Living in Braintree, MA

About Braintree

Captain Wollaston first colonized the area, then called Mount Wollaston, in 1625. Braintree was colonized in 1635 and incorporated in 1640, and the old town once took in what are now Quincy, Randolph and Holbrook; Quincy left in 1792 and Randolph in 1793. The town counts John Adams, John Quincy Adams, John Hancock and General Sylvanus Thayer among those born in Old Braintree. The Braintree iron forge of 1646 is thought to have stood near Elm and Middle Streets, and water power on the Monatiquot River drew mills to South Braintree in the 1820s. The Old Colony railroad arrived there in 1845, making South Braintree a rail junction, while East Braintree grew at the head of navigation on the Fore River. Braintree became a city with a mayor and council in 2007, though it keeps the name Town of Braintree.

Washington Street carries much of the town's older fabric, including the Thayer Birthplace, built in 1720, and the Asa French House, built about 1699, both now in the town's historic district. A 1979 state survey found especially large concentrations of center-entrance Cape houses in East Braintree, along the Monatiquot, and Braintree Highlands was laid out as a street grid in the 1870s but built up mainly in the 20th century. Five Corners, on West Street, became a commercial junction after Route 128 reached it in 1931. Open space includes the Town Forest, Sunset Lake, Smith Beach, the Cranberry Pond Conservation District and Pond Meadow Park, shared with Weymouth, along with an 18-hole public golf course. The town site describes established neighborhoods, small clusters of new homes and several condominium complexes.

A 2024 town feasibility study counts 64 percent of Braintree's housing units as single-family detached and about 74 percent as owner-occupied. As a rapid transit community under the state's MBTA Communities law, Braintree had to zone for at least 3,769 multifamily units by right, 25 percent of its 15,077 year-round units. In December 2023 the Town Council voted 6 to 2 to create four overlay districts covering about 204 acres: two near Braintree station (one taking in the Marketplace at Braintree on Grossman Drive), one off Hancock and Pearl Streets in South Braintree and one beside Weymouth Landing/East Braintree, which the town's November 2023 compliance model put at 3,922 units. Projects of ten or more units must make at least 10 percent of them affordable, and the state lists Braintree as compliant. In March 2026 the Planning Board approved the site plan for 752 apartments on the former Armstrong World Industries plant off Plain Street, beside the restored Monatiquot River.

Homes in Braintree

A 2024 town feasibility study reports that 64 percent of Braintree's housing is single-family detached units and that about 74 percent of units are owner-occupied. Only 12 percent of units are studios or one-bedrooms. The study counts a 5.42 percent increase in housing units from 2010 to 2020. The town also lists several condominium complexes among its housing.