Watertown, Massachusetts

**Watertown** is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the greater Boston area. The population was 35,329 at the 2020 census.

## History

The area of Watertown was inhabited for thousands of years before the arrival of settlers from England. The tribes of the Pequossette and the Nonantum, had settlements on what is now called the Charles River. The Pequossette built a fishing weir to trap herring. This was at the site of the current Watertown Dam. Every year the alewife and blueback herring swim upstream from their adult home in the sea. this is to spawn in the fresh water where they came from.

The first settlement of Watertown  was at the Saltonstall Plantation in 1630. This was one of the earliest of the Massachusetts Bay settlements. It was begun by a group of settlers led by Richard Saltonstall and the Rev. George Phillips. It was officially incorporated that same year. The alternate spelling "Waterton" is seen in some early documents.

The first buildings were on land that is now in the city of Cambridge. It was known as Gerry's Landing. For its first quarter century Watertown ranked next to Boston in population and area. Since then its city limits have been greatly reduced.

The Stanley Brothers built the first of their steam-powered cars, called Stanley Steamers, in Watertown in 1897.

## Other websites

- Watertown official website
- Armenian Library and Museum of America
- Watertown Community Foundation

## Infobox (settlement)

- **name**: Watertown, Massachusetts
- **settlement type**: City
- **image skyline**: Main Street Watertown MA 2.jpg
- **image caption**: Watertown's Main Street, facing westward
- **image seal**: Seal of Watertown, Massachusetts.png
- **image flag**: Flag of Watertown, Massachusetts.png
- **image map**: Middlesex County Massachusetts incorporated and unincorporated areas Watertown highlighted.svg
- **mapsize**: 250px
- **map caption**: Location in Middlesex County in Massachusetts
- **pushpin map**: USA
- **pushpin label**: Watertown
- **pushpin map caption**: Location in the United States
- **subdivision type**: Country
- **subdivision name**: United States
- **subdivision type1**: State
- **subdivision name1**: Massachusetts
- **subdivision type2**: List of counties in Massachusetts, County
- **subdivision name2**: Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Middlesex
- **established title**: Settled
- **established date**: July 1630
- **established title2**: Incorporated
- **established date2**: September 7, 1630
- **government type**: Council-manager
- **leader title**: City Manager
- **area total km2**: 10.68
- **area total sq mi**: 4.12
- **area land km2**: 10.35
- **area land sq mi**: 4.00
- **area water km2**: 0.33
- **area water sq mi**: 0.13
- **population as of**: 2020 United States Census, 2020
- **population total**: 35329
- **population density sq mi**: 8834
- **elevation m**: 11
- **elevation ft**: 36
- **timezone**: Eastern Standard Time Zone, Eastern
- **utc offset**: −5
- **timezone dst**: Eastern Standard Time Zone, Eastern
- **utc offset dst**: −4
- **website**: [https://www.watertown-ma.gov/ www.watertown-ma.gov]
- **postal code type**: ZIP Code
- **postal code**: 02472
- **area code**: Area code 617, 617/Area code 857, 857
- **blank name**: Federal Information Processing Standard, FIPS code
- **blank info**: 25-73440
- **blank1 name**: Geographic Names Information System, GNIS feature ID
- **blank1 info**: 0612401
- **unit pref**: Imperial