Waltham, Massachusetts, affectionately known as "Watch City"

Today I'm posting a patch that was recently given to me by a new friend, Eric Boutin, fellow MLIS extraordinaire, whom I met soon after I moved to Massachusetts.  For the first three months of my time here in Massachusetts, I resided in a quaint little city about 10 miles outside of Boston called Waltham. 

Waltham is known by many in the area as "The Birthplace of the American Industrial Revolution," and the curators at the Museum of Industry and Innovation in Waltham really helped to make that claim a reality for me.  During the Industrial Revolution, Waltham was home to Francis Cabot Lowell's Boston Manufacturing Company, which became known as the Waltham-Lowell Industrial system.  Waltham is known as "Watch City," because the Waltham Watch Company was the first to ever produce a watch on an assembly line, even before the Swiss! 

Waltham also has a rich culture.  It's situated along the Charles River and this summer I went to the Waltham River Festival and often saw live music on the Common on Thursdays.  Every week there's a farmer's market near the Waltham Common, and I only had to walk a few blocks from my apartment to get a coffee at the best coffee shop in the Boston Metro area, Cafe on the Common.  Visitors often visit Waltham on the weekends to have dinner at one of the many excellent restaurants on the historic Moody Street, named after one of Waltham's most notable residents, Paul Moody, inventor of the cotton loom.

Waltham also has an excellent trivia scene, and I'll go ahead and brag that my friends and I won 1st place six times this summer.  We also owned the dance floor at the Skellig's 80s night with our fabulous Cajun Shuffle.  A lot of my friends that I met in Waltham are graduate students at Brandeis University, an historically Jewish research university located in the city.

I'm very glad that I got to spend my first summer in Massachusetts in the great city of Waltham.  It certainly has a hometown feel that reminded me much of my own hometown of Monticello, Mississippi.  I would like to think I've done a lot of traveling on my weekends here in New England since I arrived, but as Henry David Thoreau said about his Concord, I would say that much of my travels in New England so far have been in Waltham. 

Comments

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you're so punk Casey

[Tony Davis]

Wow: a truly nice commentary on this patch. This girl writes purdy good. But I'm not here to comment on the commentary; I'm the patch evaluator. And, yes, I'm a little behind; I will backtrack and do my job, eventually.

First of all, what a thoughtful gift this is for one who collects patches; well done, Mr. Boutin. And what a nice patch for a city to offer to those who would want it. One thing that gives a patch quality is the fact that it exists. And yes that does make sense: a patch that exists to own is far better than a patch that doesn't exist. Patch collectors often go places and find that there is no patch to have--a real letdown.
But anyway: should the patch lose points because there is no color? Yes maybe, but no maybe. Maybe it's a wash. "Waltham" looks really good sitting there in the middle; the font is great. I like the historical data on the patch. The graphic above "Waltham" is a little muddled for me--can't quite get the gist of what they wanted to portray. Bottom is better. I know they're trying to get the industrial theme in there, but why not Waltham's watch theme? But I do like the attempt at depicting a theme for the city.

All in all, the patch looks good, and I just can't get over the fact that.......it exists. How could this patch collector remember her time in Waltham via a patch if there was no patch?

I'm giving this patch an 8 out of 10 'cause I want to.

[CCasey]

Dad, when you come to visit next month we will travel to Waltham. We will stand on the bridge over the River Charles that connects the city. If you look one way you will see the scene featured in the top: the Waltham-Lowell Industrial System. Than when you turn around you will see the other scene: the Watch Factory.