Forrester Research

Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent... universities, Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. According to the 2010 United States Census, the city's population was 105,162. It is the fifth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, Worcester, Springfield, and Lowell. Cambridge is one of the two county seats of Middlesex County . A resident of Cambridge is known as a Cantabrigian. The site for what would become Cambridge was chosen in December 1630, because it was located safely up river from Boston Harbor, which made it easily defensible from attacks by enemy ships. Also, the water from the local spring was so good that the local Native Americans believed it had medicinal properties. The first houses were built in the spring of 1631. The settlement was initially referred to as "the newe towne". Official Massachusetts records show the name capitalized as Newe Towne by 1632.
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