Watertown History

Edmund Fowle House

The Edmund Fowle House, built in 1772, serves as the current home of the Historical Society of Watertown.  A major restoration of the Fowle House was undertaken in 2005, revealing many fascinating details of the building's long and varied history.  Take an online 3D tour (requires a browser that supports WebGL) or visit in person to learn about its history and the HSW's collection of artifacts.

Treaty of Watertown

Click here to read about the first international treaty entered into by the newly-formed United states in 1776.

The Watertown Militia

The Watertown Militia has a history that spans 289 years.  Read more about it in a report from the Director of Historical Services at the Massachusetts National Guard's Adjutant General's Office.

Soldiers' Monument

Watertown's Saltonstall Park is home to a Civil War Soldiers' Monument, which was dedicated in 1889 and restored and rededicated in 2013.

Watertown Newspaper Headlines 1880-1941

Newspapers can be a great source of historical information.  In 2011, the Historical Society of Watertown hosted an auction of select bound volumes of two local newspapers, The Watertown Enterprise and The Watertown Sun, dating from 1880-1941.  Preparations for the auction led to the creation of a searchable PDF document containing headlines of interest from the newspaper volumes.