Exterior House Painter Newton MA

Newton, Massachusetts
City
City Hall
Flag Seal
Nickname:  “The Garden City”
Motto(s):  “Liberty and Union”
Location in Middlesex County, Massachusetts
Newton, Massachusetts Location in the United States Show map of Massachusetts Newton, Massachusetts Newton, Massachusetts (the United States) Show map of the United States Newton, Massachusetts Newton, Massachusetts (North America) Show map of North America
Coordinates: 42°20′13″N 71°12′35″W / 42.33694°N 71.20972°W / 42.33694; -71.20972Coordinates: 42°20′13″N 71°12′35″W / 42.33694°N 71.20972°W / 42.33694; -71.20972
Country	United States
State	Massachusetts
County	Middlesex
Settled	1630
Incorporated (Town)	1681
Incorporated (City)	1874
Government
• Type	Mayor–council government
• Mayor	Ruthanne Fuller
Area
• Total	18.16 sq mi (47.03 km)
• Land	17.83 sq mi (46.17 km2)
• Water	0.33 sq mi (0.86 km)
Elevation	100 ft (30 m)
Population  (2020)
• Total	88,923
• Density	4,987.83/sq mi (1,925.84/km2)
Time zone	UTC−5 (Eastern)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−4 (Eastern)
ZIP Codes	02458–02462, 02464–02468
Area code	617/857
FIPS code	25-45560
GNIS feature ID	0617675
Website	www.newtonma.gov

Newton is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is approximately 7 miles (11 km) west of downtown Boston. Newton resembles a patchwork of thirteen villages, without a city center. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, the population of Newton was 88,923.

History

Newton was settled in 1630 as part of “the newe towne”, which was renamed Cambridge in 1638. Roxbury minister John Eliot persuaded the Native American people of Nonantum, a sub-tribe of the Massachusett led by a sachem named Waban, to relocate to Natick in 1651, fearing that they would be exploited by colonists. Newton was incorporated as a separate town, known as Cambridge Village, on December 15, 1681, then renamed Newtown in 1691, and finally Newton in 1766. It became a city on January 5, 1874. Newton is known as The Garden City.

In Reflections in Bullough’s Pond, Newton historian Diana Muir describes the early industries that developed in the late 18th and early 19th centuries in a series of mills built to take advantage of the water power available at Newton Upper Falls and Newton Lower Falls. Snuff, chocolate, glue, paper and other products were produced in these small mills but, according to Muir, the water power available in Newton was not sufficient to turn Newton into a manufacturing city, although it was, beginning in 1902, the home of the Stanley Motor Carriage Company, the maker of the Stanley Steamer.

Newton, according to Muir, became one of America’s earliest commuter suburbs. The Boston and Worcester, one of America’s earliest railroads, reached West Newton in 1834. Wealthy Bostonian businessmen took advantage of the new commuting opportunity offered by the railroad, building gracious homes on erstwhile farmland of West Newton hill and on Commonwealth street. Muir points out that these early commuters needed sufficient wealth to employ a groom and keep horses, to drive them from their hilltop homes to the station.

Further suburbanization came in waves. One wave began with the streetcar lines that made many parts of Newton accessible for commuters in the late nineteenth century. The next wave came in the 1920s when automobiles became affordable to a growing upper middle class. Even then, however, Oak Hill continued to be farmed, mostly market gardening, until the prosperity of the 1950s made all of Newton more densely settled.

Two of the 9/11 hijackers stayed in Newton the night before the attack. The hijackers of American Airlines Flight 11 spent their last night in Newton’s Park Inn, an economy motel across the street from the Chestnut Hill Mall and within walking distance of The Atrium.

Each April on Patriots’ Day, the Boston Marathon is run through the city, entering from Wellesley on Route 16 (Washington Street) where runners encounter the first of the four infamous Newton Hills. It then turns right onto Route 30 (Commonwealth Avenue) for the long haul into Boston. There are two more hills before reaching Centre Street, and then the fourth and most noted, Heartbreak Hill, rises shortly after Centre Street. Residents and visitors line the race route along Washington Street and Commonwealth Avenue to cheer the runners.

Geography

Newton is a suburban city approximately 7 mi (11 km) from downtown Boston, in Middlesex County, Massachusetts. The city is bordered by Waltham and Watertown on the north, Needham and the West Roxbury neighborhood of Boston on the south, Wellesley and Weston on the west, and Brookline and the Brighton neighborhood of Boston on the east.

The Charles River flows along the north and west parts of Newton, and Route 128 passes through the west part of the city.