Wellesley () is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Wellesley is part of the Greater Boston metropolitan area. The population was 29,550 at the time of the 2020 census.

Wellesley College Wellesley College is a Private university, private Women's colleges in the United States, historically women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henr ...

Babson College Babson College is a Private university, private business school in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States specializing in entrepreneurship education. Founded in 1919 by Roger Babson, the college was established as the Babson Institute in his We ...

, and a campus of Massachusetts Bay Community College are located in the town.

History

Wellesley was settled in the 1600s as part of

Dedham, Massachusetts Dedham ( ) is a New England town, town in, and the county seat of, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Located on Boston's southwestern border, the population was 25,364 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. First settled by E ...

. It was subsequently a part of

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

called West Needham, Massachusetts. On October 23, 1880, West Needham residents voted to secede from Needham, and the town of Wellesley was later christened by the Massachusetts legislature on April 6, 1881. The town was named after the estate "Wellesley" of local benefactor Horatio Hollis Hunnewell. Wellesley's population grew by over 80 percent around the 1920s.

Geography

Wellesley is located in eastern Massachusetts. It is bordered on the east by Newton, on the north by

Weston Weston may refer to: Places Australia * Weston, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb of Canberra * Weston, New South Wales * Weston Creek, a residential district of Canberra * Weston Park, Canberra, a park Canada * Weston, Nova Scotia * W ...

, on the south by Needham and

Dover Dover ( ) is a town and major ferry port in Kent, southeast England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies southeast of Canterbury and east of Maidstone. ...

and on the west by Natick. According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the town has a total area of , of which is land and is water.

Neighborhoods

*Wellesley Farms *The Fells *Wellesley Hills (02481) *Wellesley Square (02482) *Poets' Corner *Babson Park (02457) *Peirce Estates *College Heights *Wellesley Lower Falls

Climate

Wellesley has a warm-summer humid continental climate (''Dfb'' under the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

system), with high

humidity Humidity is the concentration of water vapor present in the air. Water vapor, the gaseous state of water, is generally invisible to the human eye. Humidity indicates the likelihood for precipitation (meteorology), precipitation, dew, or fog t ...

and

precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls from clouds due to gravitational pull. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, rain and snow mixed ("sleet" in Commonwe ...

year-round.

Demographics

The Census Bureau has also defined the town as a

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

with an area exactly equivalent to the town. As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 26,613 people, 8,594 households, and 6,540 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 8,861 housing units at an average density of . According to a 2007 Census Bureau estimate, the racial makeup of the town was 84.6%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 10.0% Asian, 2.2%

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

, 0.01% Native American, 0.01%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 1.4% from other races, and 1.7% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 3.4% of the population. There were 8,594 households, out of which 39.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 67.2% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 7.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 23.9% were non-families. 20.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.70 and the average family size was 3.14. In the town, the population was spread out, with 25.1% under the age of 18, 13.9% from 18 to 24, 22.9% from 25 to 44, 24.2% from 45 to 64, and 13.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 77.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 71.1 males. The median income for a household was $159,167, and the median income for a family was $186,518. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

in the town was $72,046. Massachusetts locations by per capita income About 2.4% of families and 3.8% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 4.0% of those under age 18 and 2.1% of those age 65 or over.

Economy

Wellesley is home to the headquarters of many local, national and global businesses including Benchmark Senior Living, Blank Label Apparel, Eagle Investment Systems, EPG Incorporated, GrandBanks Capital, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Livingston and Haynes PC, and Sun Life Financial U.S.

Top employers

According to Wellesley's 2023 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top employers in the city are:

Arts and culture

Historic district

The town designated Cottage Street and its nearby alleys as the historic district in its zoning plan. Most houses in this district were built around the 1860s and qualify as protected buildings certified by the town's historic commission.

Recent construction

The town's historic 19th-century inn was demolished to make way for condominiums and mixed-use development in 2006. The Wellesley Country Club clubhouse, which is the building where the town was founded, was demolished in 2008, and a new clubhouse was built. The town's pre-World War II high school building was torn down and replaced with a brand new high school finished in 2012. The entire 1960s-style Linden Street strip-mall has been replaced by "Linden Square"—a shopping district that includes a flagship Roche Bros. supermarket, restaurants, cafes, clothing stores, along with a mixture of national chains and local shops.

Library

Wellesley opened its new Free Library building in 2003, which is part of the

Minuteman Library Network Founded first as a cooperative, the Minuteman Library Network (MLN) is today a Library consortium, consortium of over 40+ public or academic library, academic libraries. The network consists of an aggregate collection of over sum 6 million items a ...

. Due to the structure of budget override votes and perhaps the size of the new main branch of the library, the two branch libraries— one in Wellesley Hills, which was purpose-built to be a branch library in the 1920s, another in Wellesley Fells—closed in the summer of 2006. The branch libraries reopened in September 2008. The main library branch near Wellesley Square underwent a major interior renovation in 2021.

Government

The town was governed through an open town meeting after it was incorporated. In 1933, citizens approved a ballot question to adopt a representative town meeting government, dividing the town into four precincts with 60 representatives each. The new form of government came into effect in 1934. In 2016, citizens rejected a ballot question to adopt a Selectmen-Manager government. The town is part of the

Massachusetts Senate's Norfolk, Bristol and Middlesex district Massachusetts Senate's Norfolk, Worcester and Middlesex district, formerly Massachusetts Senate's Norfolk, Bristol and Middlesex district, in the United States is one of 40 legislative districts of the Massachusetts Senate. Prior to redistricti ...

. In 2010 Wellesley's Sustainable Energy Committee (SEC) was formed by Town Meeting. The committee's primary objective was a 10% town-wide reduction in Wellesley's

carbon footprint A carbon footprint (or greenhouse gas footprint) is a calculated value or index that makes it possible to compare the total amount of greenhouse gases that an activity, product, company or country Greenhouse gas emissions, adds to the atmospher ...

and 20% reduction in carbon footprint for all municipal departments by the end of 2013. In 2014 Town Meeting voted to support a new goal of 25% reduction by 2020 using 2007 as the base year. The committee is responsible for Wellesley's adoption of the Massachusetts Stretch Building Code approved by Town Meeting effective January 2012.

Education

The school system also contains a middle school and seven elementary schools (Bates, Upham, Schofield, Fiske, Hardy, Hunnewell, and Sprague). Wellesley includes a primary and secondary school which are Wellesley Middle School (also known as Wellesley Junior High) and Wellesley High School, respectively; and are the home of the Raiders. The town contains a private elementary school, Tenacre Country Day School, one private Catholic elementary school (St. John the Evangelist) and a preparatory school for girls, Dana Hall School. Also, the Wellesley A Better Chance outfit started in the early 1970s brings promising young women from underserved areas into town to attend Wellesley High School and live nearby. Wellesley also contains the main campus of three colleges:

, a women's liberal arts college, Massachusetts Bay Community College, a two-year public college, and Babson, a business college. In 2024, Upham was officially closed following the rebuilds of Hunnewell and Hardy.

Media

Events of significance to members of the Wellesley community are recorded in two local news publications: '' The Wellesley Townsman'' has been published since 1906, and ''The Swellesley Report'' since 2005. Both are available online and digitized copies of the paper-based ''Townsman'' are available from the Wellesley Free Library.

Infrastructure

Transportation

Wellesley has had rail service to Boston since 1833. Rail service is currently provided through Wellesley's participation in the MBTA, which offers a total of 17 weekdays

Commuter Rail Commuter rail or suburban rail is a Passenger train, passenger rail service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting Commuting, commuters to a Central business district, central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter town ...

trains inbound towards

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

and outbound towards Framingham and Worcester. Wellesley's stations are (east to west) Wellesley Farms, Wellesley Hills, and Wellesley Square. The Wellesley Farms station is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. MWRTA bus service also runs along Walnut Street, Cedar Street, and Route 9. The highways

Interstate 95 Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from U.S. Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Florida, north to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between Maine and the ...

/ Massachusetts Route 128, Massachusetts Route 9, Massachusetts route 16 (as Washington Street) and Massachusetts route 135 run through Wellesley.

Municipal light plant

Wellesley is serviced by the Wellesley Municipal Light Plant. The three colleges voluntarily pay a premium to purchase electricity generated by wind power. In 2012, Wellesley was designated a Green Power Community by the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

Notable people

Danny Ainge Daniel Ray Ainge ( ; born March 17, 1959) is an American former professional basketball player, coach, and professional baseball player who serves as the chief executive officer for the Utah Jazz of the National Basketball Association (NB ...

, executive director of basketball operations and general manager of the

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), ...

Ray Allen Walter Ray Allen Jr. (born July 20, 1975) is an American former professional basketball player. Allen played 18 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a play ...

, former player for the

* Emily Greene Balch,

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize (Swedish language, Swedish and ) is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the Will and testament, will of Sweden, Swedish industrialist, inventor, and armaments manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobe ...

winner *

Roger Nash Baldwin Roger Nash Baldwin (January 21, 1884 – August 26, 1981) was one of the founders of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). He served as executive director of the ACLU until 1950. Many of the ACLU's original landmark cases took place under h ...

, co-founder of

American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is an American nonprofit civil rights organization founded in 1920. ACLU affiliates are active in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. The budget of the ACLU in 2024 was $383 million. T ...

* Arthur Batcheller, U.S. radio inspector * Katharine Lee Bates, author of "America the Beautiful" * Gamaliel Bradford, poet, biographer * Dee Brown, former basketball player for the Boston Celtics and NBA executive * Laurence E. Bunker, United States Army colonel, aide to Gen. Douglas MacArthur, leader within the John Birch Society * R. Nicholas Burns, former U.S. Under Secretary of State, Ambassador to NATO and to Greece, and State Department spokesman * Karl E. Case, developer of the Case–Shiller index * Dan Chiasson, poet and New Yorker critic * Gene Clapp, Olympic silver medalist men's eight * Katharine Coman, historian, professor of economics and sociology, author * Greg Comella, former professional football player with the New York Giants, Titans, Texans and Buccaneers * Jane Curtin, comedian, original cast member of ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...

'' *

Richard Darman Richard Gordon Darman (May 10, 1943January 25, 2008) was an American businessman and government official who served in senior positions during the presidencies of Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush. Early life Darman was born in Charlotte, North ...

, economist, former head of the

Office of Management and Budget The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is the largest office within the Executive Office of the President of the United States (EOP). The office's most prominent function is to produce the president's budget, while it also examines agency pro ...

* Erik Davis, former pitcher for the Washington Nationals * Blake Dietrick, WNBA basketball player with the Seattle Storm and former standout with the Princeton Tigers * Dennis Eckersley, former pitcher for the Oakland A's * Nancy Hasty Evans, politician *

Carl Everett Carl Edward Everett III (born June 3, 1971) is an American former Major League Baseball outfielder. A switch hitter, he played for eight teams over the course of a 14-year career. He was a member of the Chicago White Sox when they won the 2005 ...

, former

center fielder A center fielder, abbreviated CF, is the outfielder in baseball who plays defense in center field – the baseball and softball fielding position between left field and right field. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the ...

for the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Founded in as one of the Ameri ...

* Nicole Freedman (born 1972), Olympic cyclist * Nate Freiman (born 1986), first baseman for the

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (frequently referred to as the Oakland A's) were an American Major League Baseball (MLB) team based in Oakland, California from 1968 to 2024. The Athletics were a member club of the American League (AL) American League We ...

* Wendell Arthur Garrity Jr., U.S. District Court judge * Curt Gowdy, sports commentator * Michael S. Greco, president of American, Massachusetts, and New England bar associations * Lester Grinspoon, psychiatrist, professor, and drug policy reform advocate * Ariulf Eric Hampe, German electrical and aeronautical engineer * Gordon Hayward,

small forward The small forward (SF), also known as the three, is one of the five Basketball position, positions in a regulation basketball game. Small forwards are typically shorter, quicker, and leaner than Power forward (basketball), power forwards and Cent ...

for the

* H. H. Hunnewell (1810–1902), railroad financier and horticulturist * Andrea Jung, CEO of Avon Products * Phil Laak, professional

poker Poker is a family of Card game#Comparing games, comparing card games in which Card player, players betting (poker), wager over which poker hand, hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, with varying rules i ...

player, winner of 2004 World Poker Tour * Christopher Leggett, film producer * Xihong Lin, Department of Biostatistics chair at the Harvard School of Public Health * Gregory Mankiw, Harvard economics professor *

Daisuke Matsuzaka is a Japanese former professional baseball pitcher, who pitched professionally for 23 seasons, 16 of them in NPB, 7 in MLB. He is currently a baseball color commentator, critic, Sports journalism, reporter, and YouTuber. Daisuke is nicknamed i ...

, former pitcher for the Boston Red Sox * Bijan Mazaheri, distance runner * Fred McLafferty, professor, analytical chemist, author, inventor, leading developer of

mass spectrometry Mass spectrometry (MS) is an analytical technique that is used to measure the mass-to-charge ratio of ions. The results are presented as a ''mass spectrum'', a plot of intensity as a function of the mass-to-charge ratio. Mass spectrometry is used ...

* Drew Meekins, figure skater * Ossian Everett Mills, founder of

Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia (legally Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity of America, colloquially known as Phi Mu Alpha, PMA, or simply Sinfonia) () is an American collegiate social Fraternities and sororities, fraternity for men with a special interest ...

fraternity * Brian Moynihan, CEO of Bank of America * Bill Mueller, former

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the Baseball scorekeep ...

for the Boston Red Sox * Joseph E. Murray, surgeon, winner of the Nobel Prize in Medicine, 1990 *

Vladimir Nabokov Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov ( ; 2 July 1977), also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin (), was a Russian and American novelist, poet, translator, and entomologist. Born in Imperial Russia in 1899, Nabokov wrote his first nine novels in Rus ...

, Russian-American author * Joe Nash, retired NFL player for the Seattle Seahawks * Sylvia Plath, poet and author, '' The Bell Jar'' *

Richard Preston Richard Preston (born August 5, 1954) is a writer for ''The New Yorker'' and bestselling author who has written books about infectious disease, bioterrorism, redwoods and other subjects, as well as fiction. Biography Preston was born in Cambr ...

and Douglas Preston, best-selling authors * Aneesh Raman, former presidential speechwriter at the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

and CNN Middle East Correspondent * Edward Thomas Ryan, president, American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene; professor, Harvard University * James St. Clair, defense lawyer for

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...

during

Watergate The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon. The scandal began in 1972 and ultimately led to Nixon's resignation in 1974, in August of that year. It revol ...

* Jack Sanford, former

MLB Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

pitcher, 1957 MLB Rookie of the Year Award recipient * Billy Squier, rock musician * Brad Stevens, former head coach and current general manager of the Boston Celtics * Biz Stone, Twitter co-founder *

Steven Tyler Steven Victor Tallarico (born March 26, 1948), known professionally as Steven Tyler, is an American singer and songwriter. Tyler is best known as the lead singer of the Boston-based rock band Aerosmith, in which he also plays the keyboards, h ...

, rock musician, lived in Wellesley during the late 1990s and early 2000s * Michael von Clemm, banker, anthropologist and founder of

Canary Wharf Canary Wharf is a financial area of London, England, located in the Isle of Dogs in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The Greater London Authority defines it as part of London's central business district, alongside Central London. Alongside ...

* Rasheed Wallace, retired professional basketball player * Greg Yaitanes, Emmy Award-winning film director, writer, actor * Eddie Yost, baseball player and coachEddie Yost at SABR Baseball Biography Project
/ref>

References

External links

Town of Wellesley website
{{authority control Towns in Norfolk County, Massachusetts Populated places established in 1660 1660 establishments in the Massachusetts Bay Colony Populated places established in 1881 Towns in Massachusetts