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Billerica, Massachusetts

Billerica is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 42,119 according to the 2020 census. It takes its name from the town of Billericay in Essex, England.

History
In the early 1630s, a Praying Indian village named Shawshin was at the current site of Billerica, commonly spelled Shawsheen today, as in the Shawsheen River. In 1638, Massachusetts Bay Governor John Winthrop and Lt. Governor Thomas Dudley were granted land along the Concord River in the area, and roughly a dozen families from Cambridge and Charlestown Village had begun to occupy Shawshin by 1652. The settlers chose the name Billerica because some of the families originally came from the town of Billericay in Essex, England. The town was incorporated as Billerica in 1655, on the same day as neighboring Chelmsford and nearby Groton. The original plantation of Billerica was divided during the colonial period into the towns of Billerica, Bedford, Wilmington, and Tewksbury.

The oldest remaining homestead in the town is the Manning Manse built in 1696, which was also the residence of William Manning (1747–1814), the author of The Key of Liberty, a critique of Federalist policies. Other notable Revolutionary War–era residents included Asa Pollard, the first soldier killed at the Battle of Bunker Hill, and Thomas Ditson, who was tarred and feathered in 1775 while on a visit to Boston after attempting to illegally purchase a musket from a British soldier. The song "Yankee Doodle" supposedly became a term of national pride instead of an insult because of this event. The town now celebrates "Yankee Doodle Weekend" every September.

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 26.4 sqmi, of which 25.9 sqmi are land and 0.5 sqmi (1.90%) is water.

Billerica is located 20 mi north-northwest of Boston along the Northwest Expressway portion of U.S. Route 3, positioning it as the border between Boston’s inner suburbs to the south and the Merrimack Valley region to the north. The town is also situated less than 3 mi from the Massachusetts Route 128/Interstate 95 High-Technology belt to the south and less than 2 mi from the Interstate 495 (Massachusetts) outer belt highway to the north.

Billerica has several small neighborhoods that form villages (or sections) of town. Those villages are Billerica Center, East Billerica, North Billerica, Nutting Lake, Pinehurst, West Billerica, River Pines, Riverdale, and South Billerica.

Billerica borders the following towns: Chelmsford, Lowell, Tewksbury, Wilmington, Burlington, Bedford, and Carlisle. The border with Lowell is at a point in the middle of the Concord River where Billerica, Chelmsford, Lowell and Tewksbury all meet.

Environment
The Shawsheen River and Concord River are the two major waterways within the town. Nuttings Lake offers a public beach and other recreational water activities including canoeing and sailing.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 38,981 people, 12,919 households, and 10,244 families residing in the town. The population density was 1,505.9 PD/sqmi. There were 13,071 housing units at an average density of 504.9 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the town was 94.68% European American, 1.11% African American, 0.10% Native American, 2.76% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 0.33% from other races, and 0.99% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.54% of the population.

There were 12,919 households, out of which 37.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 66.1% were married couples living together, 9.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 20.7% were non-families. 16.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 5.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.92 and the average family size was 3.30.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 25.7% under the age of 18, 7.3% from 18 to 24, 34.6% from 25 to 44, 24.0% from 45 to 64, and 8.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 103.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 102.2 males.

As of the 2010 census, the median income for a household in the town was $87,073, and the median income for a family was $95,128. The per capita income for the town was $32,517. About 2.8% of families and 3.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 4.5% of those under age 18 and 4.3% of those age 65 or over.

Billerica was a contender for CNN Money's "Best Places to Live" in 2009 but did not make the top 100 list for the nation.

In 2016, Billerica was on the NeighborhoodScout's "America's Top 100 Safest Cities" list.

Public schools
Billerica Public Schools operate primary and secondary schools. The Billerica public school system consists of five elementary schools, two middle schools, and one high school. A sixth elementary school, Eugene C. Vining Elementary, closed permanently at the end of the 2019 school year. In addition, the town is home to a regional technical high school. Shawsheen Valley Technical Highschool.

Elementary schools

 * Thomas Ditson Elementary School
 * Frederick J. Dutile Elementary School
 * S. G. Hajjar Elementary School
 * John F. Kennedy Elementary School
 * Parker Elementary School

Middle schools

 * Orland S.Marshall Middle School
 * Cyril D. Locke Middle School

High school

 * Billerica Memorial High School

Vocational school

 * Shawsheen Valley Technical High School
 * Shawsheen Tech serves Billerica and four of its neighboring towns: Bedford, Burlington, Tewksbury, and Wilmington.

Parochial and private schools
There are no parochial or private schools in the town of Billerica. However, there are several in neighboring towns including:

Catholic schools

 * Academy of Notre Dame, Tyngsboro; grades Pre-K–12
 * Arlington Catholic High School, Arlington; grades 9–12
 * St. Agnes School, Arlington; grades K–8
 * Lowell Catholic High School, Lowell; grades 9–12
 * Austin Preparatory School, Reading; grades 6–12

Sports and recreation
In celebrating Sports Illustrated 50th anniversary, the magazine named Billerica one of the nation's top fifty towns for sports and recreation and the "Sportstown for the Bay State."

Transportation
MBTA Commuter Rail provides service from Boston's North Station with the North Billerica station on its Lowell Line. The southern portions of the town are also geographically close to the Wilmington (MBTA station) and the Anderson Regional Transportation Center in Woburn. The Lowell Regional Transit Authority provides bus service in parts of Billerica. Route #3 (South Lowell) services the North Billerica MBTA station and the North Billerica Business Center. Route #13 (Billerica via Edson) services Boston Road (Massachusetts Route 3A) from North Billerica to Pinehurst. Stops along the way include the North Billerica MBTA Station, Pollard Street, High Street, Billerica Center and Town Hall, the Billerica Mall, and Towne Plaza, and a shopping center located in Riverdale. Route #14 (Burlington Mall/Lahey Hospital & Medical Center) services Route 3A until Billerica Center, where it continues onto Concord Road and the Middlesex Turnpike.

The Middlesex Canal, which flowed through Billerica between 1795 and 1852, was used to transport goods between Lowell and Boston.

In the 1840s, the Boston and Lowell Railroad's main line was built and passed through the town's villages of North Billerica and East Billerica. Stations were built in both locations and North Billerica station is still an active station on the MBTA Commuter Rail. Trains stopped taking passengers at East Billerica in 1965 and the station was remodeled and is now a private home.

Economy

 * E Ink Corporation, a privately held manufacturer of electrophoretic displays (EPDs) that powers tablets such as the Amazon Kindle and Barnes & Noble Nook.
 * Raytheon Company, a major American defense contractor and industrial corporation with core manufacturing concentrations in weapons and military and commercial electronics, has two large offices in Billerica.
 * EMD Serono, Inc, the US biopharmaceutical division of Merck Group, Darmstadt, Germany, a global pharmaceutical and chemical group, is undergoing a $75-million expansion of their Billerica facility, naming it the EMD Serono Research & Development Institute.
 * GE Measurement & Control, a $5 billion energy technology unit of General Electric, recently moved its headquarters to Billerica.
 * Cabot Corporation, a $3.3 billion specialty chemicals and performance materials company, has its primary Research and Development facility in Billerica.
 * Avaya Inc, a privately held $8 billion global provider of business communications and collaboration systems, has its New England headquarters in Billerica.
 * L3 Technologies, a $15 billion American company that supplies command and control, communications, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C3ISR) systems and products, avionics, ocean products, training devices and services, instrumentation, space, and navigation products. They have a Billerica office on Concord Road.
 * Pan Am Railways, New England's largest railroad, is headquartered in North Billerica, Massachusetts.
 * American Science & Engineering, based in Billerica, "said it received a $6.7 million order for its X-ray detection technology that will be used by the US government for counterterrorism missions."
 * Lantheus Medical Imaging Inc., the Billerica-based medical imaging company, "sealed a new purchasing deal with Ottawa-based MDS Nordion for a rare imaging isotope, molybdenum-99."
 * Seahorse Bioscience, a labware products manufacturer, is also headquartered in North Billerica.
 * Entegris, a provider of semiconductor handling solutions.
 * Bruker, a manufacturer of scientific instruments for molecular and materials research.
 * FLIR Systems has a large facility in Billerica.

Government
Billerica has been governed through a representative town meeting since 1956, after citizens approved its adoption in 1955. In this system, 240 representatives are elected from 12 precincts to attend the town meeting, the town's legislative branch. The executive branch is headed by a Town Manager, appointed by a five-person Select Board.

Billerica is a part of Massachusetts's 6th congressional district.

The Middlesex House of Correction and Jail is under the jurisdiction of the Middlesex County Sheriff's Office.

Notable people

 * Gary DiSarcina, former professional baseball player, AL All-Star (1995)
 * Tom Fitzgerald, former professional hockey player
 * Tom Glavine, former professional baseball player, elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame (2014)
 * Dean Jenkins, former collegiate and professional hockey player
 * Marc McLaughlin, professional hockey player
 * Bob Miller, former professional hockey player
 * Julius Sumner Miller, science teacher and popularizer
 * Paul Miller, former professional hockey player
 * Giuseppina Morlacchi, ballerina, dancer, and actress who introduced the can-can to the American stage
 * Azel W. Patten, Wisconsin politician and businessman
 * Asa Pollard, first man killed at the Battle of Bunker Hill (1775)
 * Johnny Stearns, actor and producer
 * Ian Wilcox, artist at The Simpsons

Historic places

 * Abraham Jaquith House
 * Bennett Public Library
 * Billerica Town Common District
 * Billerica Mills Historic District
 * Dutton–Holden Homestead
 * Deacon Samuel Hill House
 * Billerica Memorial High School
 * Manning Manse
 * Middlesex Canal
 * Thomas Ditson Elementary School – Pinehurst is the original location of its namesake's home.

Sister city
Billerica is a sister city of Billericay, England.

title: Billerica, Massachusetts


text:
Boxborough, Massachusetts

Boxborough is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 5,506 at the 2020 census. The town name is often simplified to "Boxboro" on highway signs and official documents.

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 10.4 sqmi, of which 10.4 sqmi is land and 0.1 sqmi, or 0.48%, is water.

Boxborough is bordered by Littleton to the north, Acton to the east, Stow to the south, and Harvard to the west. Prior to incorporation in 1783, the area that is now Boxborough was part of Stow, Harvard, and Littleton.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 4,868 people, 1,853 households, and 1,271 families residing in the town. The population density was 469.7 PD/sqmi. There were 1,906 housing units at an average density of 183.9 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the town was 88.82% White, 0.33% African American, 0.02% Native American, 8.48% Asian, 0.37% from other races, and 1.97% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.13% of the population.

There were 1,853 households, out of which 42.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 60.2% were married couples living together, 5.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.4% were non-families. Of all households, 25.9% were made up of individuals, and 3.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.63 and the average family size was 3.25.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 30.5% under the age of 18, 5.1% from 18 to 24, 34.3% from 25 to 44, 25.3% from 45 to 64, and 4.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 104.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 102.0 males.

According to the 2010 Census, the median income for a household in the town was $115,639 and the average income for a household was $147,625. The per capita income for the town was $59,551. About 1.5% of families and 2.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 3.8% of those under age 18 and none of those age 65 or over.

Education
Boxborough is part of the Acton Boxborough Regional School District (ABRSD) along with Acton. The town has one elementary school serving K–6, the Blanchard Memorial School. Middle school students then attend the R.J. Grey Junior High School from grades 7–8. High school students then attend Acton-Boxborough Regional High School from grades 9–12.

Acton-Boxborough Regional High School (ABRHS) is highly ranked within Massachusetts and nationwide. The U.S. Department of Education designated the institution as a Blue Ribbon School in 2009. In 2008, Newsweek magazine ranked ABRHS as one of the best high schools in the country. Also, the school has ranked in the top ten for the National Academic Decathlon.

Early history
The area which became the town of Boxborough was first inhabited by the Native Americans of the Nipmuc and Pennacook tribes. It was probably visited by colonists as early as the mid seventeenth century, before the neighboring towns of Stow (1683) and Acton (1735) were founded. However, the land in Boxborough was not settled until the beginning of the eighteenth century by farmers looking for fertile land to establish farms. Over the next decades, this area would become one of the most productive agricultural farming areas in the county. Several men from the area served in the Seven Years' War.

Revolutionary War
On April 19, 1775, 21 men from Boxborough met at the Boaz Brown house on Hill road before marching with the companies of Littleton and Acton to the Battles of Lexington and Concord. Most of these men, previously farmers, would go on to serve the colonial militia for the remainder of the war.

Sons of Simon Blanchard, descendant of some of the earliest settlers of Boxborough (and killed during the Battle of the Plains of Abraham in 1759 during the Seven Years' War), Calvin and Luther Blanchard, are two prominent revolutionary veterans. Luther marched with Captain Isaac Davis's company of Acton to the Battle of Concord, serving as a fifer. At the North Bridge, several minute-men companies engaged with the British troops in a conflict remembered as the shot heard round the world, eventually forcing the redcoats to retreat. Blanchard is remembered by some historians as the first man wounded, but it is hard to confirm considering the nature of the battle. He received a musket-shot to the chest. Historian Lucie Hager documents Luther's witty interaction with a Concord woman who was tending his wound:

Nurse: "A little more and you've been killed."

Luther: Yes, and a little more and it would not have touched me."

Luther died three days later, ostensibly of the wounds he received in these battles. He is buried at the Old Burial Ground in Littleton, Massachusetts. A picture of Luther is featured on the Boxborough seal. Calvin survived the war and went on to be involved in early Boxborough politics. It is after descendants of this same Blanchard family that Blanchard Memorial School was named.

Founding
A closer church served as the motivation for establishing a new district; those who lived in the extreme parts of this area found it difficult to travel all the way to church every week (the community had been built on Puritan ideals, attending church was required at this time). Perhaps the key players in this movement, fresh from fighting in the Revolutionary War, were pursuing further independence.

Boxborough was formed from Harvard, Littleton, and Stow. A member of Middlesex County, Boxborough established a new county line between Middlesex and Worcester. On January 31, 1775, men of this area formed a "Sartain Society" which agreed to purchase the Harvard Old meeting-house to act as a town hall and a church.

The people of Boxborough were denied registration to be an independent district three times before being accepted in 1782, then incorporated on February 25, 1783. At first, Boxborough didn't send a representative to the General Court, instead continuing to help elect a representative from Stow.

Besides the Blanchard family, several other early settlers of Boxborough were instrumental in its establishment as an independent district. John Wetherbee and his family built houses in what would become Boxborough as early as 1717, and some historians consider John the first settler of the area. Silas Wetherbee, born a generation later, fought for a Stow company during the Revolution, and gave the land on which the new meeting-house and church was built after the war. Silas was not just a veteran and financial backer, but was also elected as an original selectman. The Wetherbee Family continues to influence Boxborough politics for a century to come.

The Taylor brothers were also some of the first settlers in the area. Silas Taylor served as a captain in the Revolutionary War before serving as the first clerk of the district of Boxborough, as well as an original selectman and assessor. Phinehas Taylor Jr. also served as a captain in the War, going on to serve as the original treasurer and deer-reeve of the district.

Other old Boxborough families include the Hager Family, the Wood Family, and the Stone family, each of which settled in the area before its incorporation and had men serve during the Revolutionary War. Bennet Wood and Joseph Stone served as the first official Boxborough government, serving as the committee for the Sartain Society, along with moderator Henry Cooledge. Joseph Stone, originally from Harvard, was deeply involved in the area, serving as justice of the peace and a deacon of the congregational church until his death. The Wood Family was also influential in the early politics of Littleton; Bennet's father, Jeremiah, served as collector, selectman, and eventually treasurer. Most of these influential Boxborians were buried in the Old North Cemetery, which has graves dating back to the eighteenth century.

Attractions
On October 16, 2005, the Boxborough Historical Society opened the Boxborough Museum. The museum is located at 575 Middle Road and is open several Sundays a year. Boxborough is also known for Steele Farm, a popular location for sledding and hikes, with dog-friendly conservation trails.

There is a good example of a glacial esker, over one mile in length, located in the Beaver Valley Preserve.

An annual Harvest Fair is held in September, celebrating Boxborough's agricultural legacy.

Boxborough is home to several historical landmarks and sites on the Freedom Trail. The Silas Taylor Farm can be found on Flagg Hill. The Silas Wethebee House (est. 1770), or Walnut Farm, can be seen today on Hill Road as part of the "Path of the Patriots."

Conservation areas and playing fields
Boxborough has fourteen distinct state, non-profit, conservation or municipal tracts of lands with trails suitable for a number of non-motorized activities. These are maintained by town volunteers and the town employees (mostly where mowing is required).

Flerra Meadows provides soccer fields, as well as a small playground and pond. Liberty Fields has a baseball diamond, multiple soccer fields and a conservation trail in the woods.

The Boxborough Mamils, a cycling group, meets regularly at Flerra Meadows for community bike rides in Boxborough and neighboring towns.

Boxborough Minutemen Company
The Boxborough Minutemen Company is a historical society founded in Boxborough in 1967 with the goal of preserving the memory of the town's role in the American Revolution, as well as serving the community. The Minutemen sponsor local activities and businesses, give out scholarships, and participate in historical reenactments.

The legacy of the revolution has lived on through several groups similar to the Minutemen Company dating back to the end of the eighteenth century. Following the Revolutionary War, the "Slam Bang Company" was founded by patriotic men of Boxborough, eventually dissolving into the "Boxborough Light Infantry Company." The goals of these groups seem purely honorary, though it is recorded that they met three times a year for annual military training through the nineteenth century.

Fifer's Day
Boxborough is known for its annual Fifer's Day celebration, put on by the Minutemen, which commemorates Luther Blanchard. Fifer's Day is held every June at Flerra Meadows in Boxborough. It begins with a 4 mi road race, followed by a parade and many different festivities. Booths with hamburgers, hot dogs, snow cones etc. line the field and games, bands and volleyball tournaments complete the afternoon. Other Fifer's Day activities typically include pony rides, air balloon rides, and fire engine demonstrations.

Notable people

 * Allen Bourbeau, Harvard University, played with Team USA at the 1988 Winter Olympics
 * Callahan Burke, professional ice hockey player for the Colorado Avalanche
 * Ted Crowley, NHL professional hockey player; grew up on Guggins Lane
 * Lucie Caroline Hager (1853–1903), author
 * Adil Najam, member of the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) which was awarded the 2007 Nobel Prize for Peace
 * Bill Rodgers, runner, winner of the Boston Marathon and New York City Marathon
 * Isadore Singer, mathematician, recipient of the Abel Prize
 * Bob Sweeney, NHL professional hockey player and brother-in-law of Madeline Amy Sweeney
 * Fred Wesley Wentworth (1864–1943), architect known for his many buildings in Downtown Paterson, New Jersey
 * Jessamyn West, librarian, grew up in Boxborough

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Boxborough, Massachusetts


text:
Carlisle, Massachusetts

Carlisle is a town located northwest of Boston in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the town had a population of 5,237.

History
English colonists first settled the area now incorporated as the town of Carlisle in 1651 on parcels of land of the neighboring towns of Acton, Billerica, Chelmsford and Concord. Carlisle became a district of Concord in 1780 and was incorporated as a town by an act of the legislature in 1805.

Activities
Carlisle contains a library, a country store, a book store, a dentist's office, many residential buildings, and the largest playground in the state of Massachusetts (Carlisle Castle). There are two ice cream stores: one of the four branches of Kimball Farms, and Great Brook Farm State Park which is home to the first robotic milking system in Massachusetts and serves ice cream made from the farm's milk. Great Brook Farm is also the site of one of the premiere cross-country ski touring centers in New England. On the east end of town there is an auto body shop and the former (closed in 2012) Blue Jay Recording Studio, where artists such as the Platters, Aerosmith, Aimee Mann, Amy Grant, Alice Cooper, Boston, John Williams and the Boston Pops, Buckwheat Zydeco, Billy Joel, Lauryn Hill, Rihanna, Roy Orbison, k. d. lang, Pat Metheny, Yo Yo Ma, Carly Simon, the Pussycat Dolls, Genesis and Lady Gaga have recorded.

The town newspaper, the Carlisle Mosquito, has appeared as the weekly independent newspaper of the town since 1972. It is a non-profit publication distributed free to all town residents. The paper includes local news, announcements, and logs.

The Gleason Public Library is one of the 36 libraries in the Merrimack Valley Library Consortium. Gleason Public Library also contains a seismograph.

Cultural organizations include the Carlisle Chamber Orchestra, the Carlisle Community Chorus, and the Savoyard Light Opera Company.

Carlisle Old Home Day has been held for over 100 years on the weekend prior to the Fourth of July as a free public event with family-friendly games and activities.

Geography
Carlisle is located about 8 mi south-southwest of Lowell and 19 mi northwest of Boston. It borders the towns of Concord, Acton, Westford, Chelmsford, Billerica, and Bedford.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 15.5 sqmi, of which 15.4 sqmi is land and 0.2 sqmi (1.09%) is water.

Conservation land makes up about a quarter of the town's area. Besides town-owned land overseen by the town's conservation committee, Carlisle is home to Great Brook Farm State Park and a portion of the Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge neighboring the Concord River.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 4,717 people, 1,618 households, and 1,372 families residing in the town. The population density was 307.1 PD/sqmi. There were 1,655 housing units at an average density of 107.7 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the town was 93.47% White, 0.17% African American, 0.06% Native American, 4.69% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 0.13% from other races, and 1.29% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.19% of the population.

There were 1,618 households, out of which 46.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 78.6% were married couples living together, 4.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 15.2% were non-families. 11.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 4.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.92 and the average family size was 3.18.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 30.6% under the age of 18, 3.4% from 18 to 24, 23.3% from 25 to 44, 34.3% from 45 to 64, and 8.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females, there were 98.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.4 males.

The median income for a household in the town $176,228 (Average household income is $244,544). The per capita income for the town was $87,470.

Carlisle maintains a 2 acre zoning law on new development.

Climate
In a typical year, Carlisle, Massachusetts temperatures fall below 50 °F (10 °C) for 195 days per year. Annual precipitation is typically 45.6 inches (115.8 centimeters) per year (high for the US) and snow covers the ground 62 days per year, or 17.0% of the year (high in the US). It may be helpful to understand the yearly precipitation by imagining nine straight days of moderate rain per year. The humidity is below 60% for approximately 25.4 days, or 7.0% of the year.

Education
Carlisle has one public K–8 school, the Carlisle Public School. High School students attend Concord Carlisle High School in Concord or private schools such as Middlesex School in Concord.

Notable people

 * John Berman, journalist and CNN anchor
 * Sean Bielat, businessman and two time Republican candidate for United States Congress in Massachusetts's 4th congressional district
 * Clairo, musician and recording artist

title: Carlisle, Massachusetts


text:
Chelmsford, Massachusetts

Chelmsford is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States.

Chelmsford was incorporated in May 1655 by an act of the Massachusetts General Court. When Chelmsford was incorporated, its local economy was fueled by lumber mills, limestone quarries, kilns. In the 1700s, the Chelmsford militia played a role in the American Revolution at the Battle of Lexington and Concord and the Battle of Bunker Hill. The farming community of East Chelmsford was incorporated as Lowell in the 1820s; over the next decades it would go on to become one of the first large-scale factory towns in the United States because of its early role in the country's Industrial Revolution. Chelmsford experienced a drastic increase in population between 1950 and 1970, coinciding with the connection of U.S. Route 3 in Lowell to Massachusetts Route 128 in the 1950s and the extension of U.S. Route 3 from Chelmsford to New Hampshire in the 1960s.

Chelmsford has a representative town meeting form of government. The town has one public high school—Chelmsford High School, which was ranked among the top 500 schools in the nation in 2015—as well as two middle schools, and four elementary schools. The charter middle school started in Chelmsford became a regional charter school (Innovation Academy Charter School) covering grades 5 through 12, now located in Tyngsborough. Chelmsford high school age students also have the option of attending the Nashoba Valley Technical High School, located in Westford. In 2011, Chelmsford was declared the 28th best place to live in the United States by Money magazine.

Early colonization
The Pennacook inhabited the area for thousands of years prior to European colonization. Settler-colonizers from the adjacent communities of Woburn and Concord founded Chelmsford in 1652. An act of the Massachusetts General Court in the last week of May 1655 incorporated Chelmsford as a town; it was named after Chelmsford, England. The nearby communities of Groton and Billerica were incorporated at the same time. Chelmsford originally contained the neighboring town of Westford, as well as parts of Carlisle, Tyngsborough and a large part of Lowell (formerly known as East Chelmsford).

Successive Pennacook leaders Passaconaway and Wonalancet strove to maintain a friendship with the European settler-colonizers who founded Chelmsford within their territory. Despite this determinedly pro-peace stance, Chelmsford settlers became increasingly violent towards the tribe, often forcing the Pennacook to flee north temporarily or permanently. On one notable occasion, a handful of Pennacook who were too sick or elderly to flee with their kin remained behind and Chelmsford settlers burnt them alive in their dwelling. Eventually most Pennacook refugees permanently moved north to join relations in Odanak, but their descendants among the Abenaki First Nation and other tribes of the Wabanaki Confederacy continue to view Chelmsford as part of their ancestral and unceded homeland.

Several women of Chelmsford were suspected of being witches, such as Sarah (Hildreth) Byam and Martha Sparks. In 1691, Martha was held in the Boston Gaol for witchcraft, appeared in court, but was eventually set free after about a month. Some relate her freedom to the influence of the Chelmsford minister.

In 1722 Chelmsford had imposed a fine for keeping strangers in town for more than 30 days. This was used for racial, religious, and political discrimination, as well as to keep out witchcraft. This practice and similar ones occurred until the Act of Settlement of 1793. Sarah (Hildreth) Byam was accused of being a witch under these circumstances.

The Chelmsford militia played a role in the American Revolution at the Battle of Lexington and Concord and the Battle of Bunker Hill. The town's own Lieutenant Colonel Moses Parker fought on the hill. He was wounded and captured, and died from his wounds on July 4, 1775. The Lieutenant Colonel Moses Parker Middle School honors his name, and the lobby displays a representation of the man. He is depicted in the John Trumbull painting The Death of General Warren at the Battle of Bunker's Hill, June 17, 1775 and in a painting in the Bunker Hill Museum. Captain Benjamin Walker of this town was also killed in this battle.

Later history
Ralph Waldo Emerson opened a school in Chelmsford in 1825, closing it after a few months to take over his brother's school in Roxbury.

Chelmsford's first school for the deaf was established in 1866, with a focus in oralism. There was a maximum capacity of eight students at a time. This pioneer school was eventually closed in order to make way for the formation of a larger deaf school in Rowley known as Clark School.

Both the Middlesex Canal and Middlesex Turnpike, major transportation routes, were built through Chelmsford in the first part of the 19th century.

Chelmsford was the birthplace of the Chelmsford Spring Co. in 1901, which later became the Chelmsford Ginger Ale Company, acquired by Canada Dry in 1928. The ginger ale plant, rebuilt in 1912 after a disastrous fire consumed the original plant, stood on Route 110 until its demolition in 1994. The Chelmsford brand of golden ginger ale continued to be manufactured by Canada Dry for decades. It is currently manufactured by Polar Beverages for DeMoulas/Market Basket supermarkets, based out of neighboring Tewksbury.

Geography
Chelmsford is in northern Middlesex County, bordered by the city of Lowell to the northeast. It is 25 mi northwest of downtown Boston and 15 mi southeast of Nashua, New Hampshire. The town is bordered by two sizable rivers: the Merrimack River to the northeast, and the Concord River at the town's easternmost boundary.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 23.1 sqmi, of which 22.4 sqmi are land and 0.7 sqmi, or 3.04%, are water.

Chelmsford consists of several neighborhoods. In addition to the town center, smaller areas include South Chelmsford, West Chelmsford, East Chelmsford, North Chelmsford and the Westlands. North Chelmsford, an industrial village, is distinct from the rest of the town to the extent that it has many of its own town services.

Climate
Like much of the rest of Massachusetts, Chelmsford has a humid continental climate according to the Köppen climate classification. Summers are typically warm and humid, while winters tend to be cold, windy, and snowy. The level of precipitation is roughly consistent throughout the year.

In a typical year, Chelmsford, Massachusetts temperatures fall below 50°F for 195 days per year. Annual precipitation is typically 44.1 inches per year (high for the US) and snow covers the ground 62 days per year, or 17.0% of the year (high in the US). It may be helpful to understand the yearly precipitation by imagining nine straight days of moderate rain per year. The humidity is below 60% for approximately 25.4 days, or 7.0% of the year.

Demographics
As of the US census of 2010, there were 33,802 people, 13,313 households, and 9,328 families residing in the town. The racial makeup of the town was 88.6% White, 1.1% African American, 0.1% Native American, 8.4% Asian, 0.4% from other races, and 1.4% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2% of the population.

Crime
As of 2008, Chelmsford had a violent crime rate of 132 incidents per 100,000 people, compared to a rate of 449 in Massachusetts as a whole and 455 nationwide. The town had a property crime rate of 1,904 incidents per 100,000 people in 2008, compared to a rate of 2,400 for the state and 3,213 nationwide. Chelmsford has one police station located near McCarthy Middle School. The 25000 ft2, $7.19-million dollar structure began operation in 2003.

Government
The town uses a representative town meeting model with a Select Board overseeing the operation of the town. From its incorporation until 1989, the town was governed by an open town meeting. Reporting to the Select Board are the town manager, town counsel, and town accountant. The town manager oversees the public employees and serves as Chief Executive Officer. The current town manager is Paul Cohen. Other elected boards include the Planning Board, School Committee, Library Trustees, Cemetery Commission, Board of Health, Sewer Commission and the Zoning Board of Appeals.

Chelmsford is represented in the Massachusetts Senate by Michael J. Barrett. The town sends four delegates to the Massachusetts House of Representatives, each of whom represent one or more of Chelmsford's nine precincts. Tami Gouveia is the state representative for precincts one and nine; Thomas Golden Jr., precincts two, three, and eight; James Arciero, precincts eight, five and seven; and Vanna Howard, precinct four.

The Fay A. Rotenberg School, a juvenile correctional facility for girls operated by the Robert F. Kennedy Children's Action Corps, Inc. on behalf of the Massachusetts Department of Youth Services, first opened in North Chelmsford in 1982; this facility had 16 beds. In 2006 the school moved to its current location in Westborough.

Education
The Chelmsford Public Schools district serves students in pre-Kindergarten through twelfth grade. Data below are from Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (ESE); class sizes are for 2008–2009 school year.

All expenditures considered, the Chelmsford public schools district spent $10,070 per pupil as of 2008, which was lower than the state average of $12,449. This was an increase of almost $400 from Chelmsford per-pupil spending in 2007. As of 2008 per-pupil allocation, $3,937 went to classroom and specialist teachers, $333 to administration, and $185 to instructional materials, equipment and technology.

In 2009, Chelmsford High School ranked 66th out of 150 public high schools considered by Boston Magazine. The ranking took into account many statistics associated with quality of education and academic performance, including the school's 14.5:1 student–teacher ratio. In the 2006–2007 school year, the average SAT scores for Chelmsford High School were 527 in the reading section, 519 in writing, and 535 in math. Chelmsford High School performed significantly better than the state average in the English, math and science portions of the 2009 Grade 10 MCAS tests, scoring 89, 87 and 77 out of 100, respectively.

Historic places in Chelmsford

 * Chelmsford Center Historic District
 * Fiske House (1798)
 * Hildreth-Robbins House (1742)
 * Middlesex Canal (1802)
 * Old Chelmsford Garrison House (1691), now a museum
 * Oliver Hutchins House (1820)
 * Barrett-Byam Homestead (1663)-home of the Chelmsford Historical Society
 * North Town Hall (1853)

Transportation
Chelmsford is located at the intersection of the major US highways of I-495 and U.S. 3. Also found in Chelmsford are state routes 3A, 4, 27, 40, 110, and 129, making it a significant junction of roadways. The heart of the town center is Central Square - the junction of routes 4, 110, the end of 129, and Westford Street.

Chelmsford is home to the former Drum Hill Rotary. This rotary was the cause of many accidents that occurred due to its small overall size and ability for vehicles to gain speed. It formed the intersection of U.S. Route 3 (exit 32), Route 4, Drum Hill Road, and Westford Road. The rotary was demolished in 2003. It was replaced with a four intersection square with traffic lights, and is now called Drum Hill Square. This was part of a widening project for U.S. Route 3 between Interstate 95 (Route 128) and the New Hampshire state line.

Freight travels daily through Chelmsford over the tracks of the historic Stony Brook Railroad. The line currently serves as a major corridor of Pan Am Railways' District 3 which connects New Hampshire and Maine with western Massachusetts, Vermont, and New York.

The Bruce Freeman Rail Trail runs 6.8 mi through Chelmsford, including the Central Square intersection.

The LRTA bus routes 15, 16 and 17 connect Chelmsford to the Lowell train station on the MBTA Commuter Rail Lowell Line.

Notable people

 * Josiah Gardner Abbott (1814–1891), born in Chelmsford, politician
 * Keith Aucoin (born 1978), former NHL player
 * Jeff Bauman (born 1986), author and Boston Marathon bombing survivor
 * Phil Bourque (born 1962), former NHL player
 * Gerry Callahan, sports columnist and radio host
 * Dawn Clements (1958–2018), artist
 * George Condo (born 1957), painter
 * Bill Cooke (born 1951), former NFL player
 * Dan Curran (born 1976), former NFL player
 * Edward DeSaulnier (1921–1989), state legislator and judge
 * Gururaj Deshpande, venture capitalist and entrepreneur
 * Jack Eichel (born 1996), NHL player
 * Bridget Richardson Fletcher (1726–1770), hymnwriter and poet
 * Steve Hunt (born 1958), jazz pianist and composer
 * Ulysses John "Tony" Lupien (1917–2004), Major League Baseball player and college baseball coach
 * Jon Morris (born 1966), former NHL player
 * Colleen Mullen (born 1980), college basketball coach and former player
 * Sandra Newman (born 1965), writer
 * Benjamin Pierce (1757–1839), born in Chelmsford, Governor of New Hampshire and the father of U.S. president Franklin Pierce
 * Jeffrey Snover, Microsoft Technical Fellow and inventor of PowerShell
 * Peter Torkildsen (born 1958), former chairman of the Massachusetts Republican Party and former congressman
 * John Traphagan (born 1961), author and professor of religious studies and anthropology
 * Kristen Wilson (born 1969), actress

title: Chelmsford, Massachusetts


text:
Cochituate, Massachusetts

Cochituate is a census-designated place (CDP) in the town of Wayland in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 6,927 at the 2020 census, out of 13,943 in the entire town of Wayland.

Geography
Cochituate is located in southwestern Middlesex County at 42.32778°N, -71.36028°W, in the southern part of the town of Wayland. The southern border of the community is the Natick town line, except at Cochituate's southeastern corner, which extends into the northeastern corner of Natick. Cochituate is bordered to the west by the city of Framingham.

Massachusetts Route 27 passes through Cochituate as its Main Street, leading north 3 mi to Wayland Center and south the same distance to Natick Center. Massachusetts Route 30 (Commonwealth Road) passes through the southern part of Cochituate, leading east 9 mi to Newton and west 4 mi to the center of Framingham. Interstate 90, the Massachusetts Turnpike crosses the southern part of Cochituate in two places; the closest access is Exit 117, 1 mi to the west in Framingham.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the Cochituate CDP has a total area of 4.17 sqmi, of which 3.81 sqmi are land and 0.36 sqmi, or 8.57%, are water. It is home to Lake Cochituate and Dudley Pond. Both are used by residents year round; in the summer for boating and fishing, and in the winter for ice fishing. There is a beach where Waylanders can pay for a membership. Lake Cochituate, which consists of four ponds connected by shallow, narrow waterways, is located in the towns of Natick, Framingham, and Wayland, 16 mi west of Boston. Lake Cochituate lies in the Sudbury River Basin; Cochituate means "swift river" in the Algonquin language (Wilbur, 1978) and refers to Cochituate Brook (Schaller and Prescott, 1998), which connects the lake to the Sudbury River. The Sudbury River, via the Concord River, is part of the larger Merrimack River watershed.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 6,768 people, 2,449 households, and 1,851 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 682.3 /km2. There were 2,516 housing units at an average density of 253.6 /km2. The racial makeup of the CDP was 90.90% White, 0.93% Black or African American, 0.09% Native American, 6.24% Asian, 0.06% Pacific Islander, 0.24% from other races, and 1.55% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.00% of the population.

There were 2,449 households, out of which 38.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 64.9% were married couples living together, 8.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.4% were non-families. 19.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.70 and the average family size was 3.14.

In the CDP, the population was spread out, with 27.2% under the age of 18, 3.5% from 18 to 24, 25.5% from 25 to 44, 27.8% from 45 to 64, and 16.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females, there were 91.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 85.8 males.

The median income for a household in the CDP was $89,012, and the median income for a family was $101,362. Males had a median income of $71,500 versus $50,223 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $42,752. About 1.8% of families and 2.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 1.1% of those under age 18 and 4.3% of those age 65 or over.

title: Cochituate, Massachusetts


text:
Concord, Massachusetts

Concord is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts,  United States. In the 2020 census, the town population was 18,491. The United States Census Bureau considers Concord part of Greater Boston. The town center is near where the Sudbury and Assabet rivers join to form the Concord River.

The area that became the town of Concord was originally known as Musketaquid, an Algonquian word for "grassy plain." Concord was established in 1635 by a group of English settlers; by 1775, the population had grown to 1,400. As dissension between colonists in North America and the British crown intensified, 700 troops were sent to confiscate militia ordnance stored at Concord on April 19, 1775. The ensuing conflict, the battles of Lexington and Concord, were the incidents (including the shot heard round the world) that triggered the American Revolutionary War.

A rich literary community developed in Concord during the mid-19th century, centered around Ralph Waldo Emerson. Emerson's circle included Nathaniel Hawthorne, Louisa May Alcott and Henry David Thoreau. Major works written in Concord during this period include Alcott's novel Little Women, Emerson's essay Self-Reliance, and Thoreau's Walden and Civil Disobedience. In this era, the now-ubiquitous Concord grape was developed in Concord by Ephraim Wales Bull.

In the 20th century, Concord developed into an affluent Boston suburb and tourist destination, drawing visitors to the Old North Bridge, Orchard House and Walden Pond. The town retains its literary culture and is home to notable authors, including Doris Kearns Goodwin, Alan Lightman and Gregory Maguire. Concord is also notable for its progressive and environmentalist politics, becoming in 2012 the first community in the United States to ban single-serving PET bottles.

Prehistory and founding
The area which became the town of Concord was originally known as "Musketaquid", situated at the confluence of the Sudbury and Assabet rivers. The name was an Algonquian word for "grassy plain", fitting the area's low-lying marshes and kettle holes. Native Americans had cultivated corn crops there; the rivers were rich with fish and the land was lush and arable. The area was largely depopulated in 1633 by an epidemic of smallpox, a disease likely to have been introduced to the New World by European explorers and settlers.

In 1635, a group of English settlers led by Rev. Peter Bulkley and Major Simon Willard received a land grant from the General Court and negotiated a land purchase with the local indigenous tribes. Bulkeley was an influential religious leader who "carried a good number of planters with him into the woods"; Willard was a canny trader who spoke the Algonquian language and had gained the trust of Native Americans. They exchanged wampum, hatchets, knives, cloth, and other useful items for the 6 sqmi purchase from Squaw Sachem of Mistick, which formed the basis of the new town, called "Concord" in appreciation of the peaceful acquisition.

Battle of Lexington and Concord
The Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first military engagements in the American Revolutionary War. On April 19, 1775, a force of British Army soldiers marched from Boston to Concord to capture a cache of arms that was reportedly stored in the town. Forewarned by Samuel Prescott (who had received the news from Paul Revere), the colonists mustered in opposition. Following an early-morning skirmish at Lexington Common, where the first shots of the battle were fired, the British expedition under the command of Lt. Col. Francis Smith advanced to Concord. There, colonists from Concord and surrounding towns (notably a highly drilled company from Acton led by Isaac Davis) repulsed a British detachment at the Old North Bridge and forced the British troops to retreat. Subsequently, militia arriving from across the region harried the British troops on their return to Boston, culminating in the siege of Boston and the outbreak of the war.

The colonists initially publicized the battle as an example of British brutality and aggression; one colonial broadside decried the "Bloody Butchery by the British Troops". But a century later, the conflict was remembered proudly by Americans, taking on a patriotic, almost mythic status ("the shot heard 'round the world") in works like the "Concord Hymn" and "Paul Revere's Ride". In 1894, the Lexington Historical Society petitioned the Massachusetts State Legislature to proclaim April 19 "Lexington Day". Concord countered with "Concord Day". Governor Greenhalge opted for a compromise: Patriots' Day. In April 1975, Concord hosted a bicentennial celebration of the battle, featuring an address at the Old North Bridge by President Gerald Ford.

Literary history
Concord has a remarkably rich literary history centered in the 19th century around Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882), who moved there in 1835 and quickly became its most prominent citizen. A successful lecturer and philosopher, Emerson had deep roots in the town: his father, Rev. William Emerson (1769–1811), grew up in Concord before becoming an eminent Boston minister, and his grandfather, William Emerson Sr., witnessed the battle at the North Bridge from his house, and later became a chaplain in the Continental Army. Emerson was at the center of a group of like-minded Transcendentalists living in Concord. Among them were the author Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804–1864) and the philosopher Amos Bronson Alcott (1799–1888), the father of Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888). A native Concordian, Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) was another notable member of Emerson's circle. This substantial collection of literary talent in one small town led Henry James to dub Concord "the biggest little place in America."

Among the products of this intellectually stimulating environment were Emerson's many essays, including Self-Reliance (1841), Louisa May Alcott's novel Little Women (1868), and Hawthorne's story collection Mosses from an Old Manse (1846). Thoreau famously lived in a small cabin near Walden Pond, where he wrote Walden (1854). After being imprisoned in the Concord jail for refusing to pay taxes in political protest against slavery and the Mexican–American War, Thoreau penned the influential essay "Resistance to Civil Government", popularly known as Civil Disobedience (1849). Evidencing their strong political beliefs through actions, Thoreau and many of his neighbors served as station masters and agents on the Underground Railroad.

The Wayside, a house on Lexington Road, has been home to several authors. It was occupied by scientist John Winthrop (1714–1779) when Harvard College was temporarily moved to Concord during the Revolutionary War. The Wayside was later the home of the Alcott family (who referred to it as "Hillside"); the Alcotts sold it to Hawthorne in 1852, and the family moved into the adjacent Orchard House in 1858. Hawthorne dubbed the house "The Wayside" and lived there until his death. The house was purchased in 1883 by Boston publisher Daniel Lothrop and his wife, Harriett, who wrote the Five Little Peppers series and other children's books under the pen name Margaret Sidney. Today, The Wayside and the Orchard House are both museums. Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, and the Alcotts are buried on Authors' Ridge in Concord's Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.

The 20th-century composer Charles Ives wrote his Concord Sonata (c. 1904–1915) as a series of impressionistic portraits of literary figures associated with the town. Concord maintains a lively literary culture to this day; notable authors who have called the town home in recent years include Doris Kearns Goodwin, Alan Lightman, Robert B. Parker, and Gregory Maguire.

Concord grape
In 1849, Ephraim Wales Bull developed the now-ubiquitous Concord grape at his home on Lexington Road, where the original vine still grows. Welch's, the first company to sell grape juice, maintains a headquarters in Concord. The Boston-born Bull developed the Concord grape by experimenting with seeds from some of the native species. On his farm outside Concord, down the road from the Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne and Alcott homesteads, he planted some 22,000 seedlings before producing the ideal grape. Early ripening, to escape the killing northern frosts, but with a rich, full-bodied flavor, the hardy Concord grape thrives where European cuttings had failed to survive. In 1853, Bull felt ready to put the first bunches of Concord grapes before the public and won a prize at the Boston Horticultural Society Exhibition. From these early arbors, the fame of Bull's ("the father of the Concord grape") Concord grape spread worldwide, bringing him up to $1,000 a cutting, but he died a relatively poor man. The inscription on his tombstone reads, "He sowed—others reaped."

Plastic bottle ban
On September 5, 2012, Concord became the first community in the United States to approve a ban on the sale of water in single-serving plastic bottles. The law banned the sale of PET bottles of 1 L or less starting January 1, 2013. The ban provoked national controversy. An editorial in the Los Angeles Times characterized the ban as "born of convoluted reasoning" and "wrongheaded." Some residents believed the ban would do little to affect the sales of bottled water, which was still highly accessible in the surrounding areas, and that it restricted consumers' freedom of choice. Opponents also considered the ban to unfairly target one product in particular, when other, less healthy alternatives such as soda and fruit juice were still readily available in bottled form. Nonetheless, subsequent efforts to repeal the ban have failed in open town meetings. An effort to repeal Concord's ban on the sale of plastic water bottles was resoundingly defeated at a Town Meeting. Resident Jean Hill, who led the initial fight for the ban, said, "I really feel at the age of 86 that I've really accomplished something." Town Moderator Eric Van Loon didn't even bother taking an official tally because opposition to repeal was so overwhelming. It appeared that upwards of 80 to 90 percent of the 1,127 voters in attendance raised their ballots against the repeal measure. The issue had been bubbling in Concord for several years. In 2010, a ban approved in a town meeting, which wasn't written as a bylaw, was rejected by the state attorney general's office. In 2011, a new version of the ban narrowly failed at a town meeting by a vote of 265 to 272. The ban on selling water in polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles of one liter or less passed in 2012 by a vote of 403 to 364, and a repeal effort in April failed by a vote of 621 to 687.

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 25.9 sqmi, of which 24.9 sqmi is land and 1.0 sqmi, or 3.75%, is water. The city of Lowell is 13 mi to the north, Boston is 19 mi to the east, and Nashua, New Hampshire, is 23 mi to the north.

Massachusetts state routes 2, 2A, 62, 126, 119, 111, and 117 pass through Concord. The town center is near the confluence of the Sudbury and Assabet rivers, forming the Concord River, which flows north to the Merrimack River in Lowell. Gunpowder was manufactured from 1835 to 1940 in the American Powder Mills complex extending upstream along the Assabet River.

Government
Local government consists of a five-member executive Select Board and a legislature utilizing open town meeting.

State and federal government
On the federal level, Concord is part of Massachusetts's 3rd congressional district, represented by Lori Trahan. The state's senior (Class I) member of the United States Senate is Elizabeth Warren. The junior (Class II) senator is Ed Markey.

Demographics
At the 2000 census, there were 16,993 people, 5,948 households and 4,437 families residing in the town. The population density was 682.0 PD/sqmi. There were 6,153 housing units at an average density of 246.9 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the town was 91.64% White, 2.24% African American, 0.09% Native American, 2.90% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 2.12% from other races, and 0.99% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.80% of the population.

There were 13,090 households, of which 37.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 65.5% were married couples living together, 7.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 25.4% were non-families. 22.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.62 and the average family size was 3.08.

25.1% of the population were under the age of 18, 4.2% from 18 to 24, 25.8% from 25 to 44, 28.4% from 45 to 64, and 16.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females, there were 100.3 males. For every 100 women aged 18 and over, there were 101.8 men.

In 2017, the median household income was $155,393 (~$ in ). About 2.1% of families and 3.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 3.7% of those under age 18 and 3.3% of those age 65 or over.

Pronunciation
The town's name is pronounced by its residents as, in a manner indistinguishable from the American pronunciation of the word "conquered." In the local dialect, it frequently is heard with the in the second syllable replaced by.

Principal employers
According to Concord's 2016 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the principal employers in the town are:

Transportation
Concord and West Concord stations are served by the MBTA's Fitchburg Line. Yankee Line provides commuter bus service between Concord and Boston.

Sister cities
Concord's sister cities are:
 * Nanae, Japan
 * Saint-Mandé, France

Points of interest

 * Barrett's Farm
 * Reuben Brown House, home of notable revolutionist
 * Concord Art Association
 * Concord Free Public Library
 * Concord Museum
 * Concord Scout House, popular venue for contra dancing and other events
 * Concord's Colonial Inn
 * Corinthian Lodge
 * Egg Rock, where the Concord River forms at the confluence of the Sudbury and Assabet rivers
 * Emerson Hospital
 * Ralph Waldo Emerson House
 * Estabrook Woods
 * Fairyland Pond
 * First Parish in Concord
 * Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge
 * Massachusetts Correctional Institution – Concord
 * Minute Man National Historical Park
 * The Minute Man statue
 * Northeastern Correctional Center
 * The Old Manse, home of Emerson and Hawthorne
 * Old North Bridge
 * Orchard House
 * Punkatasset Hill
 * Sleepy Hollow Cemetery
 * Walden Pond
 * The Wayside, home of Louisa May Alcott, Hawthorne, and Margaret Sidney
 * Wheeler-Minot Farmhouse, also known as Thoreau Farm, birthplace of Henry David Thoreau
 * Wright's Tavern

Education

 * Concord-Carlisle Regional High School, the local public high school
 * Concord Middle School (consisting of two buildings about a mile apart: Sanborn and Peabody)
 * Alcott School, Willard School, and Thoreau School, the local public elementary schools
 * Concord Academy and Middlesex School, private preparatory schools
 * The Fenn School is a 4-9 boys' school.
 * The Nashoba Brooks School is co-ed PK-3 and a girls' school 4-8.

In popular culture
Concord is featured in the 2012 video game Assassin's Creed 3, the 2020 video game Assassin's Creed Valhalla and the 2015 video game Fallout 4. The video game Walden, a game, based on Henry David Thoreau's Walden, is set in the town.

Scenes from the 2017 comedy film Daddy's Home 2 were filmed at Concord scout house. Parts of the 2019 film Little Women were shot on the Concord River.

Jane Langton's Homer Kelly murder mystery novels are largely set in Concord. Her 1964 novel 'The Transcendental Murder' was described in the Boston Globe in 1975 as 'a hymn to Concord, its history, its houses, its hallowed ground, its people and patriots, and its ghosts (Emerson and Thoreau)'.

Italian director Lucio Fulci's 1981 horror film The House by the Cemetery was partly filmed in Concord - notably the Holy Family Church, a Main Street realty and the Concord Free Public Library.

The Mother-Daughter Book Club series of children's novels is set in Concord.

title: Concord, Massachusetts


text:
Dracut, Massachusetts

Dracut is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. At the 2020 census, the town's population was 32,617, making it the second most populous town in Massachusetts with an open town meeting system of governance. The town covers a total area of 21.36 square miles, 0.5 square miles of which are water.

History
Before Europeans arrived in the mid-17th century, Dracut and the surrounding area were known as Augumtoocooke. Important Pennacook Indian settlements were served by fishing at Pawtucket Falls on the Merrimack River and abundant game in the surrounding marsh areas. From the late 16th to mid-17th centuries, the powerful Sachem, Passaconaway and his family spent much of their lives on this land.

Europeans began to settle in the area around 1653, and established the town of Chelmsford, incorporated in 1655, on the opposite side of the Merrimack River from modern Dracut. In October 1665, Bess, wife of Nobb How and daughter of Passaconaway, sold the Augumtoocooke land to Captain John Evered, also known as Webb of Draucutt of Norfolk County (the Webb family is associated closely with the town of Dreycot Foliat in Wiltshire, England ) for four yards of duffill and one pound of tobacco. Webb had months earlier sold 11000 acre of the land — which he did not then own — to Samuel Varnum for 400 four hundred pounds; the deed for "Drawcutt upon Mirrimack" was dated 1664. Webb also sold land to Richard Shatswell, who traded it to Edward Colburn (also spelled "Coburn" or "Colborne") for his home and land in Ipswich, Massachusetts. Colburn and his family were probably the first settlers in Dracut who owned land with the intention of permanently living on it. (Samuel Varnum lived on the Chelmsford side of the Merrimack River.)

Even though this area, now known to the new settlers as Dracut (Draucutt), was across the Merrimack River from the Chelmsford town center, they agreed to pay taxes and relied on Chelmsford for protection, according to 1667 Middlesex Court documents. By summer 1669, however, protection became too costly and difficult, so the Chelmsford Mayor Henchman declared:

"Wherefore, Honorable and Worshipful, I judge it highly needful and necessary that we have relief, and that speedily of about twenty men or more for the repulsing of the enemy and guarding some outplaces, which are considerable on each side of the Merrimac, as Messrs. Howard, Varnum, Coburn & company who must otherwise come in to us, and leave what they have to the enemy, or be exposed to the merciless cruelty of bloody and barbarous men."

On the morning of March 18, 1676, the Wamesit Indians burned down four of Edward Colburne's buildings, then attacked Samuel Varnum and family as they crossed the river to milk the cows grazing in the Dracut pastures. The Indians fired upon their boat, killing Samuel's two sons, and one died in his daughter's arms as she sat behind him. The accompanying soldiers and Samuel fired back, but the Indians fled.

By the late 17th century the Varnum, Coburn, Richardson, and other families of the Dracut section of Chelmsford, dissatisfied with the protection provided, began to petition to the General Court to lay out their own township.

To the Hon. Council & Representatives of his Majesty's Province of the Massachusetts Bay in New England in General Court assembled February 1701.

The petition of Samuel Sewall Esq., Benjamin Walker, John Hunt & Jonathan Belcher, proprietors of part of the Tract of Land called Dracut beyond Chelmsford in the County of Middlesex on the North Side of Merrimack River and of Samuel Varnum, ..., Thomas Colburne, ..., James Richardson, ..., Ezra Colburn,... Inhabitants and Proprietors of the said Tract of Land called Dracut, ... lyes very commodious for a Township & hath about twenty families already settled thereupon in which are about Eighty Souls & Forasmuch as the making said place a Township will not only be a great Encouragement to the Inhabitants thereof & be the means for a settlement of the Ministry among them (for the benefit of which they are now obliged to go to Chelmsford, which is a great difficulty & eamiot be attended by their children & several others by reason of the distance thereof) but will also be of considerable benefit to the Publick, and be a great strengthening of the Frontier parts by reason of the people which will be desirous to settle at said place when made a Township because of the convenient positionship thereof.

Your Petitioners humbly pray that by the grant of this Honorable Court, the Tract of land aforesaid may be made a Township, and that the Inhabitants, which are or shall settle thereupon, may have and enjoy all Libertys, Privileges & Immunities as the Inhabitants of other Towns within this Province have & do enjoy. And ... the Tract of Land therein described be made a Township & called by the name of Dracut, ...

Sent up by concurrence Nehemiah Jewett, Speaker.

Dracut was granted separation from Chelmsford, and was officially incorporated as a town on February 26, 1701.

Parts of the community were part of the Wamiset Praying Town, one of the preserves set aside by the colonists for Christianized Indians. The town has several large ponds, bogs and swamps, and numerous brooks (most notably Beaver Brook). Dracut's early economy relied on fishing, lumbering and milling, which led in turn to the 19th century industries of paper making and cotton textile manufacturing, including the Beaver Brook Mill. These mills attracted Irish and French-Canadian immigrants.

There has been intense modern development in Dracut with suburban residential pressures from Lowell. Twice in the 19th century, Lowell annexed large sections of Dracut into its borders. However, some rural landscapes remain intact, as do some handsome historic houses. One of the better known is the 290-year-old Colburn/Cutter House, with its massive beams, huge center chimney and fireplaces. The building, dating back from about 1717, has served as the site of the annual Dracut Craft Fair. In addition, Dracut holds an annual Old Home Day every September starting in 2001. As of 2020, Dracut remains the only town in the world with its exact name and spelling. Other municipalities do exist with similar names but different spellings.

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 21.4 sqmi, of which 20.9 sqmi is land and 0.5 sqmi (2.15%) is water.

Dracut is located in the Merrimack Valley of Massachusetts, zip code 01826, 30 mi northwest of the state capital, Boston.

The southern end of Dracut is on the Merrimack River, and the town is bisected by Beaver Brook.

As part of a plan titled ‘Make It Dracut’, the town’s Economic Development Committee designated nine Business Districts. With a couple exceptions, district names mirror those of historic neighborhoods within the town. Each district is visually identified by strategically placed street signage bearing the district name and a stylized symbol incorporating the initial letter of the name.

The districts are titled: Bridge Street, Broadway, Collinsville, Dracut Center, East Dracut, Hovey Square, Kenwood, Lakeview, and Navy Yard Districts.

Adjacent towns
Dracut is bordered by Tyngsboro to the west and the city of Lowell to the south and west in Middlesex County, Methuen to the east in Essex County, and Pelham, New Hampshire, to the north in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire. Tewksbury (Middlesex County) and Andover (Essex County) border the town to the south over the Merrimack River. There are no bridges connecting Dracut to Tewksbury or Andover directly, forcing travel through Lowell via several crossings or I-93 in Methuen.

Demographics
The earliest census data shows the town of Dracut having a population of 1,173 residents in 1765.

As of the census of 2010, there were 29,457 people, 10,451 households, and 7,733 families residing in the town. The population density was 1366.7 PD/sqmi. There were 10,643 housing units at an average density of 509.3 /sqmi.

The racial makeup of the town was:

 * 88.1% White (U.S. Average: 75.1%)
 * 4.0% Asian (U.S. Average: 3.6%)
 * 2.3% African American (U.S. Average: 12.3%)
 * 0.09% Native American (U.S. Average: 0.1%)
 * 0.03% Pacific Islander (U.S. Average: 0.1%)
 * 0.43% from other races (U.S. Average: 5.5%)
 * 0.96% from two or more races (U.S. Average: 2.4%)

Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.55% of the population (U.S. Average: 12.5%).

There were 10,939 households with the average household size was 2.69 and the average family size was 3.17.
 * 35.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them (U.S. Average: 32.8%).
 * 55.4% were married couples living together (U.S. Average: 51.7%).
 * 12.9% had a female householder with no husband present (U.S. Average: 12.2%).
 * 28.2% were non-families (U.S. Average: 31.9%).
 * 20.9% of all households were made up of individuals (U.S. Average: 25.8%).
 * 8.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older (U.S. Average: 9.2%).

In the town, the population had a median age of 41.1 years (U.S. Average: 35.3).
 * 25.5% under the age of 18
 * 7.3% from 18 to 24
 * 33.5% from 25 to 44
 * 22.2% from 45 to 64
 * 11.6% who were 65 years of age or older.

For every 100 females, there were 96.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.4 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $57,676 (U.S. Average: $41,994), and the median income for a family was $65,633 (U.S. Average: $50,046). Males had a median income of $41,873 versus $31,396 for females. The per capita income for the town was $23,750. About 2.7% (U.S. Average: 9.2%) of families and 3.7% (U.S. Average: 12.4%) of the population were below the poverty line, including 3.2% of those under age 18 and 8.3% of those age 65 or over.

Government

Dracut is one of the largest towns in Massachusetts to still be governed by an open town meeting, whereby every registered voter is entitled to gather at stated times to conduct the business of the Town. There is an elected board of selectmen and school committee with five members each elected for three-year staggered terms. The voters also elect a town moderator, library trustees, and some members of the housing authority. Those who live in the Dracut Water Supply District also elect a district moderator and water commissioners. The board of selectmen, school committee, and library trustees hire a town manager, superintendent of schools, and library director respectively to execute their various duties.

Police department
The town of Dracut has its own full-time police department, the Dracut Police Department, which employs 39 police officers who utilize 15 various types of police vehicles to perform their duties. As of January 2014, the Department has a K-9 unit. The Department's headquarters is located at 110 Loon Hill Road in the Parker Village section of the town. The town of Dracut is also secondarily protected by the Massachusetts State Police and is periodically patrolled by troopers from the A-1 barracks in Andover.

Fire department
The Dracut Fire Department is a 24/7 career fire department of approximately 40 firefighters. It responds from three fire stations located throughout the town.

Station 1 – Headquarters: 488 Pleasant Street
 * Engine 1 (on order)
 * Engine 5
 * Engine 4
 * Forestry 1
 * Ladder 1
 * Rescue 1
 * Mid-mount tower (on order)
 * Service 1
 * Car 1 (Chief)
 * Car 2 (Deputy Chief)
 * Utility
 * Squad 1(on order)

Station 2: 15 Jones Avenue
 * Engine 2
 * Forestry 2
 * Engine 6 (antique)

Station 3: 539 Nashua Road
 * Engine 3
 * Squad 3 (When in service currently at station 1)
 * UTV trailer
 * Boat
 * State Hazmat ORU 62

Public schools
The Dracut School Department consists of six public schools: one high school, one middle school (grades 6–8), and four elementary schools (grades K–5). They are, with enrollment figures from the 2020–2021 school year:

 * Dracut Senior High School (889 students)
 * Richardson Middle School (920 students)
 * Englesby Elementary School (544 students)
 * Brookside Elementary School (444 students)
 * Campbell Elementary School (579 students)
 * Greenmont Elementary School (283 students)

The school department also uses the former Parker Elementary School for a small portion of its special education activities. There are about 45 public school students attending out of district SPED programs and approximately 120 public school students attending out of town charter schools, as of FY14. In addition, about 440 Dracut students attend the Greater Lowell Technical High School.

Transportation
Dracut is in proximity to many major area highways. Interstate 93, Interstate 495, and U.S. Route 3 are among the most traveled. Interstate 95 is not far from Dracut either (roughly 15 to 20 mi to the south), and the Massachusetts Turnpike (Interstate 90) is only 30 to 35 mi to the southeast, in Boston. Massachusetts Route 38, Route 110 and Route 113 run directly through the town.

The LRTA 10 bus connects to the Lowell train station on the MBTA Commuter Rail Lowell Line.

The Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline terminates in Dracut, connecting to the North American natural gas pipeline grid. The Portland Natural Gas Transmission System (PNGTS)), Tennessee Gas and the TransQuebec interconnect here.

Notable people

 * Luis Ansart, (1742–1804), military officer
 * Wendell Corey, actor
 * Scott Grimes, actor
 * Harry Lew, pro basketball player
 * Lucy Lew, early African American rights leader
 * Roger Morin, Bishop of Biloxi
 * John Ogonowski (1951–2001), airline pilot who was piloting American Airlines Flight 11 on 9/11 before it was hijacked
 * James Mitchell Varnum, lawyer and general during the American Revolution
 * Joseph Bradley Varnum, politician

title: Dracut, Massachusetts


text:
Dunstable, Massachusetts

Dunstable is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 3,358 at the 2020 census.

Etymology
Dunstable was named after its sister town Dunstable, England. There are several theories concerning its modern name. In one version, legend tells that the lawlessness of the time was personified in a thief called Dun. Wishing to capture Dun, the King stapled his ring to a post daring the robber to steal it. It was, and was subsequently traced to the house of the widow Dun. Her son, the robber, was taken and hanged to the final satisfaction that the new community bore his name. Another theory is that it comes from the Anglo-Saxon for "the boundary post of Duna". A third version is that the name is derived from Dunum, or Dun, a hill, and Staple, a marketplace.

History
Dunstable was first settled by Europeans in 1656 and was officially incorporated in 1673. It is likely named after the town of Dunstable in Bedfordshire, England, home of Edward Tyng, the town's first settler. The original township of Dunstable, granted in 1661, consisted of two hundred square miles, including the Massachusetts towns of Dunstable, Pepperell, Townsend and Tyngsborough, the New Hampshire towns of Hudson, Nashua and Hollis, and parts of other towns as well. Increases in population leading to subsections becoming independent towns and the delineation of the northern boundary of Massachusetts in 1740 placed the northern part of Dunstable (present day Nashua) in New Hampshire, so the southern part remains the Dunstable of today.

Today, Dunstable, in the face of urban sprawl, has held onto a largely rural character.

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 16.7 sqmi, of which 16.5 sqmi is land and 0.2 sqmi (1.13%) is water. Dunstable is bordered by Pepperell to the west, Groton to the south, Tyngsborough to the east, and Nashua and Hollis, New Hampshire, to the north.

The main road and only numbered route through Dunstable is Route 113; the nearest limited-access highway is US 3, two miles to the east. Dunstable does not have any public transportation in the form of trains or buses.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 2,826 people, 923 households, and 798 families residing in the town. The population density was 171.0 PD/sqmi. There were 944 housing units at an average density of 57.0 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the town was 97.49% White, 0.11% African American, 0.04% Native American, 1.52% Asian, 0.07% from other races, and 0.78% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.53% of the population.

There were 923 households, out of which 47.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 76.7% were married couples living together, 7.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 13.5% were non-families. 10.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 3.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.07 and the average family size was 3.31.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 31.1% under the age of 18, 4.4% from 18 to 24, 31.4% from 25 to 44, 26.2% from 45 to 64, and 6.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 97.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.3 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $86,633, and the median income for a family was $92,270. Males had a median income of $61,425 versus $39,946 for females. The per capita income for the town was $30,608. About 2.1% of families and 1.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 2.4% of those under age 18 and 2.1% of those age 65 or over.

Climate
In a typical year, Dunstable, Massachusetts temperatures fall below 50 F for 195 days per year. Annual precipitation is typically 44.2 inches per year (high in the US) and snow covers the ground 68 days per year, or 18.6% of the year (high for the US). It may be helpful to understand the yearly precipitation by imagining nine straight days of moderate rain per year. The humidity is below 60% for approximately 25.4 days, or 7% of the year.

District schools

 * Boutwell School
 * Swallow Union Elementary School
 * Florence Roche Elementary School
 * Groton-Dunstable Regional Middle School
 * Groton-Dunstable Regional High School
 * Prescott Elementary School (Closed after the 2007–2008 school year due to budget cuts)

Other public schools

 * Greater Lowell Technical High School – Public Regional Technical High School in Tyngsborough

Points of interest

 * "The Little Red Schoolhouse" is a historical building located on route 113 near the Tyngsborough border. This school house originally came from Tyngsborough. Local students take field trips there to historically re-enact a school day. An annual Strawberry Festival is also held there.  Boy Scout Troop 28 of Dunstable holds a Mother's Day pancake breakfast there every year.
 * The "Sarah R. S. Roby" Town Hall in located at 511 Main Street (Rt. 113) was built in 1909 and renovated in 2003. Most town offices are located here as well as meeting rooms for various meetings and events.
 * The Town Commons across from the Dunstable Town Hall on Rt. 113 is the site of many town events including the summer "Concerts on the Common" live performance series and the Grange Fair in August. This is also the site for the annual auto in Dunstable.
 * The Dunstable Evangelical Congregational Church (DECC) is located at 518 Main Street, adjacent to the Town Commons and directly across from Town Hall. While the congregation was established in that location in 1831, the current building dates from the early 1900s. Because it is the only church in town, it is often called simply "the Dunstable Church".
 * The Dunstable Free Library is located at 588 Main Street. In addition to the collection of books, periodicals, movies, children's activities and historic items (which include a collection of typewriters and miscellaneous Girl Scouting materials), it is the site of many community activities as well as the site for town elections.
 * Blanchard Hill is a 39 acre conservation area and the site of a former ski resort.

Notable people

 * Isaac Fletcher (1784–1842), United States Representative from Vermont
 * Colleen Green (born 1984), independent musician
 * Amos Kendall (1789–1869), United States Postmaster General during the administration of Andrew Jackson
 * Amos Lawrence (1786–1852), merchant and philanthropist
 * John Lovewell (1691–1725), Colonial militia captain who fought in Father Rale's War
 * Samuel Parris (1653–1720), Puritan minister during the Salem witch trials
 * Ellen Swallow Richards (1842–1911), chemist, first woman admitted to MIT

title: Dunstable, Massachusetts


text:
East Pepperell, Massachusetts

East Pepperell is a village and census-designated place (CDP) in the town of Pepperell in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 2,120 at the 2020 census.

History
Like the town of Pepperell, East Pepperell is named for Sir William Pepperrell, a Massachusetts colonial soldier who led the Siege of Louisbourg during King George's War.

Geography
East Pepperell is located in northern Middlesex County at 42.66694°N, -71.56417°W (42.666956, -71.564063), in the eastern section of the town of Pepperell. It is separated from the main village of Pepperell to the west by the Nashua River. East Pepperell is bordered to the northeast by the town of Dunstable and to the south by the town of Groton.

Massachusetts Route 113 passes through the village, leading west into Pepperell village and east 15 mi to Lowell.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the East Pepperell CDP has a total area of 1.45 sqmi, of which 0.04 sqmi, or 2.55%, are water.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 2,034 people, 714 households, and 566 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 557.0/km$2$ (1,437.7/mi2). There were 722 housing units at an average density of 197.7/km$2$ (510.3/mi2). The racial makeup of the CDP was 96.21% White, 0.84% African American, 0.20% Native American, 0.39% Asian, 0.69% from other races, and 1.67% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.18% of the population.

There were 714 households, out of which 43.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.5% were married couples living together, 17.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 20.6% were non-families. 16.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 4.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.85 and the average family size was 3.18.

In the CDP, the age distribution of the population shows 29.7% under the age of 18, 8.6% from 18 to 24, 31.1% from 25 to 44, 23.4% from 45 to 64, and 7.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females, there were 95.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.0 males.

The median income for a household in the CDP was $55,272, and the median income for a family was $57,391. Males had a median income of $38,897 versus $31,129 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $20,759. None of the families and 1.8% of the population were living below the poverty line, including no under eighteens and 25.6% of those over 64.

title: East Pepperell, Massachusetts


text:
Everett, Massachusetts

Everett is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, directly north of Boston, bordering the neighborhood of Charlestown. The population was 49,075 at the time of the 2020 United States Census.

Everett was the last city in the United States to have a bicameral legislature, which was composed of a seven-member Board of Aldermen and an eighteen-member Common Council. On November 8, 2011, the voters approved a new City Charter that changed the City Council to a unicameral body with eleven members – six ward councilors and five councilors-at-large. The new City Council was elected during the 2013 City Election.

History
Everett was originally part of Charlestown, and later Malden. It separated from Malden in 1870. The community was named after Edward Everett, who served as U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator, the 15th Governor of Massachusetts, Minister to Great Britain, and United States Secretary of State. He also served as President of Harvard University.

In 1892, Everett was upgraded from a town to a city. On December 13, 1892, Alonzo H. Evans defeated George E. Smith to become Everett's first mayor. Landfill has expanded the Everett shoreline over the centuries. At some point between 1905 and 1912, it connected the mainland to what was formerly White Island in the Mystic River. The bridge of the Grand Junction Railroad was originally built using this island for part of the crossing.

In 1919, Beacon Oil began construction of an oil refinery and storage yard near the Mystic River, opening in 1920. In its first decade, the facility experienced five major explosions or fires. In 1929, Beacon Oil was purchased by Standard Oil of New Jersey, also known as Esso and now known as ExxonMobil. The refinery shut down in 1965 due to lack of profitability, but the tank storage remained.

In 1971, Distrigas of Massachusetts began importing liquefied natural gas (LNG) at its Everett Marine Terminal in the Island End section of Everett. This terminal was the first of its kind in the country. It was purchased by GDF Suez North America, and as of 2013, supplied 20% of New England's natural gas demand from its two tanks with a combined capacity of 3400000000 cuft, equal to approximately one day of Massachusetts gas demand. In 2019, it was purchased by Constellation Energy, at the time a subsidiary of Exelon. , it receives 99% of LNG imports into the United States, mostly from Algeria and Trinidad. LNG is trucked to other storage sites around the state or heated to gas form and transferred by pipeline.

On September 16, 2014, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission voted to approve Wynn Resorts' proposal for a $1.6 billion casino to be located on a 33-acre site on the Mystic River in Everett. The casino, named Encore Boston Harbor, opened on June 23, 2019. After a remediation process to clean the site, Wynn Resorts constructed Encore Boston as an integrated resort with a hotel, a harborwalk, restaurants, a casino, spa, retail outlets, and meeting and convention space. Public amenities along the year-round harborwalk include a picnic park, paths for bikers and pedestrians, viewing decks, waterfront dining and retail, a performance lawn, floral displays, and boat docks. Wynn Resorts described the $2.6 billion development as "the largest private single-phase construction project in the history of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts."

Most the remaining land south of the Newburyport/Rockport Line and Massachusetts Route 99 in Everett is taken up by a tank farm and oil terminal on the Mystic River. In December 2023, the Conservation Law Foundation announced it had settled a federal pollution lawsuit with Exxon. The company sold the site for cleanup and redevelopment starting with raising the land to avoid climate change-related flooding and adding apartment buildings near Route 16. Exxon also agreed to a deed restriction which prevents the land from ever being used for fossil fuel storage in the future.

Everett has an increasing population as people are seeking new households near downtown Boston while not wanting to pay the higher prices of living now associated with surrounding municipalities, such as those in neighborhoods of Boston, Cambridge, or Somerville.

Geography
Everett is bordered by Malden on the north, Revere on the east, Chelsea on the southeast, Somerville and Medford on the west, and Boston and the Mystic River on the south at Charlestown. Island End River flows through the city, though it was contained in a culvert and invisible to residents until being partly unearthed in 2021. Everett is a major part of the Port of Boston.

Some of Everett's neighborhoods are Glendale, Woodlawn, the Village, and the Line. Glendale Park is the city's largest park.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 3.7 sqmi, of which 3.4 sqmi is land and 0.3 sqmi (7.63%) is water.

Climate
In a typical year, Everett, Massachusetts temperatures fall below 50 F for 195 days per year. Annual precipitation is typically 44.2 inches per year (high in the US) and snow covers the ground 52 days per year, or 14.2% of the year (high in the US). It may be helpful to understand the yearly precipitation by imagining nine straight days of moderate rain per year. The humidity is below 60% for approximately 25.4 days, or 7% of the year.

Demographics
As of the 2020 United States census, there were 49,075 people, 15,435 households, and 9,554 families residing in the city. The population density was 11,241.1 PD/sqmi. There were 15,908 housing units at an average density of 4,701.3 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the city was 53.6% Non-Hispanic Whites, 14.3% African American, 4.8% Asian, 0.4% Pacific Islander, 2% from other races, and 3.8% were multiracial. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 21.1% of the population (9.3% Salvadoran, 3.0% Puerto Rican, 1.1% Colombian, 1.1% Dominican, 1.0% Guatemalan, 0.8% Mexican). The city also has a large number of people of Brazilian and Italian descent. In 2010, 33% of the residents of Everett were born outside the United States. This percentage was around 11% in 1990.

There were 15,435 households, out of which 27.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.8% were married couples living together, 15.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 38.1% were non-families. 31.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.45 and the average family size was 3.11.

The population was spread out, with 21.6% under the age of 18, 8.9% from 18 to 24, 34.8% from 25 to 44, 19.9% from 45 to 64, and 14.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 91 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.4 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $49,737. The median income for a family is $49,876. Males had a median income of $36,047 versus $30,764 for females. The per capita income for the city was $23,876. About 9.2% of families and 11.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 16.9% of those under age 18 and 10.0% of those age 65 or over.

Local
Everett has a mayor-council form of government, where the mayor serves a four-year term. The Everett city council was the last existing bicameral legislature in any American city, consisting of a Board of Aldermen and a Common Council. As of November 8, 2011, it became a unicameral City Council.

The Board of Aldermen consisted of seven members one from each of the city's six wards and one Alderman-at-Large. All Aldermen were elected citywide for a term of two years.
 * Board of Aldermen

In addition to the duties they shared with the Common Council, the Board of Aldermen was the licensing authority in the city and approved licenses for motor dealers, second-hand dealers, awnings, lodging houses, junk dealers, pool tables, open-air parking lots, coin-operated devices, Lord's Day licenses, antique and precious metal dealers.

The Common Council consisted of three members elected per ward for a total of eighteen members. The Common Council shared equal responsibility for most legislative actions with the exception of licensing and confirmation of most Mayoral appointees.
 * Common Council

State
Everett is represented in the state legislature by officials elected from the following districts:
 * Massachusetts Senate's Middlesex and Suffolk district
 * Massachusetts House of Representatives' 28th Middlesex district

Education
Everett has ten public schools, which include elementary schools, K–8 schools, and Everett High School. The city also has one Private K–8 school and had a private Catholic high school, Pope John XXIII High School, which was forced, due to financial difficulties, to close on May 31, 2019. Everett High School moved to its new location at 100 Elm Street beginning in the 2007–2008 school year.

Landmarks
Part of the historic Revere Beach Parkway, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, lies in Everett.

Economy
The Mystic Generating Station has been producing electricity since the early twentieth century. It was built by Boston Edison and is now operated by Exelon. It has the largest capacity of any electrical plant in the state.

The Leavitt Corporation has been manufacturing its trademark Teddie Peanut Butter in the city since 1924.

Besides Everett Square, Gateway Center just off Route 16 in Everett is a major retail shopping district with big box stores.

Transportation
Everett's business district is focused on Broadway (part of Route 99), with many businesses and restaurants along the route. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) operates public buses through the city, which includes several routes that converge at a hub at Everett Square. A bus lane exists on Broadway, from Glendale Square (Ferry Street), to Sweetser Circle. MBTA also operates a subway system that includes Wellington (on the Orange Line), which lies just west of the Everett city limits in nearby Medford, and a commuter rail system with a stop in Chelsea to the southeast. Route 16 traverses the southern area of the city, providing access to U.S. Route 1 and Interstate 93. Both highways run just outside of the city limits and provide connections to Boston.

Notable people
See also Category:People from Everett, Massachusetts

 * Belden Bly, member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives
 * Pat Bradley, Arkansas basketball player and sports commentator
 * Matthew W. Bullock, Everett High School sports star, Dartmouth and Harvard Law School graduate, pioneering football coach, state government appointed service and national leader in the Urban League and the Bahá'í Faith
 * Vannevar Bush, engineer and head of the United States Office of Scientific Research and Development
 * George Russell Callender, military official and author
 * Walter Tenney Carleton, founding director of the NEC Corporation
 * Walter Carrington, US Ambassador to Nigeria & Senegal
 * Benjamin Castleman, pathologist and namesake of Castleman's disease
 * Lewis Cine, football player for the Minnesota Vikings
 * Patricia Courtney, All-American Girls Professional Baseball League player
 * Arthur Dearborn, Olympic track and field athlete
 * Johnny Dell Isola, former National Football League player
 * Louis DeLuca, member of the Connecticut Senate
 * Omar Easy, NFL football player
 * Maddy English, All-American Girls Professional Baseball League player
 * Diamond Ferri, CFL & NFL player
 * Hub Hart, MLB catcher
 * Pat Hughes, NFL player
 * Brian Kelly, LSU head football coach
 * John P. Kennedy, Member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives
 * George Keverian, Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives
 * Torbert Macdonald, member of the United States House of Representatives
 * Hermon Atkins MacNeil, sculptor
 * Mary Eliza Mahoney, first African American to study and work as a professionally trained nurse in the United States (not from Everett but is buried there)
 * A. David Mazzone, judge and attorney
 * George J. Mead, aircraft engineer
 * Gertrude Nason, artist
 * Nerlens Noel, Oklahoma City Thunder center
 * Andrew "Swede" Oberlander, College Football Hall of Famer
 * Al Pierotti, football, baseball, pro wrestling
 * Ellen Pompeo, actress
 * Dan Ross, NFL player
 * Danny Silva, MLB player, Boston Celtics assistant coach, WWI and WWII veteran, longtime Everett teacher and coach
 * Paul L. Smith, actor
 * E. Leroy Sweetser, U.S. Army brigadier general, resided in Everett
 * Jim Tozzi, member of the PFFR art collective responsible for Adult Swim shows like Wonder Showzen, Xavier: Renegade Angel, and The Shivering Truth
 * Joseph Frank Wehner, fighter pilot during World War I

In popular culture

 * Everett was home to the set of the 2012 ABC series Boston's Finest.
 * The 2007 Ben Affleck film Gone Baby Gone was partially filmed and set in Everett.
 * The old Everett High School was used for the filming of scenes for the Adam Sandler movie That's My Boy, the Kevin James movie Here Comes the Boom, and most recently Ghostbusters (2016 film) starring Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, and Leslie Jones.

title: Everett, Massachusetts