Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Six other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
West Cambridge
1827–1909
Centre Cambridge
1829–1905
North Cambridge
1849–1871
Coila
1850–1919
Fly Summit
1870–1935
South Cambridge
1870–1933
18201920today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Center CambridgeCoilaFly SummitLeeNorth CambridgeOak HillSouth CambridgeWest Cambridge
Gone or out of use
Cary SchoolschoolMary Mc Clellan HospitalhospitalSchool Number 6school
1cemetery inside Cambridge
Woodlands
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
On the map
Cambridge on the map, 1895 to 1944
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Cambridge. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1895Cambridge sheet · 1:62,500
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Cambridge.
Every building
Cambridge, building by building, 1884–1910
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
The town of Cambridge, formerly in Albany County, New York, was transferred to Washington County in 1791, shortly after the United States gained independence in the American Revolutionary War.
The eponymous village, incorporated within the township in 1866, was home to the Cambridge Hotel. According to local lore, someone working at the hotel originated the dessert known as pie a la Mode.
Passages that mention Cambridge, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The Cambridge history of English literature1907 · page 547Read the page →
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(ii) Printed Books, (i) Cambridge. Documents relating to the University and Colleges of Cambridge. 3 vols. 1852. These volumes contain the Statuta Antiqua of the university, together with charters, statutes and other records furnished to the university commission of the time by Cambridge authorities and by the custodians of various national collections.
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The Cambridge history of English literature1907 · page 396Read the page →
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In 12 1 7, within two years after the foundation of their order, the Dominicans planted a settlement in Paris; in 1221 they invaded Oxford; and in 1274 they were in Cambridge. They were followed at Oxford in 1224 by the Franciscans, who, at the same time, appeared in Cambridge. Entering in the guise of mendicants, they speedily became possessed of valuable property, and, within fifty years of their first appearance, their magnificent buildings were the envy of the scholars of
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The Cambridge history of English literature. Edited by A.W. Ward and A.R. Waller1907 · page 222Read the page →
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date, both orders resolved on establishing themselves in the great seats of education. The Dominicans fixed their headquarters at Bologna and Paris (12 17), besides settling at Oxford (1221) and Cambridge (1274); while the Franciscans settled at Oxford and Cambridge in 1224, and at Paris in 1230. When once these orders had been founded, all the great schoolmen were either Franciscans or Dominicans. Intellectually, the dogmatic Dominicans were mainly characterised by
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The Cambridge history of English literature. Edited by A.W. Ward and A.R. Waller1907 · page 486Read the page →
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A Durham copy, one at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge (No. 139) and another in the University Library at Cambridge (Ff. i. 27), which contains two copies of the bulk, under the names of Nennius and Gildas respectively, are also important. The first printed edition was that of Thomas Gale in 1691 " (M. R. James). Edd. Stevenson, J., Eng. Hist.
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Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Cambridge, 1810 to 1990
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (1), the Library of Congress (4), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
1860
