Waltham

Join Archivist Melissa Mannon on an exciting journey that begins at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution and travels through the advance of the computer age. Discover Waltham's history in this impressive and unprecedented pictorial collection, with photographs selected from the Waltham Public Library and other Waltham historical institutions. Separated from Watertown in 1738, Waltham shed its agricultural roots and went on to become a world-renowned manufacturing center. Entrepreneurs realized the power that could be harnessed from the Charles River and took full advantage of this natural resource. The Boston Manufacturing Company, founded in 1813 by Francis Cabot Lowell and Patrick T. Jackson, was the first mill in the world to mass-produce cotton cloth from start to finish under one roof. Waltham earned its nickname, "Watch City," from the Waltham Watch Company, the largest manufacturer of watches in the world in the nineteenth century. In 1929, Waltham began a third economic boom with the establishment of Raytheon and the electronics industry. Today, Waltham and its neighboring towns on the belt of Route 128 have become one of the country's largest manufacturing centers for computer and electronics equipment.