From its humble beginnings as a mill town to its evolution into a high technology corridor, the faces of the Watch City has seen many changes.
As the city celebrates the 125th anniversary of its incorporation from a town this month, here is a look back at some of the most influential figures that accompanied Waltham’s evolution.
Nathaniel Banks - Born to workers of the Boston Manufacturing Company, Banks went on to be a national her as a Civil War general, as well as the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. He became governor of Massachusetts after five years in the House, where he returned after one term as governor.
President Abraham Lincoln appointed banks as a major general in the Civil War. Banks Square, at Main, Weston and South streets is named for him, as is the former Banks Elementary School. He is buried in Grove Hill Cemetery.
Aaron Dennison - Born the son of a boot and shoemaker in Freeport, Maine, Dennison helped establish the Waltham Watch Company. In 1830, at the age of 18, Dennison was apprenticed to a clockmaker where he learned clock making skills. In 1839, Dennison moved to New York City and spent time with Swiss watchmakers. He then returned to Boston and set up a business selling watches and doing repair work. In 1849, Dennison approached Edward Howard, who was a partner in the company Howard & Davis, with a plan to manufacture watches. Howard agreed to the proposal and they started working together in 1850. A new building was erected adjacent to the Howard & Davis factory in Roxbury for the firm Dennison, Howard & Davis. In 1854 the company moved to a new factory in Waltham and took the name of the Boston Watch Company. Dennison was the factory superintendent. Watches were manufactured there until the company was forced into bankruptcy at the beginning of 1857.
Paul Moody - The man who the city’s most famous street is named after was a machinery and power loom designer for the Boston Manufacturing Company. Born on May 23 1779, in what is now Newbury, Moody was a textile machinery inventor. He developed the first power loom in America that launched the first successful intergrated cotton mill in Waltham in 1814 under the leadership of Francis Cabot Lowell. Moody died July 5, 1831.
Francis Cabot Lowell - What is now home to a museum, affordable housing and the Waltham Mills Artists’ Association was once the massive brick structures where industrial entrepreneur Lowell once roamed. Born April 7, 1775, in Newburyport, Lowell was instrumental in bringing the Industrial Revolution to America. During a trip to England, Lowell studied British power looms and brought back ideas to America and a plan to create them stateside. In 1813 Lowell, his brother-in-law Patrick Tracy Jackson and Nathan Appleton established the Boston Manufacturing Company in Waltham, the first textile mill in America. Lowell died Aug. 10, 1817. The city of Lowell is named after him.
George H. Maynard - A Congressional Medal of Honor recipient from his heroic actions during the Civil War, Maynard was a watchmaker. At 25, he enlisted as a private in the 13th Massachusetts Infantry on July 20, 1861, and was eventually promoted to captain and then major. Maynard received the Medal of Honor for heroism at the Battle of Fredericksburg on Dec. 13, 1862, for retrieving a wounded comrade from the skirmish line and bringing him to safety and then returning to the front of the line to fight. Maynard died in Waltham on Dec. 26, 1927 at the age of 91.
Dot Slamin Hill - A drum major, civic leader and more, Hill put Waltham on the map in a variety of ways. She was first nationally known in 1933 when she won the world’s high school baton twirling contest. After World War II, she organized a 65 piece all-male marching American Legion band, which performed all over the world.
Dr. Alfred Worcester - Co-founder of the former Waltham Hospital, Worcester was a high profile physician and Waltham historian. Born in Waltham in 1855, Worcester is responsible for creating the Waltham Training Center For Nurses. The center set standards for nursing throughout the country and other parts of the world. He also performed one of the first appendectomies in America. He died in 1951 at the age of 96.
James J. Fahey - A former city garbage truck driver, Fahey’s book "Pacific War Diary" became one of the best selling books about World War II and earned him an international celebrity status. Despite military regulations, the then seaman Fahey secretly compiled a diary on scraps of paper throughout a naval campaign in the Pacific Ocean from 1942 to 1945. The book was released in 1963. He continued to drive his garbage route throughout much of his popularity.
Mayor Arthur J. Clark - The eight-term mayor from 1970 to 1986, whom the city’s Government Center building is named after, was a former manager of Quirk Tire Co. in Watertown. He’s credited with acquiring close to $100 million in federal funds to improve Waltham through lobbying expeditions. He died in 1990 at the age of 69 from a heart attack.
Mayor Jeannette McCarthy - A former attorney who worked in the city’s law department, McCarthy is the city’s first female mayor. She was first elected in 2004. In 2007, she was elected for a second term, beating out challenger Kenneth Doucette in all 18 precincts and capturing 86 percent of the vote.
Yolanda (Deduca) Celluci - Fashion guru and owner of Yolanda’s bridal shop on Waverley Oaks Road, Celluci is one of the most successful businesswomen in Waltham’s history. Celluci operates a multi-million dollar fashion empire in Waltham and has appeared as a judge in the Miss World and Miss Universe competitions. She’s been in the bridal business for more than 40 years.
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