The Cherry Street Press

John Hammond lives in Waltham, Massachusetts with his wife Susana Galdos from Lima, Peru. Susana is internationally known for her work in co-founding Manuela Ramos, an organization committed to the health of women and familes in Peru. She currently works with Management Sciences for Health in Cambridge, Massachusetts as a consultant for health projects around the world. John is an R.N. with a background in Urology, Medical Intensive Care, Mental Health, Alcoholism, and Hospice. For the last 10 years he has worked for Risk Management Foundation of the Harvard Medical Institutions as a Senior Medical Consultant. Susana and John have six grown children from previous marriages.

Waltham’s history, attractions, and convenient location make it an excellent place to visit. In 1814, mill owner Francis Cabot Lowell introduced the power loom into the American textile industry at Boston Manufacturing Company in Waltham. Some credit this as the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in the United States. The company built a tall brick mill building next to the Charles River, incorporating various mechanization technologies to convert raw cotton into cloth. The Waltham mill integrated the chain of tasks under a single roof, inaugurating what would become the American factory system of the nineteenth century. Waltham cloth gained immediate popularity. Another of Lowell’s innovations was in hiring young farm girls to work in the mill. He paid them lower wages than men, but offered benefits that many girls, some as young as 15, were eager to earn. Mill girls lived in clean company boardinghouses with chaperones, were paid cash, and benefitted from religious and educational activities. Waltham boomed as workers flocked to Lowell’s novel enterprise. Waltham has been at the center of historical innovation, from the legendary Waltham Watch Company and early motorcars to the high-tech marvels of today. In 1898, Orient-Aster, the very first US produced motorcycle was built by the Metz Company in Waltham, Massachusetts. This motorcycle used an Aster engine which was a French-built copy of DeDion-Buton and predated Indian (1901) by three years, and Harley-Davidson (1902) by four. The Metz Automobile Company built cars and motorcycles in Waltham from 1898 until 1922. Their main automobile factory occupied what was until very recently the Raytheon plant, and their offices were in the Gore mansion. Some claims to fame for Metz include the first U.S. production motorcycle, and a car with a continuously variable friction-drive transmission. Metz also produced bicycles in a factory on Rumford Avenue on the Island.

Make Waltham your gateway to history. Visit our museums, brimming with artifacts from America’s early manufacturing era. Tour our historic homes, landmarks of architectural and horticultural beauty. Waltham also makes an excellent “home base” as you explore all of New England’s history. Only ten miles west of Boston. Surround yourself with the past. Visit Waltham, Your Gateway to History!