Editing Newton, Massachusetts (section)

==History==
{{Expand section|date=April 2024}}{{More citations needed|find=Newton, Massachusetts|find2=history|date=April 2024}}

===17th century===
Newton was originally part of "the newe towne", which was settled in 1630 and renamed [[Cambridge, Massachusetts|Cambridge]] in 1638. The first English settlement of what is now Newton began in 1639. Roxbury minister [[John Eliot (missionary)|John Eliot]] persuaded the Native American people of Nonantum, a sub-tribe of the [[Massachusett (tribe)|Massachusett]] led by a [[sachem]] named [[Waban]], to relocate to [[Natick]] in 1651, fearing that they would be exploited by colonists.<ref>{{cite book |last=McAdow |first=Ron |title=The Charles River |publisher=Bliss Publishing Company, Inc. |location=Marlborough, MA |year=1992 |pages=171–174 |isbn=0-9625144-1-1}}</ref> Newton was incorporated as a separate [[New England town|town]], known as Cambridge Village, on December 15, 1681, then renamed Newtown in 1691, and finally Newton in 1766.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ritter |first=Priscilla R. |author2=Thelma Fleishman |title=Newton, Massachusetts 1679–1779: A Biographical Directory |year=1982 |publisher=New England Historic Genealogical Society}}</ref> It became a city on January 5, 1874. Newton is known as ''The Garden City''.

In the early 1600s, [[Watertown, Massachusetts|Watertown]] had claimed a large area of land on the south side of the Charles River (modern-day Newton). They gave it up to Newtown, except for a strip "two hundred rods long and sixty rods wide" to "protect their fishing privileges".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Smith |first=Samuel Francis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=st0BNUPm6SsC&q=newton,+massachusetts |title=History of Newton, Massachusetts: Town and City, from Its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time, 1630-1880 |date=1880 |publisher=American Logotype Company |language=en}}</ref>{{Rp|page=82}}

===18th century===
In ''[[Reflections in Bullough's Pond]]'', Newton historian [[Diana Muir]] 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, Massachusetts|Newton Upper Falls]] and [[Newton Lower Falls, Massachusetts|Newton Lower Falls]]. 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, although it was, beginning in 1902, the home of the Stanley Motor Carriage Company, the maker of the [[Stanley Steamer]].{{Citation needed|date=January 2024}}

===19th century===
Nineteenth-century Newton, following the [[American Civil War]], was a patchwork of villages. The northern villages of [[Auburndale, Massachusetts|Auburndale]], [[Newton Corner]], [[Newtonville, Massachusetts|Newtonville]], and [[West Newton, Massachusetts|West Newton]] were the most affluent.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Spiers |first=John H. |date=2011 |title=Landscaping the Garden City: Transportation, Utilities, and Parks in Newton, Massachusetts, 1874-1915 |url=https://ejournals.unm.edu/index.php/historicalgeography/article/download/2856/2334 |journal=Historical Geography |via=[[Wikipedia Library]]}}</ref>{{Rp|page=248}} In contrast, both [[Waban, Massachusetts|Waban]] and [[Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts|Chestnut Hill]] were sparsely populated.<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|page=249}}

Several village-based "improvement societies" were founded by residents between 1878 and 1904. No citywide improvement society was ever founded.<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|pages=249–250}}

In 1889, [[Moses King]] published ''King's Handbook of Newton'', a descriptive guide to all of Newton's significant locations and historic structures along with anecdotes and stories from the locals at the time. The information was collected by its author and close associate of King, [[Moses Forster Sweetser]].

Newton, according to Muir, became one of North America's earliest commuter suburbs. The [[Boston and Albany Railroad|Boston and Worcester]], one of North America's earliest railroads, reached [[West Newton, Massachusetts|West Newton]] in 1834. Wealthy Bostonian businessmen took advantage of the new commuting opportunity offered by the railroad, building gracious homes on erstwhile farmland of [[West Newton, Massachusetts|West Newton]] hill and on Commonwealth Street. 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.{{Citation needed|date=January 2024}}

===20th century===
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, Massachusetts|Oak Hill]] continued to be farmed, mostly market gardening, until the prosperity of the 1950s made all of Newton more densely settled.{{Citation needed|date=January 2024}}

===21st century===
Two of the hijackers of the [[September 11 attacks]] stayed in Newton the night before the attacks. The hijackers of American Airlines Flight 11 spent their last night in Newton's Park Inn, an economy motel across the street from the Chestnut Hill Mall and within walking distance of The Atrium.<ref>{{cite book |author=Der Spiegel |title=Inside 9-11: What Really Happened |date=April 1, 2007 |publisher=St. Martin's Publishing Group}}</ref>

[[File:Runners starting uphill at Walnut St. BM2024.agr.jpg|thumb|Runners in the [[2024 Boston Marathon]] pass through the intersection of Commonwealth Avenue and Walnut Street in Newton, with fans packed behind metal barriers.]]

Each April on [[Patriots' Day]], the [[Boston Marathon]] is run through the city, entering from [[Wellesley, Massachusetts|Wellesley]] on [[Massachusetts Route 16|Route 16]] (Washington Street) where runners encounter the first of the four infamous ''Newton Hills''. It then turns right onto [[Massachusetts Route 30|Route 30]] (Commonwealth Avenue) for the long haul into Boston. There are two more hills before reaching Centre Street, and then the fourth and most noted, [[Boston Marathon#Heartbreak Hill|Heartbreak Hill]], rises shortly after Centre Street. Residents and visitors line the race route along Washington Street and Commonwealth Avenue to cheer on the runners.