Community Overview

Settled: 1638
Incorporated: 1780
Population: 13,450 (6-30-1998)
Number of Households: approx. 5,297 (6-30-1998)
Number of Registered Voters: 8,285 (6-30-1998)
Median Family Income: $46,164 (1985)
Current Tax Rate: $17.95 per $1,000 (FY 1998)
County: Middlesex
Form of Government: Open Town Meeting
Land Area: 15.28 square miles
Town Building: 41 Cochituate Road
Wayland MA 01778
tel: 508-358-7701
Zip Code: 01778
Location: Eastern Massachusetts, Middlesex County, bordered on the west by Sudbury and Framingham, on the South by Natick, on the north by Concord and Lincoln, and on the east by Weston. It is 18 miles from Boston, 26 from Worcester, and 203 from New York City.

MORE INFORMATION:
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts offical web site publishes a great deal of information about the communities of the commonwealth. To see the information published about Wayland, follow any of these links: Wayland Profile, Wayland Public Schools Profile. Also see the Town of Wayland official website.

A Brief History of Wayland, Massachusetts

On petition of "a great part of the chief inhabitants of Watertown" the General Court of Massachusetts in 1637 directed an official committee of four to lay out a plantation for 50 to 60 families "upon the river that runs by Concord," to relieve the crow ded conditions as to hayland and pasturage for cattle in the towns close to Boston.

The first settlers arrived in 1638 and '39. Their dwellings were clustered chiefly about the lot set apart for a meeting house one half mile northwest of the present town center, on what are now Bow and Old Sudbury roads.

This settlement, an area five miles square, the General Court in 1639 named Sudbury, and by the fall of 1640, with about 100 inhabitants and 300 cattle, it designated the plantation as a town, the 19th to be incorporated in Massachusetts. The first meeti ng house was built in 1643 and what is now Old North Cemetery gradually took shape surrounding it.

King Philip's War
King Philip's Indians attacked Sudbury in 1676, crossing the river bridge into the village and penetrating as far as Weston. A contingent of a dozen Concord men, come to defend it, was wiped out. They are buried near the Four Arch Bridge. A much larger company, commanded by Captain Wadsworth of Milton, lies buried in the present Sudbury's Wadsworth Cemetery.

In the 18th century, as a result of its abundant hay lands, Sudbury came to be one of the most populous towns in Middlesex County. Spring floods made it difficult for residents of the west side of the river to get to services and town meetings at the mee ting house on the east side, so in 1723 a second, western parish was formed and a meeting house was built in what is now called Sudbury Center.

In 1775 both towns sent their minutemen to the April 19th battle; and the next winter General Knox brought through the town the cannon captured at Ticonderoga that were to raise the siege of Boston.

Town Divided
By act of the Massachusetts legislature, on April 10th, 1780, the town was divided. The western parish, considerably enlarged from the original grant, retained the town name Sudbury. The eastern part took the name of East Sudbury, with boundries those o f the present Wayland.

In 1790, when the first U.S. Census was taken, East Sudbury was a quiet farming community with a population of 801 people, 112 houses and 144 families. Through it ran a "great road," - east-west - with post-riders and travelers from New York and Albany o n horseback. Soon stagecoaches and freight teams passed regularly, often stopping at on eof the town's several hostelries for sleep or refreshment. Corner Tavern was located near the former Red Coach Grill; Bent's Tavern on the site of the present Publi c Safety Building, and Baldwin's Tavern near the four-arch bridge over the river. Old Connecticut Path, with Reeve's Tavern, led to Hartford. The traffic through the town provided communication with the outside world, added to business and lent an air o f bustle and activity to the town. However, by the middle of the nineteenth century because of the building, first of the Worcester Turnpike, and in 1830 of this Boston & Worcester railroad, much of this through traffic had ceased. East Sudbury's quiet prosperity from this time on lay in farming, largely dairying and vegetables and fruit.

First Parish Church
In 1815 the First Parish Church building at Wayland village was completed, its steeple equipped with a bell from Paul Revere's foundry that still sounds the hours. A separate hall, not far from the church, was later built for meetings.

Among residents of note were Rev. Edmund H. Sears, author of the Christmas carol, "It Came Upon the Midnight Clear", and Lydia Maria Child, abolitionist, editor of the first American children's magazine and author of the earliest domestic science text.

In the 19th century industry invaded the southern end of the town and caused a quite different development in what had till then been the quiet farming area called Cochituate. In 1830, William and James M. Bent started to manufacture shoes in small shop, "letting out" much of the work.

By 1875 the shoe business had expanded until there were nine factories employing 500 workers. The village grew correspondingly, and was served by the towns earliest water system.

In 1835 the town meeting voted to change the name of the town of East Sudbury to Wayland. In 1840 the Doric-columned Collins Market building was erected as a town hall. In 1850 the Wayland Public Library, first in the state and second in the country to be supported by taxation, was established.

The Trains Came
In 1881 the first train over the Massachusetts Central Railroad passed through Wayland; and as time went on the town became the home of many Boston businessmen.

Wayland's growth continued slow but steady during the first half of the 20th century. But from 1950 to 1960 the town more than doubled in population: from 4,400 to 10,200 as it became continually more popular as a place of residence. The figures for 198 5 are as follows: population 12,377 and the number of households, approximately 3,900.

Like other suburbs, Wayland now faces the problems of traffic congestion, school building costs and increasing property taxes, brought on by its very popularity, excellent schools and rapid population growth