Interior House Painter
Brighton MA

Brighton
Neighborhood of Boston
The Chestnut Hill Reservoir is located in the Brighton neighborhood. (Boston College can be seen in the background).
Seal
Nicknames:  Little Cambridge, South Cambridge, Third Parish (all archaic)
Country	United States
State	Massachusetts
County	Suffolk
Neighborhood of	Boston
Settled	1630
Incorporated	February 24, 1807
Annexed by Boston	January 5, 1874
Area
• Land	2.78 sq mi (7.2 km2)
Population
• Total	43,887
• Density	15,786/sq mi (6,095/km2)
Time zone	Eastern
• Summer (DST)	Eastern
Zip Code	02135
Area code(s)	617 / 857
Website	Official website

Brighton is a former town and current neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States, located in the northwestern corner of the city. It is named after the English city of Brighton. Initially Brighton was part of Cambridge, and known as “Little Cambridge”. Brighton separated from Cambridge in 1807 after a bridge dispute, and was annexed to Boston in 1874. For much of its early history, it was a rural town with a significant commercial center at its eastern end.

The neighborhood of Allston was also formerly part of the town of Brighton, but is now often considered to be separate, leading to the name Allston–Brighton for the combined area. This historic center of Brighton is the Brighton Center Historic District. The Aberdeen section of Brighton was designated as a local architectural conservation district by the Boston Landmarks Commission in 2001.

History

In 1630, land comprising present-day Allston–Brighton and Newton was assigned to Watertown. In 1634, the Massachusetts Bay Colony transferred ownership of the south side of the Charles River, including present-day Allston–Brighton and Newton, from Watertown to Newtowne, which was soon renamed Cambridge. In 1646, Reverend John Eliot established a “Praying Indian” village on the present Newton–Brighton boundary, where resided local natives converted to Christianity. The first permanent English settlement came as settlers crossed the Charles River from Cambridge, establishing Little Cambridge, the area’s name before 1807.

Before the American Revolutionary War, Little Cambridge became a small, prosperous farming community with fewer than 300 residents. Its inhabitants included wealthy Boston merchants such as Benjamin Faneuil (after whom a street in Brighton is named). A key event in the history of Allston–Brighton was the establishment in 1775 of a cattle market to supply the Continental Army. Jonathan Winship I and Jonathan Winship II established the market, and in the post-war period that followed, the Winships became the largest meat packers in Massachusetts. The residents of Little Cambridge resolved to secede from Cambridge when the latter’s government made decisions detrimental to the cattle industry and also failed to repair the Great Bridge linking Little Cambridge with Cambridge proper. Legislative approval for separation was obtained in 1807, and Little Cambridge renamed itself Brighton.

In 1820, the horticulture industry was introduced to the town. Over the next 20 years, Brighton blossomed as one of the most important gardening neighborhoods in the Boston area. Its businessmen did not neglect the cattle industry, however. In 1834, the Boston & Worcester Railroad was built, solidifying the community’s hold on the cattle trade. By 1866, the town contained 41 slaughterhouses, which later were consolidated into the Brighton Stock Yards and Brighton Abattoir.

In October 1873, the Town of Brighton in Middlesex County voted to annex itself to the City of Boston in Suffolk County, and in January 1874 Brighton officially became part of the City of Boston. Allston–Brighton’s population grew rapidly in the next 50 years, rising from 6,000 in 1875 to 47,000 by 1925.

Transportation

Brighton is accessible via the B branch of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA)’s Green Line light rail service, which has 11 stops along Commonwealth Avenue in Brighton. Cleveland Circle on the C branch is located in the southern tip of Brighton, and the D branch is nearby. The former A branch of the Green Line, (discontinued in 1969), also served the community. Brighton is also served by MBTA bus routes 57, 57A, 64, 65, 66, 70, 86, 501, and 503, well as Boston Landing station on the MBTA Commuter Rail Framingham/Worcester Line.

Geography

Brighton is connected to the rest of Boston by the Allston neighborhood. It is otherwise surrounded by Cambridge, Watertown, Newton, and Brookline. The Charles River separates Brighton from Cambridge and Watertown. According to the Census Bureau, Brighton, defined by zip code 02135, has a population of 43,887 and a land area of 2.78 square miles (7.2 km²).

Brighton is administered jointly with the adjacent neighborhood of Allston (zip code 02134). The two are referred to together as “Allston–Brighton ” (and by some as “Brighton–Allston”), and (also according to Census Bureau data) have a combined population of 65,276 and a land area of 4.12 square miles (10.7 km²). Brighton is generally to the west of Everett, Gordon and Kelton streets. As of 2020, the city councilor of Allston-Brighton is Liz Breadon. Breadon’s predecessor Mark Ciommo held this position from 2007 to 2019.