Waltham is a city in
Middlesex County,
Massachusetts, United States, billed by the
Chamber of Commerce as the "birthplace of the American
industrial revolution", and an early center for the
labor movement. The original home of the
Boston Manufacturing Company, the city was a prototype for 19th century industrial city planning. The city is now a center for research and higher education, home to
Brandeis University and
Bentley University. The population was 59,226 at the
census in 2000.
Waltham is commonly referred to as
Watch City because of its association with the watch industry.
Waltham Watch Company opened its factory in Waltham in 1854 and was the first company to make watches on an assembly line. It won the gold medal in 1876 at the Philadelphia
Centennial Exposition. The company produced over 40 million watches, clocks and instruments before it closed in 1957.
Pronunciation
The name of the city is pronounced with the primary stress on the first syllable and a full vowel in the second syllable, "-tham", though the name of the Waltham watch was pronounced with a reduced
schwa in the second syllable: .
History
Waltham was first settled in 1634 as part of
Watertown and was officially incorporated as a separate town in 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.
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.
In the late 19th and early 20th century, Waltham was home to the
brass era automobile manufacturer
Metz, where the first production motorcycle in the U.S. was built.
Geography
Waltham is located at (42.380596, -71.235005), about 10 miles (16.09 km) north-west of downtown
Boston,
Massachusetts, and approximately 3 miles north-west of Boston's
Brighton neighborhood.
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 13.6 square miles (35.2 km²), of which 12.7 square miles (32.9 km²) is land and 0.9 square miles (2.4 km²) (6.69%) is water.
Neighborhoods
Waltham has several neighborhoods or villages, including:
- The Island (formerly Morse Meadow Island)
- Kendal Green (mostly in Weston)
- Prospectville (defunct in 1894, now under Cambridge Reservoir)
Adjacent towns
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.
Demographics
As of the
census in 2000, there were 59,226 people, 23,207 households, and 12,462 families in the city. The
population density was 4,663.4/mile² (1,800.6/km²). There were 23,880 housing units at an average density of 1,880.3/sq mi (726.0/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 82.98%
White, 4.41%
African American, 0.16%
Native American, 7.29%
Asian, 0.06%
Pacific Islander, 3.20% from
other races, and 1.89% from two or more races.
Hispanic or
Latino of any race were 8.49% of the population. Guatemalans have recently surpassed Puerto Ricans as the dominant Latino population. Guatemalan businesses and establishments have sprung up in Moody Street and other parts of the city.
There were 23,207 households, of which 20.3% included those under the age of 18, 41.3% were
married couples living together, 8.9% were headed by a single mother, and 46.3% were non-families. 34.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.0% had someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size was 2.29 and the average family size was 3.01.
The age distribution is as follows: 15.5% under 18, 16.8% from 18 to 24, 34.4% from 25 to 44, 20.2% from 45 to 64, and 13.1% 65 or older. The median age was 34. For every 100 females, there were 97.2 males. For every 100 females 18 and over, there were 95.6 males.
The median income for a household was $54,010, and the median income for a family was $64,595. These figures increased to $60,434 and $79,877, respectively, according to an estimate in 2007. Males had a median income of $42,324, as opposed to $33,931 for females. The
per capita income was $26,364. 7% of the population and 3.6% of families lived below the
poverty line. 4.8% of those under 18 and 8.4% of those 65 and older lived below the poverty line.
Government
Waltham is governed by a mayor and a city council. The current mayor is Jeanette A. McCarthy. There are 15 members of the city council, each elected to two-year terms in non-partisan elections. The current president of the city council is Thomas J. Curtin.
The city is in
Massachusetts's 7th congressional district and is currently represented in the
United States House of Representatives by
Edward J. Markey.
Education
Public schools
The Waltham public school system includes six elementary schools (Northeast, Fitzgerald, MacArthur, Plympton, Whittemore, Stanley), two middle schools (McDevitt, Kennedy), and one senior high school (Waltham High School).
Waltham High School's sports teams had been referred to as the Watchmen and the Crimson, before they changed the name to the Hawks.
Private schools
- Our Lady Comforter of the Afflicted School (Pre-K through 8)
Higher education
Waltham is home to:
Media
Waltham is home to a daily newspaper, the . provides local-interest television programming. Waltham news sometimes appears in the
Boston Globe's GlobeWest section, as well.
Culture
Waltham Supermarket on Main Street, established in 1936, was a large historic grocery store that closed in the 1990s. However, the building continues to be a supermarket, occupied by Shaw's, then Victory, and now Hannaford.
Moody Street in downtown Waltham offers its own brand of entertainment with a colorful assortment of shops, restaurants, and bars, including the Watch City Brewing Co., The Skellig, Jake's Dixie Roadhouse, The Lincoln (L), Gourmet Pottery, and the Embassy Cinema. Moody Street's booming nightlife, convenience to the commuter rail and lower rents have attracted younger professionals to Waltham in growing numbers in recent years. Moody Street is also referred to as "Restaurant Row" because of the number, variety and quality of its restaurants.
For over 25 years, the Waltham Arts Council has sponsored "Concerts On Waltham Common", featuring a different musical act each week of the summer, free of charge to attendees. "Concerts On Waltham Common" was created and organized by Stephen Kilgore until his death in 2004.
Waltham's cultural life is enriched by the presence of two major universities and a number of arts organizations throughout the city.
The Waltham Philharmonic Orchestra, a civic symphony of the MetroWest area, began in 1985 under the direction of local musicians David J. Tierney and Harold W. McSwain, Jr. With almost 60 professional, semi-professional, and amateur musicians, the orchestra's mission is to provide the Waltham community with the opportunity to perform in and attend classical concerts of the highest quality. WPO musicians come from Waltham as well as from Boston and surrounding communities. The ensemble includes players of a wide range of ages and professions.
There are five to six concerts throughout the season, including one that features the winner of the annual Youth Concerto Competition, which provides opportunities for young musicians to perform solo works with the WPO. Annual concerts have included summer Concerts on the Common and the December Holiday Pops.
Waltham is home to the
Waltham Symphony Orchestra, a high-level semi-professional civic orchestra. The 55 piece orchestra performs five concerts each season at the Kennedy Middle-school Auditorium. Its music director is French-born American conductor, Patrick Botti.
Open space in the city is protected by the
Waltham Land Trust.
Points of interest
- Prospect Hill - second highest point in the region after Blue Hills
Notable residents
- Aerosmith-- During the 70's Boston area rock band Aerosmith had a studio in Waltham known as "The Wherehouse". It was located off of Lexington Street behind now defunct hardware store "Moe Blacks". The Wherehouse is credited on Aerosmiths 1978 album "Live Bootleg" as the recording site for "Come Together".
- Keith Aucoin -- Current forward on the Washington Capitals who starred at Norwich University, where he graduated in 2001 as the school's all-time leading scorer in ice hockey, was named U.S. College Hockey Online National Player of the Year in 1998-1999, helped Norwich win the NCAA Division III National Championship in 1999-2000 and was named ECAC East Player of the Year and First-Team All-American; Waltham native
- Mackenzy Bernadeau, Waltham native, rookie guard for the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League.
- JP Dellacamera, play-by-play commentator of Major League Soccer for ABC and ESPN.
- Arthur A. Carey—co-founder of Sea Scouting in the United States.
- C.D. Howe -- WWII and Postwar Canadian politician; Waltham native
- Pat Metheny -- jazz guitar player was a former resident
- Angelo Mosca-- former Canadian Football League player and professional wrestler. He is also known by the wrestling nicknames King Kong Mosca and The Mighty Hercules; Waltham native
- Ida Annah Ryan -- First woman to earn a masters degree in architecture (from M.I.T.)
- Sockington -- Leader of Socks Army, first feline to surpass 500,000 Twitter followers.
- Gordon S. Wood. -- recipient of the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for History for The Radicalism of the American Revolution. His book The Creation of the American Republic, 1776–1787 won a 1970 Bancroft Prize. Former Waltham resident.
See also
