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The Winchester Historical Society marked the town’s 175th anniversary with the world premiere of “The Changing Shape of Winchester,” a documentary examining how the community’s boundaries evolved since its 1850 incorporation.
Filmmaker Peter Engeldrum presented his latest work to a full house at the society’s headquarters, concluding a year of programming honoring Winchester’s founding. Program committee chair Hilda Wong-Doo described the film as “the cap off of all of our activities that we’ve planned for the 175th birthday of Winchester.”
The 33-minute documentary traces Winchester’s origins as a breakaway from Woburn, beginning with South Woburn residents’ push for autonomy in the late 1840s. Engeldrum’s research showed that the town nearly received a different name.
“Several committees put forth a series of names, including harmony, Lyndon, Alton, Winthrop, Wyoming, Mystic, Sheffield, south Woburn, Waterville and Columbus,” the film’s narration states.
Winchester was chosen after Boston businessman William Parsons Winchester offered $3,000 “as a compliment paid to his family name.”
The legislation creating Winchester moved quickly through the Massachusetts legislature, with Gov. William Parsons signing the incorporation April 30, 1850. Forming the new town cost $484.52, or roughly $20,000 in today’s dollars.
"The legislature was controlled by the Whigs," said Engeldrum. "South Woburn had a strong Whig influence."
Engeldrum documented three later boundary changes: an 1873 transfer of 67 acres to Woburn for a reservoir that created a V-shaped notch in Winchester’s northern border; a 1956 annexation of 27.5 acres from Medford; and a 1964 adjustment with Lexington affecting about five acres. The changes left Winchester roughly 35 acres smaller than its original 6.2 square miles.
“The most surprising aspect of the town's boundaries was the fact that the original petitioners wanted a different northern boundary, and more area for the town," Engeldrum told the Winchester News in a follow-up email. "I had never seen that in any of the descriptions of the incorporation.”
The film highlights 18 corner monuments installed in 1899 by the Massachusetts Topographical Survey Commission, many marked by granite posts 4 to 5 feet high.
Engeldrum and video assistant Bill Swanton located and photographed these markers, some tucked in conservation land and the Middlesex Fells Reservation.
“Most of Winchester’s corners are marked with granite posts 4 to 5 feet high, with a ‘W’ chiseled on the face towards Winchester, and a letter for the adjacent town on another face,” according to the film.
Winchester’s boundary markers were rediscovered in Mystic Lake by residents Peter G. Engeldrum and William Swanton. COURTESY PHOTOS/PETER ENGELDRUM & WILLIAM SWANTON
Engeldrum thanked contributors during a post-screening discussion, including Sean Broderick from Winchester’s Engineering Department, narrator Allan Eyden and reference archivist Ellen Knight. Wong-Doo praised Engeldrum’s dedication, noting he and his wife Carol Keller “are always learning something new and with endless energy.”
The former color scientist and award-winning filmmaker has served on the Winchester Historical Society board and the Cultural Council. He offered attendees coordinates and directions for finding boundary markers themselves, encouraging “perambulating” — walking the town’s borders as required by a 1651 Massachusetts colony law mandating inspections every five years.
The society plans a holiday gathering Dec. 7 at the Sanborn House. Non-members were encouraged to join and contribute to preserving Winchester’s history.
Will Dowd is a Massachusetts journalist who covers municipal government and community life for Winchester News. He previously co-founded the Marblehead Current and now runs The Marblehead Independent, a reader-funded digital newsroom.
