BlockFrom the record
One of 1,353 National Register listings published here for Middlesex County · listed in 1986 · category: District.
Sources: the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service
Newton Upper Falls Historic District
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. 17 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1893.
The listing
- Address. Roughly bounded by Boylston, Elliot, and Oak Sts., and the Charles River, Newton
- When was it listed? September 1986
- Category. district
- Also known as. Newton MRA
- National Register reference number. 86001750 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.
Fires near this property
104 since 2003Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 104 fires within 5 miles of Newton Upper Falls Historic District between 2003 and 2020, burning about 380 acres in total. None started naturally. None was 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 | 58 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 37 |
| Smoking | 4 |
| Debris and open burning | 3 |
| 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 2015 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | NEEDHAM |
| 23 September 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 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 |
Mines and quarries near this property
10 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 10 workings within 5 miles of Newton Upper Falls Historic District: 7 past producers, 1 unknown, 1 producer, 1 plant. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Stone, Tantalum. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nrc Inc--Newton, Ma. | Tantalum, Niobium (Columbium) | Plant | ||
| Walpole Quarry | Stone | Past Producer | ||
| Massachusetts Broken Stone Co | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| West Roxbury Crushed Stone Operatio | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Unknown | ||
| Weston Mine | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Burton Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Greendale Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| 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 |
Maps showing this location
17 surveysUnited States Geological Survey topographic sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the middle of the area the National Park Service maps for this listing, then testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.
- 1893 USGS Boston quadrangle1:62500 - 4 printings
- 1903 USGS Boston quadrangle1:62500 - 13 printings
- 1943 USGS Boston quadrangle1:125000
- 1944 USGS Newton quadrangle1:24000
- 1946 USGS Newton quadrangle1:31680 - 3 printings
- 1948 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000 - 2 printings
- 1954 USGS Newton quadrangle1:25000
- 1956 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000 - 6 printings
- 1956 USGS Newton quadrangle1:24000 - 3 printings
- 1958 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000 - 2 printings
- 1961 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000 - 2 printings
- 1970 USGS Newton quadrangle1:24000
- 1970 USGS Newton quadrangle1:25000
- 1977 USGS Newton quadrangle1:25000
- 1985 USGS Boston quadrangle1:100000
- 1987 USGS Boston South quadrangle1:25000 - 2 printings
- 1989 USGS Boston quadrangle1:100000 - 2 printings
Listed places nearby
6 within 8 milesOther 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.
| Photograph | Property | Distance | Listed |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Echo Bridge | 0.2 miles | 1980 |
 | Sacco-Pettee Machine Shops | 0.4 miles | 1986 |
 | Saco-Lowell Shops Housing Historic District | 0.4 miles | 1990 |
 | City Stable and Garage | 0.5 miles | 1990 |
 | Needham Street Bridge | 0.6 miles | 1986 |
 | John Woodward House | 0.6 miles | 1986 |
Sources for this property
| National Archives record | The nomination case file for reference 86001750 in Record Group 79. |
| Middlesex County | All 1353 listed properties in this county. |
Provenance
- 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.
- 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.