Centered on a stretch of Walnut Street between Warren and Chestnut Streets, this area is where the town's first colonial meeting house and cemetery were laid out, and was its center of civic life until the early 19th century.

The town was incorporated in 1705, and the site for its first meeting house and cemetery were chosen near what was at the time its geographic center.

[2] The town's Old Burying Ground, located at Walnut and Chestnut Streets, was also laid out at that time.

When the Worcester Turnpike (now Massachusetts Route 9) opened in the early 19th century, the town's civic focus moved to Brookline Village.

The western boundary is part of Lee Street between Warren and Dudley Streets, and the northern border skirts the southern edge of Reservoir Park and then runs along Massachusetts Route 9. Notable residential properties include the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site.