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Winchester is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, located 8.2 miles (13.2 km) north of downtown Boston as part of the Greater Boston metropolitan area. It is also one of the wealthiest municipalities in Massachusetts. The population was 22,970 at the 2020 United States Census. [1]
- Indigenous Peoples
- European Arrival
- Early History
- The 19th Century
- Forming The Town of Winchester
- Becoming A Suburban Town
Native Americans were the first to settle along the rivers and ponds in the area now known as Winchester. They spoke the Algonquin language and were part of the Massachuset tribe, whose land stretched from Plymouth to Salem and west of Concord. By the time of European migration, their population had been decimated by disease and warfare with the Ab...
Europeans arrived in the area in the 1630s when Charlestown citizens were granted land in the northern ranges of the district, known as Waterfield. It was incorporated in 1642 from Charlestown lands and annexed to Woburn. Present-day Winchester includes lands which were originally part of Woburn, Arlington (West Cambridge), and Medford.
Early settlement was concentrated along Cambridge Street (the Cambridge-Woburn Road) with some scattered upland farms to the west, and along Richardson’s Row (Washington Street) to the east. Other settlements were located along the Medford-Woburn Road (Main Street). Symmes Corner located at the intersection of Grove, Bacon, and Main Streets, and Bl...
The Middlesex Canal, which opened in 1803, and the Boston and Lowell Railroad, which supplanted it in 1835, changed the character of the village. The small mills and tanneries on the Aberjona River along with the isolated farms now had fast and cheap access to Boston markets and beyond. These ties grew stronger over time. The early grist mills gave...
The thriving village soon began to feel the need to separate from the parent town of Woburn, and it was the South Woburn Congregational Church that initiated the move. In 1840 the South Woburn Congregational Church provided the first house of worship within the village boundaries. By 1850, the town was ready to establish its independence from Wobur...
Two distinct social groups developed in the new town. In the area near the mills, such as the Canal Street-Salem Street neighborhood and in Baconville (near Grove Street), industrial workers settled near their factories. Simultaneously, Boston businessmen began to settle in Winchester, attracted by the easy commute on the Boston & Lowell railroad. ...
FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH OF WINCHESTER. In 1840, rebel church members broke away from the Woburn Congregational Church to form a new congregational society, the South Woburn Congregational Church. The drive for a new Town started with this action.
The Winchester Center Historic District encompasses the commercial and civic heart of Winchester, Massachusetts. It is roughly bounded Mt. Vernon and Washington Streets, Waterfield Road, Church and Main Streets.
National Register of Historic Places in Winchester, Massachusetts (1 C, 60 F)
The Edward Gardner House is a historic house at Zero Gardner Place in Winchester, Massachusetts. Built about 1764, it is one of the oldest buildings in Winchester, and is also important for its association with the Gardner family, who were early settlers of the area.
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History of Winchester in Films and Video. This page has video recordings and digital films of historical events and stories of the history of Winchester Massachusetts. To view a film, just click on the arrow in the center of the frame.
