East Cambridge
East Cambridge was opened for development in 1809, when the Canal Bridge, adjacent to the present
Museum of Science, was completed. The area was the city's major industrial center until the 1880s. Furniture and glass factories were among the industries attracted to East Cambridge by cheap land, water transportation, and close proximity to Boston.
The devastating potato blight that struck Ireland in 1845 caused many of that country's rural population to flee. Thousands landed in Boston and Cambridge, destitute and without resources. They developed a close-knit community, centered on and supported by the Catholic church. Around the turn of the twentieth century, immigrants from Italy, Poland, and Portugal began to arrive in the city, settling primarily in
Cambridgeport and East Cambridge. Today there also Brazilian residents to add to the mix of this working-class neighborhood. There are a lot of mom and pop shops in East Cambridge, along with the
Cambridgeside Galleria.
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