Early Buildings

Early Buildings is a Massachusetts historical marker in Cambridge, Middlesex County, dedicated 1930.

Massachusetts Avenue and Dunster Street, Cambridge · location approximate

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Two blocks south stood the house built in 1631 by Governor Thomas Dudley and later occupied by Herbert Pelham, first treasurer of Harvard College. At the corner of Dunster and Mount Auburn Streets stood the first meetinghouse, where Thomas Hooker and Thomas Shepard preached.

1930 text, presented as a historical document.

TodayHistorical map

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

Historical maps covering this location

1677 · A map of New England (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1833 · Map of Boston and its vicinity from actual surveys (Digital Commonwealth, Boston Public Library)
1852 · Boston and vicinity. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1888 · Boston. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1890 · 31. Boston sheet. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)

A map of New England, 1677, covering the location of Early Buildings, with a pin at the marker's coordinates — A map of New England, 1677, covering this location. David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries. The pin is ours and the location is approximate.

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What that marker records spans 1777 to 1789, overlapping William Gabby's years there.

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The marker isn't at this spotOur pin may be off. If you know where it stands, tell us.I couldn't find the markerWe record what the source recorded. We have not been to look.The sign reads differentlyExpected here. This page shows the older published text, and some signs were recast later. Telling us still helps.The historical map looks wrongThe period map behind the pin, not the marker itself.Something else

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Marker data: Massachusetts Bay Colony Tercentenary Commission, 1930 (Commonwealth of Massachusetts)

More markers nearby

On the National Register nearby

Places within about 300 feet of this marker that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. A nearby listing is not always the marker's own subject.