Much excitement was generated in Watertown towards the start of the American Revolutionary War period. In 1773, many of its citizens were engaged with the Sons of Liberty in another tax protest, this time against the British Tea Tax which resulted in the famous Boston Tea Party rebellion.
The Watertown Arsenal operated continuously as a military munitions and research facility from 1816 until 1995, when the Army sold the property, by then known as the Army Materials Technology Laboratory, to the town of Watertown. The Arsenal is notable for being the site of a 1911 strike prompted by the management methods of operations research pioneer Frederick Winslow Taylor. Taylor’s method, which he dubbed “Scientific Management,” broke tasks down into smaller components. Workers no longer completed whole items; instead, they were timed using stopwatches as they did small tasks repetitively, as Taylor attempted to find the balance of tasks that resulted in the maximum output from workers. The Arsenal is now owned by Athena Health. Arsenal Street features two shopping malls across the street from one another, with the Watertown Mall on one side, and The Arsenal Project of Watertown (formerly the Arsenal Mall) on the other. The Perkins School for the Blind, founded in 1829, has been located in Watertown since 1912.
Waltham’s combination of population (especially in central and south Waltham) parks, public transit, stores, and trAccording to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 4.2 square miles (11 km2), of which 4.1 square miles (11 km2) is land and 0.1 square miles (0.1 km² or 1.20%) is water.
Watertown is bordered by the town of Belmont in the north; to the south, it is bordered by Newton and Brighton – the border being largely formed by the Charles River. To the east lies the City of Cambridge, the border to which is almost entirely the well-known Mount Auburn Cemetery. To the west lies the more expansive city of Waltham.
Watertown borders Soldiers Field Road and the Massachusetts Turnpike, major arteries into downtown Boston. Watertown is served by several MBTA bus and trackless trolley routes. Most of them pass through or terminate in Watertown Square or Watertown Yard.
