• 2 July 2015 - Land acquisition documents recorded at the Registry of Deeds:
  
  • Deed (transfer from state to City of Newton), book 65672, page 31
  • Conservation restriction, held by Newton Conservators, book 65672, page 3721; with final text of escrow agreement between the City of Newton and the Conservators attached (this agreement was not recorded at the Registry)
• 15 November 2015 - Grand opening/ribbon cutting (celebration of City acquisition)
• December 2016 - Master Plan (This large document may load slowly.)
• January 2016 - Waban Hill Reservoir dam hazard reclassified (from "high hazard" to "low hazard")
• Fall 2020 - Construction complete. Heartbreak Hill Park officially opened
• April 13, 2020 - Final Report on project presented at CPC monthly meeting. CPC votes to accept the final report and consider the project to be complete.

• 31 May 2013 - Pre-proposal, including basic map & aerial photos
• 19 June 2013 - Minutes of CPC's pre-proposal discussion with the proposal sponsor
• 3 November 2014 - Full proposal (33 pp.), including maps & photos, project budgets
  
  • Project budgets only (posted separately for ease of reference; also included in the full proposal)
  • Excerpts from long reports (28 pp., see links to full reports below): Joint Advisory Planning Group (neighborhood committee), Planning Dept., appraiser and engineering consultant; for the full text of these reports, scroll down to "Project News" below
  • Letters of support (78 pp.), full text of all letters submitted by sponsor with proposal
• August 2014 - State-commissioned appraisal (51 pp.), required by state legislation to determine the City of Newton's acquisition cost for the property
• 11 December 2014 - Presentation at CPC public hearing
• 22 December 2014 - CPC funding recommendation
  
  • Community feedback: CPC staff summary & all emails/letters, including those submitted with the proposal in November 2014 (this long file may load slowly)
• 16 March 2015 - Board order (appropriation of funds)

• 6 June 2013 - Waban Hill Advisory Group Final Report
• 10 June 2013 - Planning Dept. report (9 pp.)
• 19 June 2013 - Planning Dept. staff slide presentation to the Programs & Services Committee of the Board of Aldermen (multiple color photos) This long file may load slowly.
• January-November 2013 - State actions authorizing purchase by the City of Newton
• March-June 2014 - Engineering evaluation of reservoir & dam:
  • Main text (20 pp.) - site description and analyses of subsurface conditions, slope stability and hazard re-classification
  • Appendixes (50 pp.) - borings from 1983 and 2014, laboratory test results, slope stability results, 1944 design drawing
  • Executive summary (6 pp.) - including 2006 design drawing
• 22 April 2014 - Board order appropriating funds for appraisal (non-CPA funds)

Newton undertook the creation of a municipal water system almost immediately after converting from town to city government in 1873. The Waban Hill Reservoir was the first major project for the new system. Newton joined the metropolitan Boston sewer system in the late 19th century but relied largely on its own municipal system for a supply of clean water until it joined the water supply part of the metropolitan system in the 1950s. The sources below summarize this history.

• 1880 - From S. F. Smith's History of Newton (excerpt on Newton's first few years as a city, including creation of the water system)
• 1900 - Deed transferring the Manet Road/Waban Hill Reservoir from City of Newton to Boston Metropolitan Water Board (for $60,000)
• 1990s - History of Newton's water & sewer systems, from website of the Jackson Homestead/Historic Newton
• 2011 - Section on Newton's water and sewer systems highlighted from "Landscaping the Garden City: Transportation, Utilities, and Parks in Newton, Massachusetts, 1874-1915," by John H. Spiers (Boston College), Historical Geography vol. 39
• November 2015 - Waban Hill Reservoir History, handout prepared by Historic Newton for site ribbon cutting, with assistance from the Waterworks Museum at the nearby Chestnut Hill Reservoir (Brighton, MA)