Watertown News (https://www.watertownmanews.com/page/1814/)
Members of the Mi’kmaq and Maliseet tribes traveled to take part in the celebration fo the 250th anniversary of the Treaty of Watertown (Photo by Charlie Breitrose)
Hundreds packed a theater in Watertown on Saturday to celebrate an event that took place 250 years before. The town was the site of the signing of the United States’ first treaty with a foreign nation — the Treaty of Watertown. Descendants of the signers of the document from the Mi’kmaq and Maliseet tribes emphasized that the agreement that was forged as a wartime alliance also created friendships and provided rights and protections for the signers that are still important in 2026.
A pole struck by a vehicle lies on top of power lines on Main Street. (Photo by Charlie Breitrose)
A vehicle struck a utility pole on Main Street, snapping it in half and cutting off power for several hundred customers on Monday around noon.
Watertown City and State officials appeared before a joint committee at the State House on Jan. 27, 2026, to discuss the City’s Home Rule Petition. Pictured, from left, Steve Owens, George Proakis, John Lawn, Earl Smith, and Mark Sideris.
The City of Watertown’s effort to prevent a tax hike for residential property owners, which could be as high as 18%, cleared a major hurdle when it was approved the the House of Representatives on Beacon Hill.
Watertown residents will see an increase of 4.5% in both the water and sewer rates for the fiscal year that began on July 1, 2026, which is slightly higher than forecasted a year ago. However, the future increase could be significantly higher than projected due in part to an error made calculating future year revenues.
The proposed moratorium that would have temporarily halted development on Arsenal Street was rejected by the Town Council Tuesday night, but instead voted to quickly develop guidelines and standards for how projects can be built across town.
The Housing section of the Watertown Comprehensive Plan focuses too much on affordable housing and does not have a clear stance on what kind of residential developments should be built in town, said the boards reviewing the plan.
A Funeral Mass for Ryan James Eaton will be celebrated on Thursday July 24th at 10:30 a.m. in the Church of Saint Patrick, Watertown.
Efforts to upgrade the path and park along the Charles River, east of Watertown Square, started more than seven years ago, and Monday morning workers officially broke ground on a project that will improve the path, the park and add a special feature for the visually impaired.
A number of homes sold in Watertown this week. See where they were and how much they sold for.
The following information was provided by the Watertown Police Department.
A flurry of work can already be seen along the Charles River, east of Watertown Square, and the official groundbreaking for the construction project will be held on Monday, July 21.
As they started to delve into the draft of the 200-plus pages of the Watertown Comprehensive Plan, members of the Planning Board and Town Council said some of it has too many details that could lock the town into something that does not make sense.