Cambridge Common

When Cambridge was settled in 1630, the town extended 35 miles into the countryside, and land outside the village was held in common. The most desirable tracts were distributed to settlers, but shared pastures remained, including the Cow Common, which stretched from here to Linnaean Street until 1724, when it was reduced to its present size. The Common served as pasture, a place for public debate and militia drills, and a site for celebrations accompanying Harvard commencements. George Washington arrived from Virginia on July 2, 1775, and the next day assumed command of the newly formed Continental Army there. After the Revolution, the Common became a place of passage, crossed by major roads; the Cambridge & Concord Turnpike crossed it in 1803 on the way to the West Boston (Longfellow) Bridge, and drovers bound for the new abattoir in Brighton pastured cattle there overnight. In 1824, private citizens offered to enclose and beautify the Common as a public park, but nothing was accomplished until the state legislature acted in 1830. After the Civil War, it became a civic space marked by four cannons left behind by the British in 1776, the Soldiers Monument of 1870 honoring 4,588 Union servicemen, granite markers installed in 1876 for the Election Oak and the Washington Elm, Dawes Island created in 1975 as a Bicentennial memorial to William Dawes, a statue erected in 1882 by a descendant of early settler John Bridge, a monument to Prince Hall, and a sculpture evoking the Great Famine of 1845-1852 in Ireland. In 1918, the U.S. Navy enclosed the Common with a high fence and built barracks for sailors attending a radio school at Harvard. After World War I, the city planted more trees, paved paths, and installed benches, lighting, and a playground. In the 1970s, the Common hosted antiwar demonstrations, civil rights protests, and public concerts, and today it is a quiet space for recreation and leisure.

Cambridge, Massachusetts · United States