Historical information about the city-owned property at 105 Windsor Street

Daily Boston Globe article from November 6, 1939 announcing the dedication and grand opening of the Newtowne Recreation Center. The conversion of the old Boardman School into this facility cost about $60,000 (just upward of a million dollars in today’s money). The renovated space contained a branch of the Cambridge Public Library, a gymnasium, “special rooms” for adults and children, and large shower rooms. This was the only facility of its kind in the city at the time.

5 Image shows a ledger from the 1800’s documenting the building’s pre-1868 use as a single room schoolhouse known as the Alphabet School. The writing says “This is a one story building, 38 feet by 24, and was erected in 1802, on land which was presented to the town by Mr. Andrew Boardman. It cost about $600. It is the oldest schoolhouse in the second ward. It contains one schoolroom”. In 1868, the single room schoolhouse was demolished to make way for the building we still see on the property today. 6