Decorative drawing: a small American settlement seen from a low hill. Not a photograph of this place.

Newton Lower Falls, Massachusetts

46 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1886 and the latest in 1989. It stands in Newton City. It lies in ZIP code area 02462. It stands on Seaverns Brook. The Survey maps it on the Natick quadrangle. It stands 984 feet above sea level.

Newton Lower Falls within Middlesex County

Then and now

1886 to 1989

The same ground, surveyed 103 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Newton Lower Falls, surveyed 1989

Topographic sheet of Newton Lower Falls, surveyed 1886

Topographic sheets covering this place

46 sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

What happened here

An account from the chapter on Newton city, The inset identifies its exact source book and publication year.

From History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : Containing Carefully Prepared Histories of Every City and Town in the County, published 1880 - Newton City

Newton

JbIj^ 1700, M. 63. Capt. Noab, of Newton, an Officer in the Expedition against Canada. Killed in battle with the Freoch and Indians July C, 1C90. M. 50, leaving t son Thomas. Ebeneser, oC Newton, died June 21, 1691. .fi. 45. ... . . J. B. Jepson, Newton Comer, rereals many gravestones whose inscriptions are no longer l^ble, and others, recalling the names which filled a laige place in the early history of the town, and Belonged to the founders of its institutions and the authors of its prosperity.

Read the rest of this passage

In the county-history sources

124,955 words on this township

History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : Containing Carefully Prepared Histories of Every City and Town in the County, published 1880 names this settlement in its chapter on Newton City. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

James Prentice and Thomas Prentice, Jr., both of Cambridge, jDurchased of Thomas Danforth four hundred acres of land Iti Cambridge, in March, 1650. In 1657 they purchased one hundred acres of Danforth, " being the farm that James Prentice dwells on, bounded N. E. by land of John Jackson," part of which is now the ancient burial-place on Centre Street ; extending southwesterly, beyond the house now occupied by heirs of Marshall S. Rice, Esq. James and Thomas, Jr., or 2d, were probably brothers, and doubtless came into Cambridge Village the same year with Captain Thomas Prentice. The ancient Prentice house was demolished in 1800. It stood a few rods southeast of the house now occupied by the heirs of Joshua Loring, on Centre Street, opposite Mill Street.

Passage source: History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : Containing Carefully Prepared Histories of Every City and Town in the County, published 1880.

The First Baptist Church in Newton was organized July 5, 1780, numbering thirty-eight members. There had been members of the Baptist denomination in the town many years previously. Mr. Jonathan Willard, of Newton Lower Falls, joined the First Baptist Church in Boston, Decemhar 7, 1729. Noah Parker joined the Second Baptist Church in Boston, July 21, 1749. Several others, later, joined the Baptist Church in Leicester. May 14, 1753, Noah Wiswall and others presented a petition to the town that they might be released from paying a niiiiisterial tax for the support of tlie clergymen of the town, they being conscientious Baptists. But the town voted that their petition be not granted. March 15, 1756, John Hammond and others, wiio ^ere Baptists, requested of the town that they might not be rated for the support of the ministry ; but their request was met, after some debate, by a prompt refusal. In 1771- ten persons - John Dana, John Kcnrick, Caleb Whitney, Thomas Parker, Eben ]5artlett, Joseph Hyde, Nathaniel Parker, Thomas Tolman, Widow Abigail Riciiardsou, and Elisha Bartlett - addressed another memorial to the town, certifying that they were Antipjedobaptists, and generally worshipped with people of that persuasion. In June, 1776, tlie town, urged by the importunity of these repeated petitions, at last excused James Richards and Edward Hall from paying the ministerial taxes, and four years later the First Baptist Church was formed.

Passage source: History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : Containing Carefully Prepared Histories of Every City and Town in the County, published 1880.

A similar tract of land, to be used also for a training-field, was given in 1753, by Captain Joseph Fuller, to the military company of Captain Ephraim AVilliams and their successors forever. I This Common was located at Newtonville, near! Washington Street; but in 1787 the land reverted to the heirs of the original proprietor, they paying the town for it the sum of two pounds. This insignificant price shows how little value was at that time put upon real estate.

Passage source: History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : Containing Carefully Prepared Histories of Every City and Town in the County, published 1880.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Newton City - it names this place 14 more 14 times.

Fires near this place

106 since 2003

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 106 fires within 5 miles of Newton Lower Falls between 2003 and 2020, burning about 381 acres in total. None started naturally. 2 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Recreation and ceremony	56
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	35
Debris and open burning	9
Smoking	2
Arson/incendiarism	2
Other causes	1
Power generation/transmission/distribution	1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
8 September 2020	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
4 September 2015	Recreation and ceremony	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	NEEDHAM
3 September 2018	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
3 September 2015	Recreation and ceremony	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	NEEDHAM
23 September 2015	Recreation and ceremony	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	WELLESLEY
21 September 2015	Recreation and ceremony	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	NEEDHAM
14 September 2016	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	NEEDHAM
1 September 2018	Recreation and ceremony	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	NEEDHAM

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Middlesex County

Specimens collected near this place

12 of 2,403 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 2,403 specimens collected within 10 miles of Newton Lower Falls between 1898 and 1975: 1,379 Animalia, 491 Plantae, 479 Fungi, 29 Protozoa, 12 Bacteria, 10 Chromista, 3 Unrecorded. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by ?, A B Seymour, A. B. Seymour and others. Each is a physical object with a catalogue number, and each entry opens the museum's record. This is what was collected and kept, not a survey of what lives here - nothing can be concluded from a species being absent.

Species	Year	Collected by	Where, as recorded
Corvus brachyrhynchos brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822	1900	not recorded	Wayland
Actaea pachypoda Elliott	1898	Ernest Charles Smith
Aglaospora profusa (Fr.) De Not.	1898	Collector unspecified
Antennaria howellii subsp. canadensis (Greene) R.J.Bayer	1898	Williams, E.F.
Antennaria parlinii subsp. fallax (Greene) R.J.Bayer & Stebbins	1898	not recorded
Antennaria plantaginifolia (L.) Hook.	1898	not recorded
Acanthis flammea flammea (Linnaeus, 1758)	1900	ZAPPEY, W R	ROSLINDALE
Acer carpinifolium Siebold & Zucc.	1900	A. K. Harrison	Harvard Botanic Garden, Cambridge.
Acer palmatum var. dissectum (Thunb.) Miq.	1900	A. K. Harrison	Harvard Botanic Garden, Cambridge.
Agaricus brunnescens Peck	1900	Morris, G. E.	Waltham
Agonopterix atrodorsella Clemens, 1863	1900	E. J. Smith	Sherborn
Alnus incana subsp. rugosa (Du Roi) R.T.Clausen	1900	J. Murdoch, Jr.	Roxbury

All 2,403 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries near this place

10 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 10 workings within 5 miles of Newton Lower Falls: 7 past producers, 2 producers, 1 plant. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Tantalum, Niobium (Columbium). Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status	Recorded
Nrc Inc--Newton, Ma.	Tantalum, Niobium (Columbium)	Plant
Massachusetts Broken Stone Co	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Past Producer
Weston Mine	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Producer
Burton Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Greendale Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Hi-Way Pit and Mill	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Town of Natick	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer	Sedimentary
Town of Needham	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer	Sedimentary
Town of Wellesley	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer	Sedimentary
Town of Wellesley	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer

Every working recorded in Middlesex County

Storms near this place

4 since 2014

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Newton Lower Falls in 4 storm reports between 2014 and 2025: 3 thunderstorm wind, 1 flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
June 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	Newton Lower Falls	$1,200	In Wellesley, a tree was downed, blocking Wall Street at Alba Road. Another tree was down at Bernard and Alba Roads. A large tree branch was down at the corner of Washington Street (Route 16) and Cliff Road.
July 2025	Thunderstorm Wind	Newton Lower Falls	$1,000	In Weston, a tree and wires were down on Rt 20 at Wellesley St. A tree was also down on Gail Rd.
June 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	Newton Lower Falls	$1,000	At 1245 PM EST, a tree was blocking Clearwater Street in Newton.
October 2014	Flood	Newton Lower Falls	-	Two lanes of Interstate 95 northbound were closed between exit 23 and 25 due to flooding.

Every storm recorded in Middlesex County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Place	Distance	Sheets
Woodland	0.8 miles	46
Auburndale	1.3 miles	46
Waban	1.4 miles	46
West Newton	1.8 miles	46
Newton Upper Falls	2.1 miles	46
Eliot	2.2 miles	46
Newton	2.4 miles	46
Newton Center	2.9 miles	46

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on Newton Lower Falls	An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q7020301	The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 611966. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Specimens. Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), https://www.gbif.org/. Only records licensed CC0 or CC BY are used. Records licensed CC BY-NC are excluded because this site carries advertising. Images are checked individually and any whose licence is non-commercial, no-derivatives or unreadable is refused.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.