Waltham

History

Waltham was first settled by the English in 1634 as part of Watertown, and was officially incorporated as a separate town in 1738, but the area was inhabited for thousands of years prior to English colonization. At the time of European arrival, Waltham was in a border zone between the territories of the Pawtucket confederation and the Massachusett, with nearby native settlements at Nonantum and Pequosset (Watertown). Early settlers recorded the presence of an "Indian Stockade" near today's Cambridge Reservoir, and an "Indian Hollow" in today's Calvary Cemetery. A native trail through Waltham, the "Old Connecticut Path" saw continued use after colonization and became the basis for present day Route 20. The first record of the name is from the articles of incorporation, dated January 15, 1738. In the early 19th century, Francis Cabot Lowell and his friends and colleagues established in Waltham the Boston Manufacturing Company—the first integrated textile mill in the United States—with the goal of eliminating the problems of co-ordination, quality control, and shipping inherent in the subcontracting based textile industry. The Waltham–Lowell system of production derives its name from the city and the founder of the mill. The city is home to a number of large estates, including Gore Place, a mansion built in 1806 for former Massachusetts governor Christopher Gore, the Robert Treat Paine Estate, a residence designed by architect Henry Hobson Richardson and landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted for philanthropist Robert Treat Paine, Jr. (1810–1905), and the Lyman Estate, a estate built in 1793 by Boston merchant Theodore Lyman I. In 1857, the Waltham Model 1857 watch was produced by the American Watch Company in the city of Waltham, Massachusetts. In the late 19th…

Geography

Waltham is located at (42.380596, −71.235005), about north-west of downtown Boston, Massachusetts, and approximately northwest of Boston's Brighton neighborhood. The heart of the city is Waltham Common, which is home to Waltham City Hall and various memorial statues. The Common is on Main Street, which is home to several churches, the Waltham Public Library, and Post Office. The city stretches along the Charles River and contains several dams. The dams were used to power textile mills and other endeavors in the early years of the industrial activity. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and (6.69%) is water. Waltham has several neighborhoods or villages, including: * Angleside * Banks Square * The Bleachery (named after the former Waltham Bleachery and Dye Works) * Cedarwood * The Chemistry (named after the former Newton Chemical Company) * Ellison Park * Gardencrest * Headyland * The Highlands * The Island (formerly Morse Meadow Island) * Kendal Green (mostly in Weston) * Kendall Park * Lakeview * The Lanes * Northeast * The North Side * Piety Corner * Prospectville (defunct in 1894, now under Cambridge Reservoir) * Rangeley Acres * Ravenswood * Roberts * Rock Alley * The South Side * Warrendale * West End * Wildwood Acres It is bordered to the west by Weston and Lincoln, to the south by Newton, to the east by Belmont and Watertown, and to the north by Lexington.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  171,944
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  165,889
• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  145,409
• Black-capped Chickadee

  Poecile atricapillus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  141,709
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  127,702
• House Sparrow

  Passer domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  124,823
• Song Sparrow

  Melospiza melodia (A.Wilson, 1810) · Aves
  123,681
• Downy Woodpecker

  Dryobates pubescens (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  117,489

Largest nearby schools

• Framingham High School
  High · Framingham · 2,566 students · 14.7:1 ratio
• Lexington High
  High · Lexington · 2,303 students · 12.3:1 ratio
• Newton North High
  High · Newtonville · 2,099 students · 10.9:1 ratio
• Cambridge Rindge and Latin
  High · Cambridge · 1,867 students · 8.7:1 ratio
• Malden High
  High · Malden · 1,856 students · 16:1 ratio
• Newton South High
  High · Newton Centre · 1,837 students · 11.8:1 ratio
• Waltham Sr High
  High · Waltham · 1,751 students · 10.9:1 ratio
• Natick High
  High · Natick · 1,727 students · 12.2:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 3.8 — 2025-01-27
  9 km SE of York Harbor, Maine
• M 2.7 — 2023-12-23
  5 km SW of Chichester, New Hampshire
• M 3.6 — 2020-11-08
  10 km S of Bliss Corner, Massachusetts
• M 2.7 — 2018-02-15
  0 km SE of East Kingston, New Hampshire
• M 2.6 — 2015-01-13
  2 km E of Wauregan, Connecticut
• M 3.3 — 2015-01-12
  0 km NE of Wauregan, Connecticut