This is a timeline of the history of the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States.

17th century 1630 - English settlers arrive. Site selected by John Winthrop the Younger. 1632 - First Parish meeting house built. 1636 - The "New College" founded. 1636 - Newe Towne was established as a town in the Massachusetts Bay Colony on September 8. 1638 Newe Towne renamed "Cambridge." John Harvard, a Puritan minister, bequeaths his library and half his monetary estate to the college. 1639 New College renamed Harvard College for benefactor John Harvard. First printing press in Cambridge. 1640 - Bay Psalm Book printed. 1642 - Harvard holds its first commencement. 1662 - Great Bridge built. 1663 - Algonquin-language Mamusse Wunneetupanatamwe Up-Biblum God published. 1682 - Cooper-Frost-Austin House built (date approximate). 1685 - Hooper-Lee-Nichols House built. 1688 - Cambridge Village, later renamed Newton, separated from Cambridge.

18th century

1713 - Town of Lexington separated from Cambridge. 1720 - Harvard's Massachusetts Hall built. 1727 - William Brattle House built. 1759 Christ Church congregation founded. Vassall House built. 1760 - Apthorp House built. 1767 - Elmwood (residence) built. 1775 April 18: William Dawes traverses the town en route to sounding warnings on eve of Battles of Lexington and Concord."The American Revolution Comes to Cambridge, Part II (Note 3) Retrieved 2 November 2013 April 19: Skirmishes between retreating British troops and American patriots at Watson's Corner and elsewhere in North Cambridge. "The American Revolution Comes to Cambridge, Part III: Retreat: Deadly Skirmishes in North Cambridge" Access date 7 December 2013 May 12: The New-England Chronicle in publication. July 3: George Washington takes command of American army. 1780 - May 19: New England's Dark Day. 1782 - Harvard Medical School founded. 1793 - West Boston Bridge built. 1796 - Fresh Pond Hotel built.

19th century 1800s–1840s 1800 - Printer William Hilliard in business. 1805 - Harvard Botanic Garden founded. 1807 Cambridge and Concord Turnpike opens. Little Cambridge separates from Cambridge and is renamed Brighton. West Cambridge, later renamed Arlington, separated from Cambridge. 1809 Craigie's Bridge opens. Birth of Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., physician, poet and polymath. 1810 - Amicable Fire Society founded. 1814 - Cambridge Humane Society and Female Humane Society founded. 1815 - Harvard's University Hall built. 1816 - Middlesex County Courthouse (Massachusetts) built. 1817 - Harvard Law School founded. 1818 - New England Glass Company established. 1824 - East Cambridge Charitable Society formed. 1826 - Frederic Tudor and Nathaniel Wyeth begin harvesting ice at Fresh Pond.Weightman, Gavin (2003). The Frozen-Water Trade: A True Story. New York: Hyperion. p. 110 1827 - First Evangelical Congregational church and Second Baptist Church established. 1830 - Population: 6,072. 1831 Mount Auburn Cemetery founded. Cambridge Market Hotel (later Porter's Hotel) built. 1832 - Cambridge Fire Department and Cambridge Book Club established. 1833 Hunt & Co's Circulating Library in business. First Parish meeting house built, corner Church St. and Mass. Ave. 1835 - West Cambridge Social Library active.

1837 August 31: Emerson gives "American Scholar" speech. East Cambridge Anti-Slavery Society formed. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow moves to Craigie House. 1839 Hopkins Classical School established. Harvard College Observatory founded. 1840 Cambridge Magnolia begins publication. St. John's Mutual Relief Society organized. Population: 8,409. 1841 - Cambridge Lyceum organized. 1846 Cambridge Chronicle begins publication. Stickney-Shepard House built. Lexington and West Cambridge Railroad begins operating. Alvan Clark & Sons telescope maker in business. City chartered. James D. Green becomes mayor. Population: 12,500. 1847 - Great Refractor telescope installed. 1848 - Franklin Library Association founded. 1849 - Cambridge Athenaeum incorporated.

1850s–1890s

1850 - Howard Benevolent Society organized. 1852 Cambridge Water Works Corporation chartered. Riverside Press established. 1854 - Cambridge Cemetery consecrated. 1856 - Population: 20,473. 1857 Cambridge Circulating Library in business. Walden Street Cattle Pass built. 1858 - Harvard Glee Club founded. 1859 - Museum of Comparative Zoology founded. 1860 - Cambridge Horticultural Society organized. 1861 - Veterans' Services established. 1862 - Sanitary Society active (approximate date).

1865 - Old Cambridge Mutual Relief Society organized. 1866 Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology and New Church Theological School founded. Cambridge Press newspaper begins publication. 1867 - Episcopal Theological School founded. 1868 - Cambridge Mechanics Literary Association organized.

1869 Old Cambridge Baptist Church built on Harvard Street. North Cambridge Choral Society organized. 1870 - Soldiers' Monument dedicated on Cambridge Common 1871 Cambridge Social Union founded. Alpha Glee Club organized. 1872 - Cambridge Choral Society formed.

1873 The Harvard Crimson newspaper begins publication. Basket Club formed. 1875 Church of the Ascension organized. Kennedy Steam Bakery built. Population: 47,838. 1876 - Harvard Lampoon begins publication. 1877 - Harvard's Memorial Hall built. 1878 The Cambridge Tribune newspaper begins publication. Harvard's Sever Hall built. 1879 - Cambridge Public Library established. 1880 - Population: 52,669. 1881 - Cambridge Club active. 1882 Society for the Collegiate Instruction of Women incorporated. Harvard Cooperative founded. 1883 Cambridge YMCA opens. Browne & Nichols School founded. 1884 - Odd Fellows Hall built. 1886 - Cambridge Hospital, Cambridge English High School (Broadway & Fayette St.), Cambridge Latin School (Lee St.), and Cambridge School for Girls established. 1887 - Cambridgeport Cycle Club organized.

1889 City Hall, Brattle Hall, and William James' house built. Buckingham School founded. Cambridge Plant Club established. 1890 - Population: 70,028. 1891 - Harvard Bridge built. 1892 - Old Cambridge Photographic Club formed. 1893 - Road built around Fresh Pond. 1894 Radcliffe College chartered. Cambridge Walking Club founded. 1895 Lechmere Canal built. Keezer's clothier in business. W. E. B. Du Bois earns PhD from Harvard University. 1896 - Cambridge Political Equality Association established. 1897 - Cambridge Skating Club founded. 1900 - Population: 91,886.

20th century 1900s–1940s

1901 - Swedenborg Chapel built. 1903 Cambridge Sentinel newspaper begins publication. Busch–Reisinger Museum opens. 1904 - Harvard's Phillips Brooks House Association established. 1905 - Cambridge Historical Society founded. 1906 - Longfellow Bridge opens. 1908 Andover Theological Seminary relocates to city. Harvard's Business School established. 1909 - Lesley School founded. 1910 Harvard Extension School founded. Harvard Square Business Association founded. Population: 104,839. 1911 - Cambridge Housing Association formed. 1912 - The Kendall/MIT, Central, and Harvard MBTA stations open. 1913 Harvard University Press and Harvard Legal Aid Bureau established. Cohen harness maker in business. 1914 - Cambridge Planning Board established. 1915 Anderson Memorial Bridge and Harvard's Widener Library built. Cooperative Open Air School founded. 1916 Massachusetts Institute of Technology moves to Cambridge Tasty Sandwich Shop in business, a diner restaurant in Cambridge, open from 1916 to 1997 at 6 John F. Kennedy Street. Behind the counter is chef Don Valcovic,

1917 Wursthaus restaurant in business. Arthur D. Little Inc., Building constructed. 1923 - Washington Elm dies on Cambridge Common. 1924 - The Church of St. Paul (Harvard Square) built. 1926 - Harvard Square Theater opens. 1927 John W. Weeks Bridge built. Necco factory opens on Massachusetts Avenue. Grolier Poetry Bookshop and Mac-Gray Corp. in business. 1928 - Boston University Bridge built. 1929 - Cambridge Community Center founded. 1930 First Church of Christ, Scientist built. Longy School of Music moves to Cambridge. Russian bells installed in Harvard's Lowell House. 1932 Harvard Book Store and MIT's Technology Press and School of Architecture established. Harvard's Memorial Church built. 1936 - Harvard's Graduate School of Public Administration and Graduate School of Design established. 1938 Hayes-Bickford Cafeteria in business (approximate date). Harvard's Nieman Foundation for Journalism established. 1940 National Research Corporation in business. Cambridge citizens vote to adopt proportional representation for elections of its city council and school committee, with first use in 1941.

1941 Magazine of Cambridge begins publication. Harvard's Houghton Library built. 1942 - John B. Atkinson becomes city manager. 1945 - Cambridge Civic Unity Committee established. 1945 - Irving House established.Irving House at Harvard 1946 - WMIT begins broadcasting. 1947 September 9: Computer bug found at the Harvard Computation Lab. Demise of the Harvard Botanic Garden. Edgerton, Germeshausen, and Grier in business.

1950s–1970s

1950 Cardullo's Gourmet Shop in business. Joseph DeGuglielmo becomes mayor. 1951 Fresh Pond Drive-In opens. WHRB incorporated. 1952 John J. Curry becomes city manager. MIT School of Industrial Management and MIT Center for International Studies established. 1953 Brattle Theatre begins screening movies. Harvard Model United Nations conference begins. 1954 - Wang Laboratories, Cheapo Records, and Hong Kong restaurant in business.

1955 Out of Town News, Casablanca bar, Elsie's eatery and Ferranti-Dege camera store in business. Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory relocated to Cambridge. 1957 Cambridge Buddhist Association established. Pangloss Bookstore in business. 1958 Club 47 (music venue) opens. Joyce Chen restaurant and Chez Jean restaurant in business. Lisp (programming language) invented at MIT. Smoot measurement established. 1959 Café Pamplona in business. Harvard/MIT Center for Urban Studies and MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory established. 1960 Bartley's restaurant in business. Harvard's Let's Go travel guides begin publication. Out of Town News opens in Harvard Square and goes to last sixty years selling newspapers from all over the world. 1961

Julia Child moves to Cambridge. October 14: Fire destroys the original WGBH television and radio studios, at MIT. 1962 Temple Beth Shalom founded. Fresh Pond Shopping Center built. Cambridge Electron Accelerator in operation. Harvard's Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts built. Cambridge Seven Associates in business. Cambridge Sports Union founded. 1963 - Cambridge Historical Commission established. 1964 - NASA Electronics Research Center established. 1965 - Head of the Charles Regatta established.

1966 - Cambridge School Volunteers founded. 1967 Joseph DeGuglielmo becomes city manager. Cambridge Forum, MIT's Center for Advanced Visual Studies established. 1968 Cambridge Housing Convention active. Shrdlu computer program developed at MIT. 1969 Murder of Jane Britton Student antiwar protest. Union of Concerned Scientists, and Harvard's Institute for African and African-American Research founded. Passim and Plough and Stars in business. 1970 The Middle East restaurant opens. Rent control and Massachusetts Department of Transportation Volpe Center established. Alfred Vellucci becomes mayor. 1971 Cambridge and Somerville Legal Services established. Grendel's Den pub in business. Revels performance series begins. 1972 Broadway Bicycle School in business. Longfellow National Historic Site and Cambridge Women's Center established. Harvard's Gund Hall built. October: Protest in East Cambridge against police conduct.