Best Web Design in Cambridge, MA (2026)

Web Design for Cambridge, Massachusetts

Cambridge sits just across the Charles River from Boston and packs enormous influence into a small footprint as home to both Harvard University and MIT. Founded as 'New Towne' in 1630 and renamed for Cambridge, England, it grew from a Puritan college town and Revolutionary War staging ground into a global capital of higher education, biotechnology, and tech. Its Kendall Square is often called the most innovative square mile on the planet, while Harvard Square remains a beloved hub of bookstores, cafes, and street life.

AppWT works with Cambridge, MA businesses from Livonia, Michigan, mostly online and travelling as needed.

About Cambridge

Also known as. The People's Republic of Cambridge. City of Squares. Home of the most innovative square mile on the planet (Kendall Square).

History. Settled in December 1630 as 'the newe towne' by the Massachusetts Bay Company, including figures such as Thomas Dudley and poet Anne Bradstreet. Became home to Harvard College in 1636, the first institution of higher education in North America, and was renamed Cambridge in May 1638 in honor of England's University of Cambridge. Became a Middlesex County seat in 1643. On July 3, 1775, George Washington took command of the Continental Army at Cambridge Common, and the city is regarded as a birthplace of that army; Henry Knox passed through with Fort Ticonderoga's cannon in early 1776. Grew in the 19th and early 20th centuries as a manufacturing city, including a famous 'Confectioner's Row' along Main Street. Now the fourth-largest city in Massachusetts, with about 118,000 residents as of the 2020 census.

Local economy. Harvard University and MIT are the anchor institutions, together employing more than 20,000 people. Kendall Square is one of the world's densest biotech and pharma clusters, with hundreds of companies including Biogen, Moderna, Novartis, Takeda, and Sanofi. Major technology firms including Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, Apple, and Akamai maintain a large presence. Historically a manufacturing hub for candy and other goods; Cambridge Brands (a Tootsie Roll subsidiary) still makes Junior Mints in the city.

Culture and community. Harvard Square is a cultural landmark of bookstores, street performers, and institutions like Mr. Bartley's Burger Cottage (since 1960) and the farm-to-table restaurant Harvest (since 1975), reputedly a Julia Child favorite. Toscanini's, founded in 1981, has been praised by The New York Times as among the world's best ice cream and has repeatedly won Best of Boston. The Cambridge Carnival is one of New England's largest outdoor multicultural festivals, a Caribbean-style celebration with a costumed parade, soca, and steel-pan music. Harvard Square's Oktoberfest and HONK! parade, running since the late 1970s, turns the square into New England's largest Oktoberfest and a gathering of activist street bands. A deep music and arts legacy: the alternative-rock band Pixies formed in the Boston/Cambridge scene, and actors Matt Damon and Ben Affleck grew up down the street from each other in Cambridge.

What makes Cambridge distinct. North America's first printing press was set up in Cambridge in 1638 by Stephen Daye, producing the Bay Psalm Book (1640). The city's liberal reputation earned it the affectionate nickname 'The People's Republic of Cambridge.' Its old 'Confectioner's Row' gave the country Fig Newtons, Junior Mints, Charleston Chew, and Sugar Babies. Harvard, founded 1636, predates the founding of the United States by 140 years and is the nation's oldest college. Best friends and future Oscar-winners Matt Damon and Ben Affleck grew up as neighbors in Cambridge, holding 'business lunches' in their school cafeteria to plan acting careers.

Cambridge Landmarks and Local Life

• Harvard Yard - Harvard Square, and Widener Library
• The MIT campus along the Charles River - including the Great Dome and Frank Gehry's Stata Center
• Mount Auburn Cemetery - the first garden cemetery in the United States and a celebrated arboretum
• Longfellow House-Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site (built 1759) - which served as Washington's headquarters in 1775-76 and was later the poet's home
• Cambridge Common - the Revolutionary War encampment and parade ground
• Fresh Pond - a reservoir and park that was a hub of the 19th-century ice-cutting industry