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Needham, MA

Needham, Massachusetts
Town
Town Hall
Flag of Needham, Massachusetts
Flag
Official seal of Needham, Massachusetts
Seal
Location in Norfolk County in Massachusetts
Location in Norfolk County in Massachusetts
Coordinates: 42°17′00″N 71°14′00″W / 42.28333°N 71.23333°W / 42.28333; -71.23333Coordinates: 42°17′00″N 71°14′00″W / 42.28333°N 71.23333°W / 42.28333; -71.23333
Country United States
State Massachusetts
County Norfolk
Settled 1680
Incorporated 1711
Government
 • Type Representative town meeting
Area
 • Total 12.7 sq mi (32.9 km2)
 • Land 12.6 sq mi (32.7 km2)
 • Water 0.1 sq mi (0.2 km2)
Elevation 162 ft (49 m)
Population (2010)
 • Total 28,888
 • Density 2,292.5/sq mi (883.4/km2)
Time zone Eastern (UTC-5)
 • Summer (DST) Eastern (UTC-4)
ZIP code 02492 / 02494
Area code(s) 781
FIPS code 25-44105
GNIS feature ID 0618325
Website www.needhamma.gov

Needham is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. A suburb of Boston, its population was 28,886 at the 2010 census. It is home to the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering, an engineering school.

Needham was first settled in 1680 with the purchase of a tract of land measuring 4 miles (6.4 km) by 5 miles (8.0 km) from Chief Nehoiden for the sum of 10 pounds, 40 acres (160,000 m2) of land, and 40 shillings worth of corn. It was officially incorporated in 1711. Originally part of the Dedham Grant, Needham split from Dedham and was named after the town of Needham Market in Suffolk, England, a neighbor of the English town of Dedham. By the 1770s settlers in the western part of the town who had to travel a long distance to the meeting house on what is now Central Avenue sought to form a second parish in the town. Opposition to this desire created conflict, and in 1774 a mysterious fire destroyed the extant meeting house. Some time afterwards the West Parish was formed.

In 1857 the City of Boston began a project to fill in the Back Bay with landfill by filling the tidewater flats of the Charles River. The fill to reclaim the bay from the water was obtained from Needham, Massachusetts from the area of present-day Route 128. The firm of Goss and Munson, railroad contractors, built 6 miles (9.7 km) of railroad from Needham and their 35-car trains made 16 trips a day to Back Bay. The filling of present-day Back Bay was completed by 1882; filling reached Kenmore Square in 1890, and finished in the Fens in 1900. The project was the largest of a number of land reclamation projects, beginning in 1820, which, over the course of time, more than doubled the size of the original Boston peninsula.


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