Lucius R. Paige, History of Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1630-1877, with a genealogical register

At their meeting, Jan. 11, 1813, the proprietors established several Regulations, the first three of which were as follows:— “1. No person occupying said market house shall be permitted to use or vend spirituous liquors therein, except on such public occasions, and under such restrictions, as the committee may hereafter agree to and direct. 2. That no fire be carried into or kept in the market house, and that no cigars or pipes be allowed to be smoked therein. 3. That no shell or other fish be permitted to be kept in said market house, at any season of the year.” ¹

The first occupant of the market house seems to have been Joel Wellington, who paid rent for the quarter ending March 31, 1813; he also occupied it several years after April 1, 1814. The second occupant was Henry Greenwood, under a lease dated March 31, 1813, in which lease the committee of the proprietors reserved “one quarter part of said house,—viz., next to the balance and scale, for the purpose of accommodating those who may bring into the market, butter, eggs, or fowls, or any kinds of sauce; but no person shall be admitted to vend therein such articles of provision as are usually supplied by butchers.” The committee also reserved “the right of letting said market house on Wednesday and Thursday of Commencement week, without any deduction from the rent thereof.” And it is worthy of note, that, according to the Treasurer's account current, Israel Porter paid for the use of the market house on those two days and the intervening night, the sum of twenty dollars, while the whole rent of the house for the year, exclusive of those days, was only forty dollars. Afterwards, this reservation of two days was discontinued, and the rent was gradually increased to eighty dollars per annum, and taxes.

A lease of the ground under and around the market house had been granted by the Proprietors of Common Lands, extending to