The Cambridge of eighteen hundred and ninety-six: a picture of the city and its industries fifty years after its incorporation
Arthur Gilman, Ed.

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[380] firm moved to the present location at about 1860. Alvan Clark died in August, 1887, and George B. Clark in December, 1891. The business is now carried on by the remaining son, Alvan G. Clark.

In 1862 Alvan G. Clark, by the aid of a newly constructed glass, discovered the companion to Sirius, and for this discovery he was awarded the Lelande medal of the French Academy of Sciences.

Among the great telescopes made by this firm may be named the 26-inch Washington Refractor, the 30-inch Pulkowa Refractor, the 36-inch Lick Refractor, and the recently completed 40-inch Yerkes Refractor.

The workshops are contained in a brick building, located near the residence of Mr. Clark, on the shore of Charles River, at the foot of Brookline Street. They are thoroughly equipped with all necessary machinery and tools. The firm of Alvan Clark & Sons stands at the head of telescope-makers. Their reputation is world-wide.

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The Cambridge gas Light Co.

A charter from the State of Massachusetts in 1852 granted Charles C. Little, Isaac Livermore, and Gardiner G. Hubbard, their associates and successors, the right of making and selling gas, and allowed them a capital of three hundred thousand dollars.

The company was organized on the 22d day of June, 1852, by the election of John H. Blake, Isaac Livermore, Charles C. Little, Estes Howe, and Gardiner G. Hubbard as directors; the last named was chosen president, and Estes Howe was the clerk and treasurer from the beginning until his death in 1887.

Blake & Darracott were the contractors who erected the first works; these works were located south of Mount Auburn Street, at the foot of Bath (then Bath Lane) and Ash streets, now appropriated for the Charles River Park. Pipes were laid in portions of Cambridge, and in 1856 they were extended into that part of Somerville lying southwesterly of the Boston & Lowell Railroad.

In 1871, the output of gas having reached fifty-seven million cubic feet per annum, steps were taken to build larger works, and a transfer was made to the present location on Third Street (then Court Street) in East Cambridge. The capacity was one million feet per day, but there is ample room for all future extensions. In 1872, by authority of the State, the capital of the company was fixed at one million dollars, of which at the present time seven hundred thousand are paid in. In 1873 gas was made for a time in both localities, but in 1874 the old works were permanently given up.

In 1876 the advent of kerosene materially interfered with the use of gas, and the consumption, which in 1875 had been eighty-four million feet, fell to fifty-seven million feet in 1879.