The old South Precinct of Braintree on the Monatiquot River, where townsmen once pulled down a dam to save the alewives, the mills turned out chocolate, yarn and manila paper made from old rope, and Sylvanus Thayer was born and left his hometown a library and an academy.

Norfolk County · Record checked October 12, 2026

39,143Population2020 census1
1640Became a townnamed for Braintree in Essex, England1
1842Manila paperfirst made from old rope at the Hollingsworth mill2
1856Trilobite quarrythe first authentic Massachusetts trilobite3
4National Registerplaces, all still standing4

Braintree on the map

Click the map to look closer.

Map of Braintree, Massachusetts in 2026, with Washington Street, Great Pond Reservoir and Pond Meadow

2026

Braintree today

By KNOWOL

Washington Street, Franklin Street, Hancock Street, Granite Street, Quincy Avenue and Commercial Street across town, with East Braintree, South Braintree, Braintree Highlands, Five Corners, Great Pond Reservoir, Pond Meadow, Ames Pond and Babel Rock.5

See the 2026 printMore about this map

The story of Braintree

The night the dam came down

Every spring the alewives ran up the Monatiquot River to spawn in Braintree's ponds, and families put up all they could eat for the coming year. The old iron-works dam, which the town historian Samuel A. Bates placed just above the Shaw Street bridge in East Braintree, stood in their way. In 1736 the town asked its owner, Thomas Vinton, to name his price, and he said he wouldn't sell on any terms. The town voted a hundred pounds to defend the river, chose a new committee, and that committee pulled the dam down. Bates says the men went out one night to do it. Vinton finally took three hundred pounds for his rights, though twenty-four voters had their protest written into the record.67

Chocolate, yarn and paper from old rope

For generations the Monatiquot and its brooks kept Braintree's mills turning. About 1790 Col. William Allen built a grist mill on Commercial Street, and Jonas Welch later made chocolate there that became celebrated throughout the country. At the old Thayer mill on Middle Street, Alva Morrison spun woolen yarn so good that stocking knitters told their customers nothing but Morrison's would do. Off Hancock Street the Blake and Revere foundry made bells, and in 1842 the Hollingsworth brothers worked out how to turn old rope into strong, nearly waterproof manila paper. The Boston Flax Company employed about six hundred people until it left for Ludlow around 1880. And at the Bowditch mill, Abigail Bowditch could shoulder a two-bushel bag of meal and carry it up the stairs alone.72

The general's gifts to his hometown

Sylvanus Thayer was born in Braintree in 1785, in a house Nathaniel Thayer had built in Braintree Highlands in 1720. He gave the valedictory at Dartmouth, and in 1815 the government sent him to Europe to study fortifications. As his ship entered the English Channel, he learned that Waterloo had been fought two days before. From 1817 to 1833 he ran West Point and made it the nation's first college of engineering. In 1870 he offered Braintree a fireproof library. Townspeople argued over where it should stand, but a move to undo the vote failed, 328 to 219, and the library opened in 1874. His will offered an academy to Braintree first, then to Randolph and Holbrook, then to Quincy. Braintree said yes, and Thayer Academy opened in 1877.8951011

Through the years

25 moments from 1640 to today.

  1. 1640Braintree is incorporated, its land then taking in today's Quincy, Randolph and Holbrook.1
  2. 1643Boston grants John Winthrop Jr. and his partners 3,000 acres to encourage ironworks on the Monatiquot River.7
  3. 1706Families at the south end raise their own meetinghouse near Washington and Elm Streets on May 6.12
  4. 1708The South Precinct of Braintree is legally set off on November 5.12
  5. 1716The first school in today's Braintree opens, its master paid six shillings a week and his meals.13
  6. 1730Col. William Hunt runs a forge near Pond and Granite Streets.7
  7. 1736The town pulls down the old iron-works dam so the alewives can reach the ponds.6
  8. 1759A new meetinghouse opens on June 28, where young John Adams and others later speak up for independence.12
  9. 1785Sylvanus Thayer is born in Braintree.5
  10. 1792Quincy splits off as its own town, and Randolph follows in 1793.1
  11. 1800About this year Samuel Hayden starts making shoes to sell in Boston.14
  12. 1810Boston's old Hollis Street meetinghouse is floated to Braintree on a raft for the Union Church.15
  13. 1817Sylvanus Thayer becomes superintendent of West Point.5
  14. 1822Oliver Ames and Elijah Howard set up shovel, nail and tack works at the foot of Pearl Street.7
  15. 1825Braintree's first post office opens in Asa French's house on Washington Street.16
  16. 1842The Hollingsworth brothers learn to make manila paper from old rope.2
  17. 1856The first authentic Massachusetts trilobite comes out of the Braintree trilobite quarry.3
  18. 1858A town hall goes up on French's common, five acres left to the town by Josiah French.17
  19. 1861The Braintree Light Infantry forms at its armory on April 16 and marches off to war.18
  20. 1874The Thayer Public Library opens, and the soldiers' monument is dedicated on June 17.17
  21. 1877Thayer Academy opens to 30 students on September 12.5
  22. 1880About this year the Boston Flax Company moves its machinery to Ludlow.2
  23. 1893The town's own electric light plant is established.16
  24. 1948Braintree Airport opens near Great Pond. It closes in 1968.1
  25. 1976Pond Meadow Park opens on the Weymouth line.5

Places to see

Places worth a visit in Braintree today.

  • General Sylvanus Thayer BirthplaceWashington Street. The 1720 Thayer house, now a museum.Visit their website
  • Thayer Public LibraryTown center. Born of Sylvanus Thayer's 1870 offer.Visit their website
  • Thayer AcademyWashington Street. Opened to 30 students in 1877.Visit their website
  • Monatiquot RiverAcross town to the Fore River. Alewives, mill dams and manila paper.
  • East BraintreeOn the Weymouth line. Head of navigation on the Monatiquot.
  • South BraintreeVillage. The south village, post office since 1845.
  • Braintree HighlandsNeighborhood. Where the Thayer house first stood.
  • Great Pond ReservoirOn the Randolph line. Iron ore once dredged from its bottom.
  • Pond Meadow ParkOn the Weymouth line. 320 acres around a 20-acre pond.Visit their website
  • Blue Hills ReservationNorthwest edge. State park bought in 1893.Visit their website

On the National Register

All 4 places in Braintree on the National Register of Historic Places that still stand today, oldest first, and why each one matters.4

  • Gen. Sylvanus Thayer House

    Built 1720 · Listed 1974 · 786 Washington St.

    Nathaniel Thayer built the house in 1720, and Sylvanus Thayer, the father of West Point, was born here in 1785. In 1958 it was taken apart and moved about a mile down Washington Street, and the Braintree Historical Society now runs it as the Thayer House Museum.19

    Visit their website

  • Thayer Public Library

    Built 1874 · Listed 1978 · 2 John F. Kennedy Memorial Dr.

    The town's first library building, paid for with Gen. Sylvanus Thayer's bequest and dedicated on June 4, 1874. It served as the library until 1953, when the library moved across the street, and later housed the town's Water Department.20

  • Blue Hills Reservation Parkways-Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston

    Listed 2003 · Parts of Blue Hill Rd., Chickatawbut Rd., Hillside St., Uniquity Rd., Wampatuck Rd., and Green St.

    Six park roads in and around the Blue Hills Reservation, laid out by Charles Eliot in the 1890s, except Green Street, which joined the network in the 1940s. Chickatawbut Road, the longest, winds nearly 3.75 miles through Milton, Quincy and Braintree.21

  • All Souls Church

    Built 1905 · Listed 2015 · 196 Elm St.

    Braintree's first stone church, a fieldstone building with a crenellated square tower, designed by the Boston architect Edwin J. Lewis Jr. and built in 1905 for a congregation organized in 1900. George O. Wales, a leader in uniting the town's Unitarians and Universalists, gave the land.22

    Visit their website

In their words

“The Braintree thick boot bore the highest price in the market, and sustained its good name for many years.”

Samuel A. Bates, History of Norfolk County, 188414

“These 'historic fishes' not only vexed town-meetings, but because of them the whole community was wrought to such a pitch of excitement that it took the law into its own hands.”

Charles Francis Adams, Three episodes of Massachusetts history, 1892, on the alewife fight of 17366

“It can be readily seen that the people of Braintree believe in education and good roads.”

History of Norfolk County, 191816

Nearby towns

Sources

  1. Braintree, Massachusetts, Wikipedia
  2. History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts (1884), on the Boston Flax Company and the Hollingsworth paper mills, Internet Archive
  3. Guide to localities illustrating the geology, marine zoology, and botany of the vicinity of Boston (1898), Internet Archive
  4. National Register of Historic Places listings in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, Wikipedia
  5. Map of Braintree, Massachusetts in 2026, KNOWOL
  6. Three episodes of Massachusetts history (1892), Charles Francis Adams on the alewife fight of 1736, Internet Archive
  7. History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts (1884), on the iron works and mills of the Monatiquot, Internet Archive
  8. Memorial of the Thayer name (1874), on Gen. Sylvanus Thayer, Internet Archive
  9. Thayer / French Houses, Town of Braintree
  10. History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts (1884), on the Thayer Public Library, Internet Archive
  11. History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, 1622-1918 (1918), on Thayer Academy, Internet Archive
  12. History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts (1884), on Braintree's churches, Internet Archive
  13. History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts (1884), on Braintree's first school, Internet Archive
  14. History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts (1884), on Braintree boots and shoes, Internet Archive
  15. Old paths and legends of New England (1903), on Braintree, Internet Archive
  16. History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, 1622-1918 (1918), on Braintree, Internet Archive
  17. History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts (1884), on French's common, the town hall and the soldiers' monument, Internet Archive
  18. History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts (1884), on Braintree in the Civil War, Internet Archive
  19. Gen. Sylvanus Thayer House, Wikipedia
  20. Thayer Public Library, Wikipedia
  21. Blue Hills Reservation Parkways-Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston, Wikipedia
  22. All Souls Church, Wikipedia