{"nrhp_refnum":"89001574","name":"American Watch Tool Company","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"169 Elm St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Waltham","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.37164999100003,"lon":-71.23163170399994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1989-09-28","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"An industrial factory complex at 169 Elm Street in Waltham, Massachusetts, built in stages between 1877 and 1916. It consists of four brick sections beside the railroad tracks.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it is tied to Waltham's most important late-19th-century industry, as the first spin-off company from the American Waltham Watch Company. It is also a well-preserved small industrial complex whose growth from 1877 to 1916 can be read in its structure.","narrative":"Located at 169 Elm Street in Waltham, this two-story brick factory complex beside the railroad tracks grew in four stages between 1877 and 1916. The oldest parts include a mid-section from 1881 with a slate hip roof and cupola, and a long rear block. A 1901 front addition brought the building to the street line, and a 1916 north addition has a saw-tooth roof glazed to the north for even light. The firm began as the first spin-off from the American Waltham Watch Company, founded by former watch company employees including John Whitcomb, George Ballou and Henry Fisher. Ambrose Webster, a trained machinist, brought capital and designed machines for watch manufacture. The company made lathes, pinion cutters, punches and dies, and helped equip the Waterbury Watch Company. Later the Metz automobile company took control, and the plant remains in industrial use. The complex is valued for its local industrial history and for showing how a small factory expanded over forty years.","period_of_significance":"1877-1916","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"late 19th/early 20th C. industrial","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Condition is described as good, and the present use is industrial.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:00.376911-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/90/7921/63792190/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/89001574.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89001574/a80ce0208c-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89001574/a80ce0208c-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"User:Magicpiano","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WalthamMA_AmericanWatchToolCompany.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">User:Magicpiano</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WalthamMA_AmericanWatchToolCompany.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63792190","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Watch_Tool_Company","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4745356"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/american-watch-tool-company-89001574/"}