![]() N 1834: The railroad came to West Needham, forever changing the sleepy farming village by turning it into a home for wealthy Boston businessmen who could commute in just 45 minutes. N 1832: The town formed the Society for the Apprehension of Horse Thieves. N 1826: The toll for a carriage to go along the Worcester Turnpike (now Route 9) was 25 cents (paid at the Dadmun toll house at Weston Road). 22, 1823: Ralph Waldo Emerson walked through West Needham and wrote: “I am in the midst of a beautiful country.” N 1814: Sixteen cents was the bounty on crows. N 1812: The Worcester Turnpike was created to open Boston up to commerce, slicing a swath through the farmers’ shady land. N Early 1800s: West Needham farmers brought their produce to Faneuil Hall for sale: this meant leaving home with loaded wagons Sunday afternoon for a nine-hour trip, returning home Monday night. N Early 1800s: Nason’s Gazetteer of Massachusetts called West Needham a “Sleepy Hollow” (described as “a church, one or two stores of the common country kind, a junction of several roads, and a few dwellings, scattered rather than clustered”). N 1800s: Wellesley Hills was originally known as Nehoiden, the Port, North Needham, and then Grantville (named after Moses Grant, who gave the bell to the Grantville church). ![]() It still stands as a private home at 377 Weston Road. N 1798: The second town meetinghouse was built, one of the first Methodist churches in the country. He wrote, “nature seems to have lavished all her beauties here.” N November 1789: President George Washington rode through the center of town along a dusty path which the residents renamed in his honor. N 1778: The legislature recognized West Needham as a separate parish of Needham, and residents built the first meetinghouse (church) in town, at the site of today’s Village Congregational Church. N April 19, 1775: West Needham farmers left their oxen in the fields and marched to battle as the Revolutionary War began Amos Mills (264 Weston Road) was killed that day, leaving six children. N 1732: The first school was built in West Needham, a small one with a wooden fireplace, on Linden Street. N 1713: The town voted to have “a moving Schoole & Keept at 3 places in the town” (the building was literally moved by oxen every few weeks). N 1713: A law was passed that “swine have to be restrained” (the first leash law?) N 1711: When Needham became independent from Dedham, it included what is now Wellesley (known as West Needham), and had 250 residents. N 1704: An iron works was built on the Charles at the Lower Falls. N 1695: The oldest house still standing in town (126 Brook St.) was built. N Ap(325 years ago): Settlers paid Chief Magos (Maugus) five pounds currency and three pounds of corn (about $40) for the land that would become our town. N 1671: Settlers cleared the Native Americans’ shady forest “Natick Path” to become part of the new Boston to Sherborne Road, later Washington Street. N 1658: The Native Americans (and preacher John Eliot) built the Waban brook sawmill – one of, if not the earliest, in the country. N 1630s: Andrew Dewing became the first English settler in what would become Wellesley, building a garrison home near what would be Grove Street. N 1635: English settlers established a town named “Contentment” (later “Dedham,” after their preacher’s hometown in England), of which today’s Wellesley was a part. N1600s: Captain John Smith explored here, calling it “the paradise of all these parts,” and re-naming the “Quinobequin” River “Charles,” after the heir to the British throne. N 1600s: The first residents here were the Algonquin-speaking Native Americans of the Massachusett tribe, led in the mid-17th century by Chiefs Waban (“the Wind”) and Nehoiden. ![]() Town Historian Beth Hinchliffe has written a series of articles for the Townsman about the town's story, including this one. The theme of the 2016 Veterans' Parade is Historic Wellesley. ![]()
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