When the seniors in the East End House’s walking club make their way through the neighborhood each week, they often compare notes about how the area has changed and what families, institutions and businesses they remember from decades past. These memories vary somewhat based on the participant’s age and when they lived in East Cambridge, but taken together they are a rich source of information about life in the neighborhood. A core part of History Cambridge’s mission is to empower ordinary Cantabrigians to share their stories of the city’s past, and to know that they are the true experts on their own Cambridge history. We were pleased to partner with the East End House on a tour created and led by members of their senior program and director of community operations Alexa Diehl.
Diehl, who leads the East End House’s senior program, led a community tour Nov. 8 of the surrounding neighborhood accompanied by several program participants. Beginning at the East End House, Diehl explained the origins of the organization as a settlement house in the 1870s dedicated to the uplift of the poor and immigrant community. Today the organization serves hundreds of children, families and seniors with programs that range from day care to food support to job training. Many of those in the senior program have been active in some way at the house for decades and place it at the center of their community life.
The tour wound its way to Centanni Park, stopping to hear about the experiences of seniors who had worked in various offices at the courthouse complex in the 1960s, as well as the area’s transformation after the courthouse was abandoned in the 1970s and revived by architect Graham Gund to house, among other things, the Multicultural Arts Center. Diehl described the center’s varied community programs, including hosting weddings, which prompted a couple on the tour to share that they had just gotten married there last summer. Moving farther down Otis Street, participants shared about the numerous industries that called East Cambridge home during the 20th century, including Deran’s chocolates, Davenport furniture and the original Lechmere store.
Traveling several blocks along Cambridge Street provided a wealth of information about the numerous banks, restaurants, soda fountains and funeral homes that used to line the street, the evidence of which can still be seen in East Cambridge’s varied architecture that bears the names of companies long gone from the neighborhood. Churches, too, featured prominently on the tour, including St. Hedwig’s and Sacred Heart. Several seniors shared their memories of 1963, when large blazes destroyed both the steeple of Sacred Heart and the abandoned Squire’s meatpacking plant that had employed thousands in East Cambridge over more than a century in operation.
The tour ended with reflections on what East Cambridge has lost over the decades, and what it has gained. Most agreed that the neighborhood’s character changed fundamentally with the end of rent control in the 1990s; coupled with the rise of the biotech industry in nearby Kendall Square, this led to what many residents see as a pricing out of longtime occupants and a loss of a cohesive sense of community. Others pointed out, however, that rising property values and new investments in industry have prompted a kind of renaissance for the neighborhood, with improvements in safety and infrastructure. All could agree that longstanding organizations such as the East End House provided support and continuity to the East Cambridge community despite other changes in the neighborhood.
“A Lifetime in East Cambridge” will be available soon as a self-guided tour on the History Cambridge website, and we invite residents from all over Cambridge and beyond to experience the rich history of the neighborhood through the eyes of those who have long called it home.
About History Cambridge
History Cambridge started in 1905 as the Cambridge Historical Society. Today we have a new name and a new mission. We engage with our city to explore how the past influences the present to shape a better future. We recognize that every person in our city knows something about Cambridge’s history, and their knowledge matters. We listen to our community and we live by the ideal that history belongs to everyone. Throughout 2025, we are focusing on the history of East Cambridge. Make history with us at historycambridge.org.
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Beth Folsom is programs manager for History Cambridge.
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