Brookline is a town in Norfolk Region, Massachusetts, in the United States, as well as belongs to Greater Boston. Brookline borders 6 of Boston's areas: Brighton, Allston, Fenway-- Kenmore, Goal Hill, Jamaica Level, as well as West Roxbury. The city of Newton exists to the west of Brookline.

At the 2010 census, the population of the town was 58,732. It is one of the most populous towns in Massachusetts to have a town (instead of a city) type of federal government.

Brookline was first resolved in 1638 as a hamlet in Boston however was included as a different town in 1705.

Brookline was the birthplace and home town of John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the USA.

 

Once part of the Algonquian region, Brookline was first settled by European colonists in the very early 17th century. The location was an outlying part of the colonial settlement of Boston as well as called the district of Muddy River. In 1705, it was incorporated as the independent town of Brookline. The northern and southern borders of the community were marked by two tiny rivers or creeks, thus the name. The north border with Brighton (which was itself part of Cambridge until 1807) was Smelt Creek. (That name shows up on maps starting a minimum of as early as 1852, but at some time between 1888 and also 1925 the creek was covered over.) The southerly boundary, abutting Boston, was the Muddy River.

The Community of Brighton was merged with Boston in 1874, and the Boston-Brookline boundary was redrawn to connect the brand-new Back Bay community with Allston-Brighton. This merger developed a narrow strip of land along the Charles River coming from Boston, reducing Brookline off from the shoreline. It likewise put certain lands north of the Muddy River on the Boston side, including what is now Kenmore Square and Packard's Corner. The present northern boundary adheres to Commonwealth Method, as well as on the northeast, St. Mary's Street. When Frederick Regulation Olmsted made the Emerald green Necklace of parks and also parkways for Boston in the 1890s, the Muddy River was integrated into the Riverway and also Olmsted Park, producing park easily accessible by both Boston as well as Brookline citizens.

Throughout its history, Brookline has withstood being linked by Boston, specifically throughout the Boston-- Brookline annexation discussion of 1873. The neighboring towns of West Roxbury and also Hyde Park connected Brookline to the remainder of the Norfolk Area until they were linked by Boston in 1874 and 1912, respectively, placing them in Suffolk County. Brookline is currently divided from the rest of Norfolk County.

Brookline has long been considered as a pleasurable as well as the verdant environment. In the 1841 version of the Theory and Practice of Landscape Horticulture, Andrew Jackson Downing described the area by doing this:

The whole of this neighborhood of Brookline is a type of landscape garden, as well as there is nothing in America of the type, so inexpressibly enchanting as the lanes which lead from one cottage, or vacation home, to one more. No animals are allowed to go for big, and also the open gates, with appealing views and also looks under the pendent boughs, give it quite an Arcadian air of country freedom and pleasure. These lanes are clothed with an abundance of trees as well as wild bushes, typically nearly to the carriage tracks, as well as curve and wind about, in a fashion quite bewildering to the unfamiliar person that tries to thread them alone; and also there are more hints here for the fan of the picturesque in lanes than we ever before saw set up with each other in so tiny a compass.

Brookline citizens were among the very first in the country to propose expanding the vote to women. Benjamin F. Butler, in his 1882 advocate Guv, promoted the suggestion.

Transport background

2 branches of top Boston Article Roadway, established in the 1670s, passed through Brookline. Brookline Village was the original center of retail activity. In 1810, the Boston and also Worcester Turnpike, now Massachusetts Path 9, was outlined, beginning on Huntington Method in Boston and traveling through the village center on its means west.

Steam railways concerned Brookline in the middle of the 19th century. The Boston and Worcester Railway was created in the very early 1830s as well as passed through Brookline near the Charles River. The rail line is still in active use, currently paralleled by the Massachusetts Turnpike. The Highland Branch of the Boston as well as Albany Railway was built from Kenmore Square to Brookline Town in 1847 and also was expanded right into Newton in 1852. In the late 1950s, this would certainly become the Green Line "D" Branch.

The part of Sign Road west of Kenmore Square was outlined in 1850. Tram tracks were laid over the ground on Sign Street in 1888, from Coolidge Corner to Massachusetts Avenue in Boston, via Kenmore Square. In 1889, they were energized as well as extended over the Brighton border at Cleveland Circle. They would ultimately come to be the Eco-friendly Line "C" Branch.

Thanks to the Boston Elevated Railway system, this upgrade from the horse-drawn carriage to electric trolleys occurred on lots of significant roads throughout the area and also made transportation right into midtown Boston faster and cheaper. Much of Brookline was become a streetcar suburban area, with huge block apartment buildings sprouting up along the brand-new streetcar lines.