Newton Upper Falls Historic District | |
 the center of Newton Upper Falls | |
  Newton Upper Falls  Newton Upper Falls  Newton Upper Falls | |
| Location | Roughly bounded by Boylston, Elliot, and Oak Sts., and the Charles River,Newton, Massachusetts |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 42°18′49″N71°13′23″W / 42.31361°N 71.22306°W /42.31361; -71.22306 |
| Area | 70 acres (28 ha) |
| Architect | Fteley, Alphonse; Zettler, F.X., Raggi, Gonippo, et al |
| Architectural style | Greek Revival, Late Victorian, Gothic Revival |
| MPS | Newton MRA |
| NRHP reference No. | 86001750[1] |
| Added to NRHP | September 4, 1986 |
Newton Upper Falls is one of the thirteenvillages within the city ofNewton inMassachusetts, United States. The village is listed as theNewton Upper Falls Historic District on theNational Register of Historic Places.
The area bordersNeedham, Massachusetts to the southwest,Wellesley, Massachusetts to the west, theWest Roxbury neighborhood ofBoston to the southeast,Newton Highlands to the north and northeast,Waban to the northwest andOak Hill to the east.
The village is served byEliot "T" station, part of theGreen Line D branch of theMBTA, with rail service inbound into downtownBoston and outbound toRiverside. Major roads that serve the village areRoute 128, andRoute 9 (Boylston Street), which provides a direct, six-mile commute into downtownBoston.
Newton Upper Falls is home to theHemlock Gorge andEcho Bridge, a aqueduct turned pedestrian walkway over theCharles River. It is said[by whom?] to be the only village that has retained its original name from when the area was founded in the 17th century. It has over 150 homes on the historic register.
Sullivan Avenue, an unpaved private road in Newton Upper Falls, is the last remaining portion of the ancient highway connectingBoston and Cambridge with Newton and points west in the 17th century (back then it was called Cambridge Village). Also on Sullivan Avenue is a famous pothole; a geological anomaly where a boulder that was originally pushed down the cliff by a now extinct waterfall got caught and became round. The boulder spun around in its place carving a shaft over thousands of years. Since then, half the shaft collapsed and now all that can be seen is half of a cylindrical shaft through the cliff at the corner of Sullivan and Elliot Streets.[citation needed]
Newton's first mill on the Charles River was built in 1688[2] in Upper Falls. Over the next 150 years, the water power available at Upper Falls led to the village's steady growth as many more mills were built along that stretch of the river. By 1850 the village had 1300 inhabitants which was 25% of the entire population of Newton.[citation needed]
In 1909, a Roman Catholic church calledMary Immaculate of Lourdes Church (Newton, Massachusetts) opened in Upper Falls.[3]
A 60-acre (24 ha) area, including much of the area between Route 9 and Elliot Street, and east from the Charles River to Cottage Street and Hickory Cliff Road, was listed on theNational Register of Historic Places in 1986.[1][4]
Newton Upper Falls was also the teenage home of comedian and podcasterJoe Rogan, whence he graduated fromNewton South High School in 1985.[5]
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Municipalities and communities ofMiddlesex County, Massachusetts,United States | ||
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