Recollections and Reminiscences

The Crimson collected reminisecences from a few well-known Cantabrigians and added a few words of praise for the city from some older citizens.

"When I was about five years old, Mom and Dad took me to see William Dawes ride through Cambridge Common on Patriots Day. My dad, a history teacher, gave me a history lesson all the way in. And when I got there, after all that buildup, Dawes came galloping up and reached down and shook my hand, which made a very great impression on a five year old girl." --Ann Roosevelt   chairman, Cambridge 350

"I remember back before World War II, in a restaurant near Leavitt and Pierce, when you used to be able to get the best hamburger in the Boston area and a cup of coffee for a quarter."   --Lewis Armistead   Harvard community relations

In March 1972, when I was working for George McGovern and a student at MIT, I wanted to vote in the Massachusetts primary. In those days, students didn't vote in Cambridge so I had to go before the election commission. And they asked all the usual questions--"Where does your girlfriend live? Where is your car registered?" They finally told me to go home, and that I didn't live in Cambridge.   --David Sullivan   city councilor

"Yale 29, Harvard 29."   --Bob Moncrieff   former city councilor

"When I was a kid, I used to go up to the Harvard Commencement, pick up all of the Coke bottles that were strewn over the Yard, take them to the store, and cash them in for 2 cents apiece. One day as I was walking out of the Yard loaded down with bottles, I looked down into the gutter on Quincy Street, spotted, picked up, and walked home with a $20 bill."   --Rich McKinnon   city council office

"Fresh Pond is a favorite place for my family--one of my nicest memories was the morning I discovered a kingfisher lived there... The new taxes that just came out are not among the nicest memories. Neither is the MBTA."   --Hubert Jessup

"I've always been most impressed by the beauty of Brattle St. I don't walk anymore, but as I go by in the car, I look at the magnificent homes."   --Mrs. Malcolm Peabody   mother of the former governor

"One of the best memories was when I was fortunate enough to be a member of the 1968 Cambridge Rindge and Latin basketball team that went to the semifinals of the Tech Tourney, and lost a heart-stopper to Boston English in the final 20 seconds. I will always cherish the experience of competing on Boston Garden's famous checkered floor and the many good friendships I developed and good spirit that was generated at that time."   --Kevin Crane, '73   city councilor

"Know old Cambridge? Hope you do Born There? Don't say so! I was too The nicest place that ever was seen, Colleges red, and common green, Sidewalks brownish with trees between."   --Oliver Wendell Holmes

"The sliding Charles

Blue toward the West, and bluer and more blue Living and lustrous as a woman's eyes,

Look once and look no more with southward curve

Ran crinkling sunniness, like Helen's hair."   --"The River Charles in June"   James Russell Lowell

"Cambridge was the first capital of our infant republic, the cradle of our nascent liberty, the heath of our kindling patriotism."   --Andrew Peabody, D.D.