Happy 50th Birthday to the IBM Cambridge Scientific Center, Kendall Square Pioneer

The IBM Cambridge Scientific Center, CSC, once famous for its pioneering work in virtual machines and internetworking technology, was founded by Norm Rasmussen on Feb. 1, 1964. Less well remembered is the role the CSC played in the development of today’s Kendall Square as an innovation hub.

From The Reinvention of Kendall Square By Jim Miara: "In the early 1960s, Kendall Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts, looked much like the many old industrial cities across the country of the present that are drawing the curtain on the evocative past and wondering what the next act holds. The 43-acre (17.4-ha) district, once dense with factories that churned out soap, vulcanized rubber, and dozens of other products, had become a collection of forlorn, rickety structures that blighted the landscape.

“Kendall Square was a moribund 19th-century district,” said Robert Simha, director of planning emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which abuts the area. Simha represented MIT’s interests in Kendall Square during planning discussions from the 1960s to the 1990s. 'Companies were sliding away. People were losing jobs. The city was losing income. The few plants that remained, like the vulcanized rubber plant, were smelly and polluted the air.'”

The pioneering modern development was “Technology Square.” On Feb. 1, 1964, when the CSC was founded, the building shown below was known as 545 Technology Square. At the time, Tech Square consisted of three buildings facing a courtyard.  Since then, others have been added.  The building is practically surrounded by a substantial addition, the courtyard has been replaced by the driveway in the foreground, the building has redesigned windows, and its address appears to be  200 Technology Sq.

The building was home to the MIT AI Lab, MULTICS, Project MAC, and the MIT Laboratory for Computer Science.  

Addendum: Today’s Boston Sunday Globe  (2/2/2014) includes a number of items on Kendall Square, including “A Kendall Square Timeline” (here for subscribers), inspiring us to send the following letter to the Editor.

Your article “A Kendall Square Timeline” fails to mention the seminal event leading to the area's current prominence as a research hub.

Technology Square, on Main St.,  was announced in 1963 as a joint development owned by MIT and Cabot, Cabot, and Forbes. “Now, through this unique collaboration we will be able to provide modern facilities directly adjacent to the laboratories, libraries, and other resources of MIT.  Up until now it has been necessary for companies desiring this association to locate as far as eighteen miles away,” said CC&F President George W Blakeley, Jr., at the announcement.

The first building to open was then called 545 Technology Square (since renamed).  Initial tenants (1964) included MIT’s Project MAC and the IBM Cambridge Scientific Center.  It later became the initial home for the MIT Laboratory for Computer Science and the MIT Artificial Intelligence Lab. Many of the pioneering efforts leading to the internet were performed here.

Technology Square grew to four buildings.  The previous occupant of the location was an odorous rendering plant owned by Lever Brothers.

 

545 Technology Square is Now 200

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