This is a timeline of the history of the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. 17th century 1630 - English settlers arrive. Site selected by John Winthrop the Younger. 1632 - First Parish meeting house built. 1636 - The "New College" founded. 1636 - Newe Towne was established as a town in the Massachusetts Bay Colony on September 8. 1638 Newe Towne renamed "Cambridge." John Harvard, a Puritan minister, bequeaths his library and half his monetary estate to the college. 1639 New College renamed Harvard College for benefactor John Harvard. First printing press in Cambridge. 1640 - Bay Psalm Book printed. 1642 - Harvard holds its first commencement. 1662 - Great Bridge built. 1663 - Algonquin-language Mamusse Wunneetupanatamwe Up-Biblum God published. 1682 - Cooper-Frost-Austin House built (date approximate). 1685 - Hooper-Lee-Nichols House built. 1688 - Cambridge Village, later renamed Newton, separated from Cambridge. 18th century 1713 - Town of Lexington separated from Cambridge. 1720 - Harvard's Massachusetts Hall built. 1727 - William Brattle House built. 1759 Christ Church congregation founded. Vassall House built. 1760 - Apthorp House built. 1767 - Elmwood (residence) built. 1775 April 18: William Dawes traverses the town en route to sounding warnings on eve of Battles of Lexington and Concord. April 19: Skirmishes between retreating British troops and American patriots at Watson's Corner and elsewhere in North Cambridge. May 12: The New-England Chronicle in publication. July 3: George Washington takes command of American army. 1780 - May 19: New England's Dark Day. 1782 - Harvard Medical School founded. 1793 - West Boston Bridge built. 1796 - Fresh Pond Hotel built. 19th century 1800s–1840s 1800 - Printer William Hilliard in business. 1805 - Harvard Botanic Garden founded. 1807 Cambridge and Concord Turnpike opens. Little Cambridge separates from Cambridge and is renamed Brighton. West Cambridge, later renamed Arlington, separated from Cambridge. 1809 Craigie's Bridge opens. Birth of Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., physician, poet and polymath. 1810 - Amicable Fire Society founded. 1814 - Cambridge Humane Society and Female Humane Society founded. 1815 - Harvard's University Hall built. 1816 - Middlesex County Courthouse (Massachusetts) built. 1817 - Harvard Law School founded. 1818 - New England Glass Company established. 1824 - East Cambridge Charitable Society formed. 1826 - Frederic Tudor and Nathaniel Wyeth begin harvesting ice at Fresh Pond. 1827 - First Evangelical Congregational church and Second Baptist Church established. 1830 - Population: 6,072. 1831 Mount Auburn Cemetery founded. Cambridge