Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)/Waltham

WALTHAM, a city in Middlesex co., Mass.; on both sides of the Charles river, and on the Boston and Maine railroad; 10 miles W. of Boston. It contains a public library, the Leland Home for Aged Women, a hospital, Home for the Feeble-minded, waterworks, street railroad and electric light plants. National and savings banks, and several daily and weekly newspapers. The city is widely known for its manufacture of watches, for which there are several establishments, one of which is the largest watch factory in the world, in which watch making by machinery on an extensive scale was first attempted. Here also was built the first cotton mill in the United States where all the operations of cotton manufacture were conducted under one roof. The other industries include the manufacture of crayons, hosiery, brass goods, aeroplanes, bicycles, electric clocks, etc. Pop. (1910) 27,834; (1920) 30,915.