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The history of Waltham
Waltham’s industrial history includes the Boston Manufacturing Company and the watch industry. Moody Street, Brandeis University and Bentley University offer different reference points for exploring the city.
People who shaped Waltham
These milestones are an introduction, not a complete local history. Follow the linked city and museum sources to explore the people and places behind them.Read the local historical account.
Watch the city’s history
FROM THE ARCHIVES
Waltham—Where it All Began: The Growth of the Boston Manufacturing Company.
The Waltham Historical Society explores the Boston Manufacturing Company's growth and its local legacy.
Watch on YouTube ↗Famous people born in Waltham
See all 48 famous people
- 1738
A town separate from Watertown
Waltham incorporated as a town on January 15. Its early community was agricultural, before the mills and factories that later transformed the Charles River corridor.
Waltham Museum ↗ - 1788
A first dam on the Charles
John Boies built the first dam across the Charles River in Waltham and opened a paper mill just below the Moody Street Falls. Rival paper mills followed within a few years.
Waltham Museum ↗ - 1814
Integrated textile production
The Boston Manufacturing Company established its Waltham operation, bringing spinning and weaving into one production system. The factory became an important site in the growth of American industrial manufacturing.
Commonwealth of Massachusetts: cities and towns ↗ - 1849
Waltham gains the South Side
After a dispute with Newton over repairing a bridge, Waltham bought the land south of the Charles River for $1,000. The purchase brought the Newton Chemical Company area into town as today's South Side.
Waltham Museum ↗ - Nineteenth century
The Watch City
Watchmaking became central to Waltham's industrial identity. The nickname Watch City reflects that manufacturing history rather than the town's earlier agricultural origins.
City of Waltham ↗ - 1884
A city government
Waltham adopted city government in 1884. The change followed decades of industrial growth and population expansion around the river and its manufacturing enterprises.
Waltham Museum ↗ - 1893
Orient bicycles and Metz cars
Charles Metz incorporated the Waltham Manufacturing Company to build Orient bicycles at a Rumford Avenue factory. The firm moved on to motorcycles and automobiles, becoming the Metz Car Company in 1909.
Waltham Museum ↗ - 1948
Brandeis University opens
Founded by the American Jewish community, Brandeis opened on the former Middlesex University campus with 107 students and 13 faculty members. It was established as a nonsectarian university open to all backgrounds.
Brandeis University ↗ - 1988
A museum of industry
Residents led by historian Michael Folsom incorporated the Charles River Museum of Industry in 1980, and it opened to the public in 1988. Renamed in 2007, it interprets the region's manufacturing history.
Charles River Museum of Industry & Innovation ↗ - Historic estates
Surviving links with earlier Waltham
The Gore, Lyman and Robert Treat Paine estates preserve different parts of the city's earlier landscape. Their survival complements the industrial buildings that tell another side of Waltham's story.
Waltham Museum ↗
See the history for yourself.
Check current opening hours and visitor information before you go: Charles River Museum.
For local services and public information, the local government website is a starting point. For historical research, consult local libraries, archives and museums and check collection-specific image permissions.
Selected milestones from the linked historical sources. This is an introduction, not a complete account of the city’s history.