Inman Square
Encyclopedia
Inman Square is a neighborhood in Cambridge, Massachusetts
. It lies north of Central Square
, at the junction of Cambridge, Hampshire, and Inman Streets near the Cambridge–Somerville
border.
, Inman Square refers both to an intersection and to a retail district and neighborhood. Current residents of the area seem to converge on a broad definition of Inman Square as the region centered on the intersection of Cambridge and Hampshire Streets.
Geologically, the area is part of the larger Boston Basin and attaches to the relative lowland known as the Cambridge plain. Originally, the land was both flat and surrounded by an irregular, swampy region that formed a natural boundary. Situated a short walk east of Harvard Square
, north of Central Square
, south of Union Square
, and west of Lechmere (also known as East Cambridge
), Inman Square is fairly centralized within the Mid-Cambridge/Somerville area. Hampshire Street connects it with Porter Square
to the northwest and Kendall Square
to the southeast.
(1713–1788), described as a gentleman of fortune and a Boston merchant. The details of his life can be pieced together from articles in the New England and Genealogical Register, vols. 12, 14, 25, 26, 30, 55, 84, 112, and 136, as well as numerous other sources. He had extensive business interests along the Boston wharf and with Thomas Sodden owned 400 acres (1.6 km²) making up "what is now the Port."
Inman also owned a "large, three-story rambling mansion" in a "little genteel Town about 4 Miles off (from Boston) calld Cambridge, where a number of Gentlemen's Families live upon their Estates." This included the Brattles, after whom Brattle Square was named.
During the American Revolutionary War
, in 1775, American general Israel Putnam
took over Inman's house as his headquarters. Inman was intent on remaining neutral in the war, but his intentions went for naught when his son joined the British Army
, causing authorities to begin confiscating his property. He fled, leaving Mrs. Inman to deal with General Putnam. He apparently recovered from this, because he was at home again in Cambridge after the war.
Inman's wife, his second, was a business woman in her own right. She owned the sugar warehouse in Boston that the British troops took over as a barracks when they came to settle the unrest in Boston. It was from there that they marched to the Battles of Lexington and Concord
.
An extensive description of the house is given in NE & GR, July 1871, vol. 25, page 232. "On the Inman street side" and "looking toward Boston road" are mentioned. It was "the first object of any interest in approaching the colleges from Boston ..." At the time of the description, 6 acres (24,281.2 m²) were still attached to it. Inman died there in 1788. His wife predeceased him.
Inman Square's origins lie in the growth of East Cambridge
, starting at around 1790, when a group of financiers led by Andrew Craigie began buying up land around Lechmere Point, home to present-day CambridgeSide Galleria
shopping mall, in an effort to build a toll bridge
over the Charles River
. After Craigie's bridge was built, he constructed roads from the Lechmere area that had been laid out with a gridwork of streets. One of these roads was the Middlesex Turnpike
, the present-day Hampshire Street, which connected Cambridge with Lowell and Boston, bringing regional traffic through the area. Craigie also laid out Cambridge Street, which would intersect with Hampshire, producing Inman Square in 1809.
By the 1860s, horse carts were common in the area and contributed to dwellings popping up along their routes. By 1900, full streetcar service was in the area, led by the Charles River Street Railway, which built its first railway through Inman Square in 1881. By 1874 the region was an urban center called both "Atwood's Corner" and "Inman Square." This ambiguity was fixed a year later in a petition that would make official the Inman Square moniker.
After transportation brought people and commerce to the region, a new era of stability overtook Inman Square. From 1910 up until the early 1950s, streetcar, automobile, and foot traffic shuffled people to and from the square where architectural instead of transportation construction was taking place. During this period commercial dwellings popped up to service the local community: drugstore
s, tavern
s, markets, bakeries, delis, and an insurance company were among the many stores that called Inman Square home.
After the streetcars left Cambridge Street around 1950 the square became "just a little bit out of the way" yet remained "around the corner from Harvard, Central, Kendall and Lechmere." Even though there is not direct rapid transit, three MBTA bus lines (69, 83, 91) stop in the square, making it accessible by mass transit. Post-streetcar visitors still regularly frequent the area's restaurant and entertainment attractions.
and Harvard. Inman Square also has strong Brazil
ian and Portuguese
influences, as can be seen in the storefronts lining Cambridge Street, especially to the east of Prospect Street.
The regional restaurant chain Legal Sea Foods
began in Inman Square in 1950 as a fish market that also did a takeout business. Legal Sea Foods grew to a chain of 31 restaurants, including some in Kendall Square
and Copley Square
in Boston
), as well as in suburbs and cities throughout the region. After the original Legal Sea Foods burned in a fire, it was rebuilt and became Rosie's Bakery.
From the 1960s through the late 1970s, next to Legal Seafoods one could find the home of the improvisational troupe The Proposition. Alumni of the troupe include actor Josh Mostel
and original Saturday Night Live
cast member Jane Curtin
. Later in the 1980s, at the Ding Ho restaurant on Springfield Street (where Ole Mexican Grill is presently located), such comedians as Steven Wright
, Jimmy Tingle
, Bobcat Goldthwait
, and club founder Barry Crimmins got their start. Most, including future Tonight Show host Jay Leno
, began by performing between sets of musical acts at the "Ding", as it was known to locals. Leno's first stage appearance took place there between sets of JT's Mardi Gras Band and the Lawnchair Ladies.
Boston's oldest continuously operating improvisational theater troupe, ImprovBoston
, has recently moved from its longtime home in Inman square to nearby Central square on Prospect street. ImprovBoston alumni include Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!
panelist Adam Felber
.
Inman Square was also home to the Center for New Words (originally the New Words Bookstore), one of the oldest and longest-running women's bookstores in the country. Located at 186 Hampshire Street, it closed its retail business in the early 2000s.
Meanwhile, from 2003 to early 2006, the Zeitgeist Gallery resided at 1353 Cambridge Street, after a fire drove it from its former home at the corner of Norfolk Street and Broadway. Run by a group of artists, musicians and activists, it was a focal point for art, music and community activism, and fostered avant garde, experimental and underground work.
It was evicted by its landlord in a hostile takeover in early 2006. A related space called Zeitgeist Outpost or Outpost 186, opened by former Zeitgeist volunteers, is now on the other side of Inman Square.
It is, in fact, in the former New Words back room, where the women's bookstore once held poetry readings, author presentations and acoustic concerts. The Zeitgeist's former landlord went on to open a more upscale jazz nightclub in his building, called the Lilypad.
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
. It lies north of Central Square
Central Square (Cambridge)
Central Square is an area in Cambridge, Massachusetts centered on the junction of Massachusetts Avenue, Prospect Street and Western Avenue. , formed by the junction of Massachusetts Avenue, Columbia Street, Sidney Street and Main Street, is also considered a part of the Central Square area...
, at the junction of Cambridge, Hampshire, and Inman Streets near the Cambridge–Somerville
Somerville, Massachusetts
Somerville is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, located just north of Boston. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 75,754 and was the most densely populated municipality in New England. It is also the 17th most densely populated incorporated place in...
border.
Location
Like many squares in the Boston areaGreater Boston
Greater Boston is the area of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts surrounding the city of Boston. Due to ambiguity in usage, the size of the area referred to can be anywhere between that of the metropolitan statistical area of Boston and that of the city's combined statistical area which includes...
, Inman Square refers both to an intersection and to a retail district and neighborhood. Current residents of the area seem to converge on a broad definition of Inman Square as the region centered on the intersection of Cambridge and Hampshire Streets.
Geologically, the area is part of the larger Boston Basin and attaches to the relative lowland known as the Cambridge plain. Originally, the land was both flat and surrounded by an irregular, swampy region that formed a natural boundary. Situated a short walk east of Harvard Square
Harvard Square
Harvard Square is a large triangular area in the center of Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue, Brattle Street, and John F. Kennedy Street. It is the historic center of Cambridge...
, north of Central Square
Central Square (Cambridge)
Central Square is an area in Cambridge, Massachusetts centered on the junction of Massachusetts Avenue, Prospect Street and Western Avenue. , formed by the junction of Massachusetts Avenue, Columbia Street, Sidney Street and Main Street, is also considered a part of the Central Square area...
, south of Union Square
Union Square (Somerville)
Union Square is a neighborhood of Somerville, Massachusetts, located around the intersection of Washington Street and Somerville Avenue, about half a mile from Inman Square in neighboring Cambridge. The name "Union Square" comes from the square having been used as a recruitment and mustering site...
, and west of Lechmere (also known as East Cambridge
East Cambridge, Massachusetts
East Cambridge is a neighborhood of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Referred to as Area 1, East Cambridge is bounded by the Charles River on the East, the Somerville border on the North, Broadway and Main Street on the South, and the railroad tracks on the West...
), Inman Square is fairly centralized within the Mid-Cambridge/Somerville area. Hampshire Street connects it with Porter Square
Porter Square
Porter Square is a neighborhood in Cambridge and Somerville, Massachusetts in the USA, located around the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Somerville Avenue, between Harvard and Davis Squares...
to the northwest and Kendall Square
Kendall Square
Kendall Square is a neighborhood in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with the "square" itself at the intersection of Main Street, Broadway, Wadsworth Street, and Third Street...
to the southeast.
History
Inman Square likely owes its name to Ralph InmanRalph Inman
Ralph Inman was a merchant in 18th-century Boston, Massachusetts, with a residence in Cambridge. During the American Revolution he supported the British.Portraits of Inman were made by Robert Feke and John Singleton Copley.-Further reading:...
(1713–1788), described as a gentleman of fortune and a Boston merchant. The details of his life can be pieced together from articles in the New England and Genealogical Register, vols. 12, 14, 25, 26, 30, 55, 84, 112, and 136, as well as numerous other sources. He had extensive business interests along the Boston wharf and with Thomas Sodden owned 400 acres (1.6 km²) making up "what is now the Port."
Inman also owned a "large, three-story rambling mansion" in a "little genteel Town about 4 Miles off (from Boston) calld Cambridge, where a number of Gentlemen's Families live upon their Estates." This included the Brattles, after whom Brattle Square was named.
During the American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
, in 1775, American general Israel Putnam
Israel Putnam
Israel Putnam was an American army general and Freemason who fought with distinction at the Battle of Bunker Hill during the American Revolutionary War...
took over Inman's house as his headquarters. Inman was intent on remaining neutral in the war, but his intentions went for naught when his son joined the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
, causing authorities to begin confiscating his property. He fled, leaving Mrs. Inman to deal with General Putnam. He apparently recovered from this, because he was at home again in Cambridge after the war.
Inman's wife, his second, was a business woman in her own right. She owned the sugar warehouse in Boston that the British troops took over as a barracks when they came to settle the unrest in Boston. It was from there that they marched to the Battles of Lexington and Concord
Battles of Lexington and Concord
The Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War. They were fought on April 19, 1775, in Middlesex County, Province of Massachusetts Bay, within the towns of Lexington, Concord, Lincoln, Menotomy , and Cambridge, near Boston...
.
An extensive description of the house is given in NE & GR, July 1871, vol. 25, page 232. "On the Inman street side" and "looking toward Boston road" are mentioned. It was "the first object of any interest in approaching the colleges from Boston ..." At the time of the description, 6 acres (24,281.2 m²) were still attached to it. Inman died there in 1788. His wife predeceased him.
Inman Square's origins lie in the growth of East Cambridge
East Cambridge, Massachusetts
East Cambridge is a neighborhood of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Referred to as Area 1, East Cambridge is bounded by the Charles River on the East, the Somerville border on the North, Broadway and Main Street on the South, and the railroad tracks on the West...
, starting at around 1790, when a group of financiers led by Andrew Craigie began buying up land around Lechmere Point, home to present-day CambridgeSide Galleria
CambridgeSide Galleria
The CambridgeSide Galleria is a mall located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that opened in 1990. The original anchor stores were Sears, Filene's and Lechmere. Lechmere closed in 1997 and it was divided into what is now Best Buy and Borders, with a portion later used by Filene's for their housewares...
shopping mall, in an effort to build a toll bridge
Toll bridge
A toll bridge is a bridge over which traffic may pass upon payment of a toll, or fee.- History :The practice of collecting tolls on bridges probably harks back to the days of ferry crossings where people paid a fee to be ferried across stretches of water. As boats became impractical to carry large...
over the Charles River
Charles River
The Charles River is an long river that flows in an overall northeasterly direction in eastern Massachusetts, USA. From its source in Hopkinton, the river travels through 22 cities and towns until reaching the Atlantic Ocean at Boston...
. After Craigie's bridge was built, he constructed roads from the Lechmere area that had been laid out with a gridwork of streets. One of these roads was the Middlesex Turnpike
Middlesex Turnpike (Massachusetts)
The Middlesex Turnpike was an early turnpike between Cambridge and Tyngsborough, Massachusetts and the New Hampshire border, where it connected with the Amherst Turnpike and thence Nashua and Claremont, New Hampshire....
, the present-day Hampshire Street, which connected Cambridge with Lowell and Boston, bringing regional traffic through the area. Craigie also laid out Cambridge Street, which would intersect with Hampshire, producing Inman Square in 1809.
By the 1860s, horse carts were common in the area and contributed to dwellings popping up along their routes. By 1900, full streetcar service was in the area, led by the Charles River Street Railway, which built its first railway through Inman Square in 1881. By 1874 the region was an urban center called both "Atwood's Corner" and "Inman Square." This ambiguity was fixed a year later in a petition that would make official the Inman Square moniker.
After transportation brought people and commerce to the region, a new era of stability overtook Inman Square. From 1910 up until the early 1950s, streetcar, automobile, and foot traffic shuffled people to and from the square where architectural instead of transportation construction was taking place. During this period commercial dwellings popped up to service the local community: drugstore
Pharmacy
Pharmacy is the health profession that links the health sciences with the chemical sciences and it is charged with ensuring the safe and effective use of pharmaceutical drugs...
s, tavern
Tavern
A tavern is a place of business where people gather to drink alcoholic beverages and be served food, and in some cases, where travelers receive lodging....
s, markets, bakeries, delis, and an insurance company were among the many stores that called Inman Square home.
After the streetcars left Cambridge Street around 1950 the square became "just a little bit out of the way" yet remained "around the corner from Harvard, Central, Kendall and Lechmere." Even though there is not direct rapid transit, three MBTA bus lines (69, 83, 91) stop in the square, making it accessible by mass transit. Post-streetcar visitors still regularly frequent the area's restaurant and entertainment attractions.
2000s
In the 2000s, Inman Square is a culturally diverse neighborhood, home to professionals, working people, and students and professors from neighboring MITMassachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
and Harvard. Inman Square also has strong Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
ian and Portuguese
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
influences, as can be seen in the storefronts lining Cambridge Street, especially to the east of Prospect Street.
The regional restaurant chain Legal Sea Foods
Legal Sea Foods
Legal Sea Foods is a Boston-based seafood restaurant group, with locations along the Eastern Seaboard. Besides Massachusetts, there are also locations in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Washington, DC, as well as in Warwick, RI, Boca Raton, FL and Atlanta, GA.-History:It was...
began in Inman Square in 1950 as a fish market that also did a takeout business. Legal Sea Foods grew to a chain of 31 restaurants, including some in Kendall Square
Kendall Square
Kendall Square is a neighborhood in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with the "square" itself at the intersection of Main Street, Broadway, Wadsworth Street, and Third Street...
and Copley Square
Copley Square
Copley Square is a public square located in the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, named for the donor of the land on which it was developed. The square is named for John Singleton Copley, a famous portrait painter of the late 18th century and native of Boston. A bronze statue of...
in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
), as well as in suburbs and cities throughout the region. After the original Legal Sea Foods burned in a fire, it was rebuilt and became Rosie's Bakery.
From the 1960s through the late 1970s, next to Legal Seafoods one could find the home of the improvisational troupe The Proposition. Alumni of the troupe include actor Josh Mostel
Josh Mostel
Joshua "Josh" Mostel is an American actor who is best known for his roles in Jesus Christ Superstar and two Adam Sandler films .-Life and career:...
and original Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
cast member Jane Curtin
Jane Curtin
Jane Therese Curtin is an American actress and comedienne. She is commonly referred to as Queen of the Deadpan.First coming to prominence as an original cast member on Saturday Night Live in 1975, she went on to win back-to-back Emmy Awards for Best Lead Actress in a Comedy Series on the 1980s...
. Later in the 1980s, at the Ding Ho restaurant on Springfield Street (where Ole Mexican Grill is presently located), such comedians as Steven Wright
Steven Wright
Steven Alexander Wright is an American comedian, actor and writer. He is known for his distinctly lethargic voice and slow, deadpan delivery of ironic, philosophical and sometimes nonsensical jokes and one-liners with contrived situations.-Early life and career:Wright was born in Mount Auburn...
, Jimmy Tingle
Jimmy Tingle
Jimmy Tingle is an American comic and occasional actor.-Life and career:Tingle was the American correspondent for Sir David Frost’s show for PBS and the BBC, The Strategic Humor Initiative. He completed two seasons with 60 Minutes II on CBS as the humorist / commentator in the Andy Rooney spot...
, Bobcat Goldthwait
Bobcat Goldthwait
Robert Francis "Bobcat" Goldthwait is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, and film and television director. He is commonly known for his energetic, ravenous stage personality, his dark, acerbic black comedy, and his gruff but high-pitched voice.- Early life :Goldthwait was born in Syracuse,...
, and club founder Barry Crimmins got their start. Most, including future Tonight Show host Jay Leno
Jay Leno
James Douglas Muir "Jay" Leno is an American stand-up comedian and television host.From 1992 to 2009, Leno was the host of NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Beginning in September 2009, Leno started a primetime talk show, titled The Jay Leno Show, which aired weeknights at 10:00 p.m. ,...
, began by performing between sets of musical acts at the "Ding", as it was known to locals. Leno's first stage appearance took place there between sets of JT's Mardi Gras Band and the Lawnchair Ladies.
Boston's oldest continuously operating improvisational theater troupe, ImprovBoston
ImprovBoston
ImprovBoston is a nonprofit improvisational theater, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It offers shows five nights per week at its theater in Central Square and training programs in improvisation, stand-up comedy and sketchwriting....
, has recently moved from its longtime home in Inman square to nearby Central square on Prospect street. ImprovBoston alumni include Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!
Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!
Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! is an hour-long weekly radio news panel game show produced by Chicago Public Radio and National Public Radio. It is distributed by NPR in the United States, internationally on NPR Worldwide and on the Internet via podcast, and typically broadcast on weekends by member...
panelist Adam Felber
Adam Felber
Adam Felber is an American political satirist, author, radio personality, actor, humorist, novelist, television writer, and comic book writer.Felber attended Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, and graduated as an English major in 1989...
.
Inman Square was also home to the Center for New Words (originally the New Words Bookstore), one of the oldest and longest-running women's bookstores in the country. Located at 186 Hampshire Street, it closed its retail business in the early 2000s.
Meanwhile, from 2003 to early 2006, the Zeitgeist Gallery resided at 1353 Cambridge Street, after a fire drove it from its former home at the corner of Norfolk Street and Broadway. Run by a group of artists, musicians and activists, it was a focal point for art, music and community activism, and fostered avant garde, experimental and underground work.
It was evicted by its landlord in a hostile takeover in early 2006. A related space called Zeitgeist Outpost or Outpost 186, opened by former Zeitgeist volunteers, is now on the other side of Inman Square.
It is, in fact, in the former New Words back room, where the women's bookstore once held poetry readings, author presentations and acoustic concerts. The Zeitgeist's former landlord went on to open a more upscale jazz nightclub in his building, called the Lilypad.