A Short History Lesson
(from the Town's Master Plan)

The Town of Weymouth is the second oldest town in the Commonwealth, dating from 1622 when it was founded as "Wessagusset". Renamed Weymouth in 1635, the Town was boosted in that year by the arrival of 100 settlers form its namesake in England. The early settlement was incorporated into the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and slowly grew as a fishing and agricultural community. By the time of the American Revolution, the colonial settlement had a population of 1,470 people. The Town was graced by the simple houses and churches that were wooden replicas of the brick and stone architecture of European origin, some of which have survived as reminders of this past. Although it maintained with an important connection to the sea, the Town was connected to nearby communities by a simple network of paths and roads that found the most convenient routes through the varied upland terrain. The skeletal remains of this early roadway network can be traced in some of the Town's streets and ways today. As an example, Commercial Street has been identified as an original Native American trail in the Town's latest cultural resource survey. This meandering pattern of main roads is directly linked to the charm of the Town.

The American Revolution was shortly followed by the industrial revolution, and Weymouth was an active participant. The impact on the Town was clear when enough natural bog iron was discovered to support a local factory in 1837, the Weymouth Iron Works. The remnants of this era can be seen in the industrial buildings scattered through Town, many of which have been converted to other businesses and residential uses. The maritime and agricultural society had become a culture of merchants, manufacturing and trade. New labor was required to support the growth of manufacturing, and new businesses blossomed to supply the goods and services that the growing population required. A new type of commercial building tradition emerged, with simple, box-like buildings providing a pleasant façade to the street but containing the serious business of storage and trade in simple interiors. Again, the remnants of this era can be seen in several locations, particular in the village centers. Together with expansion of the local financial institutions and railroads in the mid-1800's, the Town enjoyed a period of economic stability and the Town population blossomed to 6,173 in 1870.

As wealth expanded, so did the trend towards stylish homes. New ideas about building design were imported from Europe, and distinctive new houses were added to the collection of buildings that remain in the collection of historic Weymouth homes.

Later, after competition from Pennsylvania closed the ironworks, the shoe industry came to the economic forefront, employing three-quarters of the local residents and, with some other manufacturing ventures, supporting those residents up until World War II. Immigration helped supply the work force for these businesses, and arriving cultures helped populate Weymouth, like the rest of the Boston region. While the Town was linked by streetcars and railroads to the region, most of the local retail and service businesses were in close proximity to one another, and in walking distance of many homes. It was an era in which small local businesses and stores thrived.

After World War II, several significant changes in local demographics and regional economies profoundly affected the Town. Rising incomes led to the explosion in automobile ownership, and the Federal and State governments responded with aggressive highway improvement programs. With the large population growth and movement to the suburbs from out of the urban centers, the Town quickly expanded its population.

Weymouth proved to be ideally located as a bedroom community within the greater Boston region. The Town added some 21,000 new residents in the fifteen years between 1945 and 1960. Bisecting the Town in 1956, Route 3's opening, combined with the elimination of commuter rail service, was a major impact on Weymouth and the South Shore. With the advent of the expressway and other new road construction, the majority of residents commuted to other locations for their jobs. The shoe factories closed and the local economy became largely based on smaller service, retail and some wholesale operations to support the new neighborhoods. Weymouth was increasingly serving as a suburb in the Boston region, where better paying jobs in the city and a good road system to get there allowed a segment of the population to achieve their desire to live in relative comfort.