Central Square Historic District (Waltham, Massachusetts)

Waltham ( WAWL-tham) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, and was an early center for the labor movement as well as a 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, spawning what became known as the Waltham-Lowell system of labor and production. The city is now a center for research and higher education, home to Brandeis University and Bentley University as well as industrial powerhouse Raytheon Technologies. The population was 65,218 at the census in 2020.Waltham has been called "watch city" because of its association with the watch industry. Waltham Watch Company opened its factory in Waltham in 1854 and was the first company to make watches on an assembly line. It won the gold medal in 1876 at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition. The company produced over 35 million watches, clocks and instruments before it closed in 1957.

Waltham station is an MBTA Commuter Rail station in Waltham, Massachusetts. It serves the Fitchburg Line. It is located in downtown Waltham adjacent to Central Square (Waltham Common). The station is the transit hub of Waltham, with MBTA bus routes 61, 70, 553, 554, 556, and 558 stopping on Carter Street adjacent to the station.

The James Swasey House was a historic house at 30 Common Street in Waltham, Massachusetts. Built c. 1846, the 2+1⁄2-story wood-frame house was a well-preserved example of vernacular Greek Revival architecture, of a sort that were typically built at the time as housing for local mill workers. James Swasey, the carpenter who built the house, and his wife occupied the house into the 20th century.The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989. Sometime thereafter it was demolished or moved; a modern condominium stands at the site now.

The Daniel French School is a historic school building at 38–40 Common Street in Waltham, Massachusetts. Built in 1847 by a prominent local educator, it is a well-preserved example of vernacular Greek Revival architecture, and is important for the role it played in Waltham's 19th century educational environment. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989. It is now a residential duplex.

The Boston Manufacturing Company was a business that operated one of the first factories in America. It was organized in 1813 by Francis Cabot Lowell, a wealthy Boston merchant, in partnership with a group of investors later known as The Boston Associates, for the manufacture of cotton textiles. It built the first integrated spinning and weaving factory in the world at Waltham, Massachusetts, using water power. They used plans for a power loom that he smuggled out of England as well as trade secrets from the earlier horse-powered Beverly Cotton Manufactory, of Beverly, Massachusetts, of 1788. This was the largest factory in the U.S., with a workforce of about 300. It was a very efficient, highly profitable mill that, with the aid of the Tariff of 1816, competed effectively with British textiles at a time when many smaller operations were being forced out of business. While the Rhode Island System that followed was famously employed by Samuel Slater, the Boston Associates improved upon it with the "Waltham System". The idea was successfully copied at Lowell, Massachusetts, and elsewhere in New England. Many rural towns now had their own textile mills.

The William Gibbs House is a historic house in Waltham, Massachusetts. Built c. 1830–54, this 2+1⁄2-story wood-frame house is one Waltham's few temple-front Greek Revival houses. It has four two-story Corinthian columns supporting a fully pedimented gable with a deep, dentillated cornice. It was probably built in the 1840s by William Gibbs, a hat manufacturer, and was sold by him to another hat maker who lost it to foreclosure.The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.

The First Parish Church is a historic church at 50 Church Street in Waltham, Massachusetts, whose Unitarian Universalist congregation has a history dating to c. 1696. The current meeting house was built in 1933 after a fire destroyed the previous building (the congregation's third) on the same site. It is a Classical Revival structure designed by the nationally known Boston firm of Allen & Collens. The church building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.

The Josiah Beard House is a historic house at 70 School Street in Waltham, Massachusetts. Built about 1844, it is a well-preserved local example of a side-hall Greek Revival house. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.

The Marshall Smith House is a historic house at 26 Liberty Street in Waltham, Massachusetts. The 2+1⁄2-story wood-frame house was built c. 1846–47; it is one of the city's few side-gable Greek Revival houses, with a single-story Doric porch spanning the main facade, a full entablature, and pedimented gable ends. The porch balustrade is a later addition, as are the western ell and northern window bay. Marshall Smith, the first owner, was a chair and harness maker.The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.

St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church Complex is a historic multi-building church complex at 133 School Street in Waltham, Massachusetts. Established as a parish in 1835, it is the city's oldest Roman Catholic establishment. Its 1858 Romanesque Revival church and 1872 Second Empire rectory are particularly fine architectural examples of their styles. The complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.

The E. Sybbill Banks House is a historic house at 27 Appleton Street in Waltham, Massachusetts. Built in 1892, it is an excellent local example of vernacular Queen Anne styling. It was built for E. Sybbil Banks, the spinster daughter of Nathaniel Prentice Banks who was also a prominent local civil servant. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.

The Waltham Public Library is the public library of the city of Waltham, Massachusetts. Its main location is in the Francis Buttrick Library, an architecturally significant Georgian Revival building built in 1915, funded by a bequest from Francis Buttrick, a major landowner in the city. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.