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

[4] whole territory then belonging to Cambridge; for both Brighton and Newton are wholly on the southerly side of Charles River. The portion of Dedham, which now constitutes the town of Needham, was the southerly bound.

But Cambridge soon lost a part of its enormous length. In 1655, an amicable arrangement was made between the town and those of its inhabitants who had erected houses at Shawshine, for a separation; this arrangement was confirmed by the General Court, and Shawshine was incorporated as a town, under the name of Billerica.¹ Soon afterwards the inhabitants on the south side of the river, in what is now Newton, where a church was organized July 20, 1664, petitioned for incorporation as a separate town. Cambridge objected; and a long and earnest controversy ensued. The Newton people triumphed at last, as will be fully related in another place, and in 1688 became a separate township.

The northwesterly portion of the territory remaining in Cambridge was for many years called “The Farms,” and a church was organized there Oct. 21, 1696. The Farmers, as they were styled, subsequently agreed with the town upon terms of separation, and by an “order passed in Council and concurred by the Representatives,” March 20, 1713, they were incorporated as “a separate and distinct town by the name of Lexington, upon the articles and terms already agreed on with the town of Cambridge.” ²

From this period Cambridge was not curtailed of its proportions for nearly a century. Indeed, it obtained some additions. The present southwesterly portion of the city, lying west of Sparks Street and south of Vassall Lane, was set off from Watertown and annexed to Cambridge, April 19, 1754,³ except the “Cambridge Cemetery” and a few acres between that and the former line, which were annexed April 27, 1855.⁴ The line of Watertown was thus carried about a half a mile further westward; and the tract thus acquired embraces some of the most desirable land in the city for dwelling-houses. From Charlestown (now Somerville), the dwellings and a portion of the estates of Nathaniel Prentiss, Josiah Wellington, Stephen Goddard, Benjamin Goddard, and Nathaniel Goddard, including most of the tract bounded by North Avenue, Russell, Elm, and White streets, were annexed