Waltham is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, and was an early center for the labor movement as well as a major contributor to the American Industrial Revolution. The original home of the Boston Manufacturing Company, the city was a prototype for 19th century industrial city planning, spawning what became known as the Waltham-Lowell system of labor and production. The city is now a center for research and higher education, home to Brandeis University and Bentley University as well as industrial powerhouse Raytheon Technologies. The population was 65,218 at the census in 2020.
Taunton City Hall is an historic city hall containing the offices of the municipal government for the city of Taunton, Massachusetts, including the office of the mayor and the city council chambers. The building was originally constructed in 1848, and expanded in 1896. It is a contributing property to the Church Green national historic district, located at the intersection of U.S. Route 44 and State Route 140. An arson fire in 2010 caused severe damage and forced the building to stay closed for ten years.
The Boston Manufacturing Company was a business that operated one of the first factories in America. It was organized in 1813 by Francis Cabot Lowell, a wealthy Boston merchant, in partnership with a group of investors later known as The Boston Associates, for the manufacture of cotton textiles. It built the first integrated spinning and weaving factory in the world at Waltham, Massachusetts, using water power. They used plans for a power loom that he smuggled out of England as well as trade secrets from the earlier horse-powered Beverly Cotton Manufactory, of Beverly, Massachusetts, of 1788. This was the largest factory in the U.S., with a workforce of about 300. It was a very efficient, highly profitable mill that, with the aid of the Tariff of 1816, competed effectively with British textiles at a time when many smaller operations were being forced out of business. While the Rhode Island System that followed was famously employed by Samuel Slater, the Boston Associates improved upon it with the "Waltham System". The idea was successfully copied at Lowell, Massachusetts, and elsewhere in New England. Many rural towns now had their own textile mills.
The New Bedford Fire Museum is a local history museum at 51 Bedford Street in New Bedford, Massachusetts, United States. It is located in the 1867 Fire Station No. 4, the city's oldest surviving fire station. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. The museum is open between July 4 and Labor Day. It houses a collection of firefighting equipment and memorabilia related to the history of firefighting in the city.
The Beth Eden Baptist Church is a historic Baptist church building at 84 Maple Street in Waltham, Massachusetts. Built in 1891, it is a fine local example of Romanesque Revival architecture and is further notable as the oldest church on Waltham's South Side. The church was added to the National Historic Register of Historic Places in 1989. Its Settled Pastor is Rev. Dr. Esther Pearson.
The Trinity Church, formerly the First Congregational Church, is a historic church in Waltham, Massachusetts. The present church building, an architecturally distinctive blend of Romanesque and Georgian Revival styling, was built in 1870 for a congregation established in 1820. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.
The First Parish Church is a historic church at 50 Church Street in Waltham, Massachusetts, whose Unitarian Universalist congregation has a history dating to c. 1696. The current meeting house was built in 1933 after a fire destroyed the previous building on the same site. It is a Classical Revival structure designed by the nationally known Boston firm of Allen & Collens. The church building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.
St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church Complex is a historic multi-building church complex at 133 School Street in Waltham, Massachusetts. Established as a parish in 1835, it is the city's oldest Roman Catholic establishment. Its 1858 Romanesque Revival church and 1872 Second Empire rectory are particularly fine architectural examples of their styles. The complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.
St. Charles Borromeo Church is a former parish of the Catholic Church in Waltham, Massachusetts. It is noted for its historic church building, completed in 1922. A high quality example of Italian Renaissance Revival architecture, it is emblematic of the shift on Waltham's south side from a predominantly Protestant population to one of greater diversity. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.
The Charles River Reservation Parkways are parkways that run along either side of the Charles River in eastern Massachusetts. The roads are contained within the Charles River Reservation and the Upper Charles River Reservation, and fall within a number of communities in the greater Boston metropolitan area. The Charles River parks extend from the Charles River Dam, where the Charles empties into Boston Harbor, to Riverdale Park in the West Roxbury neighborhood of Boston. Most of the roadways within the parks are listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a unit, although Storrow Drive and Memorial Drive are listed as part of the Charles River Basin Historic District.
The Aaron Martin House is a historic house in Waltham, Massachusetts. The 2+1⁄2-story wood-frame house was built in the 1890s by Waltham Watch Company employee and real estate speculator Aaron Martin. It is a particularly well-preserved local example of Queen Anne styling. It has a variety of projections, gables, and porches, in a manner typical of the style, as well as a 3+1⁄2-story tower with a bell-shaped roof. Its porches are elaborately decorated with gingerbread woodwork.
The Aaron Martin Houses are a pair of historic houses in Waltham, Massachusetts. Built between 1892 and 1900, these Colonial Revival houses have similar massing, with hip roofs and double-window hip dormers. Windows on their main facades are treated with pediments incised with floral decoration, and their porches have turned posts. They were built by Aaron Martin, a real estate speculator and Waltham Watch Company employee who lived in a more elaborate house on Moody Street.
The Linden Street Bridge is a historic bridge on the abandoned Central Massachusetts Railroad over Linden Street in Waltham, Massachusetts. It is a riveted lattice through truss bridge, built in 1894 by the Pennsylvania Steel Company, and is one of only three such bridges left in the state. The bridge is 98 feet 3 inches (29.95 m) long and 17 feet (5.2 m) wide, with an inside truss height of 21 feet 11.5 inches (6.693 m), and rests on granite abutments. The design of the bridge was based on that of the Northampton crossing of the Connecticut River by the same railroad. This section of the Central Massachusetts Branch, and the bridge, have been out of service since the early 1990s when service to the last customer, a lumber dealer located on Emerson Road, ended.
The Stark Building is a historic commercial building in Waltham, Massachusetts. The three-story brick building was built in 1891 by John Stark Jr., the owner of a successful manufacturer of watchmaking tools. It is one of Waltham's few surviving and well-preserved Queen Anne commercial buildings, having only received significant alteration to its storefronts. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.
The Central Square Historic District is a historic district encompassing the central town common of the city of Waltham, Massachusetts, and several commercial buildings facing the common or in its immediate vicinity. The common is bounded by Carter, Moody, Main, and Elm Streets; the district includes fourteen buildings, which are located on Main, Elm, Lexington, and Church Streets, on the north and east side of the common. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.
The Waltham Public Library is the public library of the city of Waltham, Massachusetts. Its main location is in the Francis Buttrick Library, an architecturally significant Georgian Revival building built in 1915, funded by a bequest from Francis Buttrick, a major landowner in the city. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.
The Moody Street Historic District is a historic commercial district at Moody and Crescent Streets in Waltham, Massachusetts. It consists of eight commercial properties facing Moody Street as it runs south from the Charles River toward Newton. The area was developed between about 1880 and 1950, and is a reminder of the city's economic prosperity in that time. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.
The Harrington Block is a historic commercial and retail building at 376–390 Moody Street in Waltham, Massachusetts. The three-story brick building was built 1884-85 by Charles Harrington, a local real estate speculator who was also employed by the Boston Manufacturing Company. It is one of the city's few Queen Anne commercial building, and is the oldest commercial building on Moody Street to escape major alteration. The ground floor originally housed retail establishments, while the upper floors were residential.
The Company F State Armory, also known as the Waltham State Armory, is a historic armory building at Curtis and Sharon Streets in Waltham, Massachusetts. Built in 1908, it is locally notable for its Georgian Revival architecture, and as the city's only armory building. It was among the last of the state's armories to be built to individualized architectural design. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989. The building is vacant.
The Gilbert Colburn House is a historic house at 110–112 Crescent Street in Waltham, Massachusetts. The two-story wood-frame duplex was built c. 1870, and is a nearly intact example of an Italianate house built for Waltham Watch Company workers. The main facade is symmetrical, with a pair of entrances at the center, each with its own ornate scrolled hood. They are flanked by a pair of two-story projecting polygonal bays with apron panels.
