Waltham Considers Honoring Local Philanthropist

WALTHAM, MA — It's likely that many a Waltham native has heard of Cornelia Warren, and may even know that she was a farmer, philanthropist and the woman behind many of the open spaces in town.

Now, one city councilor is hoping to honor that legacy on the centennial of her death, by placing a statue on the Waltham Common.

"Cornelia Warren gave to hospitals and land to UMass, the Girl Scouts, Veterans Fields and that's just some of what she did," said Councilor George Darcy. "She needs to be recognized."

Darcy introduced a resolution on Monday to do just that. The resolution lists a number of the land Warren donated for educational or nonprofit use, but that's just the tip of the iceberg, said Darcy.

Because the Waltham Common is land protected by article 97, the state would have to sign off on adding any sort of monument placed there. After the city council heard it, the proposal now goes to the license and franchise committee, which will now likely make requests to the mayor to see about funding for a monument, they'll reach out to the state delegation start paperwork and make requests to area organizations for conceptual designs and select a committee of residents and councilors to selection committee to move process forward.

Darcy said he hopes the city will hold a contest, opening it up to college students and local artists in the area to design a statue or plaque to be placed on the common.

Darcy said when it comes to local legacies worth honoring, it's hard to see why the city hasn't already honored Warren.

When she died at the age of 64 in 1921, Warren left her more than 200 acre Cedar Hill Estate was divided with the express purpose of continuing to preserve what she loved best. Some 75 acres went to the Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts, 85 to the Massachusetts Agricultural College, and the rest to the city of Waltham, which created a local ballpark and offered parts of the estate to Bentley University.

Warren was born in Waltham on that Cedar Hill Estate in 1857 to Susan and Samuel Warren. Some reports say she had three brothers, others say five or six. She attended private school in Boston and traveled through Europe with her family and was described as a dedicated student. She even took and passed the examinations to get into Harvard University even though women were not allowed to attend the school until the 1940s. Instead, two Harvard professors tutored her for three years.

Her father was a businessman and owned a prosperous paper mill in Maine and provided social services to his employees that was said to inspire his daughter. She became a founding member of the Denison House, a social center for immigrant women, a trustee of Wellesley College and a benefactor of the International Institute for Girls in Spain.

When she became an adult, she lived in Waltham and ran a cutting edge dairy farm that observed hygiene and sanitation practices ahead of its times. The Warren dairy farm was one of the few in the region to allow state government agencies to regularly inspect it and certify it.

She was known to hold events on her estate grounds, including theater festivals, church retreats, and picnics. She built a bowling alley on the property for the community to use. Also a popular draw? A 1,000 foot hedge maze.

Among the properties that Warren's estate donated to the city, or educational institutions and not-for-profits:

• Cornelia Warren Field at 280 Beaver St, 4.8 acres
• UMASS Field Station at 225 and 240 Beaver St, 58 acres
• Waltham Woods at 323 AFT Beaver St, 11.8 acres
• Cedar Hill Girl Scouts at 265 Beaver St, 75.5 acres
• Forest Park at Forest St, 15 acres
• Former Murphy Army Hospital at 333/371/424 Forest St, 64.71 acres

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