Newton, Massachusetts - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Newton is a city

City

A city is a relatively large and permanent settlement. Although there is no agreement on how a city is distinguished from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status based on local law.For example, in the U.S...

in Middlesex County

Middlesex County, Massachusetts

-National protected areas:* Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge* Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge* Longfellow National Historic Site* Lowell National Historical Park* Minute Man National Historical Park* Oxbow National Wildlife Refuge...

, Massachusetts

Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

bordered to the east by Boston

Boston

Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the population of Newton was 85,146, making it the eleventh largest city in the state.

Villages

Newton is a suburban city approximately seven miles from downtown Boston. Rather than having a single city center, Newton is a patchwork of thirteen "villages", many boasting small "downtown" areas of their own. The 13 villages are: Auburndale

Auburndale, Massachusetts

Auburndale is one of the 13 villages of Newton, Massachusetts. It lies at the western end of Newton near the intersection of interstate highways 90 and 95, and is bisected by the Massachusetts Turnpike. Auburndale is surrounded by three other Newton villages as well as the city of Waltham and the...

, Chestnut Hill

Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts

Chestnut Hill is a wealthy New England village located six miles west of downtown Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Like all Massachusetts villages, Chestnut Hill is not an incorporated municipal entity, but unlike most of them, it encompasses parts of three separate municipalities, each of...

, Newton Centre

Newton Centre, Massachusetts

Newton Centre is a borough of Newton, Massachusetts. The main commercial center of Newton Centre is a triangular area surrounding the intersections of Beacon Street, Centre Street and Langley Road. It is the largest downtown area among all the villages of Newton, and serves as a large upscale...

, Newton Corner

Newton Corner, Massachusetts

Newton Corner is a village of Newton, Massachusetts, United States. Newton Corner borders Brighton, a neighborhood of Boston, as well as the city of Watertown, Massachusetts...

, Newton Highlands

Newton Highlands, Massachusetts

Newton Highlands is a village of Newton, Massachusetts. Newton Highlands is largely suburban outside of the village and the commercial district running along Winchester and Needham Streets....

, Newton Lower Falls

Newton Lower Falls, Massachusetts

Newton Lower Falls, Massachusetts is a village of Newton, Massachusetts, on the Charles River. The commercial area extends across the river into Wellesley, Massachusetts, where it is known as Wellesley Lower Falls, where a majority of the retail businesses are.The Charles River drops 18 feet over...

, Newton Upper Falls

Newton Upper Falls, Massachusetts

Newton Upper Falls is a village situated on the east bank of the Charles River in the city of Newton, Massachusetts, in the United States.The area borders Needham, Massachusetts to the south/southwest, Wellesley, Massachusetts to the west, the West Roxbury neighborhood of Boston to the extreme...

(both on the Charles River

Charles River

The Charles River is an long river that flows in an overall northeasterly direction in eastern Massachusetts, USA. From its source in Hopkinton, the river travels through 22 cities and towns until reaching the Atlantic Ocean at Boston...

, and both once small industrial sites), Newtonville

Newtonville, Massachusetts

Newtonville is a village of Newton, Massachusetts.Located in Newtonville is Newton North High School, one of the city's two high schools. Also located in Newtonville is the MBTA Commuter Rail train station, which is serviced by the buses 59, 553, 554, and 556....

, Nonantum

Nonantum, Massachusetts

Nonantum is one of the thirteen villages of Newton, Massachusetts, also known as Silver Lake or The Lake. The lake in question was filled with construction rubble and built over from the 1930s into the late 1950s. The neighborhood kids cleared the snow each winter and played hockey on it through...

(also called "The Lake"), Oak Hill

Oak Hill, Massachusetts

Oak Hill is one of thirteen villages of the city of Newton in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, USA.-History and geography:This village is situated on a landform known since the mid-17th century as Oak Hill, and one of the seven principal elevations of Newton .One of the last...

, Thompsonville

Thompsonville, Massachusetts

Thompsonville is one of the 13 villages of Newton, Massachusetts. John St. is one of its main attractions....

, Waban

Waban, Massachusetts

Waban is one of the thirteen villages of Newton, Massachusetts, an affluent suburban city approximately seven miles from downtown Boston.-Origin of name:Waban was named for Waban, the first Massachusett Indian converted to Christianity, in 1646...

and West Newton

West Newton, Massachusetts

West Newton is a village of the City of Newton, Massachusetts and is one of the oldest of the thirteen Newton villages. The postal code 02465 roughly matches the village limits.-Location:...

. Oak Hill Park

Oak Hill Park

Oak Hill Park is a residential subdivision located in the Oak Hill village of Newton, Middlesex County, Massachusetts. Oak Hill Park is shown as a separate and distinct village on some city maps...

is a place within the village of Oak Hill that itself is shown as a separate and distinct village on some city map

City map

A city map is a large-scale thematic map of a city created to enable the fastest possible orientation in an urban space. The graphic representation of objects on a city map is therefore usually greatly simplified, and reduced to generally understood symbology.Depending upon its target group or...

s, (including a map dated 2010 on the official City of Newton website) and Four Corners is also shown as a village on some city maps. Although most of the villages have a post office, they have no legal definition and no firmly defined borders. This village-based system often causes some confusion with addresses and for first time visitors.

History

Newton was settled in 1630 as part of "the newe towne", which was renamed Cambridge

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...

in 1638. Roxbury minister John Eliot

John Eliot (missionary)

John Eliot was a Puritan missionary to the American Indians. His efforts earned him the designation “the Indian apostle.”-English education and Massachusetts ministry:...

convinced the Native American people of Nonantum, a sub-tribe of the Massachusetts led by a sachem named Waban

Waban

Waban was a Native American of the Nipmuc group and was the first Native American to be converted to Christianity in Massachusetts.-Life:Waban was born about 1604 at Musketaquid, near the present town of Concord...

, to relocate to Natick in 1651, fearing that they would be exploited by colonists. Newton was incorporated as a separate town

New England town

The New England town is the basic unit of local government in each of the six New England states. Without a direct counterpart in most other U.S. states, New England towns are conceptually similar to civil townships in other states, but are incorporated, possessing powers like cities in other...

, known as Cambridge Village, in 1688, then renamed Newtown in 1691, and finally Newton in 1766. It became a city

City

in 1873. Newton is known as The Garden City.
In Reflections in Bullough's Pond

Reflections in Bullough's Pond

Reflections in Bullough's Pond: Economy and Ecosystem in New England is a book by Diana Muir. The Providence Journal called Bullough’s Pond "a masterpiece," and Publishers Weekly called it "lyrical"...

, Newton historian Diana Muir

Diana Muir

Diana Muir, also known as Diana Muir Appelbaum, is a Newton, Massachusetts writer and historian. Muir is best known for her 2000 book, Reflections in Bullough's Pond, a history of the impact of human activity on the New England ecosystem....

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

Newton Upper Falls, Massachusetts

and Newton Lower Falls

Newton Lower Falls, Massachusetts

. 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.

Newton, according to Muir, became one of America's earliest commuter suburbs. The Boston and Worcester

Boston and Albany Railroad

The Boston and Albany Railroad was a railroad connecting Boston, Massachusetts to Albany, New York, later becoming part of the New York Central Railroad system, Conrail and CSX. The line is used by CSX for freight...

, one of America's earliest railroads, reached West Newton

West Newton, Massachusetts

West Newton is a village of the City of Newton, Massachusetts and is one of the oldest of the thirteen Newton villages. The postal code 02465 roughly matches the village limits.-Location:...

in 1834. Gracious homes sprang up almost instantly on erstwhile farmland on West Newton

West Newton, Massachusetts

West Newton is a village of the City of Newton, Massachusetts and is one of the oldest of the thirteen Newton villages. The postal code 02465 roughly matches the village limits.-Location:...

hill, as men wealthy enough to afford a country seat, but whose business demanded that they be in their downtown Boston offices during the business day, took advantage of the new commuting opportunity offered by the railroad. 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

Oak Hill, Massachusetts

continued to be farmed, mostly market gardening, until the prosperity of the 1950s made all of Newton more densely settled. Newton is not a typical "commuter suburb" since many people who live in Newton do not work in downtown Boston. Most Newtonites work in Newton and other surrounding cities and towns.

The city has two symphony orchestra

Orchestra

An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...

s, the New Philharmonia Orchestra of Massachusetts

New Philharmonia Orchestra of Massachusetts

The New Philharmonia Orchestra of Massachusetts, founded in 1995, is a 75-member mostly non-professional regional orchestra based in Newton, Massachusetts...

and the Newton Symphony Orchestra.

The Newton Free Library

Newton Free Library

Newton Free Library, the public library of Newton, Massachusetts, provides an extensive collection of print, non-print, and electronic resources, a comprehensive reference service, and a wide array of educational and cultural programs for people of all ages....

possesses more than 500,000 volumes of print materials (2004), as well as art, both original and prints, sound recordings and videos: the largest collection in the Minuteman Library Network

Minuteman Library Network

The Minuteman Library Network, founded in 1984, is an organization of 41 public and academic libraries in eastern Massachusetts that share resources, patrons and services. The Network has over 1,171,000 titles and 622,000 members...

.

Each April on Patriots Day, the Boston Marathon

Boston Marathon

The Boston Marathon is an annual marathon hosted by the U.S. city of Boston, Massachusetts, on Patriots' Day, the third Monday of April. Begun in 1897 and inspired by the success of the first modern-day marathon competition in the 1896 Summer Olympics, the Boston Marathon is the world's oldest...

is run through the city, entering from Wellesley

Wellesley, Massachusetts

Wellesley is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of Greater Boston. The population was 27,982 at the time of the 2010 census.It is best known as the home of Wellesley College and Babson College...

on Route 16

Massachusetts Route 16

Route 16 is an east–west state highway in Massachusetts. It begins in the west at an intersection with Route 12 and Route 193 in Webster, just north of the Connecticut state border...

(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

Boston

. There are two more hills before reaching Centre Street, and then the fourth and most infamous of all, 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 in Middlesex County

Middlesex County, Massachusetts

, Massachusetts

Massachusetts

, at 42°20′16"N 71°12′36"W (42.337713, -71.209936). The city is bordered by Waltham

Waltham, Massachusetts

Waltham is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, was an early center for the labor movement, and 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,...

and Watertown

Watertown, Massachusetts

The Town of Watertown is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 31,915 at the 2010 census.- History :Archeological evidence suggests that Watertown was inhabited for thousands of years before the arrival of settlers from England...

on the north, Needham

Needham, Massachusetts

Needham is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. A suburb of Boston, its population was 28,886 at the 2010 census.- History :...

and the West Roxbury

West Roxbury, Massachusetts

West Roxbury is a neighborhood in Boston bordered by Roslindale to the north, the Town of Dedham to the east and south, the Town of Brookline and the City of Newton to the west. Many people mistakenly confuse West Roxbury with Roxbury, but the two are not connected. West Roxbury is separated from...

neighborhood of Boston

Boston

on the south, Wellesley

Wellesley, Massachusetts

and Weston

Weston, Massachusetts

Weston is a suburb of Boston located in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States in the Boston metro area. The population of Weston, according to the 2010 U.S. Census, is 11,261....

on the west, and Brookline

Brookline, Massachusetts

Brookline is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States, which borders on the cities of Boston and Newton. As of the 2010 census, the population of the town was 58,732.-Etymology:...

and the Brighton neighborhood of Boston on the east.

From Watertown to Waltham to Needham and Dedham

Dedham, Massachusetts

Dedham is a town in and the county seat of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 24,729 at the 2010 census. It is located on Boston's southwest border. On the northwest it is bordered by Needham, on the southwest by Westwood and on the southeast by...

, Newton is bounded by the Charles River

Charles River

. The Yankee Division Highway, designated Interstate 95

Interstate 95 in Massachusetts

Interstate 95 is the main highway on the East Coast of the United States, paralleling the Atlantic Ocean from Florida to Maine. The Massachusetts portion of the highway enters from the state of Rhode Island in Attleboro and travels in a northeasterly direction to the junction with Route 128 in...

but known to the locals as Route 128, follows the Charles from Waltham to Dedham, creating a de facto land barrier. The portion of Needham which lies east of 128 and west of the Charles, known as the Needham Industrial Park has become part of a Newton commercial zone and contributes to its heavy traffic, though the tax revenue goes to Needham.

According to the United States Census Bureau

United States Census Bureau

The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...

, the city has a total area of 18.2 square miles (47.1 km²), of which 18 square miles (46.6 km²) is land and 0.2 square mile (0.517997622 km²) (0.82%) is water.

Demographics

As of the census

Census

A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...

of 2010, there were 85,146 people, 32,648 households, and 20,499 families residing in the city. The population density

Population density

Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...

was 4,643.6 people per square mile (1,793.2/km²). There were 32,112 housing units at an average density of 1,778.8 per square mile (686.9/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 79.6% White, 11.5% Asian, 2.5% African American, 0.07% Native American, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.71% from other races

Race (United States Census)

Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...

, and 1.46% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4.1% of the population. (2010 Census Report: Census report Quickfacts.com

Newton, along with neighboring Brookline

Brookline, Massachusetts

Brookline is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States, which borders on the cities of Boston and Newton. As of the 2010 census, the population of the town was 58,732.-Etymology:...

, is known for its considerable Jewish and Asian populations. The Jewish population is estimated at roughly 28,000, or about one third the population.

There were 31,201 households out of which 31.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.2% were married couples

Marriage

Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...

living together, 8.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.3% were non-families. 25.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. As of the 2008 US Census, the average household size was 2.60 and the average family size was 3.11.

In the city the population was spread out with 21.2% under the age of 18, 10.3% from 18 to 24, 28.2% from 25 to 44, 25.2% from 45 to 64, and 15.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 86.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 82.7 males.

According to a 2008 estimate, the median income for a household was $108,228, and the median income for a family was $137,493. Males had a median income of $65,565 versus $46,885 for females. The per capita income

Per capita income

Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...

for the city was $45,708. About 2.1% of families and 8.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 4.8% of those under age 18 and 5.0% of those age 65 or over.

According to 2010 income statistics the city of Newton had a median household income of $112,230. The average household income in the city had risen to $167,013 with a per capita household income of $65,049.

A 2010 study by Bizjournal's Portfolio.com ranked Newton the second wealthiest urban area in the U.S. with a population over 75,000. The rankings were based on a six-part formula that considered per capita income, median household income, percentage of households with annual incomes exceeding $200,000, the upper 20 percent threshold for household income, median home value, and the upper 25 percent threshold for home value. The study found that 23 percent of Newton households earn more than $200,000 annually; it is one of only seven communities in the study where median household income exceeds $100,000.

Based on statistics reported to the Federal Bureau of Investigation

Federal Bureau of Investigation

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...

, Newton was the nation's safest city during 1999, 2004 and 2005, and the fourth safest city in the nation in 2006 and in 2008. The designation is based on crime statistics in six categories: murder

Murder

Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...

, rape

Rape

Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...

, robbery

Robbery

Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take something of value by force or threat of force or by putting the victim in fear. At common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person of that property, by means of force or fear....

, aggravated assault, burglary

Burglary

Burglary is a crime, the essence of which is illicit entry into a building for the purposes of committing an offense. Usually that offense will be theft, but most jurisdictions specify others which fall within the ambit of burglary...

, and auto theft.

City

Newton has an elected strong mayor-council form of government. The council is called the Board of Aldermen. The mayor is Setti Warren

Setti Warren

Setti David Warren , an American politician, is the mayor of Newton, Massachusetts and a former Democratic candidate for United States Senate. He is the first popularly elected African-American mayor in Massachusetts....

, a former Naval officer and White House staffer who is the first African American to be elected Mayor of Newton.

The elected officials are:

Mayor: Setti Warren
Setti Warren
Setti David Warren , an American politician, is the mayor of Newton, Massachusetts and a former Democratic candidate for United States Senate. He is the first popularly elected African-American mayor in Massachusetts....

, the city's chief executive officer and appoints the Chief Administrative Officer.
The Board of Aldermen, Newton's legislative branch of municipal government, is made up of 24 members - sixteen at-large Aldermen and eight Ward Aldermen. Aldermen are elected every two years.

Note: Aldermen for 2012 and 2013 are listed below. The first listed person in each ward is the ward alderman, while the other two are elected at large.

- Ward One: Scott F. Lennon, Carleton P. Merrill and Allan Ciccone Jr.;
- Ward Two: Stephen M. Linsky, Marcia T. Johnson and Susan Albright;
- Ward Three: Anthony Salvucci, Ted Hess-Mahan and Greer Tan Swiston;
- Ward Four: Jay Harney, Leonard J. Gentile and Amy Mah Sangiolo;
- Ward Five: John Rice, Deborah Crossley and Brian E. Yates;
- Ward Six: Richard Blazar, Greg Schwartz and Victoria L. Danberg;
- Ward Seven: R. Lisle Baker, Ruthanne Fuller and Marc Laredo; and
- Ward Eight: Cheryl Lappin, Mitchell L. Fischman and David Kalis.

Newton also has a school committee which decides on the policies and budget for Newton Public Schools. It has nine voting members, consisting of the Mayor of Newton and eight at-large Ward representatives, who are elected by citizens. In addition to these voting members, there are two nonvoting student representatives; one from each high school.

School Committee members for 2012 and 2013 are listed below.

- Ward One: Geoff Epstein;
- Ward Two: Diana Fisher-Gomberg;
- Ward Three: Angela Pitter-Wright;
- Ward Four: Jonathan Yoe;
- Ward Five: Steve Siegel;
- Ward Six: Claire Sokoloff;
- Ward Seven: Matt Hills;
- Ward Eight: Margie Ross-Decter.

County

Mismanagement of Middlesex County's public hospital in the mid 1990s left the county on the brink of insolvency, and in 1997 the Massachusetts legislature stepped in by assuming all assets and obligations of the county. The government of Middlesex County was officially abolished on July 11, 1997. The sheriff and some other regional officials with specific duties are still elected locally to perform duties within the county region, but there is no county council or commission. However, communities are now granted the right to form their own regional compacts for sharing services.

These are the remaining elected officers for Middlesex County:

Clerk of Courts: Michael A. Sullivan
Michael A. Sullivan
Michael A. Sullivan is the Clerk of Courts for Middlesex County, Massachusetts, and served two terms as mayor of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Michael is a member of the Sullivan family of Cambridge. He is the third generation in his family to be the mayor of Cambridge following his father and...
County Treasurer: Position Eliminated
District Attorney: Gerard T. Leone, Jr.
Register of Deeds: Richard P. Howe, Jr. (North at Lowell), Eugene C. Brune (South at Cambridge)
Register of Probate: Tara E. DeCristofaro
County Sheriff: Peter J. Koutoujian, Jr.

State

House of Representatives

Massachusetts House of Representatives

The Massachusetts House of Representatives is the lower house of the Massachusetts General Court, the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is composed of 160 members elected from single-member electoral districts across the Commonwealth. Representatives serve two-year terms...

John J. Lawn, Democrat of Watertown: Tenth Middlesex District, which covers Precincts 1 and 4 of Ward 1, of Newton
Kay Khan, Democrat of Newton: Eleventh Middlesex District, which covers Precincts 2 and 3 of ward 1, precincts 1, 2 and 3 of ward 2, precincts 1, 2 and 3 of ward 3, Ward 4, precinct 4 of ward 5, and precinct 2 of ward 7, of Newton
Ruth B. Balser, Democrat of Newton: Twelfth Middlesex District, which covers Precincts 1, 2 and 3 of ward 5, ward 6, precincts 1, 3 and 4 of ward 7, and ward 8, of Newton

Senate

Massachusetts Senate

The Massachusetts Senate is the upper house of the Massachusetts General Court, the bicameral state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The Senate comprises 40 elected members from 40 single-member senatorial districts in the state...

Cynthia Stone Creem, Democrat of Newton: 1st Middlesex District and Norfolk, since 1998.

National

Congress

House of Representatives: Massachusetts's 4th congressional district
Massachusetts's 4th congressional district
Massachusetts's 4th congressional district is mostly in southern Massachusetts and includes the South Coast region. It is represented by Barney Frank, who has served the district since January 1981....

: Barney Frank
Barney Frank
Barney Frank is the U.S. Representative for . A member of the Democratic Party, he is the former chairman of the House Financial Services Committee and is considered the most prominent gay politician in the United States.Born and raised in New Jersey, Frank graduated from Harvard College and...

, Democrat, of Newton, 1981 to present
Senate: John F. Kerry, Democrat
Senate: Scott P. Brown
Scott P. Brown
Scott Philip Brown is an American politician and the junior United States Senator from Massachusetts. Brown previously served as a member of the Massachusetts General Court, first in the State House of Representatives and then in the State Senate .Brown is a member of the Republican Party, and...

, Republican

Voter Registration and Party Enrollment as of October 15, 2008
Party		Number of Voters	Percentage	Democratic Democratic Party (United States) The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...	25,873	46.74%	Republican Republican Party (United States) The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...	4,642	8.39%	Unaffiliated	24,574	44.40%	Minor Parties	264	0.48%
Total		55,353	100%

Preschools

Presbyterian Church Nursery School 75 Vernon Street
Temple Beth Avodah Nursery School, 45 Puddingstone Lane
Beth-El Pre-School, 561 Ward St.
Burr Cooperative Nursery School http://www.burrcooperative.org, 64 Hancock St., Auburndale
The Teddy Bear Club Preschool, 1466 Commonwealth Ave, West Newton.
Bernice B. Godine JCC Early Learning Center http://www.jccearlylearning.org/home.html, Leventhal-Sidman JCC, 333 Nahanton St.
The Children's Cooperative Nursery School, 848 Beacon St.
Temple Shalom Nursery School, 175 Temple St.
Walnut PK Montessori School http://walnutparkmontessori.org, 47 Walnut Park
Auburndale Community Nursery School, 230 Central St.
Rockwell Nursery School at Lasell College http://www.lasell.edu/path/holway.asp, 70 Studio Road
Newton Community Service Center, 492 Waltham Street
Parkside Preschool, 474 Centre Street, Newton Corner
Preschool Experience, Centre Street
Upper Falls Nursery School, 45 Pettee St, Newton Upper Falls
Bilingual Beginnings at Pine Village Preschool 1326 Washington Street, West Newton
West Newton Children's Center Washington ST, West Newton
Little Red Wagon Playschool 50 Winchester Street, Newton Highlands

Primary and secondary education

Public: Newton Public Schools

Newton Public Schools

Newton Public Schools is a school district in Newton, Massachusetts, U.S.A..- Schools :The Newton Public Schools are organized in an Elementary School K-5, Middle School 6-8, and High School 9-12 arrangement with a projected enrollment of 11,237 students for FY06.- Primary schools :*Angier...

Public Elementary Schools include:

Newton has four public middle schools:

Bigelow
Brown
Charles E. Brown Middle School
Charles E. Brown Middle School is a public Junior High School in Newton, Massachusetts. As of 2007, total number of enrollments numbered 664 while teachers numbered 63, bringing the student/teacher ratio to 10.6 whereas elsewhere in the state is averaged at 10.0...
Oak Hill
Day

Brown Middle School and Oak Hill Middle School graduates go on to Newton South while Frank A. Day Middle School

Day Middle School

Frank Ashley Day Middle School is a public middle school located in the village of Newtonville in Newton, Massachusetts. Students from Peirce, Cabot, Burr, Franklin and Horace Mann Elementary Schools go to this middle school, and in turn the Day students attend Newton North High School. As with...

and Bigelow Middle School graduates go on to Newton North. There are exceptions based on exact location of the student's home.

Newton has two public high schools:

Newton North High School
Newton North High School
Newton North High School, formerly Newton High School, is the larger and longer-established of two public high schools in Newton, Massachusetts, with about 2,000 students, the other being Newton South High School. It is located in the village of Newtonville...
Newton South High School
Newton South High School
Newton South High School is one of two public high schools in the city of Newton, Massachusetts, the other being Newton North.-Mission statement:Newton South High School, a community of students, parents, faculty, and staff,...

Private
- Fessenden School
  Fessenden School
  The Fessenden School is an independent day and boarding school for boys, founded in 1903 by Frederick J. Fessenden, and located at 250 Waltham Street, West Newton, Massachusetts, United States, on a campus....
  
  http://www.fessenden.org, A K-9 day and 5-9 boarding school for boys at 250 Waltham Street in West Newton
- Jackson School http://www.jacksonschool.org, Jackson School is a private, Catholic, elementary school sponsored by the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Boston.
- Newton Country Day School
  Newton Country Day School
  Newton Country Day School of the Sacred Heart is a private, all-girls Roman Catholic high school and middle school located on the Loren Towle Estate in Newton, Massachusetts, as part of the Sacred Heart Network of 21 schools in the United States and 44 countries abroad...
  
  http://www.newtoncountryday.org, 785 Centre St
- Trinity Catholic High School
  Trinity Catholic High School (Massachusetts)
  Trinity Catholic High School is a Roman Catholic high school in Newton, Massachusetts. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston....
  
  , 575 Washington Street. See also: Trinity Catholic High School Website
- The Solomon Schechter Day School of Greater Boston
  Solomon Schechter Day School of Greater Boston
  The Solomon Schechter Day School of Greater Boston is an independent Jewish day school that offers a primary education in secular and Jewish studies for children in kindergarten through eighth grade...
  
  http://www.ssdsboston.org, A K-8 Conservative Jewish dayschool
- The Newton Montessori School http://www.newtonmontessori.org 80 Crescent Ave.
- The Rashi school
  Rashi school
  The Rashi School, a K-8 Reform Jewish Independent School, offers a Jewish and secular education in an environment infused with Jewish values and learning. Rashi’s integrated curricula aims to help students discover connections between Jewish and secular topics, between themselves and the...
  
  18 Walnut Park(now in Dedham)
- Clearway School 61 Chestnut Street. Clearway is a small, private school specializing in educating gifted children suffering from learning disabilities.
- Mt. Alvernia High School http://www.mountalverniahs.org, a private girls' school for grades 7-12 located at 790 Centre Street.

Higher education

Colleges and universities located in Newton include:

Andover Newton Theological School
Andover Newton Theological School
Andover Newton Theological School is a graduate school and seminary located in Newton, Massachusetts. It is America's oldest graduate seminary and the nation's first graduate institution of any kind...

in Newton Centre
Boston College
Boston College
Boston College is a private Jesuit research university located in the village of Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA. The main campus is bisected by the border between the cities of Boston and Newton. It has 9,200 full-time undergraduates and 4,000 graduate students. Its name reflects its early...

in Chestnut Hill
Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts
Chestnut Hill is a wealthy New England village located six miles west of downtown Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Like all Massachusetts villages, Chestnut Hill is not an incorporated municipal entity, but unlike most of them, it encompasses parts of three separate municipalities, each of...
Boston College Law School
Boston College Law School
Boston College Law School is one of the six professional graduate schools at Boston College. Located approximately 1.5 miles from the main Boston College campus in Chestnut Hill, Boston College Law School is situated on a wooded campus in Newton, Massachusetts.With approximately 800 students and...

in Newton Centre
Hebrew College
Hebrew College
Hebrew College is an accredited college of Jewish studies in Newton Centre, near Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1921, Hebrew College is committed to Jewish scholarship in a transdenominational academic environment. The president of the college is Rabbi Daniel Lehmann...

in Newton Centre
Mount Ida College
Mount Ida College
Mount Ida College is a private college in Newton, Massachusetts offering professional undergraduate and graduate degrees.-History:The Mount Ida School for Girls was a private all-female high school founded in 1899 by George Franklin Jewett, named after the hill on which it was located in Newton...

in Oak Hill
Oak Hill, Massachusetts
Oak Hill is one of thirteen villages of the city of Newton in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, USA.-History and geography:This village is situated on a landform known since the mid-17th century as Oak Hill, and one of the seven principal elevations of Newton .One of the last...
Lasell College
Lasell College
Lasell College is a private, non-sectarian, coeducational college located in the Newton, Massachusetts village of Auburndale. Lasell offers both undergraduate and graduate degrees in the liberal arts and professional fields of study.-History:...

in Auburndale
Auburndale, Massachusetts
Auburndale is one of the 13 villages of Newton, Massachusetts. It lies at the western end of Newton near the intersection of interstate highways 90 and 95, and is bisected by the Massachusetts Turnpike. Auburndale is surrounded by three other Newton villages as well as the city of Waltham and the...

Newton Junior College

Newton Junior College, operated by the Newton Public Schools, opened in 1946 to serve the needs of returning veterans who otherwise would not have been able to continue their education due to the overcrowding of colleges and universities at that time. It used the facilities of Newton High School (now Newton North High School

Newton North High School

Newton North High School, formerly Newton High School, is the larger and longer-established of two public high schools in Newton, Massachusetts, with about 2,000 students, the other being Newton South High School. It is located in the village of Newtonville...

) until its own adjacent campus was built. It closed in 1976 due to declining enrollment and increased costs. The availability of such places as UMass Boston contributed to its demise. According to the city, its former campus is now "Claflin Park," a 25 unit multi-family development.

Others

Other former colleges include Aquinas College

Aquinas College (Massachusetts)

Aquinas College was a college in Milton, Massachusetts and Newton, Massachusetts. It had an all female student body. It was closed in 1999. Its Newton campus was then used by The Rashi School. The school will soon be vacant again as the Rashi School is moving to nearby Dedham, Massachusetts...

(1961–1999), Mount Alvernia College (1959–1973) and Newton College of the Sacred Heart

Newton College of the Sacred Heart

Newton College of the Sacred Heart was a small women's liberal arts college in Newton Centre, Massachusetts. It opened in 1946 and merged with Boston College in June 1974....

(1946–1975).

Houses of worship

Adams Street Shul
Adams Street Shul
Congregation Agudas Achim Anshei Sfard, more commonly known as The Adams Street Shul, is an Orthodox Jewish synagogue located at 168 Adams Street in the village of Nonantum in Newton, Massachusetts. Founded in 1911, it is the oldest synagogue in Newton...
Central Congregational Church
Central Congregational Church (Newton, Massachusetts)
Central Congregational Church is an historic church building located at 218 Walnut Street, in the village of Newtonville in Newton, Massachusetts, Built in 1895 , it was designed in the Romanesque style by noted Boston architects Hartwell and Richardson who had designed the Odd Fellows Hall in...
Congregation Beth El-Atereth Israel
Congregation Mishkan Tefila
Church of the Open Word, headquarters of the Swedenborgian Church of North America
Swedenborgian Church of North America
The Swedenborgian Church in North America . The Administrative Offices of the denomination are located at 11 Highland Avenue, Newton, MA.-Beliefs:...
Church of the Redeemer (Episcopal)
Congregation Dorshei Tzedek
Congregation Mishkan Tefila
Corpus Christi Catholic Churchhttp://www.ccsbparish.org/
Eliot Church of Newtonhttp://www.eliotchurch.org/
Episcopal Parish of the Messiah
Evangelical Baptist Church
Evangelical Baptist Church (Newton, Massachusetts)
The Evangelical Baptist Church is an historic church located at 23 Chapel Street, in the village of Nonantum in Newton, Massachusetts. Built in 1873 in Gothic Revival style, it was designed by noted Boston architect Charles Edward Parker, who had in 1853 designed what today is the Architects...
First Baptist Church in Newton
First Church of Christ, Scientist
First Church of Christ, Scientist (Newton, Massachusetts)
The former First Church of Christ, Scientist, built in 1940, is an historic Christian Science church building located at 391 Walnut Street on the corner of Otis Street in the village of Newtonville, in Newton, Massachusetts. It was designed in the redbrick Colonial Revival style by Densmore,...
First Unitarian Society in Newton
First Unitarian Society in Newton
The First Unitarian Society in Newton is located at 1326 Washington Street in the village of West Newton in Newton, Massachusetts. Its building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the First Unitarian Church, Newton...
Grace Episcopal Church
Greek Evangelical Church
Lincoln Park Baptist Church
Lutheran Church of the Newtons
Mary Immaculate of Lourdes Catholic Church
Melkite Greek Catholic Eparchy of Newton
Melkite Greek Catholic Eparchy of Newton
The Eparchy of Newton is an eparchy of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, an Eastern Catholic church in communion with the Roman Catholic Church...

, moved to Roslindale in 2000
Myrtle Baptist Church
Newton Highlands Congregational
Newton Highlands Congregational
Newton Presbyterian Church
Our Lady Help of Christians Catholic Church
Our Lady Help of Christians Historic District
Our Lady Help of Christians Historic District is a historic district on Adams and Washington Streets in Newton, Massachusetts.The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.-References:...
St. Mary's Episcopal Church
St. Mary's Episcopal Church (Newton Lower Falls, Massachusetts)
St. Mary's Episcopal Church and Cemetery, located at 258 Concord Street, in the village of Newton Lower Falls, Newton, Massachusetts, were added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 14, 1980. St...
Saint Bernard's Parishhttp://www.ccsbparish.org/
Saint Ignatius Catholic Church
Sacred Heart Catholic Church

Second Church in Newton

The Second Church in Newton, United Church of Christ, is located at 60 Highland Street in West Newton, Massachusetts, a village of Newton, Massachusetts...

Shaarei Tefillah

Congregation Shaarei Tefillah is a Modern Orthodox synagogue located at 35 Morseland Avenue in the village of Newton Centre in Newton, Massachusetts. In 2003, the synagogue had a membership of 140 families, and in 2008 that number had risen to 200 families...

Temple Beth Avodah

Temple Emanuel

Temple Shalom

Temple Reyim

The Church in Newton

United Parish of Auburndale

The Newton Center Minyan

Newspapers

The city's community newspaper is The Newton Tab

Tab Communications

Tab Communications Inc. , based first in Newton, Massachusetts, USA, then in nearby Needham, was a weekly newspaper publisher in Greater Boston before being bought by Fidelity Investments in 1992 and dissolved into Community Newspaper Company in 1996.The company, founded in 1979, steadily expanded...

, now published by the Community Newspaper Company

Community Newspaper Company

Community Newspaper Company, a subsidiary of GateHouse Media, is a newspaper publisher in eastern Massachusetts. It was founded in 1991 as a holding company for several suburban publishers bought by Fidelity Investments; in 2001, Fidelity sold it to the Boston Herald; in 2006, the massive chain—New...

Television

Residents of Newton have access to a state-of-the-art television studio and community media center, NewTV

NewTV

NewTV is a non-profit Newton-based organization dedicated to providing the diverse Newton community with a platform for opinions, news and local information not generally available from commercial or public media...

, located 23 Needham Street in Newton Highlands. Newton is also the headquarters for NECN

New England Cable News

New England Cable News is a regional 24-hour cable news television network owned and operated by NBCUniversal serving the New England region of the United States. It is very similar to CNN in structure and style, but focuses more on regional news. The channel is also similar to Northwest Cable...

, a regional news network.

Transportation

Newton's proximity to Boston, along with its good public schools and safe and quiet neighborhoods, make it a very desirable community for those who commute to Boston or work in Newton's businesses and industries.

Newton is well-served by three modes of mass transit run by the MBTA

Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, often referred to as the MBTA or simply The T, is the public operator of most bus, subway, commuter rail and ferry systems in the greater Boston, Massachusetts, area. Officially a "body politic and corporate, and a political subdivision" of the...

: light rail

Light rail

Light rail or light rail transit is a form of urban rail public transportation that generally has a lower capacity and lower speed than heavy rail and metro systems, but higher capacity and higher speed than traditional street-running tram systems...

, commuter rail, and bus service. The Green Line "D" Branch, (also known as the Riverside branch) is a light rail line running through the center of the city that makes very frequent trips to downtown Boston, ranging from 10 to 30 minutes away. The Green Line "B" Branch ends across from Boston College

Boston College

Boston College is a private Jesuit research university located in the village of Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA. The main campus is bisected by the border between the cities of Boston and Newton. It has 9,200 full-time undergraduates and 4,000 graduate students. Its name reflects its early...

on Commonwealth Avenue, virtually at the border of Boston's Brighton

Brighton

Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...

neighborhood and the City of Newton (an area which encompasses an unincorporated suburban village referred to as Chestnut Hill

Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts

). The commuter rail, serving the northern villages of Newton that are proximate to Waltham, offers less frequent service to Boston. It runs from every half-an-hour during peak times to every couple of hours otherwise. The northern villages are also served by frequent express buses that head to downtown Boston via the Massachusetts Turnpike

Massachusetts Turnpike

The Massachusetts Turnpike is the easternmost stretch of Interstate 90. The Turnpike begins at the western border of Massachusetts in West Stockbridge connecting with the Berkshire Connector portion of the New York State Thruway...

.

Newton Centre, which is centered around the Newton Center MBTA station

Newton Center (MBTA station)

Newton Center is a surface-level streetcar station located in Newton Centre, Massachusetts on the Green Line "D" Branch of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. Like the other surface level stations on the "D" Branch, it opened on July 4, 1959....

, has been lauded as an example of transit-oriented development

Transit-oriented development

A transit-oriented development is a mixed-use residential or commercial area designed to maximize access to public transport, and often incorporates features to encourage transit ridership...

.

The Massachusetts Turnpike

Massachusetts Turnpike

(Interstate 90

Interstate 90

Interstate 90 is the longest Interstate Highway in the United States at . It is the northernmost coast-to-coast interstate, and parallels US 20 for the most part. Its western terminus is in Seattle, at Edgar Martinez Drive S. near Safeco Field and CenturyLink Field, and its eastern terminus is in...

), which basically follows the old Boston and Albany Railroad

Boston and Albany Railroad

main line right-of-way, runs east and west through Newton, while Route 128 (Interstate 95

Interstate 95 in Massachusetts

) slices through the extreme western part of the city in the Lower Falls area. Route 30 (Commonwealth Avenue), Route 16

Massachusetts Route 16

Route 16 is an east–west state highway in Massachusetts. It begins in the west at an intersection with Route 12 and Route 193 in Webster, just north of the Connecticut state border...

(Watertown Street west to West Newton, where it follows Washington Street west) and route 9 (Worcester Turnpike or Boylston Street) also run east and west through the city. Another major Boston (and Brookline) street, Beacon Street

Beacon Street

Beacon Street is a major thoroughfare in Boston, Massachusetts and several of its western suburbs. Beacon Street in Boston, Brookline, Brighton, and Newton is not to be confused with the Beacon Street in nearby Somerville, or others elsewhere.-Description:...

, runs west from the Boston city line to Washington Street west of the hospital, where it terminates at Washington Street.

There are no major north-south roads through Newton: every north-south street in Newton terminates within Newton at one end or the other. The only possible exception is Needham Street, which is north-south at the border between Newton and Needham

Needham, Massachusetts

Needham is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. A suburb of Boston, its population was 28,886 at the 2010 census.- History :...

, but it turns east and becomes Dedham Street, and when it reaches the Boston border, it goes south-east.

There are some north-south streets that are important to intra-Newton traveling. Centre Street runs south from the Watertown town line to Newton Highlands, where it becomes Winchester Street and terminates at Nahanton Street. Walnut Street runs south from Newtonville, where it starts at Crafts Street, down to Newton Highlands, where it ends at Dedham Street.

Points of interest

Crystal Lake
Crystal Lake, Newton
Crystal Lake is a natural lake located in Newton, Massachusetts. Its shores, mostly lined with private homes, also host two small parks and a town beach and bath house. The name Crystal Lake was given to the pond by a nineteenth century commercial ice harvester that sold ice cut from the pond in...

is a 33 acres (133,546.4 m²) natural lake located in Newton Centre. Its shores, mostly lined with private homes, also host two small parks and a town beach and bath house. The name Crystal Lake was given to the pond by a nineteenth century commercial ice harvester that sold ice cut from the pond in winter. It had previously been called Baptist Pond.

The Jackson Homestead, now the Newton History Museum at the Jackson Homestead, is best known for its history as a stop on the Underground Railroad
Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was an informal network of secret routes and safe houses used by 19th-century black slaves in the United States to escape to free states and Canada with the aid of abolitionists and allies who were sympathetic to their cause. The term is also applied to the abolitionists,...

. It was built in 1809 as a farmhouse designed in the Federal style, and is now a museum
Museum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...

with paintings, costumes, photographs, manuscripts, maps and historical artifacts.

Heartbreak Hill, notably challenging stretch of the Boston Marathon, on Commonwealth Avenue between Centre Street and Boston College.

Newton is home to many exclusive golf courses such as Woodland Country Club, Charles River Country Club, and Brae Burn Country Club, which held the United States Open in 1919.

Echo Bridge
Echo Bridge
Echo Bridge was built to carry the Sudbury Aqueduct over the Charles River from Newton Upper Falls to Needham, Massachusetts. The aqueduct was constructed to carry water from the Sudbury River to Boston. Construction of Echo Bridge began in 1875 and was completed in 1877 by Boston Water Works ,...

is a notable 19th-century masonry arch bridge with views of the river and Hemlock Gorge in Hemlock Gorge Reservation
Hemlock Gorge Reservation
Hemlock Gorge Reservation is a Massachusetts state park located in Newton and Needham. The park is managed by the state Department of Conservation and Recreation .-Description:...

just off Route 9 in Newton Upper Falls.

Norumbega Park
Norumbega Park
Norumbega Park was a recreation area and amusement park located in "Auburndale-on-the-Charles" near Boston, Massachusetts. The associated Totem Pole Ballroom became a well-known dancing and entertainment venue for big bands touring during the 1940s....

was located in Auburndale on the Charles River. Opening in 1897 as a trolley park
Trolley park
In the United States, trolley parks, which started in the 19th century, were picnic and recreation areas along or at the ends of streetcar lines in most of the larger cities. These were precursors to amusement parks. These trolley parks were created by the streetcar companies to give people a...

, it was a popular amusement park
Amusement park
thumb|Cinderella Castle in [[Magic Kingdom]], [[Disney World]]Amusement and theme parks are terms for a group of entertainment attractions and rides and other events in a location for the enjoyment of large numbers of people...

through the 1950s before closing in 1963. Its Totem Pole Ballroom
Norumbega Park
Norumbega Park was a recreation area and amusement park located in "Auburndale-on-the-Charles" near Boston, Massachusetts. The associated Totem Pole Ballroom became a well-known dancing and entertainment venue for big bands touring during the 1940s....

became a well-known dancing and entertainment venue for big band
Big band
A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately twelve to twenty-five musicians...

s touring during the 1940s. The park is now a popular dog-walking site with hills, meadows, woods, and access to the river.

Chestnut Hill Reservoir
Chestnut Hill Reservoir
Chestnut Hill Reservoir is a reservoir created in 1870 on existing marshes and meadowland to supplement the city of Boston's water needs. It is surrounded by Chestnut Hill, a neighborhood which consists of parts of Boston, Brookline, and Newton. The reservoir, though, is located entirely within...

is a very popular park with residents of Newton, Brookline, and the Brighton section of Boston. Although completely within the Boston city limits, it is directly contiguous to the Newton city limits. Designed by Fredrick Law Olmstead, the designer of Central Park in New York City and the Emerald Necklace in Boston, the park offers beautiful views of the Boston skyline, and is framed by stately homes and the campus of Boston College. Although not generally used to supply water to Boston, the reservoir was temporarily brought back online on May 1, 2010, during a failure of a connecting pipe at the end of the MetroWest Water Supply Tunnel.

Bullough's Pond
Bullough's Pond
Bullough's Pond, a former mill pond located in Newton, Massachusetts, is now a decorative pond in a suburban neighborhood, used for bird watching and winter ice skating...

is an old mill pond transformed into a landscape feature when Newton became a suburban community in the late nineteenth century. It has been the subject of two books, Reflections in Bullough's Pond: Economy and Ecosystem in New England, by Diana Muir
Diana Muir
Diana Muir, also known as Diana Muir Appelbaum, is a Newton, Massachusetts writer and historian. Muir is best known for her 2000 book, Reflections in Bullough's Pond, a history of the impact of human activity on the New England ecosystem....

, and Once Around Bullough's Pond: A Native American Epic, by Douglas Worth. It was long maintained by the city as an ice skating venue, but skating is no longer allowed. A scene from the 2008 remake of The Women
The Women (2008 film)
The Women is a 2008 American comedy film written, produced and directed by Diane English. The screenplay is an updated version of the George Cukor-directed 1939 film of the same name based on a 1936 play by Clare Boothe Luce....

was filmed there.

The city of Newton has designated several roads in the city as "scenic". Along with this designation come regulations aimed at curbing tree removal and trimming along the roads, as well as stemming the removal of historic stone walls. The city designated the following as scenic roads: Hobart Rd., Waban Ave., Sumner St., Chestnut St., Concord St., Dudley Rd., Fuller St., Hammond St., Valentine St., Lake Ave., Highland St., and Brookside Ave.

Notable architecture

The First Baptist Church in Newton Centre, built in 1888, was designed by John Lyman Faxon in the Richardsonian Romanesque
Richardsonian Romanesque
Richardsonian Romanesque is a style of Romanesque Revival architecture named after architect Henry Hobson Richardson, whose masterpiece is Trinity Church, Boston , designated a National Historic Landmark...

style pioneered by architect Henry Hobson Richardson
Henry Hobson Richardson
Henry Hobson Richardson was a prominent American architect who designed buildings in Albany, Boston, Buffalo, Chicago, Pittsburgh, and other cities. The style he popularized is named for him: Richardsonian Romanesque...

.
The WHDH-TV
WHDH-TV
WHDH, digital channel 42 , is an NBC-affiliated television station in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest NBC station not owned by the network. Owned by Sunbeam Television, WHDH is a sister station to CW affiliate WLVI...

tower is one of the tallest free-standing lattice towers in USA.

Cemeteries

There are several cemeteries in Newton, three of which are owned by the City of Newton, while the rest are privately owned, as follows:

East Parish Burying Ground
East Parish Burying Ground
East Parish Burying Ground, also known as Centre Street Burying Ground or Centre Street Cemetery, is an historic cemetery located at Centre and Cotton streets in the village of Newton Corner in the city of Newton, Massachusetts. On December 23, 1983, it was listed on the National Register of...

, called Centre Street Cemetery by the city, dates from 1664
Newton Cemetery, 791 Walnut Street, Newton Centre, private, 155 acre (0.6272633 km²), dates from 1855
West Parish Burying Ground
West Parish Burying Ground
West Parish Burying Ground, also known as River Street Burying Ground, is an historic cemetery located at River and Cherry streets in West Newton, Massachusetts, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Second Church in Newton, its original owner, was the West Parish, the Second...

(River Street Cemetery), West Newton, public
St. Mary's Episcopal Church and Cemetery, 258 Concord Avenue, Newton Lower Falls, private
South Burying Ground
South Burying Ground
The South Burying Ground, also known as Winchester Street Cemetery, or Evergreen Cemetery, is an historic cemetery located on Winchester Street in the village of Newton Highlands, in the city of Newton, Massachusetts and...

called Winchester Street Cemetery or Evergreen Cemetery by the city, public

Notable grave sites

East Parish Burying Ground
East Parish Burying Ground
East Parish Burying Ground, also known as Centre Street Burying Ground or Centre Street Cemetery, is an historic cemetery located at Centre and Cotton streets in the village of Newton Corner in the city of Newton, Massachusetts. On December 23, 1983, it was listed on the National Register of...

, aka Centre Street Cemetery
- William Jackson
  William Jackson (Massachusetts)
  William Jackson was a United States Representative from Massachusetts who lived at the Jackson Homestead....
  
  , politician, U.S. congressman
- Thomas Wiswall
  Thomas Wiswall
  Thomas Wiswall was an early settler of British America, a prominent early citizen of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and a key figure in the founding of Cambridge Village, now known as the city of Newton, Massachusetts.-Early life:...
  
  (1601–1683), prominent early citizen of the Massachusetts Bay Colony
  Massachusetts Bay Colony
  The Massachusetts Bay Colony was an English settlement on the east coast of North America in the 17th century, in New England, situated around the present-day cities of Salem and Boston. The territory administered by the colony included much of present-day central New England, including portions...
  
  and Cambridge Village, Massachusetts
- John Fuller (1611–1698), one of the earliest settlers and largest landholders. Built first house in Newtonville.
Newton Cemetery
- William Emerson Barrett
  William Emerson Barrett
  William Emerson Barrett was an American journalist and politician.Barrett was a founder of The Boston Evening Record, and served as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives and as a United States Representative from Massachusetts.Barrett was born in Melrose, Massachusetts on December...
  
  , politician, U.S. congressman
- William Claflin
  William Claflin
  William Claflin was an industrialist and philanthropist who served as the 27th Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts from 1869–1872 and as a member of the United States Congress from 1877–1881....
  
  , politician, Massachusetts governor and U.S. congressman
- Louis K. Liggett
  Louis K. Liggett
  Louis K. Liggett was an American drug store magnate who founded Rexall and was later chairman of United Drug Company.-Early life:...
  
  , drug store magnate
- Samuel Leland Powers
  Samuel L. Powers
  Samuel Leland Powers was a United States Representative from Massachusetts.-Early life and education:Powers was born in Cornish, New Hampshire on October 26, 1848. He attended Kimball Union Academy and graduated from Dartmouth College in 1874...
  
  , politician, U. S. Congressman
- Alexander Hamilton Rice, politician, Massachusetts governor, U.S. congressman and Boston mayor
- Morrie Schwartz
  Morrie Schwartz
  Morris "Morrie" S. Schwartz was a sociology professor at Brandeis University and an author. He was the subject of the best-selling book Tuesdays With Morrie, which was published in 1997 and later made into a movie....
  
  , educator, Brandeis philosophy professor
- Samuel Francis Smith
  Samuel Francis Smith
  Samuel Francis Smith, , Baptist minister, journalist and author, is best known for having written the lyrics to "My Country, 'Tis of Thee", which he entitled America.-Early life:...
  
  , Baptist minister, author of "My Country, 'Tis of Thee
  My Country, 'Tis of Thee
  "My Country, 'Tis of Thee", also known as "America", is an American patriotic song, whose lyrics were written by Samuel Francis Smith. The melody derived from Muzio Clementi's Symphony No. 3, and is shared with "God Save the Queen," used by many members of the Commonwealth of Nations...
  
  "
- Francis Edgar Stanley
  Francis Edgar Stanley
  Francis Edgar Stanley was an American businessman and was the co-founder, along with his twin brother Freelan Oscar Stanley, of the Stanley Motor Carriage Company which built the Stanley Steamer.-Biography:...
  
  , auto maker (the Stanley Steamer
  Stanley Steamer
  The Stanley Motor Carriage Company was a manufacturer of steam-engine vehicles; it operated from 1902 to 1924. The cars made by the company were colloquially called Stanley Steamers, although several different models were produced.-Early history:...
  
  )

St. Mary's Episcopal Church and Cemetery
- Josiah Gardner Abbott
  Josiah Gardner Abbott
  Josiah Gardner Abbott was an American politician who served in the Massachusetts General Court and as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Massachusetts....
  
  , politician, judge, U.S. congressman
- Lewis Golding Arnold
  Lewis Golding Arnold
  Lewis Golding Arnold was a career U.S. Army officer and a brigadier general in the Union Army during the American Civil War, primarily noted for his service in Florida.-Birth and early years:...
  
  , 1817–1871, Civil War
  American Civil War
  The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
  
  general.

Events

Every year on the 3rd Saturday of October there is a contest, in which students of any age can paint the windows of a local business. The drawing must be Halloween-related and be painted on a piece of window provided by the store. Each student receives a large spot on the business's window. After this event there is an award ceremony with the mayor. Winners are chosen at the ceremony. Students are required to provide their own painting utensils .

Trivia

The Fig Newton
Fig Newton
The Fig Newton is a Nabisco trademarked version of the ancient fig roll pastry filled with fig paste. Their unusual shape is a characteristic that has been adopted by many competitors including generic fig bars sold by most supermarkets.-History:...

cookie is named after the city. In 1991, Newton and Nabisco hosted a celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Fig Newton. A 100 inches (2,540 mm) Fig Newton was served and Juice Newton
Juice Newton
Judith Kay "Juice" Newton is an American Pop music and Country singer, songwriter and guitarist...

performed.
The only Melkite Greek Catholic
Melkite Greek Catholic Church
The Melkite Greek Catholic Church is an Eastern Catholic Church in full communion with the Holy See as part of the worldwide Catholic Church. The Melkites, Byzantine Rite Catholics of mixed Eastern Mediterranean and Greek origin, trace their history to the early Christians of Antioch, Syria, of...

eparchy
Eparchy
Eparchy is an anglicized Greek word , authentically Latinized as eparchia and loosely translating as 'rule over something,' like province, prefecture, or territory, to have the jurisdiction over, it has specific meanings both in politics, history and in the hierarchy of the Eastern Christian...

in America, the Eparchy of Newton, is named for Newton although its cathedral, headquarters and exarchial residence are located in the Roslindale section of Boston.
Philippine opposition leader and former Philippine senator Benigno Aquino, Jr.
Benigno Aquino, Jr.
Benigno Simeon "Ninoy" Aquino, Jr. was a Filipino Senator and a former Governor of Tarlac. Aquino, together with Gerry Roxas and Jovito Salonga, formed the leadership of the opposition to the Marcos regime in the years leading to the imposition of martial law in the Philippines...

(Ninoy) spent more than three years in exile in Newton (1980–83), along with his family, after spending 7 years and 7 months in solitary confinement
Solitary confinement
Solitary confinement is a special form of imprisonment in which a prisoner is isolated from any human contact, though often with the exception of members of prison staff. It is sometimes employed as a form of punishment beyond incarceration for a prisoner, and has been cited as an additional...

. He was assassinated upon his return to the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

on August 21, 1983. Two Philippine presidents, one currently in office, had thus lived in Newton from 1980–83: Corazon Aquino (1986–92) and her son, Benigno C. Aquino III (2010–present).

Newton in theatre and film

The plot of the 1928 Cole Porter
Cole Porter
Cole Albert Porter was an American composer and songwriter. Born to a wealthy family in Indiana, he defied the wishes of his domineering grandfather and took up music as a profession. Classically trained, he was drawn towards musical theatre...

musical Paris
Paris (1928 musical)
Paris is a musical with the book by Martin Brown, and music and lyrics by Cole Porter, as well as Walter Kollo and Louis Alter and E. Ray Goetz and Roy Turk . The musical, which premiered on Broadway in 1928, was Porter's first Broadway hit. The musical introduced the song "Let's Do It, Let's Fall...

turns on a wealthy young man from Newton Center whose mother comes to Paris to rescue him from his intention to marry a French actress. Newton Center is chosen as the sort of place where Mayflower descendants live on family estates and do not marry French actresses.
In Sacha Baron Cohen
Sacha Baron Cohen
Sacha Noam Baron Cohen is an English stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and voice artist. He is most widely known for his portrayal of three unorthodox fictional characters: Ali G, Borat, and Brüno...

's movie Borat, a scene in which Borat
Borat
Borat Sagdiyev is a satirical fictional character invented and performed by English comedian Sacha Baron Cohen...

and Azamat panicked in a bed and breakfast
Bed and breakfast
A bed and breakfast is a small lodging establishment that offers overnight accommodation and breakfast, but usually does not offer other meals. Since the 1980s, the meaning of the term has also extended to include accommodations that are also known as "self-catering" establishments...

owned by a Jewish couple actually took place in Newton, instead of in the southern states as depicted in the story.
In the television series ER
ER (TV series)
ER is an American medical drama television series created by novelist Michael Crichton that aired on NBC from September 19, 1994 to April 2, 2009. It was produced by Constant c Productions and Amblin Entertainment, in association with Warner Bros. Television...

, in the episode Parental Guidance (Season 15, episode 4), Dr Tracy Martin, played by Emily Rose, reveals that she is from Newton.
In the television series House
House (TV series)
House is an American television medical drama that debuted on the Fox network on November 16, 2004. The show's central character is Dr. Gregory House , an unconventional and misanthropic medical genius who heads a team of diagnosticians at the fictional Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital in...

, in the episode Knight's Fall (Season 6, episode 17), 13 (a character) mentions that she went to Newton North High School
Newton North High School
Newton North High School, formerly Newton High School, is the larger and longer-established of two public high schools in Newton, Massachusetts, with about 2,000 students, the other being Newton South High School. It is located in the village of Newtonville...

.
Sheldon Cooper (character in the TV series The Big Bang Theory
The Big Bang Theory
The Big Bang Theory is an American sitcom created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, both of whom serve as executive producers on the show, along with Steven Molaro. All three also serve as head writers...

) tells Penny that Fig Newtons were not named after Sir Isaac Newton but after "a small town in Massachusetts".
The short-lived television series Do Over
Do Over
Do Over is an American comedy-drama/fantasy series created by Kenny Schwartz and Rick Wiener. The series, which was broadcast on The WB in 2002, stars Penn Badgley.-Synopsis:...

takes place in Newton.
In the television series Falling Skies
Falling Skies
Falling Skies is an American science fiction dramatic television series created by Robert Rodat and produced by Steven Spielberg. The series picks up six months into a world devastated by an alien invasion...

West Newton is mentioned as a destination where survivors might be able to acquire food.

Newton in literature

The history of Newton is recounted in the book, Reflections in Bullough's Pond by Diana Muir.
Newtown (an older name for the area) is mentioned in Neil Stephenson's "Quicksilver
Quicksilver (novel)
Quicksilver is a historical novel by Neal Stephenson, published in 2003. It is the first volume of The Baroque Cycle, his late Baroque historical fiction series, succeeded by The Confusion and The System of the World . Quicksilver won the Arthur C. Clarke Award and was nominated for the Locus...

".
Katherine Lee Bates, who wrote "America the Beautiful
America the Beautiful
"America the Beautiful" is an American patriotic song. The lyrics were written by Katharine Lee Bates and the music composed by church organist and choirmaster Samuel A. Ward....

," lived on Centre Street in Newton Centre.
Samuel Francis Smith
Samuel Francis Smith
Samuel Francis Smith, , Baptist minister, journalist and author, is best known for having written the lyrics to "My Country, 'Tis of Thee", which he entitled America.-Early life:...

, a clergyman who wrote the words to the hymn My Country, 'Tis of Thee
My Country, 'Tis of Thee
"My Country, 'Tis of Thee", also known as "America", is an American patriotic song, whose lyrics were written by Samuel Francis Smith. The melody derived from Muzio Clementi's Symphony No. 3, and is shared with "God Save the Queen," used by many members of the Commonwealth of Nations...

, also known as "America", later moved to 1181 Centre Street in Newton Centre.
Newton is mentioned in Jodi Picoult's novel Songs of the Humpback Whale

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Villages

History

Geography

Demographics

City

County

State

National

Preschools

Primary and secondary education

Higher education

Newton Junior College

Others

Houses of worship

Newspapers

Television

Transportation

Points of interest

Notable architecture

Cemeteries

Notable grave sites

Events

Trivia

Newton in theatre and film

Newton in literature

See also

Further reading

External links