afterwards followed by Cambridge Street toward the Common. Proprietorship thus secured, the building of a bridge to Boston, known as Craigie's Bridge, followed ; and under the auspices
of a Lechmere Point Corporation the opening of the whole precinct to settlement was vigorously prosecuted. Later, a very brilliant stroke secured for this new quarter of the town the location of the county buiklings.
Meantime a spirited contest set in between Cam- bridgeport and East Cambridge for control of the travel to and from Boston; and this contest was the means of opening the great thoroughfares which now traverse the city from east to west, and the occasion, at the same time, of heart-burning rival- ries and almost endless litigation. The existence and course of Main Street had already been deter- mined by the building of West Boston Bridge and the communicating causeway to Pelham's Island. The charter of a turnpike to Concord was granted in 1803 ; Concord Avenue was originally its east- erly eud. So was Broadway, in the first instance, an extension of that turnpike to strike the West Boston Bridge "near the house of Royal Make- peace "; and Hampshire Street was a section of the Middlesex Turnpike, the charter of which was granted in 1805. To offset these advantages of communication thus conferred on Cambridgeport in connection with the West Boston Bridge, Cam- bridge Street was opened in the interest of the Craigie Bridge; but when, to shorten the distance between Watertown and West Boston Bridge, it was proposed to lay out Mount Auburn Street from what is now the southerly end of Elmwood Avenue to Brattle Square, Mr. Craigie, who was then living in the Brattle Street house known by his name, offered to give the land for an extension of what is now Mason Street to the corner of Elm- wood Avenue, the effect of which would have been to divert the Watertown travel into Cambridge Street, and so through East Cambridge to Boston. There was a great deal of town quarrelling over the question of these various roads, and at last, when disputes seemed amicably adjusted, an event occurred which upset all the plans of the real-estate operators, and gave to the development of Cam- bridgeport, especially, a check from which it was a long time in recovering.
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