Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014. 19 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1886.
From the record
“The Wellesley Congregational Church and Cemetery is a historic religious facility at 2 Central Street in the center of Wellesley, Massachusetts. The church is a brick Georgian Revival structure designed by Carrère and Hastings and built between 1918 and 1922.”
Wikipedia article Wellesley Congregational Church and Cemetery, CC BY-SA 4.0.
One of 342 National Register listings published here for Norfolk County · listed in 2014 · category: Site.
THE history of the town of Wellesley is necessarily brief, as the town was incorporated so late as April 6, 1881. It was until that time, from 1711, a part of the town of Needham, and previous to that time its territory was included within the limits of the town of Dedham.
Freedom in religious matters did not, however, entirely satisfy the inhabitants of the westerly part of the town, as very early efforts were made to obtain separate political rights. A strenuous effort was made in 1801, another in 1820, and other later and well-remembered attempts have been made at short intervals. In 1880 an appeal was made, with almost absolute unanimity, by the inhabitants of the west side, now grown to be a large and wealthy community, to the Legislature, and with so great force of reason and argument that the petition was granted, and the town was incorporated and named Wellesley.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The
federal wildfire occurrence database
lists 122 fires within 5 miles of Wellesley Congregational Church and Cemetery
between 2015 and 2020, burning about 53 acres in total. 1 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
38
Debris and open burning
14
Power generation/transmission/distribution
4
Smoking
4
Arson/incendiarism
2
Misuse of fire by a minor
1
Fireworks
1
Other causes
1
Natural
1
The most recent of
them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service
that recorded it.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. Museums hold 11,350 specimens
collected within 10 miles of Wellesley Congregational Church and Cemetery between 1805 and 1975: 5,164 Animalia, 3,183 Plantae, 2,717 Fungi, 131 Protozoa, 94 Chromista, 41 Unrecorded, 20 Bacteria.
12 distinct Species records are shown.
Collected by ?, ? ex Herb. W.G. Farlow, A C Gibson 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.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists
8 workings within 5 miles of Wellesley Congregational Church and Cemetery: 7 past producers, 1 producer.
1 still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone. Distance is straight-line from the
map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring
settlement's page as well.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The National Weather Service names
Wellesley, the town this property stands in, in 17 storm reports between 1998 and 2023: 10 thunderstorm wind, 3 hail, 1 heavy rain, 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.
Trees and branches on Dewing Path, Route 16, Brooke Street, Leighton Road, and Weston Road were downed by thunderstorm winds. One of the trees fell onto a house and another broke a utility pole.
A tree on Route 135 East near Wellesley College was downed by thunderstorm winds. Another tree on Chatham Circle and power lines on Howe Street also were downed by thunderstorm winds.
United States Geological Survey topographic
sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the coordinate the National Park Service records for this property, then
testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.
Sanborn surveyors printed an index of the
town's establishments at the front of each atlas. This property is named in
one, read straight off the scanned sheet.
Other National Register properties close
enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both
positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties
to their map sheets.
Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
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.
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