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ANNE WHISTON SPIRN: A map is
a door into time and place,

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Boston, 1775.

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To look at this map
is to travel in time,

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to visit a city that no
longer exists, or does it?

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River, hill, harbor, and
a common are constants.

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But where's Boston
Neck today and what

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has become of the Mill Pond?

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Fly 50 years forward, do the
shape and structure of Boston

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look more familiar?

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What do names like India
Wharf, Liverpool Wharf,

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and Russia Wharf say about
Boston, the world, in 1826?

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What does the map reveal
about the original role

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of Washington Street?

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And what do you make
of Receiving Basin

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that abuts Boston Common?

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Moving toward Cambridge, and
forward another 50 years,

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follow the bridge to the
juncture of Broadway and Main

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Streets, to what is
now Kendall Square.

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Note where the water
laps against the railroad

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along Albany Street in 1877.

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And observe how this canal
functions and what it enables.

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40 years later, the pictorial
quality of the last map

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is replaced by new layers of
information, building shape

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and materials, red for
brick, yellow for wood,

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owners identified by name.

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Each name tells a story.

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Every word is a clue to the
history of this neighborhood,

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to broader stories
and shifts in culture.

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As this map from 1916 fades
into its 1930 counterpart,

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watch what happens to the
Lever Brothers soap factory.

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Moving back and forth
between 1916 and 1930,

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what do the changes
over this 14-year period

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say about the nature
and pace of change

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in this part of Cambridge?

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By 1970, homes and factories
have been swept away.

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Who has the power
to erase roads,

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to consolidate
hundreds of properties?

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Why do some things persist
and others disappear?

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To walk through these maps
and return to the present

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is to cross a threshold and
enter the once and future city.