About

Our Community

The City of Watertown is a thriving community to live and work within. Diversity is integral to our identity with Watertown boasting one of the largest Armenian Diaspora communities in the country. The Armenian Museum of America in Watertown contains a large collection of artifacts from antiquity to the present. The City is also home to the Perkins School of the Blind, whose most famous student Anne Sullivan, tutored Helen Keller from 1887 to 1937.

Watertown officials, employees, volunteers and residents are proud of the City's work and policies on sustainability and climate change, recycling and composting, and trees, and strives to support our local history, parks, Farmers' Market and art scene. The goal of these programs is to ensure that Watertown grows with our burgeoning community and represents the community's interests and concerns.

Our Long History

The Town of Watertown was founded in 1630 where its fertile land was ideal for farming and cattle raising. Watertown played a central role in the revolutionary war - being the site of the first tax protest in America against the British crown. Additionally, Watertown was the site of critical developments in administration and diplomacy for the early nation. The first treaty signed between the new country and a foreign power was signed in Watertown and the Massachusetts Provincial congress met in Watertown from April to July of 1775.

On May 5, 1980, Watertown changed its municipal charter from being a town form of government to a city form of government.