It’s touted as the birthplace of the industrial revolution. Most historically inclined folks know that.
Most might not know that Waltham was also where chalk was invented - albeit accidentally - where power steering, kerosene and the microwave oven were thought up, and the site of the first appendicitis operation.
"You name another city that’s got a greater history than us," said Al Arena, director of the Waltham Museum on Lexington Street.
Waltham played a crucial part in American history in many ways before it was incorporated as a city in 1884.
In 1629, Puritans came to Salem from England led by John Winthrop. Two years later. Winthrop led an expedition 10 miles inland from the Charles River naming Beaver Brook, and Master Brook after the oldest member of the expedition John Masters and also named Mount Feake and Boston Rock. The expedition though was to plan a public road westward for immigrants.
In 1636, John Oldham was the first person granted land in Waltham - some 500 acres near Mount Feake.
Waltham was known as the Western Precinct of Watertown before being incorporated as a town in 1738.
Waltham was also a "hotbed of rebels wanting freedom from the English" shortly before the start of the Revolutionary War. In early 1775, militias resentful of British control were stockpiling ammunition in the town.
British troops caught wind and were marching toward Waltham to "burn the town" and seize the ammunition, but the militia members moved the weaponry to Concord.
On April 19 1775, about 120 or so men gathered at Piety Corner to answer the "Lexington Alarm."
"Every day we celebrate it because the Revolutionary War could have happened here," Arena said.
Minutemen from Waltham joined those from Concord to fight in the Battle of Bunker Hill.
Waltham begins its ascent as an industrial town when several paper mills were built by David Bemis, Christopher Gore, and John Boies in the late 1770s.
In 1813, Francis Cabot Lowell built the Boston Manufacturing Company cotton textile mill where the first power loom was introduced. Named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977, it is the site of the Francis Cabot Lowell Mill complex today.
Waltham’s reputation for innovation was helped greatly when In 1835, Dr. Francis Field, a dentist, accidentally invented the process for making chalk crayons by mixing two compounds together.
"He was trying to fill teeth," Arena said. "He found out it wrote on slate."
In 1854, Waltham would begin being known as the "Watch City" when the Waltham Watch Company was built, where the first watches were made with interchangeable parts.
The company would remain in existence for more than 100 years. It was so successful, that many who worked or visited there "wanted to be their own bosses" would leave to form other technology based companies such as the Elgin Watch Company in Chicago.
"So you put it altogether, you get the biggest one-two punch you can get for the country," Arena said.
