North Avenue is a through street in northeastern Weston that dates to colonial days, now connecting
Waltham to
Maynard. It is roughly paralleled to the south by the
Fitchburg Railroad, now primarily used as a commuter rail line by the
MBTA, with a stop labelled
Kendal Green just south of North Avenue on Church Street. The historic district extends along North Avenue between Hobbs Brook Road in the east to Viles Street in the west, where the
Hastings commuter rail station is located. Most of the district's properties line North Avenue, with an extension on Church Street to including the historic station building there, and along Viles Street and Brooks Road to include a small industrial area. The Weston area was first settled in the 17th century, when it was part of
Watertown, and North Avenue was one of the loci of early settlement. The oldest building in the district is the c. 1707 Whitney Tavern at 171 North Avenue. In 1729 Josiah Hobbs (for whose family
Hobbs Brook is named) purchased much of the land in this area, and also acquired a
water right at which he operated a tannery, one of the first such industries in the
Massachusetts Bay Colony. Five generations of Hobbses operated the tannery for more than a century, and built a number of surviving houses in the district, including 87, 88, and 121 North Avenue. #87, the
Isaac Hobbs House, is separately listed on the National Register. The railroad, which effectively bounds the district to the south, was built through the area in the 1840s, but did not immediately affect development. In the 1880s the E. and G.G. Hook and Hastings Organ Company built a factory on Viles Street at the railroad, which became the town's largest employer and a significant economic force in its development. Although none of the company's industrial buildings have survived, a significant number of houses on North, Viles and Brooks were built either by the company or by others to house its workers. ==See also==