Needham History: How Did Needham Get Its Name?

No one was named ‘Needham’

A detail from the Dedham Farmers’ Petition, showing the very first written use of our new town name. Note the smudgy and overwritten “Ne” – a close look suggests that the clerk started writing “Dedham” before he caught his mistake and corrected it. Fortunately, the names share the same last syllable.

How Did Needham Get its Name?

“In the affaire of the Inhabitants of Dedham living on the North side of the Charles River, by their Petition humbly Praying to be made a Township by reason of their great Distance from the place of the Publick Worship of God in Dedham… Ordered that the Prayer of the Petition be Granted, And that the Lands now within the Town of Dedham Lying on the north side of the Charles River…be made a distinct and Separate Town by the name of Needham. And that all the present Inhabitants upon the said Tract of Land… have use exercise and Enjoy the immunity powers and privileges by Law Granted to the Inhabitants of other towns Provided they do procure settle and honorably Support a Learned Orthodox Minister of good conversation to reside with them.” (In the House of Representatives, Read & Concurred, November 6, 1711)

Needham, MA, was named after Needham Market, a town in Suffolk, England. This area of Massachusetts was settled mostly by people from the English coastal counties of Suffolk, Essex, and Norfolk, and many of the towns in our own Suffolk, Essex, and Norfolk Counties are named after the English towns they left behind. Other examples include (among many others) Dedham, Cambridge, Boston, Framingham, Braintree, Dover, Chelmsford, Billerica, Stoneham, Sudbury, Sandwich, Harwich, Ipswich, and Chatham. The word “Needham” comes from the Anglo-Saxon, and means “Lower Village” (Germanic nieder- meaning nether or lower, and -ham, signifying a village or hamlet). None of the early residents of Needham, MA, bore the surname “Needham,” though it is quite a common family name in southern England.

The English village of Needham Market is much, much older. It was probably settled sometime before the Norman Conquest in 1066, based on its location along the main road between Ipswich and Bury St Edmunds. It was an old town already when it was granted its market charter by King Henry III in 1245, which is the first written record that mentions the town by name. The market charter allowed Needham to hold regular formal markets, bringing in merchants and craftsmen from around the area on a regular schedule of market days. This not only brought in valued revenue to the town in sales and fees, but increased the local availability of both necessary and luxury goods.

Needham Market’s productive economy was based on the wool trade – primarily in wool combing, a laborious task in which the tangled and curly wool fibers were combed straight, cleaned of leaves, twigs and other debris, and made ready for spinning into thread for the weavers. Between the market and wool combing, the town was relatively prosperous, until the Great Plague of 1663-1665. To mitigate the spread of disease, the roads into the town were chained off at either end to prevent ingress and egress. Villagers left money at the chained ends of the roads, and farmers outside the town left food in return. Although apparently successful in restricting the spread of plague outside of its bounds, the town’s population was devastated. It took nearly two centuries for the town to recover; both the market and the wool-combing trade were taken over by other towns, and the local economy became primarily agricultural.

Today, Needham Market is home to about 4500 people. It has a Town Council, similar to our Select Board; Councillors Ray Darnell and Ian Mason have been visitors to Needham, MA on more than one occasion, and helped us celebrate our Tercentennial. In addition to its local businesses, Needham Market derives a significant portion of its income from nature and heritage tourism. The parish church of St John the Baptist (built c. 1475) has a notable example of a hammerbeam angel roof. Several years ago the parish sent out an appeal to repair the roof, which was leaking; their appeal reached as far as our town, and generous donations were sent to Needham Market to help in its successful renovation.

Our own Needham was originally part of the land grant of Dedham, which was named after the English town of Dedham, in Essex. The Dedham Grant was settled in the 1630s, and settlers immediately started to claim land north of the Charles River to graze cattle in the rich wet meadows. By 1711, 45 families lived in the North Parish (now Needham), and were finding it difficult to travel the eight miles to church in Dedham – a journey that could take several hours each way. Because of their remoteness from the center of Dedham and the tendency of the Charles River to flood in the winter, these families were often also deprived for several months of access to school, church, and Town Meeting (which took place in church, right after services). An appeal was made by the 45 families for permission to establish and support a school and church north of the river, but this was denied. Citizens of the North Parish, therefore, petitioned the General Court in Boston to be “Allowed & Enabled to Settle and Support ye Gospel of Christ among ourselves.” The petition was signed by 40 of the 45 householders.

The Petition was approved on November 6, 1711 and Needham became the third town to separate from Dedham. When Needham was granted its separation in 1711, MA Governor Dudley called the new town “Needham,” giving it another familiar English name.

Medieval and Victorian buildings along Needham Market’s ancient High Street.

Gloria Polizzotti Greis is the Executive Director of the Needham History Center & Museum. For more information, please see their website at www.needhamhistory.org.