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Needham ( NEED-əm) is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts. A suburb of Boston, its population was 32,091 at the 2020 U.S. Census. It is home of Olin College.

Needham was first settled in 1680 with the purchase of a tract of land measuring 4 miles (6.4 km) by 5 miles (8.0 km) from Chief Nehoiden for the sum of 10 pounds, 40 acres (160,000 m) of land, and 40 shillings worth of corn. It was officially incorporated in 1711. Originally part of the Dedham Grant, Needham split from Dedham and was named after the town of Needham Market in Suffolk, England.

Just 15 months after asking for their own church, 40 men living on the north side of the Charles River suddenly asked the General Court to separate them from Dedham. Their petition cited the inadequate services provided, namely schools and churches. They also said that, if they were simply to be made a precinct instead of a separate town, that they would suffer political reprisals.

Dedham agreed that the services were inadequate and did not oppose the separation, but did try to reduce the amount of land the separatists were seeking. Dedham also asked for a delay of one year. The General Court agreed with the petitioners, however, and created the new town of Needham with the original boundaries requested.

Those who remained in Dedham still held rights to the unallotted lands in Needham, however, and any decrease in taxes would be offset by a decrease in expenditures. There may have also been some satisfaction in separating themselves from those on the other side of the 1704 power struggle.

By the 1770s settlers in the western part of the town who had to travel a long distance to the meeting house on what is now Central Avenue sought to form a second parish in the town. Opposition to this desire created conflict, and in 1774 a mysterious fire destroyed the existent meeting house. Some time afterwards the West Parish was formed.

In 1857 the City of Boston began a project to fill in the Back Bay with landfill by filling the tidewater flats of the Charles River. The fill to reclaim the bay from the water was obtained from Needham, Massachusetts from the area of present-day Route 128. The firm of Goss and Munson, railroad contractors, built 6 miles (9.7 km) of railroad from Needham and their 35-car trains made 16 trips a day to Back Bay. The filling of present-day Back Bay was completed by 1882; filling reached Kenmore Square in 1890, and finished in the Fens in 1900. The project was the largest of a number of land reclamation projects, beginning in 1820, which, over the course of time, more than doubled the size of the original Boston peninsula.

In 1865, William Carter established a knitting mill company in Needham Heights that would eventually become a major manufacturer and leading brand of children’s apparel in the United States. The site of Mill #1 currently houses the Avery Manor assisted living center, while Mill #2 stood along the shores of Rosemary Lake. By the 1960s, the company owned seven mills in Massachusetts and the south. The Carter family sold the business in 1990, after which Carter’s, Inc. moved its headquarters to Atlanta, Georgia.

In the late 1860s William Emerson Baker moved to Needham. A notably wealthy man due to his having improved the mechanical sewing machine, Baker assembled a parcel of land exceeding 800 acres (3.2 km) and named it Ridge Hill Farm. He built two man made lakes on his property, including Sabrina lake near present-day Locust Lane. Baker turned part of his property into an amusement park with exotic animals, tunnels, trick floors and mirrors. In 1888 he built a sizable hotel, near the intersection of present-day Whitman Road and Charles River Street, called the Hotel Wellesley which had a capacity of over 300 guests. The hotel burned to the ground on December 19, 1891.

In 1891, George Walker, Boston owner of a lithograph company, and Gustavos Gordon, scientist, formed Walker-Gordon Laboratories to develop processes for the prevention of contamination of milk and to answer the call by enlightened physicians for better babies’ milk formulas. This plant was located in the Charles River Village section of Needham with another large facility in New Jersey. The scientific dairy production facilities of the Walker-Gordon Dairy Farm were widely advertised and utilized modern advancements in the handling of milk products.

In 1881 the West Parish was separately incorporated as the town of Wellesley. The following year, Needham and Wellesley high schools began playing an annual football game on Thanksgiving, now the second-longest running high school football rivalry in the United States (and longest such contest on Thanksgiving). Also the longest running public high school rivalry. In 2013 Wellesley broke a three-year Thanksgiving game losing streak to the Needham Rockets, defeating them 22–6. The Wellesley Raiders now hold a 60–57–9 advantage in the historic rivalry.

With the loss of the West Parish to Wellesley, the town lost its town hall and plans to build a new one began in 1902 with the selection of a building committee. The cornerstone was laid by the Grand Lodge of Masons on September 2, 1902 and the building was dedicated on December 22, 1903. The total cost for the hall was $57,500 including furnishings. Because it was located on the town common, the cost did not include land as none was purchased. In 2011, the town hall was extensively refurbished and expanded. In the process, the second-floor meeting hall was restored to its original function and beauty.

Needham’s population grew by over 50 percent during the 1930s.

In 2005, Needham became the first jurisdiction in the world to raise the age to legally buy tobacco products to 21.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 12.7 square miles (32.9 km), of which 12.6 square miles (32.7 km²) is land and 0.1 square mile (0.2 km) is water.

Needham’s area is roughly in the shape of an acute, northward-pointing triangle. The Charles River forms nearly all of the southern and northeastern boundaries, the town line with Wellesley forming the third, northwestern one. In addition to Wellesley on the northwest, Needham borders Newton and the West Roxbury section of Boston on the northeast, and Dover, Westwood, and Dedham on the south. The majority of Cutler Park is in Needham and is located along the Charles River and the border with Newton and West Roxbury. Elevations in Needham range from 85 feet above sea level at Rosemary Meadows to 180 feet at Needham Square and 300 feet at Bird’s Hill.

According to the Köppen climate classification system, Needham has a hot-summer humid continental climate, abbreviated “Dfa” on climate maps, with high humidity and precipitation year-round.

As of the census of 2020, there were 32,091 people, 10,801 households, and 8,480 families residing in the town. The population density was 2,546.9 inhabitants per square mile (983.4/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 82.6% White, 2.9% Black or African American, 0.1% Native American, 8.9% Asian, 0.5% from other races, and 2.4% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.2% of the population.

There were 10,801 households, out of which 26.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 66.1% were married couples living together, 5.2% had a female householder with no husband present and 21.5% were non-families. Of all households 23.4% were made up of individuals, and 13.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.63 and the average family size was 3.23.

In the town, the population was laid out with 26.2% under the age of 18, 5.3% from 18 to 24, 25.8% from 25 to 44, 24.7% from 45 to 64, and 18.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43 years. For every 100 females, there were 92.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.3 males.

According to a 2007 estimate, the median income for a household in the town was $116,867, and the median income for a family was $144,042. Males had a median income of $76,459 versus $47,092 for females. The per capita income for the town was $56,776. About 1.6% of families and 2.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 1.2% of those under age 18 and 4.2% of those age 65 or over.

Needham uses the old style town government, with a representative town meeting. Also, the populace of Needham elects a Select Board, which is essentially the executive branch of the town government. The town is part of the Massachusetts Senate’s Norfolk, Bristol and Middlesex district.

Needham is primarily a bedroom community and commuter suburban district located outside of Boston.

The northern side of town beyond the I-95/Route 128 beltway, however, was developed for light industry shortly after World War II. Many restaurants and food companies are based in Needham. More recently, Needham has begun to attract high technology and internet firms, such as PTC and TripAdvisor, to this part of town.

The Town of Needham operates one high school, Needham High School, which underwent a $62-million renovation that was completed in 2009; two middle schools: William F. Pollard Middle School, for seventh and eighth grade, and High Rock School, for sixth grade only; and five elementary schools for grades K–5: John Eliot Elementary School, Sunita L. Williams Elementary School, William Mitchell Elementary School, Newman Elementary School, and Broadmeadow Elementary School. Needham recently finished building the newest elementary school, Sunita L. Williams Elementary School, to replace the aging Hillside Elementary School. The newest school opened in the fall of 2019.

Needham is also home to Catholic schools such as St. Joseph’s Elementary School, and Monsignor Haddad Middle School, as well as St. Sebastian’s School, a Catholic school for boys in grades 7–12. St. Sebastian’s is part of the rigorous Independent School League.

Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering is also located in Needham.

The I-95/Route 128 circumferential highway that circles Boston passes through Needham, with three exits providing access to the town. Massachusetts Route 135 also passes through the town.

Commuter rail service from Boston’s South Station is provided by the MBTA with four stops in Needham on its Needham Line: Needham Heights, Needham Center, Needham Junction and Hersey.

Needham is part of the Greater Boston media market.

In addition to The Boston Globe (and its Your Town Needham website) and Boston Herald newspapers, there are two local weekly newspapers, the Needham Times (published by Gatehouse Media, Inc.) and Needham Hometown Weekly (published by Hometown Publications, LLC), and a website owned by AOL called Needham Patch.

The studios of television stations WCVB-TV (5 Boston, ABC), WBTS-CD (15 Nashua, New Hampshire, NBC), WUTF-TV (27 Worcester, UniMás), WNEU (60 Merrimack, New Hampshire, Telemundo), and WUNI (66 Marlborough, Univision) are located in Needham, as are the transmitters of WCVB-TV, WBZ-TV (4 Boston, CBS), WGBH-TV (2 Boston, PBS), WGBX-TV (44 Boston, PBS), WBTS-CD (15 Nashua, New Hampshire, NBC), WFXT (25 Boston, Fox), WSBK-TV (38 Boston, MyNetworkTV), WUTF-TV, WNEU (60 Merrimack, New Hampshire, Telemundo), and WFXZ-CD (24 Boston, Biz TV). The television towers are also the sites of FM radio stations WBUR-FM, WKLB-FM, and several backup facilities for other stations. NBC also opened up 160,000 square foot studio facility and operations center in Needham, in 2020. In addition to the stations listed above, the facility is also home to New England Cable News and NBC Sports Boston.

The Needham Channel provides public-access television to cable TV subscribers in Needham. PEG Public, educational, and government access programming is produced and delivered through three channels—a community channel, a municipal channel and an educational channel. The three channels are available on the channel lineups of each of the three franchised cable TV providers provided—Comcast, RCN, and Verizon. Selected content is also available for streaming through The Needham Channel’s web site.

Programming on The Needham Channel includes:

Boston radio station WEEI (850 AM) transmits from a three-tower site south of the town recycling transfer station. Needham has two radio station studio locations, that of Concord-licensed WBNW (1120 AM) located at 144 Gould Street, and Cambridge licensed WNTN (1550 AM) located at 31 Fremont Street, across I-95 from WCVB-TV.

Needham High School also released several forms of media to its students and members of the town, including its student newspaper The Hilltopper, the students news video broadcast NHSN, and “NHS News from the Hill”, which is released by members of the administration.