WALTHAM, wartham, Mass., city in Mid dlesex County, on the Charles River and on the Boston and Maine Railroad, 10 miles west of Boston. It is connected by electric railway with Boston, Newton, and surrounding towns.
Waltham was settled by farmers in the early days of the c,olony. The first incorpora tion was that of Watertown, which then em braced the territory now included in Wal tham. In 1738 Waltham was set off from Watertown and incorporated as a town; and in 1884 it was granted a city charter. The chief manufacturing establishments are the two famous watch factories. At the American Waltham Watch Works, the first successful attempt was made to manufacture watch movements, on a large scale, by machin ery. It is now the largest watch factory of its kind in the world. In 1814 a cotton mill was erected here, the first in the United States in which, under the same roof, the raw material was put through all necessary forms, even through the bleachery and the dye works, and came out the finished cotton cloth of the mar ket Other manufactories are saddlery and harness works, foundry and machine shops wagon and carriage factories, emery. wheel works, lumber mills, furniture factories anti men's clothing factories. The value of the annual products is about $10,000,000.
The principal public buildings are the gov ernment building, the municipal buildings, banks, churches and schools. There is one large park and a number of small squares. The water
works are owned and operated by the city. The main business streets and many of those in the residential sections are paved. The roads leading to the near-by villages and towns are well made and kept in good repair. The pure water, favorable climate and good sew erage make the place most healthful. There are 17 churches representing 10 different de nominations. The educational institutions are the Massachusetts School for the Feeble Minded, the Waltham Nurses' Training School, the Notre Dame Normal Training School, a public high school and two private schools doing high school work, Saint Mary's School (Ro man Catholic) and Waltham New Church School (New Jerusalem Church). There are several commercial schools and Mellor's Com mercial College, public and parish graded ele mentary schools, public evening schools, sev eral pnvate schools, a public library which con tains about 40,000 volumes and several school libraries. There are two banks, one national and one state, and two daily newspapers. The government is administered under a charter of 1893 which provides for a mayor elected annually and a common council. The mayor appoints, subject to approval of the council, the majority of the administration officials, but the board of education is chosen by popular vote. Pop. 30,154. Consult Hurd, (History of Mid dlesex County."