Cambridge Assembly

Alvan Clark & Sons was an American maker of optics that became famous for crafting lenses for some of the largest refracting telescopes of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Founded in 1846 in Cambridgeport, Massachusetts, by Alvan Clark (1804–1887, a descendant of Cape Cod whalers who started as a portrait painter), and his sons George Bassett Clark (1827–1891) and Alvan Graham Clark (1832–1897). Five times, the firm built the largest refracting telescopes in the world. The Clark firm gained "worldwide fame and distribution", wrote one author on astronomy in 1899. The 18.5-inch (470 mm) Dearborn telescope (housed successively at the University of Chicago, Northwestern University and Adler Planetarium) was commissioned in 1856 by the University of Mississippi. The outbreak of the Civil War prevented them from ever taking ownership. As a result, it was being tested in Cambridgeport when Alvan Graham observed Sirius B in 1862. In 1873 they built the 26-inch (660 mm) objective lens for the refractor at the United States Naval Observatory. In 1883, they build the 30-inch (760 mm) telescope for the Pulkovo Observatory in Russia, the 36-inch (910 mm) objective for the refractor at Lick Observatory was made in 1887, and the 40-inch (1,000 mm) lens for the Yerkes Observatory refractor, in 1897, only ever exceeded in size by the lens made for Great Paris Exhibition Telescope of 1900. The company also built a number of smaller instruments, which are still highly prized among collectors and amateur astronomers. The company's assets were acquired by the Sprague-Hathaway Manufacturing Company in 1933, but continued to operate under the Clark name. In 1936, Sprague-Hathaway moved the Clark shop to a new location in West Somerville, Massachusetts, where manufacturing continued in association with the Perkin-Elmer Corporation, another maker of precision instruments. Most of Clark's equipment was disposed of as scrap during World War II, and Sprague-Hathaway itself was liquidated in 1958. Alvan Clark & Sons Telescopes

Nectow v. City of Cambridge, 277 U.S. 183 (1928), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court reversed the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruling, and found that the invasion of the plaintiff's property right was "serious and highly injurious," and that the placement of the locus of the zoning ordinance would not promote the health, safety, convenience or general welfare of the inhabitants of Cambridge. It, along with Euclid v. Ambler, constituted the Supreme Court's case law on zoning until 1974.

The Grand Junction Railroad Bridge is a steel plate girder bridge carrying the Grand Junction Railroad over the Charles River in Boston, connecting the Boston University campus to Cambridgeport. In September 2009, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts finalized an agreement to purchase several CSX rail lines in eastern Massachusetts, including the Grand Junction tracks from the Beacon Park Yard in Allston, through Cambridge. The deal was closed on June 17, 2010.

The Boston University Bridge, originally the Cottage Farm Bridge and commonly referred to as the BU Bridge, is a steel truss through arch bridge with a suspended deck carrying Route 2 over the Charles River, connecting the Boston University campus to Cambridge, Massachusetts. The bridge, with the Grand Junction Railroad Bridge directly underneath it, is incorrectly rumored to be the only place in the world where a boat can sail under a train driving under a car driving under an airplane. Other such places include the Steel Bridge in Portland, Oregon, the Manhattan Bridge in New York City and the 25 de Abril Bridge in Lisbon, although all of those bridges feature road and rail on the same span. In this case the rail and road traffic are on separate bridges.

The Hastings Square Historic District is a historic district that encompasses Hastings Square, a small city park in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the residential properties that abut it. The houses that line the streets across from the park are among the finest Queen Anne houses in the city. These properties were built between 1869 and 1892, and include two houses known to be designed by architects. The Queen Anne/Shingle style house at 302 Brookline Avenue was built in 1887 to a design by Rand & Taylor, and the 1892 Queen Anne house at 75 Henry Street was designed by Hartwell and Richardson.The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

Boston University Academy (BUA) is a private high school operated by Boston University. Founded in 1993 and located on the Boston University campus, the academy is geared toward college preparatory work. As part of its integration with the university, students are able to take college courses for credit their junior and senior years, and are guaranteed acceptance to Boston University upon maintaining a 3.0 grade point average in Boston University courses. BUA's student body is drawn from 55 communities: 52% come from public schools, 39% from independent schools, 7% from parochial schools and 2% are from home-school or international schools; 57% are students of color and 47% of students come from multilingual households (representing 26 languages). BUA provides need-based tuition assistance to approximately 31% of the students as of the 2019–2020 academic year.

The George Sherman Union (GSU) is the student union building at Boston University and Boston University Academy. The Brutalist-styled building opened in Spring 1963. When it opened, the Union had a 10-lane bowling alley in its basement. The building is named for the Boston industrialist, philanthropist, and Boston University benefactor. The Union was modeled after similar student centers in Midwestern universities. Inside are many of Boston University's administrative offices, a nine-restaurant food court, two bank branches, several auditoriums and other open space, as well as the BU Scarlet Safewalk service. The GSU abuts Mugar Memorial Library, the school's main library. Students come to the GSU to organize events, gather and exchange information, and meet people. It provides an atmosphere for study and conversation. As the community center of Boston University, it provides cultural, social, and recreational programs that supplement regular classroom education. The facilities of the George Sherman Union are reserved for the exclusive use of students, faculty, staff, and alumni of Boston University. The GSU was one of many buildings benefitting from renovations during the summer of 2010. The Union Hall food court and study lounges were later renovated again, completing in August 2020. The East Campus Boiler Plant, which heats and cools the GSU was converted from oil to natural gas, reducing the University's carbon footprint by 3%. More wireless access points were added, as well as compost and recycling receptacles to encourage the university's dedication to become more green.

The Mugar Memorial Library is the primary library for study, teaching, and research in the humanities and social sciences for Boston University. It was opened in 1966. Stephen P. Mugar, an Armenian immigrant who was successful in the grocery business, provided the naming gift to commemorate his parents. Mugar's entrance carries an inscription from Stephen honoring his parents. In coming to America from Armenia my parents opened the door of Freedom to me. America's public schools & libraries opened my eyes to the unlimited opportunity in this great land, as well as the privileges and obligations of citizenship. May this library serve over the years as a similar inspiration to all who use it. In memory of my father and mother Sarkis and Vosgitel Mugar. By their grateful son – Stephen P. Mugar –

Magazine Beach is an American riverside park in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It is located on the left bank of the Charles River, across Memorial Drive from Cambridgeport, and opposite Agganis Arena and other Boston University facilities on the far bank. Magazine Beach is Cambridge's second largest park, being about 15 acres (6.1 ha) stretching along the river from Pleasant Street to the BU Bridge. The park includes a free outdoor swimming pool (Veteran's Memorial Pool) as well as ball fields, exercise equipment, picnic areas, and other typical urban park features. The Paul Dudley White Bike Path runs through the park. The park's namesake, a gunpowder magazine from 1818, is in the park. It is the oldest building in the Charles River Reservation. There was a swimming beach at the park in the early and mid 20th century, attracting about 60,000 swimmers in a season, but swimming in the Charles River became dangerous due to pollution, and was forbidden in 1949.

The Alexander Graham Bell tower refers to a planned 375-foot (114 m) tower that would have been constructed at Boston University as a tribute to former faculty member Alexander Graham Bell, who invented the telephone while at the university. Intended to sit behind Marsh Chapel on the Charles River, the Collegiate Gothic masonry spire was to be modeled on the tower of St. Botolph's Church in Boston, England, the town from which Boston, Massachusetts takes its name. The tower at St. Botolph's is commonly known as "the Boston Stump." The tower was first planned in 1920 as part of a unified campus plan, which would have allowed for around 30,000 students, but was cancelled for unknown reasons sometime after 1928, and was still mentioned as being planned in a Works Progress Administration book from 1937. Today, an engraving exists on the theology building that shows the likeness of the planned bell tower.Another collegiate tower modeled after the Boston stump, Harkness Tower at Yale University, was completed around the time that the Alexander Graham Bell tower was planned.

The Boston University College of Fine Arts (CFA) at Boston University consists of the School of Music, the School of Theatre, and the School of Visual Arts. Each school offers degrees in the performing and visual arts at the undergraduate and graduate level. Among the College of Fine Arts faculty are artists, scholars, and performers. Since the College of Fine Arts is integrated into Boston University, students at CFA may choose courses in the other undergraduate colleges at Boston University. CFA students can also apply for the Boston University Collaborative Degree Program (BUCOP), where students simultaneously earn undergraduate degrees at CFA and in one of 14 undergraduate colleges of the university. The college offers a study abroad program in London, England, and Dresden, Germany. Students can spend a semester at the Royal College of Music, the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, or at the Hochschule für Musik "Carl Maria von Weber".Admission to the College of Fine Arts requires a live or pre-recorded audition for music and theatrical performance majors and a submission of a portfolio for visual arts and technical theatre majors.

Marsh Chapel is a building on the campus of Boston University used as the official place of worship of the school. It was named for Daniel L. Marsh, a former president of BU and a Methodist minister. The building is Gothic in style.While Methodism, the university's historical denomination, exerts a great influence on the chapel, it is formally non-denominational. The current dean of Marsh Chapel is Rev. Dr. Robert Hill, an ordained elder in The United Methodist Church.