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87-586: The Adams-Magoun House is a historic house at 438 Broadway in Somerville, Massachusetts . Built about 1783, it is one of the city's few surviving 18th-century buildings and its best-preserved. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989. The Adams-Magoun House stands on Winter Hill in central Somerville, roughly midway between Magoun Square and the Winter Hill commercial district. It

174-550: A "squaw sachem ," an enemy of the Massachusett of Neponset, who was the widow of Nanepashemet. The general government of the tribe was continued by three of Nanepashemet's sons and his widow, only known in the historical record as the " Squaw Sachem of Mistick ." She administered the region jointly with her three sons Wonohaquaham or "Sagamore John," Montowampate or "Sagamore James," and Wenepoykin or "Sagamore George." William Wood's map, dated 1634, but based on his travels in

261-524: A force of roughly 260 British regulars from the 4th Regiment , under the command of Lieutenant Colonel George Maddison, were rowed in secrecy up the Mystic River from Boston to a landing point near Winter Hill. From there they marched about one mile (1.5 kilometers) to the Powder House, and after sunrise removed all of the gunpowder. Most of the regulars then returned to Boston the way they had come, but

348-458: A hold in the area after the railroads first arrived in the 1830s, Somerville's brickyards boomed through 1870. Meatpacking soon displaced brickmaking as the primary industry in the city, dubbed "The Chicago of New England". Additionally, Somerville's location adjacent to Boston and proximity to rail and road transportation made it an ideal location for distribution facilities. It was in this period that Irish immigrants moved to Somerville to work in

435-638: A major industrial center as automobile assembly surpassed meat packing as Somerville's most important industry. By 1930, 70% of Somerville residents had either been born outside of the United States or had parents who were. The population was then estimated to be 60% Catholic. Although Union Square and Davis Square continued to be the largest commercial areas during the first decades of the 20th century, smaller, less-developed squares grew as well. Ball Square , Magoun Square and Teele Square were developed with one- or two-story masonry commercial buildings, and

522-567: A number of original features, including particularly ornate turned balusters on the main staircase. The house was built by Joseph Adams in 1783, and was the farmstead house for a farm of 71 acres (29 ha). It is one of a handful of 18th-century houses in Somerville, and its main entry transom window is believed to be one of the oldest of its type in the Boston area. Adams was married to Sarah Tufts, whose extended family owned large tracts of land in

609-556: A number of squares that are centers for business and entertainment, as well as a number of other neighborhoods: Somerville has experienced dramatic growth since the Red Line of Boston's MBTA subway system was extended through Somerville in 1985, especially in the area between Harvard and Tufts. This was especially accelerated by the dot-com bubble of the late 90s, rising incomes, and concomitant rises in demand for urban housing. This growth did not, however, translate into an increase in

696-473: A petition was presented to the Legislature asking that a part of Charlestown be set off as a separate town, to be known as Warren. This petition was subsequently withdrawn. The desire for a separate township continued to spread, and by 1841, becoming impatient at the neglect of the government to adequately provide for their needs, the inhabitants again agitated a division of the town, and a meeting in reference to

783-470: A precursor to the United States Navy . The " Ten Hills " neighborhood, located in the northeastern part of the city, has retained the name for over 300 years. New research has found that less than a decade after John Winthrop moved to the farm in 1631, there were enslaved Native American prisoners of war on the property. Each successive owner of Ten Hills Farm would depend upon slavery's profits until

870-548: A scouting party of 100 Puritans from the settlement of Salem to prepare the site for the Great Migration of Puritans from England . Graves was attracted to the narrow Mishawum Peninsula between the Charles and Mystic rivers, linked to the mainland at the present-day Sullivan Square . The area of earliest settlement was based at City Square on the peninsula, though the territory of Charlestown officially included all of what

957-451: A settlement at Plymouth , a group of colonists including Edward Winslow and their native guide Tisquantum explored an area in present-day Medford , encountering the Naumkeag settlement where Nanepashemet had lived, several palisade fortifications for the 1615-1619 war between the Naumkeag and Tarrantine, and Nanepashemet's burial place. Winslow attests to the area's control at that time by

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1044-580: A small contingent marched on to Cambridge , seizing two field pieces from the Cambridge Common . The field pieces and powder were then taken from Boston to the British stronghold on Castle Island , then known as Castle William (renamed Fort Independence in 1779). In response to the raid, amid rumors that blood had been shed, alarm spread through the countryside as far as Connecticut and beyond, and American Patriots sprang into action, fearing that war

1131-486: A township in 1842 the area was primarily populated by British farmers and brick makers who sold their wares in the markets of Boston, Cambridge and Charlestown. As the markets grew, the population of Somerville increased six-fold between the years of 1842 and 1870 to 14,685. With the sharp influx of immigrants to the Somerville area, industry boomed and brick manufacturing became the predominant trade. Before mechanical presses were invented, Somerville produced 1.3 million bricks

1218-571: A turning point in the events leading up to war. First built by settlers for use as a windmill in the early 1700s, the Old Powder House was sold to the colonial government of Massachusetts for use as a gunpowder magazine in 1747. Located at the intersection of Broadway and College Avenue in present-day Powder House Square , the Old Powder House held the largest supply of gunpowder in all of Massachusetts. General Thomas Gage , who had become

1305-541: A war with the Tarrantine (modern-day Mi'kmaq ) people beginning in 1615. A virgin soil epidemic due to an introduced European disease ravaged the populations of the Atlantic coast from 1616-1619 and took a particularly heavy toll with the Naumkeag people. The Tarrantines took advantage of this weakness, and further decimated their numbers, including killing their sachem , Nanepashemet , in 1619. In 1621, after establishing

1392-436: A year. Thereafter, production increased rapidly to 5.5 million bricks a year, and the success of the brickyards began to attract numerous other industries. In 1851, American Tubes Works opened, followed by meat processing and packaging plants. Other Somerville factories came to produce steam engines, boilers, household appliances, glass, and iron. Shortly thereafter Somerville incorporated as a city in 1872. The population growth

1479-564: Is any record was John Woolrich, an Indian trader who came from the Charlestown Peninsula in 1630, and settled near what is now Dane Street. Others soon followed Woolrich, locating in the vicinity of present-day Union Square . In 1639 colonists officially acquired the land in what is now Somerville from the Squaw Sachem of Mistick . The population continued to slowly increase, and by 1775 there were about 500 inhabitants scattered across

1566-403: Is known for. By mid-century, powerful social and economic forces precipitated a period of industrial and population decline that lasted into the 1980s. The postwar period was characterized by the ascent of the private automobile, which carried significant implications for Somerville. Streetcar lines that had crisscrossed the city since 1890 were systematically ripped out and commuter rail service

1653-527: Is now Somerville, as well as Medford , Everett , Malden , Stoneham , Melrose , Woburn , Burlington , and parts of Arlington and Cambridge . From that time until 1842, the area of present-day Somerville was referred to as "beyond the Neck" in reference to the thin spit of land, the Charlestown Neck , that connected it to the Charlestown Peninsula. The first European settler in Somerville of whom there

1740-436: Is set facing east on the south side of Broadway, between Bartlett Street and Glenwood Road. It is a 2½-story wood-frame structure, with a gabled roof, two interior chimneys, and a clapboarded exterior. The main facade is five bays wide, with its entrance at the center, framed by pilasters and topped by a half-round transom window and gabled pediment . The interior follows a typical center hall plan , and has retained

1827-555: The Boston and Maine Railroad , between Central and Lowell streets. Somerville, Massachusetts Somerville ( / ˈ s ʌ m ər v ɪ l / SUM -ər-vil ) is a city located directly to the northwest of Boston , and north of Cambridge , in Middlesex County, Massachusetts , United States. As of the 2020 United States Census , the city had a total population of 81,045 people. With an area of 4.12 square miles (10.7 km ),

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1914-711: The Fells Connector Parkways , originally conceived in the 1890s as a means for city residents to reach the metropolitan parks, evolved into congested commuter routes for suburban drivers. Highway projects were advanced in the wake of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 , in some instances displacing entire neighborhoods. The Brickbottom neighborhood was razed in 1950 to prepare for a proposed Inner Belt Expressway , and construction of Interstate 93 resulted in demolition of homes in The States neighborhood during

2001-594: The Massachusetts Institute of Technology are located and near Tufts University , which straddles the Somerville-Medford city line. The city is inhabited by blue collar Irish American , Italian American , Greek American , and Portuguese American families, who are spread throughout the city. In November 1997, the Utne Reader named Davis Square in Somerville one of the 15 hippest places to live in

2088-706: The Mystic River watershed as early as the beginning of the Archaic Period (8000–1000 BCE). At the time of English contact in the 1600s, the Somerville area was inhabited by the Mystic Tribe of the Naumkeag people , headed by the Squaw Sachem and her son Wonohaquaham . Though no archaeological sites within Somerville have been identified from this time period, an indigenous settlement near College Hill in Somerville can be inferred from contemporary written records. The Mystic River continued to be an important regional core for

2175-458: The North End through Charlestown towards East Somerville . In Revere's own written account of his ride, he mentions a specific location in Somerville (then part of Charlestown). The location was the site where the executed body of a local enslaved man known as " Mark ", owned by John Codman, was publicly gibbeted and displayed for several years after his execution. The location is probably near

2262-618: The gentrification period the city went through in the 1990s, and an influx of artists to the area, this name has mostly faded from use and the city has instead gained a reputation for its active arts community and effective government, including being named the best-run city in Massachusetts in 2006. Nowadays lobbying by grassroots organizations is attempting to revive and preserve Somerville's "small-town" neighborhood environments by supporting local business, public transit and gardens. For some Somerville residents, some of these efforts, such as

2349-518: The seven hills of Rome ): These hills rise from the floodplain of the Mystic River, and generally run west to east, providing for beautiful vistas of Boston to the south and Medford/Everett to the north. Physical boundaries are also defined by prominent waterways: the Mystic River to the north, its tributary Alewife Brook to the west, and the Miller's River to the southeast. Land in early Somerville

2436-567: The 1680s, James Quonopohit and his kin received payment for quitclaim deeds from Marblehead (1684), Lynn , Saugus , Swampscott , Lynnfield , Wakefield , North Reading , and Reading (1686), Salem (1687). Although humans lived in the North American Eastern Woodlands for at least 15,000 years, the presence of a continental ice sheet extending south to the level of Long Island and Cape Cod have limited human habitation in present-day northeastern Massachusetts until

2523-439: The 1780s, when Massachusetts abolished the practice. In a short time, the settlers began laying out roads in all directions in search of more land for planting and trade with various Native American tribes in the area. Laid out as early as the mid-1630s, the earliest highway in Somerville was probably what is now Washington Street, and led from present-day Sullivan Square to Harvard Square . In its earliest days, Washington Street

2610-468: The 2022 Green Line extensions into Somerville, present a challenge for balancing accessibility of public transit and the need for affordable housing. According to the United States Census Bureau , Somerville has a total area of 4.2 square miles (11 km ), of which 4.1 square miles (11 km ) is land and 0.1 square miles (0.26 km ), or 2.61%, is water. Somerville is bordered by

2697-505: The American Revolution. Shortly after Paul Revere set out on his ride, Lieutenant Colonel Francis Smith and 700 British Army regulars landed near Lechmere Square . As it was nearly high tide, East Cambridge was an island and the troops, skirting the marshes, were obliged to wade "thigh deep" to reach Somerville. They probably came through Prospect Street into Washington Street, and through Union Square. Defeated and in retreat,

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2784-455: The British army passed again through Somerville en route back to Boston. Upon reaching Union Square, the British marched down Washington Street as far as the base of Prospect Hill, where a skirmish took place. The handful of rebellious locals, having heard of the storied battles at Lexington and Concord earlier that day, caught an exhausted retreating British contingent off guard. As the story goes, 65-year-old minuteman James Miller lost his life in

2871-482: The MBTA station, with connections to Cambridge and Boston. Retail vacancy rates around the square were close to zero as of 2013. The telecommunication and biotechnology booms of the mid-to-late 1990s significantly contributed to Somerville's revitalization. As with the housing boom a century earlier, the sudden increase in the number of jobs available in the cities of Somerville, Boston, and particularly Cambridge—as well as in

2958-458: The Millers River marsh was turned into railyards , slaughterhouses and other large-scale land uses. Somerville's commercial property is not concentrated in a recognized downtown central business district but instead is spread over many different nodes or corridors of business activity. The difference in character ranges from the vibrant nightlife, live music and theaters of Davis Square to

3045-564: The Naumkeag into the period of European colonization in the 16th and 17th centuries. In 1627, Mystic sachem Wonohaquaham reportedly gave permission for English settlement at Charlestown, which then included present-day Somerville. In 1639, his mother the Squaw Sachem deeded the land that would become Somerville to English settlers. The territory now comprising the city of Somerville was first settled by Europeans in 1629 as part of Charlestown . In 1629, English surveyor Thomas Graves led

3132-507: The Revolutionary War over, the residents of Somerville were able once again to devote their energies wholeheartedly to the business of making a living. From the 1780s until Somerville's separation from Charlestown in 1842, material progress was continuous, if a bit slow. As transportation infrastructure gradually transformed the area, new industries sprang up, such as brickmaking, quarrying and dairy farming. Transportation improvements in

3219-468: The U.S. Somerville is home to a thriving arts community and boasts the second highest number of artists per capita in America. Naumkeag people Naumkeag is also the term for a Native American settlement at the time of English colonization in present-day Salem, Massachusetts , meaning "fishing place," from namaas (fish), ki (place) and age (at) or by another translation "eel-land." However,

3306-550: The Woodland period beginning 2,000 years ago. The earliest historical records of the Naumkeag people are from European authors during the contact period from 1600 to 1630, supported by written reminiscences from Indigenous sources at the end of the 17th-century. In 1614 English explorer John Smith explored the coast of New England, and included "Naemkeck" among the "countries" of the New England coast in an alliance with countries to

3393-432: The area declined from 68 in 1977 to 56 in 1987. However many non-retail uses, such as beauty salons and real estate offices, had already begun to fill the empty retail spaces. With the Boston area's emergence from its long recession, the area truly began to revive. Clearly, the community's vision of a rebirth of commercial and retail activity has, in the past few years, been fully realized. All benefit from their proximity to

3480-455: The area in the late 1620s, shows Sagamore John in present-day Medford and Sagamore James in present-day Lynn . Wenepoykin or Sagamore George was sachem of the settlement of Naumkeag in present-day Salem by the time English settlers arrived in 1629, but he may have received assistance from an older family member until he came of age. In 1633 there came another plague, probably smallpox , "which raged to such an extent as to nearly exterminate

3567-483: The area. Otherwise, the area was mostly used as grazing and farmland. It was once known as the "Stinted Pasture" or "Cow Commons", as early settlers of Charlestown had the right to pasture a certain number of cows in the area. John Winthrop , the first colonial governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony , was granted 600 acres (240 hectares) of land in the area in 1631. Named for the ten small knolls located on

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3654-529: The brickyards and on the railroad. At the same time, older residents of East Boston and Charlestown moved to Somerville to seek a more bucolic setting than that of more densely populated areas. They also worked to maintain political control over immigrant groups, using slogans such as "Keep Somerville Republican" and establishing a local branch of the anti-Catholic American Protective Association . Between 1915 and 1930 population growth slowed slightly as Somerville's industries consolidated rather than expanded, and

3741-439: The cities of Cambridge , Medford , Everett , Arlington and the Boston neighborhood of Charlestown . It is located on the west bank of the Mystic River . Millennia ago, glaciation left a series of drumlins running west to east across the landscape of what would become Somerville. These ridges would later become known as the "Seven Hills" of Somerville (like many other cities claiming to be built on seven hills, following

3828-458: The city has a density of 19,671/sq mi (7,595/km ), making it the most densely populated municipality in New England and the 19th most densely populated incorporated municipality in the country . Somerville was established as a town in 1842, when it was separated from Charlestown . In 2006, the city was named the best-run city in Massachusetts by The Boston Globe . In 1972, 2009, and 2015,

3915-421: The city of Somerville and its neighboring cities of Boston and Cambridge has created an underlying tension between residents that has persisted for multiple generations. Due to Somerville's proximity to various institutions of higher education , the city has a constant influx of college students and young professionals, who reside in sections near Cambridge where Harvard University , Lesley University , and

4002-404: The city over $ 1 million in annual taxes, were gone. By the late 1970s, Somerville was losing population, revenue and jobs. Somerville also has a history of racial tension. It only hired its first black police officer, a person named Francis Moore, in 1974. Moore subsequently won a suit charging that the police department was "blatantly discriminatory" against him, including an episode in which he

4089-626: The city received the All-America City Award . It is home to Tufts University , which has its campus along the Somerville and Medford border. Tufts, alongside Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology , makes up one corner of the Brain Power Triangle, which thus includes the city of Somerville. The area that would become Somerville was inhabited for thousands of years prior to European colonization , with multiple archaeological sites indicating habitation in

4176-567: The city. Almost thirty years after passenger rail service to Somerville was halted, the Red Line Northwest Extension reached Davis Square in 1984. The city and community used the creation of the new station as a catalyst for revitalizing the faded square, promoting new commercial development and sponsoring other physical and infrastructural improvements. However, when the new transit station opened, business around Davis Square did not immediately thrive. The number of retail stores in

4263-677: The coast as far as present day Peabody , then inland up to the southern border of the Merrimack River . The Agawam people were situated to the north & east from Cape Ann to Plum Island . In 1639, the Squaw Sachem deeded large tracts of land to the young settlements of Newtowne (later Cambridge ) and Charlestown , an area encompassing the present day towns and cities of Cambridge , Newton , Lexington , Brighton , Arlington , Charlestown , Malden , Medford , Melrose , Everett , Woburn , Burlington , Winchester , Wilmington , Stoneham , Somerville , Reading , and Wakefield . In

4350-521: The early to mid-1800s factored significantly in the growth of a more urban residential form and Somerville's incorporation as a City in 1872. These improvements included the opening of the Middlesex Canal through Somerville in 1803, various turnpikes such as Medford and Beacon streets, built during the 1810s and 1820s, and especially the introduction of rail lines. In 1841, the Fitchburg Railroad

4437-431: The end of the last Ice Age , about 11,700 years ago. Paleoamerican remains in nearby Winthrop, Massachusetts and Merrimack, New Hampshire have been radiocarbon dated to 10,210±60 and 10,600 years ago, respectively. Sea level rise due to the melting of continental ice sheets and disruption of soil layers from extensive development in the Boston area limit the earliest confirmed settlements within Naumkeag territory to

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4524-512: The first time. Despite the growth, however, discontent was growing steadily outside the "neck". The area's rural farmers paid taxes to the local government in Charlestown, but received little in return. By 1842, the area had no churches, few schools, no taverns, and suffered from poor and impassable roads. For many years after the Revolution the two parts of Charlestown styled "within" and "without

4611-578: The harbor had tremendous strategic value and the fortress became known as the "Citadel". Originally occupied by just 400 men, Prospect Hill became a primary encampment for American forces after General Israel Putnam 's retreat from the Battle of Bunker Hill . It is believed that on January 1, 1776, the Grand Union Flag flew for the first time at the Citadel, the first official raising of an American flag. With

4698-517: The intercession of John Eliot , where he joined some remaining family members in Natick, but died later the same year, leaving his lands to a maternal kinsman James Quonopohit a.k.a. James Rumney Marsh, though by this time most of the hereditary territory of the sachem was occupied by English settlers. James Quonopohit or Rumney Marsh was a maternal kinsman of Wenepoykin living in the Natick praying town at

4785-445: The large scale retail and highway access of Assembly Square . This spatial allocation is directly related to the early influence of rail and streetcar systems which caused economic activity to occur at stops. The other key factor in the creation of commercial squares is the area's topography. The numerous hills making up Somerville's landscape determined where road networks would allow neighborhood commercial development. Somerville has

4872-595: The late 1960s. In 1970, the state authorized rent control in municipalities with more than 50,000 residents. Somerville, Lynn, Brookline, and Cambridge subsequently adopted rent control. Rent control was repealed statewide in 1994 via ballot initiative. At the time, only Boston, Cambridge, and Brookline had rent control measures in place. Industry slowly moved outward to the metropolitan fringes, encouraged by highway access and cheap, undeveloped land. The Ford Motor Plant in Assembly Square , which had been one of

4959-457: The matter was held November 22 in the Prospect Hill school house. A petition was accordingly drawn up and signed by Guy C. Hawkins and 151 others, and a committee deputed to further its passage through the legislature, then in session. A bill incorporating a new town was signed by the governor on March 3, 1842. The original choice for the city's new name, after breaking away from Charlestown,

5046-439: The mid-1870s meat packing plants were the primary employers and profit centers of the community. The Late Industrial Period (1870–1915) was a time of phenomenal growth for Somerville in all spheres including civic and commercial ventures. Infrastructure such as rail, water lines, telegraph and electricity were established and connected to surrounding towns. The population soared from 15,000 to 90,000. While brickmaking had taken

5133-524: The military governor of Massachusetts in May 1774, was charged with enforcement of the highly unpopular Intolerable Acts , which British Parliament had passed in response to the Boston Tea Party . Seeking to prevent the outbreak of war, he believed that the best way to accomplish this was by secretly removing military stores from storehouses and arsenals in New England . Just after dawn on September 1, 1774,

5220-464: The name of their current sachem or sagamore. Although the term Naumkeag refers to the pre-colonial settlement at present day Salem, the territory this polity controlled was much larger, as attested by the number of towns in Massachusetts that received deeds from Naumkeag sachems and their descendants, stretching from the northern border of the Charles River through the Mystic River watershed, up

5307-479: The neck" were nearly equal in population; the former had by this time completely outstripped the latter. With this growth of population and trade came the need of city institutions, and consequently greater expenses were involved. Therefore, the rural part of Charlestown found itself contributing to the paving of the streets, the maintenance of a night watch, to the building of engine houses, and various other improvements from which they derived little benefit. In 1828,

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5394-462: The north under the bashabes (chief of chiefs) of the Penobscot , with a separate culture and government from the Massachusett to the south of the Charles River. At this time the Naumkeag were under the leadership of Nanepashemet . At the time of the Great Migration to New England in the early 17th century, the Naumkeag population was already greatly depleted from disease and war. They engaged in

5481-494: The other communities immediately surrounding Somerville—led to a new surge in the demand for housing. Additionally, the end of rent control in Cambridge coincided with the economic recovery in 1995, increasing demand for Somerville's affordable housing options. The city also had a very high car theft rate, once being the car theft capital of the country, and its Assembly Square area was especially infamous for this. However, after

5568-564: The period's most important enterprises were meat packing, dairy processing, ice and food distribution. In 1920, 73% of meatpacking in Massachusetts occurred in Somerville. Construction of the McGrath Highway in 1925 marked the turning point of Somerville as an industrial city, which accelerated when the Ford Motor Company built a plant in Assembly Square in 1926. In the years that followed, Somerville would see itself transformed into

5655-404: The population of the city overall, as seen in the table. Tensions between long-time residents/families and recent arrivals exist (often referred to as “yuppies”), with many of the former accusing the latter of ignoring problems such as drugs and gang violence. Incidents such as anti-" yuppie " graffiti , appearing around town in 2005, highlighting this rift. The economic and cultural clash between

5742-567: The property, Ten Hills Farm extended from the Cradock Bridge in present-day Medford Square to Convent Hill in East Somerville . Winthrop lived, planted, and raised cattle on the farm. It is also where he launched the first ship in Massachusetts, the " Blessing of the Bay ". Built for trading purposes in the early 1630s, it was soon armed for use as a patrol boat for the New England coast. It is seen as

5829-411: The public green at Gilman Square was surrounded by multiple four-story commercial buildings. Retail development and banking facilities also spread. During this time of industrial prosperity, continuing through World War II, the city of Somerville reached its population apex at 105,883 residents in 1940. The building boom continued until the 1940s, creating the dense residential fabric the "city of homes"

5916-542: The raid on the Powder House, the colonists took action to conceal arms and munitions of war in Concord . When General Gage found out, he was resolved to take the powder by force if necessary. The Americans learned that the British intended to start for Concord on April 18, 1775, and couriers Paul Revere and William Dawes set out on their famous ride to warn the farmers and militiamen in between Boston and Concord, including Sam Adams and John Hancock . That night, he set out from

6003-486: The region's largest employers, closed its doors in 1958 with severe consequences for the local economy. From the late 1950s through the early 1970s, Finast Supermarkets used the building that had earlier housed the Ford assembly plant on Middlesex Avenue, but in 1976 it too closed its doors. By 1976, Assembly Square was becoming a ghost town: Finast Stores, the Boston and Maine Railroad , and Ford Motor Company, which had each paid

6090-638: The same year, following the restoration of the English monarchy , the charter of the Massachusetts Bay Colony was revoked in the formation of the Dominion of New England . This put a number of established New England settlements in a difficult position to justify their right to occupy land that had been granted under a now invalid charter, and created an opportunity for Quonopohit and his kin to seek payment for their traditional territory. They presented their claims to rightful ownership and were eventually paid for deeds to

6177-480: The scuffle while standing his ground against the British. He was shot thirteen times after famously telling a retreating colleague, "I am too old to run." Somerville occupied a conspicuous position during the entire Siege of Boston , which lasted nine months, and Prospect Hill became the central position of the Continental Army's chain of emplacements north of Boston. Its height and commanding view of Boston and

6264-492: The settlement Naumkeag was only one of a group of politically connected settlements in the early 1600s under the control of the sachem Nanepashemet and his wife the Squaw Sachem and their descendants. Although referred to in this article as Naumkeag, confusion exists about the proper contemporary endonym for this people, who are variously referred to in European documents as Naumkeag, Pawtucket , Penticut, Mystic, or Wamesit, or by

6351-523: The settlement at Menotomy (present-day Arlington ). Initially bordered by farmsteads, Broadway would come into its own as a commercial thoroughfare after horse-drawn trolleys were introduced to the highway in 1858. Somerville was home to one of the first hostile acts of the American Revolutionary War . The removal of gunpowder by British soldiers from a powder magazine in 1774, and the massive popular reaction that ensued, are considered to be

6438-683: The settler's legal system were largely ineffective. During the next two decades, the size of the group further declined as the British Long Parliament and the Massachusetts General Court worked to relocate Native Americans into Praying Towns such as Natick, Massachusetts , drawing some converts from within Weyepoykin's family. In 1675, Wenepoykin and some of the remaining Naumkeag joined Metacomet in King Philip's War , which

6525-434: The site of the present day Holiday Inn on Washington Street. Revere wrote "nearly opposite where Mark was hung in chains, I saw two men on Horse back, under a Tree", which he then realized were two British officers stationed on Washington Street. They immediately pursued him, and Revere galloped up Broadway towards Winter Hill and eventually eluded them. His warning gave the militia enough time to prepare for battle, and launch

6612-517: The time the sachem entrusted him with title to Naumkeag lands in 1684. By the time Quonopohit received this inheritance, there were many more European settlers living in Naumkeag territories than Naumkeag, many of whom had relocated to Natick as praying Indians, been killed in King Philip's War , fled north to join the burgeoning Wabenaki Confederacy , or been sold into slavery in Barbados. However, in June of

6699-433: The town, including the tracts which eventually became Tufts University . She was the daughter of Peter and Anne Tufts. Their daughter, Sarah Ann Adams, married John C. Magoun (1797–1882), for whom Magoun Square is named. Magoun was a local assessor , served on the school committee as an overseer of the poor, and was a captain in the militia . At the time of Adams' marriage to Magoun, the farm extended from Broadway to

6786-580: The tribe." This epidemic killed both Montowampate and Wonohaquaham, leaving the Squaw Sachem and Wenepoykin in control of the area from modern day Chelsea to Lowell to Salem . Although he survived the pandemic, after 1633, Wenepoykin or Sagamore George Rumney Marsh became known as "George No Nose" due to disfigurement from smallpox. When the Squaw Sachem died in roughly 1650, Wenepoykin became sole sachem of territory extending from present day Winthrop to Malden to North Reading to Lynn or even Salem, however his attempts to assert his claim to these lands through

6873-499: Was Walford, after the first settler of Charlestown, Thomas Walford. However, this name was not adopted by the separation committee. Charles Miller, a member of this committee, proposed the name "Somerville", which was ultimately chosen. It was not derived from any one person's name, and a report commissioned by the Somerville Historical Society found that Somerville was a "purely fanciful name". Before Somerville became

6960-521: Was a stark turning point in the history of Native Americans in New England, and for the Naumkeag in particular. Wenepoykin was taken captive the next year in 1676 and sold into slavery in Barbados . During this same time, over 1000 nonbelligerent Praying Indians, some of them originally Naumkeag, were interned on Deer Island but only 167 survived to return to Praying Towns. After 8 years of slavery in Barbados, Wenepoykin returned to Massachusetts in 1684 through

7047-613: Was at hand. Thousands of militiamen began streaming toward Boston and Cambridge , and mob action forced Loyalists and some government officials to flee to the protection of the British Army . This action provided a "dress rehearsal" for the Battles of Lexington and Concord seven months later in the famous "shot heard 'round the world", and inflamed already heated feelings on both sides, spurring actions by both British and American forces to remove powder and cannon to secure locations. After

7134-461: Was built between Boston and Fresh Pond in Cambridge, paralleling the route of Somerville Avenue. This led to the establishment of industries along its path. Soon after, in 1843 the Fitchburg Railroad commenced passenger service and enabled residential development along the southern slopes of Prospect and Spring hills. By the early 1840s, the population of present-day Somerville topped 1,000 for

7221-589: Was discontinued at the city's eight railway stations, one by one. Passenger rail service along the Fitchburg and Lowell lines had been declining for some time, and stations such as the Winter Hill station at Gilman Square were removed as early as the late 1940s. Passenger rail service stopped altogether by 1958. The number of cars on Somerville's streets continued to rise, and road construction projects proliferated. The Alewife Brook Parkway , Mystic Valley Parkway and

7308-469: Was due in part to improvements in pre-existing transportation lines, as well as a new rail line, the Lexington and Arlington Railroad , introduced through Davis Square in 1870. At its height, Somerville was served by eight passenger rail stations. Somerville's buoyant economy during this period was tied to industries that tended to locate at the periphery of the residential core, near freight rail corridors. By

7395-461: Was known as the "Road to Newtowne" (renamed Cambridge in 1638). During the 1700s and early 1800s Somerville Avenue was "Milk Row," a route favored by Middlesex County dairy farmers as the best way to get to the markets of Charlestown and Boston. Laid out in 1636, Broadway was likely the second highway built in the area. Originally called "Menotomie's Road", it ran from the Charlestown Neck to

7482-461: Was told to patrol the East Somerville neighborhood of Glen Park at night without his issued firearm , night stick, Mace, or communication devices. Moore's name had been written on a barrel in the neighborhood and used for target practice by local youth. In the last years of the 20th century, the situation in Somerville stabilized and growth returned—first to West Somerville, and then the rest of

7569-485: Was used primarily as grazing commons and small farms. After the proliferation of the railroads in the area during the mid-1800s, industrialization transformed the landscape. In the 1800s, the Millers River was used as a sewer and dumping ground for local industry and would be ordered filled by the Commonwealth before the end of the century, for health reasons. As a result of landfill and the elimination of former Cobble Hill,

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