text:
Lowell, Massachusetts

Lowell is a city in Massachusetts, United States. Alongside Cambridge, it is one of two traditional seats of Middlesex County. With an estimated population of 115,554 in 2020, it was the fifth most populous city in Massachusetts as of the last census, and the third most populous in the Boston metropolitan statistical area. The city is also part of a smaller Massachusetts statistical area, called Greater Lowell, and of New England's Merrimack Valley region.

Incorporated in 1826 to serve as a mill town, Lowell was named after Francis Cabot Lowell, a local figure in the Industrial Revolution. The city became known as the cradle of the American Industrial Revolution because of its textile mills and factories. Many of Lowell's historic manufacturing sites were later preserved by the National Park Service to create Lowell National Historical Park. During the Cambodian genocide (1975–1979), the city took in an influx of refugees, leading to a Cambodia Town and America's second-largest Cambodian-American population.

Lowell is home to two institutions of higher education. UMass Lowell, part of the University of Massachusetts system, has three campuses in the city. Middlesex Community College's two campuses are in Lowell and in the town of Bedford, Massachusetts. Arts facilities in the city include the Whistler House Museum of Art, the Merrimack Repertory Theatre, the Lowell Memorial Auditorium, and Sampas Pavilion. In sports, the city has a long tradition of boxing, hosting the annual New England Golden Gloves boxing tournament. The city has a baseball stadium, Edward A. LeLacheur Park, and a multipurpose indoor sports arena, the Tsongas Center, both of which have hosted collegiate and minor-league professional sports teams.

Indigenous and Colonial History
The Pawtucket Falls, which provided the hydropower for Lowell's industry in the 1800s, also served as an important seasonal fishing site for native people at the time of European colonization in the 1600s. The Pawtucket people are named for this location, literally meaning "at the falls" in Massachusett. In the mid-1600s, English efforts to convert native people to Christianity led to the founding of the "praying town" of Wamesit at the confluence of the Concord and Merrimack Rivers in what is today Lowell, however the population of Wamesit was reckoned at only 75 people just prior to King Phillip's War, which significantly altered relations between English colonists and indigenous groups in New England, and led to the abandonment of many praying towns. By the 1800s, the area that would become Lowell was part of the farming community of East Chelmsford, Massachusetts.

Founding and Early Industry
Founded in the 1820s as a planned manufacturing center for textiles, Lowell is located along the rapids of the Merrimack River, 25 mile northwest of Boston in what was once the farming community of East Chelmsford, Massachusetts. The so-called Boston Associates, including Nathan Appleton and Patrick Tracy Jackson of the Boston Manufacturing Company, named the new mill town after their visionary leader, Francis Cabot Lowell, who had died five years before its 1823 incorporation. As Lowell's population grew, it acquired land from neighboring towns, and diversified into a full-fledged urban center. Many of the men who composed the labor force for constructing the canals and factories had immigrated from Ireland, escaping the poverty and Great Famine of the 1830s and 1840s. The mill workers, young single women called Mill Girls, generally came from the farm families of New England.

By the 1850s, Lowell had the largest industrial complex in the United States. The textile industry wove cotton produced in the Southern United States. In 1860, there were more cotton spindles in Lowell than in all eleven states combined that would form the Confederate States of America. Many of the coarse cottons produced in Lowell eventually returned to the South to clothe enslaved people, and, according to historian Sven Beckert, "'Lowell' became the generic term slaves used to describe coarse cottons." The city continued to thrive as a major industrial center during the 19th century, attracting more migrant workers and immigrants to its mills. Next were the Catholic Germans, followed by a large influx of French Canadians during the 1870s and 1880s. Later waves of immigrants came to work in Lowell and settled in ethnic neighborhoods, with the city's population reaching almost 50% foreign-born by 1900. By the time World War I broke out in Europe, the city had reached its economic peak.

In 1922, it was affected by the 1922 New England Textile Strike, shutting down the mills in the city over an attempted wage cut.

The Mill Cities' manufacturing base declined as companies began to relocate to the South in the 1920s. The city fell into hard times, and was even referred to as a "depressed industrial desert" by Harper's Magazine in 1931, as the Great Depression worsened. At this time, more than one third of its population was "on relief" (government assistance), as only three of its major textile corporations remained active. Several years later, the mills were reactivated, making parachutes and other military necessities for World War II. However, this economic boost was short-lived and the post-war years saw the last textile plants close.

Zoning, development and the Massachusetts Miracle
In the 1970s, Lowell became part of the Massachusetts Miracle, being the headquarters of Wang Laboratories. At the same time, Lowell became home to thousands of new immigrants, many from Cambodia, following the genocide at the hands of the Khmer Rouge. The city continued to rebound, but this time, focusing more on culture. The former mill district along the river was partially restored and became part of the Lowell National Historical Park, founded in the late 1970s.

Although Wang went bankrupt in 1992, the city continued its cultural focus by hosting the nation's largest free folk festival, the Lowell Folk Festival, as well as many other cultural events. This effort began to attract other companies and families back to the urban center. Additional historic manufacturing and commercial buildings were adapted as residential units and office space. By the 1990s, Lowell had built a new ballpark and arena, which became home to two minor league sports teams, the Lowell Devils and Lowell Spinners. The city also began to have a larger student population. The University of Massachusetts Lowell and Middlesex Community College expanded their programs and enrollment. During the period of time when Lowell was part of the Massachusetts Miracle, the Lowell City Development Authority created a Comprehensive Master Plan which included recommendations for zoning adaptations within the city. The city's original zoning code was adopted in 1926 and was significantly revised in 1966 and 2004, with changes included to respond to concerns about overdevelopment.

In 2002, in lieu of updating the Comprehensive Master Plan, more broad changes were recommended so that the land use and development would be consistent with the current master plan. The most significant revision to the 1966 zoning code is the adoption of an inclusion of a transect-based zoning code and some aspects of a form-based code style of zoning that emphasizes urban design elements as a means to ensure that infill development will respect the character of the neighborhood or district in question. By 2004, the recommended zoning changes were unanimously adopted by the City Council and despite numerous changes to the 2004 Zoning Code, it remains the basic framework for resolving zoning issues in Lowell to this day.

The Hamilton Canal District (HCD) is the first district in Lowell in which regulation and development is defined by Form-Based Code (HCD-FBC) and legislated by its own guiding framework consistent to the HCD Master Plan. The HCD is a major redevelopment project that comprises 13 acres of vacant, underutilized land in downtown Lowell abutting former industrial mills. Trinity Financial was elected as the Master Developer to recreate this district with a vision of making a mixed-use neighborhood. Development plans included establishing the HCD as a gateway to downtown Lowell and enhanced connectivity to Gallagher Terminal.

Anti-crime efforts
In the 1990s, Lowell had been locally notorious for being a place of high drug trafficking and gang activity, and was the setting for a real life documentary, High on Crack Street: Lost Lives in Lowell. In the years from 1994 to 1999, crime dropped 50 percent, the highest rate of decrease for any city in America with over 100,000 residents.

Within one generation, by 2009, Lowell was ranked as the 139th most dangerous city of over 75,000 residents in the United States, out of 393 communities. Out of Massachusetts cities, nine are larger than 75,000 residents, and Lowell was fifth. For comparison Lowell was still rated safer than Boston (104 of 393), Providence, RI (123), Springfield (51), Lynn (120), Fall River (103), and New Bedford (85), but rated more dangerous than Cambridge (303), Newton (388), Quincy (312), and Worcester (175).

Geography
Lowell is located at 42.63944°N, -71.31472°W (42.639444, −71.314722). According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 14.5 sqmi of which 13.8 sqmi is land and 0.8 sqmi (5.23%) is water.

Climate
Lowell features a four-season Humid continental climate, with long and very cold winters, which typically experience an average 56 inch of snowfall, with the highest ever recorded seasonal snowfall being 120 inch in the winter of 2014–2015. Summers are hot and humid, and of average length, while autumn and spring are brief transition periods between the two. On average, temperature in Lowell ranges from 64 to 84 °F in the summer months, and between 2 and 33 °F in the winter months, with the yearly average being 49 °F.

Physical
Lowell is located at the confluence of the Merrimack and Concord rivers. The Pawtucket Falls, a mile-long set of rapids with a total drop in elevation of 32 feet, ends where the two rivers meet. At the top of the falls is the Pawtucket Dam, designed to turn the upper Merrimack into a millpond, diverted through Lowell's extensive canal system.

The Merrimack, which flows southerly from Franklin, New Hampshire to Lowell, makes a northeasterly turn there before emptying into the Atlantic Ocean at Newburyport, Massachusetts, approximately 40 mile downriver from Lowell. It is believed that in prior ages, the Merrimack continued south from Lowell to empty into the ocean somewhere near Boston. The glacial deposits that redirected the flow of the river left the drumlins that dot the city, most notably, Fort Hill in the Belvidere neighborhood. Other large hills in Lowell include Lynde Hill, also in Belvidere, and Christian Hill, in the easternmost part of Centralville at the Dracut town line.

The Concord, or Musketaquid (its original name), forms from the confluence of the Assabet and Sudbury rivers at Concord, Massachusetts. This river flows north into the city, and the area around the confluence with the Merrimack was known as Wamesit. Like the Merrimack, the Concord, although a much smaller river, has many waterfalls and rapids that served as power sources for early industrial purposes, some well before the founding of Lowell. Immediately after the Concord joins the Merrimack, the Merrimack descends another ten feet in Hunt's Falls.

There is an ninety-degree bend in the Merrimack partway down the Pawtucket Falls. At this point, the river briefly widens and shallows. Here, Beaver Brook enters from the north, separating the city's two northern neighborhoods, Pawtucketville and Centralville. Entering the Concord River from the southwest is River Meadow, or Hale's Brook. This brook flows largely in a man-made channel, as the Lowell Connector was built along it. Both of these minor streams have limited industrial histories as well.

The bordering towns (clockwise from north) are Dracut, Tewksbury, Billerica, Chelmsford, and Tyngsborough. The border with Billerica is a point in the middle of the Concord River where Lowell and Billerica meet Tewksbury and Chelmsford.

The ten communities designated part of the Lowell Metropolitan area by the 2000 US Census are Billerica, Chelmsford, Dracut, Dunstable, Groton, Lowell, Pepperell, Tewksbury, Tyngsborough, and Westford, and Pelham, New Hampshire. See Greater Lowell.

Neighborhoods
Lowell has eight distinct neighborhoods: the Acre, Back Central, Belvidere, Centralville, Downtown, Highlands, Pawtucketville, and South Lowell. The city also has five ZIP codes: four are geographically distinct general ZIP codes, and one (01853) is for post-office boxes only.

The Centralville neighborhood, ZIP Code 01850, is the northeastern section of the city, north of the Merrimack River and east of Beaver Brook. Christian Hill is the section of Centralville east of Bridge Street.

The Highlands, ZIP Code 01851, is the most populated neighborhood, with almost a quarter of the city residing here. It is located in the southwestern section of the city, bordered to the east by the Lowell Connector and to the north by the railroad. Lowellians further distinguish the sections of the Highlands as the Upper Highlands and the Lower Highlands, the latter being the area closer to downtown. Middlesex Village, Tyler Park, and Drum Hill are in this ZIP Code. The Upper Highlands also includes the University of Massachusetts Lowell, South Campus (Fine Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences, Health Sciences & Education).

Downtown, Belvidere, Back Central, and South Lowell make up the 01852 ZIP Code, and are the southeastern sections of the city (south of the Merrimack River and southeast of the Lowell Connector). Belvidere is the mostly residential area south of the Merrimack River, east of the Concord River, and north of the Lowell and Lawrence railroad. Belvidere Hill Historic District runs along Fairmount Street. Lower Belvidere is the section west of Nesmith Street. Rogers Fort Hill Park Historic District, Lowell Cemetery, and Shedd Park are this side of town. Back Central is an urban area south of downtown, toward the mouth of River Meadow Brook. South Lowell is the area south of the railroad and east of the Concord River. Other minor neighborhoods within this ZIP Code are Ayers City, Bleachery, Chapel Hill, the Grove, Oaklands, Riverside Park, Swede Village, and Wigginville. Although the use of the names of these smaller neighborhoods has been in decline in the past decades, there has been recently a reemergence of their use. Downtown Lowell includes the UMass Lowell East Campus which consists of university housing, recreation facilities, research and the university's sports arena, as well as the Middlesex Community College.

Pawtucketville, the University of Massachusetts Lowell, North Campus; and the Acre make up the 01854 ZIP Code. The northwestern portion of the city includes the neighborhood where Jack Kerouac resided around the area of University Avenue (previously known as Moody Street). The North Campus of UMass Lowell (Colleges of Engineering, Sciences and Business) is in Pawtucketville near the Lowell General Hospital. The older parts of the neighborhood are around University Avenue and Mammoth Road, whereas the newer parts are around Varnum Avenue. Pawtucketville is the official entrance to the Lowell-Dracut-Tyngsborough State Forest, the site of an historic Native American tribe, and in the age of the Industrial Revolution was a prominent source of granite used in canals and factory foundations.

2020 census
Population Density: According to the 2010 Census, there were 106,519 people living in the city. The population density was 7,842.1 pd/sqmi. There were 41,431 housing units at an average density of 2,865.5 /sqmi.

Household Size: 2010, there were 38,470 households, and 23,707 families living in Lowell; the average household size was 2.66 and the average family size was 3.31. Of those households, 34.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 35.9% were married couples living together, 14.7% had a female householder with no husband present, 38.4% were non-families, 29.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.

Age Distributions: Lowell has also experienced a significant increase in the number of residents between the ages of 50-69 while the percentages of residents under the age of 15 and over the age of 70 decreased. In 2010 the city's population had a median age of 32.6. The age distribution was 23.7% of the population under the age of 18, 13.5% from 18 to 24, 29.4% from 25 to 44, 23.3% from 45 to 64, and 10.1% who were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females, there were 98.6 males; while for every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.6 males.

Median Income: for a household in the city was $51,714, according to the American Community Survey 5-year estimate ending in 2012. The median income for a family was $55,852. Males had a median income of $44,739 versus $35,472 for females. The per capita income for the city was $22,730. About 15.2% of families and 17.5% of individuals were below the poverty line, including 24.5% of those under age 18 and 13.2% of those age 65 or over.

Racial Makeup: In 2010, the ethnic diversity of the city was 60.3% White (49.3% Non-Hispanic White ), 20.2% Asian American (12.5% Cambodian, 2.0% Indian, 1.7% Vietnamese, 1.4% Laotian), 6.8% African American, 0.3% Native American, 8.8% from other races, 3.6% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 17.3% of the population. The largest Hispanic group was those of Puerto Rican ancestry, constituting 11.3% of the population.

Cambodian-American Population: In 2010, Lowell had the highest proportion of residents of Cambodian origin of any place in the United States at 12.5% of the population. The Government of Cambodia opened up its third U.S. Consular Office in Lowell, on April 27, 2009, with Sovann Ou as current advisor to the Cambodian Embassy. The other consular offices are in Long Beach, California, and Seattle, Washington, which also have large Cambodian communities. In 2022, Lowell elected the first Cambodian-American mayor in the United States, Sokhary Chau.

Crime data
According to current FBI Crime Data Analysis, Lowell is the 46th most dangerous city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, for all sizes. In 2018, the violent crime rate for Lowell was less than half of the violent crime rate in Boston, with no murders compared to 49 in Boston. Lowell's crime rate has dropped tremendously since the 1990s, and while the likelihood of becoming a victim of violent crime in Massachusetts are 1 in 265, the odds in Lowell are 1 in 289, making Lowell (approximately) 10% safer than the rest of the state, on average. Lowell's violent crime rate is comparable to Honolulu, HI and is less than one-quarter that of Washington, D.C.

Annual events

 * February: Winterfest – celebration of winter. (Also, Lowell's Birthday)
 * March: Lowell Women's Week – A week of events recognizing women's achievements, struggles, and contributions to the Lowell community past and present. Irish Cultural Week - A celebration of Irish history and hulture within the Greater Lowell community.
 * April: Lowell Film Festival – Showcases documentary and feature-length films focusing on a variety of topics of interest to the Greater Lowell community and beyond
 * May: Doors Open Lowell – A celebration of preservation, architecture, and design where many historic buildings that normally have limited public access are open for viewing
 * June: African Festival – A celebration of the various African communities in and around Lowell
 * July: Lowell Folk Festival – A three-day free folk music and traditional arts festival attended by on average 250,000 people on the last weekend in July
 * August: Lowell Southeast Asian Water Festival – celebrates Southeast Asian culture
 * September: Lowell Kinetic Sculpture Race – From the crossroads of Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics comes a spectacular racing spectacle!
 * October: Lowell Celebrates Kerouac Festival – A celebration of the works of Jack Kerouac and his roots in the city of Lowell
 * October: Bay State Marathon and half marathon

Points of interest
Among the many tourist attractions, Lowell also currently has 39 places on the National Register of Historic Places including many buildings and structures as part of the Lowell National Historical Park.

 * In the mid-1980s, Kerouac Park was placed in downtown.
 * Lowell National Historical Park: Maintains Lowell's history as an early manufacturing and immigrant city. Exhibits include weave rooms, a waterpower exhibit, and paths along 5.6 mile of largely restored canals.
 * Lowell-Dracut-Tyngsboro State Forest: Hiking, biking, and cross-country skiing trails in an urban state forest
 * University of Massachusetts Lowell: State University
 * University of Massachusetts Lowell Radiation Laboratory: The site of a small nuclear reactor at the school
 * Vandenberg Esplanade: Walking, biking, swimming, and picnicking park along the banks of the Merrimack River. Contains the Sampas Pavilion.
 * Western Avenue Studios: Largest complex of artists studios in the United States at 122 Western Avenue.
 * Jack Kerouac's birthplace: In the Centralville section of the city at 9 Lupine Road.
 * Armenian genocide memorial: "A Mother's Hands" monument at Lowell City Hall.
 * Bette Davis's birthplace: In the Highlands section of the city at 22 Chester Street.
 * Rosalind Elias's birthplace: In the Acre neighborhood at 144 School Street.
 * Lowell Cemetery: burial site of many of Lowell's wealthy industrialists from the Victorian era, as well as several U.S. Congressmen, a Massachusetts Governor, John McFarland, and a U.S. Senator. 77 Knapp Avenue.
 * Edson Cemetery: burial site of Jack Kerouac and William Preston Phelps. Location of a monument dedicated to Chief Passaconaway. 1375 Gorham Street.
 * The Acre: Lowell's gateway neighborhood where waves of immigrants have established their communities.
 * Yorick Building: Former home of the gentlemen's club the "Yorick Club", currently a restaurant & function facility (Cobblestones).
 * Little Cambodia: In 2010, the city began an effort to make it a tourist destination.

Culture
In the early years of the 1840s when the population quickly exceeded 20,000, Lowell became very active as a cultural center, with the construction of the Lowell Museum, the Mechanics Hall, as well as the new City Hall used for art exhibits, lectures, and for the performing arts. The Lowell Museum was lost in a devastating fire in the early morning of January 31, 1856, but was quickly rehoused in a new location. The Lowell Art Association was founded in 1876, and the new Opera House was built in 1889.

Continuing to inspire and entertain, Lowell currently has a plethora of artistic exhibitions and performances throughout a wide range of venues in the city:

Museums and public galleries

 * 119 Gallery
 * Arts League of Lowell & All Gallery
 * The American Textile History Museum (closed in 2016)
 * Ayer Lofts Artist Live-work Lofts
 * The Boott Cotton Mills Museum: Lowell National Historic Park
 * Brush Art Gallery and Studios
 * Gallery Z & Artist Cooperative
 * The Lowell Gallery
 * Mill No. 5 – an eclectic indoor mall/streetscape featuring artisanal foods and hand-made items, live music and The Luna Theater, an independent film venue.
 * National Streetcar Museum
 * The New England Quilt Museum
 * Patrick J. Mogan Cultural Center: Lowell National Historic Park
 * Whistler House Museum of Art – Art museum in birthplace of James McNeill Whistler.
 * Western Avenue Studios (The Loading Dock Galleries) – A converted mill with over 300 working artists and musicians.
 * UMass Lowell Galleries

Interactive and live performances

 * Angkor Dance Troupe – Cambodian classical and folk dance company and youth program
 * Arts League of Lowell
 * Center for Lowell History, University of Massachusetts Lowell – local history library and archive
 * The Gentlemen Songsters The Lowell Chapter of The Barbershop Harmony Society – Causing Harmony In The Merrimack Valley.
 * Lowell Memorial Auditorium – Mid-sized venue for live performances.
 * The Lowell Chamber Orchestra – First professional orchestra based in Lowell
 * Lowell Philharmonic Orchestra – Community orchestra presenting free concerts and offering youth programs
 * Lowell Poetry Network – A network of area poets and appreciators of poetry who host readings, receptions, and open mics.
 * Lowell Rocks – Lowell nightlife and entertainment web site promoting performances at local bars and clubs
 * Lowell Summer Music Series – Boarding House Park
 * Merrimack Repertory Theater – Professional equity theater
 * Play by Player's Theatre Company – critically acclaimed community theater
 * RRRecords – Internationally known record label and store
 * Sampas Pavilion – Outdoor amphitheater on the banks of the Merrimack River
 * Standing Room Only Players – musical review troupe
 * UMass Lowell Department of Music Performances
 * The United Teen Equality Center A by teens, for teens youth center promoting peace, positivity and empowerment for young people in Lowell.
 * UnchARTed – Gallery, studios, cafe, bar, and performance space in downtown Lowell

Pollard Memorial Library / Lowell City Library
The first Lowell public library was established in 1844 with 3,500 volumes, and was set up in the first floor of the Old City Hall, 226 Merrimack St. In 1872, the expanding collection was relocated down the street to the Hosford Building at 134 Merrimack St. In 1890–1891, the City of Lowell hired local Architect Frederick W. Stickney to design the new Lowell City Library, known as "Memorial Hall, in honor of the city's men who died in the American Civil War. In 1981, the library was renamed the Pollard Memorial Library in memory of the late Mayor Samuel S. Pollard. And, in the mid-2000s the century-old National Historic building underwent a major $8.5m renovation.  The city also expanded the library system to include the Senior Center Branch, located in the City of Lowell Senior Center.

In fiscal year 2008, the city of Lowell spent 0.36% ($975,845) of its budget on its public libraries, which houses 236,000 volumes, and is a part of the Merrimack Valley Library Consortium. Currently, circulation of materials averages around 250,000 annually, with approximately one-third deriving from the children's collection. In fiscal year 2009, Lowell spent 0.35% ($885,377) of its budget on the library—approximately $8 per person, per year ($9.83 adjusted for inflation in 2021).

As of 2012, the Pollard Library purchases access for its patrons to databases owned by: EBSCO Industries; Gale, of Cengage Learning; Heritage Archives, Inc.; New England Historic Genealogical Society; OverDrive, Inc.; ProQuest; and World Trade Press.

Lydon Library
The Lydon Library is a part of the University of Massachusetts Lowell system, and is located on the North Campus. The building is named in honor of President Martin J. Lydon, whose vision expanded and renamed the college during his tenure in the 1950s and 1960s. Its current collection concentrates on the sciences, engineering, business management, social sciences, humanities, and health.

O'Leary Library
The O'Leary Library is a part of the University of Massachusetts Lowell system, and is located on the South Campus. The building is named in honor of former History Professor and then President O'Leary, whose vision helped merge the Lowell colleges during his tenure in the 1970s and 1980s. Its current collection concentrates on music and art.

Center for Lowell History
The Center for Lowell History [special collections and archives] is a part of the University of Massachusetts Lowell system, established in 1971 to assure the safekeeping, preservation, and availability for study and research of materials in unique subject areas, particularly those related to the Greater Lowell Area and the University of Massachusetts Lowell. Located downtown in the Patrick J. Mogan Cultural Center at 40 French Street, the center is committed to the design and implementation of historical, educational, and cultural programs that link the university and the community in developing an economically strong and multi-culturally rich region. Its current collections and archives focus on historic and contemporary issues of Lowell (including: industrialization, textile technology, immigration, social history, regional history, labor history, women's history, and environmental history).

Boxing
Boxing has formed an important part of Lowell's working-class culture. The city's auditorium hosts the annual New England Golden Gloves tournament, which featured fighters such as Rocky Marciano, Sugar Ray Leonard, and Marvin Hagler. Micky Ward and Dicky Eklund both began their careers in Lowell, the subject of the 2010 film The Fighter. Arthur Ramalho's West End Gym is where many of the city's boxers train.

Teams

 * University of Massachusetts Lowell River Hawks, NCAA Division I Hockey, Soccer, Basketball, Baseball, Softball, Track & Field, Field Hockey, Volleyball
 * Lowell Spinners – Former Class A short-season professional baseball affiliate of the Boston Red Sox
 * Lowell All-Americans – NECBL (Collegiate Summer Baseball)
 * New England Riptide – National Pro Fastpitch League (Major League Softball)
 * Lowell Nor'easter – Semi-Professional football team (New England Football League)
 * Greater Lowell United FC – Semi-Pro soccer team (NPSL)

Athletic venues

 * Edward A. LeLacheur Park Baseball Stadium – owned by the University of Massachusetts Lowell
 * Lowell Memorial Auditorium – performance and boxing venue.
 * Tsongas Center at UMass Lowell – multi-use sports and concert venue (6500 seats hockey, 7800 concerts)- the University of Massachusetts Lowell River Hawks, and various arena shows. On April 1, 2006, the arena held the 2006 World Curling Championships.
 * Cawley Memorial Stadium – Stadium for Lowell High School and other sporting events around the Merrimack Valley. Uses FieldTurf. Former home of the MICCA Marching Band Championship Finals
 * Stoklosa Alumni Field – Baseball stadium, used by Lowell All-Americans (4,000 seats)
 * Costello Athletic Center indoor arena on campus of the University of Massachusetts Lowell
 * UMass Lowell Bellgarde Boathouse used as a rowing and kayaking center for UMass Lowell and the greater Lowell area
 * Long Meadow Golf Club – Private 9 hole Golf course in the Belvidere neighborhood
 * Mount Pleasant Golf Club – Private 9 hole Golf course in the Highlands neighborhood

Government
Lowell has a Plan-E council-manager government. There are eleven city councilors and seven school committee members. The City Council is elected every two years and is composed of eight district seats and three at-large seats. The School Committee is elected for two-year terms and is composed of four district seats, two at-large seats, and the mayor. City Council and School Committee elections are non-partisan. In 1957, Lowell voters repealed a single-transferable-vote system, which had been in place since 1943.

The City Council chooses one of its members as mayor, and another as vice-mayor. The role of the mayor is primarily ceremonial. The mayor runs the weekly meetings under the guidance of the City Clerk. In addition, the mayor serves as the Chairperson of the School Committee.

The administrative head of the city government is the City Manager, who is responsible for all day-to-day operations, functioning within the guidelines of City Council policy, and is hired by and serves indefinitely at the pleasure of at least 5 of 9 City Councilors. As of April 2017, the City Manager is Eileen M. Donghue replacing Kevin J. Murphy.

Lowell is represented in the Massachusetts General Court by elected state representatives Rodney Elliot (D- 16th Middlesex), Vanna Howard (D- 17th Middlesex), Rady Mom (D- 18th Middlesex), and by State Senator Edward J. Kennedy (1st Middlesex) who is also a City Councilor.

Federally, the city is part of Massachusetts's 3rd congressional district and represented by Lori Trahan (D). The state's senior Senator is Elizabeth Warren (D). the state's junior Senator is Ed Markey (D).

In July 2012, Lowell youth led a nationally reported campaign to gain voting privileges for 17-year-olds in local elections; it would have been the first municipality to do so. The 'Vote 17' campaign was supported by national researchers; its goals were to increase voter turnout, create lifelong civic habits, and increase youth input in local matters. The effort was led by youth at the United Teen Equality Center in downtown Lowell.

Voting rights lawsuit
Lowell is the last city in Massachusetts to use a fully plurality-at-large system due to its impact in diluting minority representation on its city council and school committee. With majority bloc voting these two committees were all-white, and had been mostly so for decades, despite the fact that the city's minority population had grown to 49%.

On May 18, 2017, the Boston Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Economic Justice filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of Latino and Asian-American voters, charging Lowell with violating the Voting Rights Act.

On May 29, 2019, a settlement agreement was reached that laid out six options for Lowell voters to review:
 * A single-member district-based system, with nine city council districts including at least two majority-minority districts, and three school committee districts electing two members each, with at least one being a majority-minority district.
 * A hybrid system that combines single-member district-based seats with at-large seats:
 * Hybrid 8-1 will have eight single-member districts (at least two majority-minority) and one at-large seat for the city council, and four single-member districts (at least one majority-minority) and two at-large seats for the school committee;
 * Hybrid 8-3 is the same as 8-1 but expanding the city council by two at-large seats;
 * Hybrid 7-2 will have seven single-member districts (at least two majority-minority) and two at-large seats for the city council, and seven single-member districts (at least two majority-minority) for the school committee (increasing its size by one);
 * An at-large system of nine city council seats and six school committee seats, elected using single transferable vote — a return to the system in place between 1943 and 1957.
 * A three-district system elected using single transferable vote, with three members from each elected to the city council and two members from each elected to the school committee.

Two options will be selected by the city council and will be put before the voters to choose in a non-binding referendum in November 2019, with a final decision by the city council in December 2019. The new system must be put in place by the November 2021 municipal elections.

Colleges and universities
With a rapidly growing student population, Lowell has been considered an emerging college town. With approximately 12,000 students at Middlesex Community College (MCC) and 19,000 students at University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell is currently home to more than 31,000 undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students, and the location of some of the top research laboratories in Massachusetts. UMass Lowell is the third largest state university and fifth largest university in Massachusetts, while MCC is the second largest Associate's college in Massachusetts.
 * Middlesex Community College
 * University of Massachusetts Lowell

Public schools
Lowell Public Schools operates district public schools. Lowell High School is the district public high school. Non-district public schools include Greater Lowell Technical High School, Lowell Middlesex Academy Charter School, Lowell Community Charter Public School, and Collegiate Charter School of Lowell.

Lowell Public Schools is an above average, public school district located in Lowell, MA. It has 14,247 students in grades Pre-K, K–12 with a student-teacher ratio of 14 to 1.

Lowell High School students have the opportunity to take Advanced Placement® course work and exams. The AP® participation rate at Lowell High is 29 percent. The student body makeup is 50 percent male and 50 percent female, and the total minority enrollment is 68 percent with a student-teacher ratio of 14 to 1.

Newspaper
The Sun, headquartered in downtown Lowell, is a major daily newspaper serving Greater Lowell and southern New Hampshire. The newspaper had an average daily circulation of about 42,900 copies in 2011. Continuing a trend of concentration of newspaper ownership, The Sun was sold to newspaper conglomerate MediaNews Group in 1997 after 119 years of family ownership.

Radio

 * WCAP AM 980, talk radio
 * WLLH AM 1400 Spanish Tropical
 * WUML FM 91.5, UMass Lowell-owned station
 * WCRB FM 99.5, Classical music, licensed to Lowell

Transportation
Lowell can be reached by automobile from Interstate 495, U.S. Route 3, the Lowell Connector, and Massachusetts Routes: 3A, 38, 110, 113, and 133, all of which run through the city; Route 133 begins at the spot where Routes 110 and 38 branch off just south of the Merrimack River. There are six bridges crossing the Merrimack River in Lowell, and four crossing the Concord River (not including the two for I-495).

For public transit, Lowell is served by the Lowell Regional Transit Authority (LRTA), which provides fixed route bus services and paratransit services to the city and surrounding area. OurBus has daily bus service to Worcester and New York City. Other service includes Merrimack Vallery Regional Transfer Authority (MVRTA) Route 24 to Lawrence, and the Coach Company bus to Foxwoods Resort Casino.

Lowell is also served at Lowell station by the MBTA's commuter rail Lowell Line, with several departures daily to and from Boston's North Station.

The Lowell National Historical Park provides a free streetcar between its various sites in the city center, using track formerly used to provide freight access to the city's mills. An expansion to expand the system to 6.9 mile was planned but rejected in 2016.

In addition to several car rental agencies, Lowell has four Zipcar rental locations convenient to Gallagher Terminal, the Downtown, and the three UMass Lowell campuses (North, South and East).

Hospitals

 * Lowell General Hospital
 * Saints Medical Center

Law enforcement

The city is primarily policed and protected by the Lowell Police Department, the University Police: UMass Lowell, and the National Park Service Police. The Massachusetts State Police and Middlesex County Sheriff's Office also work with local law enforcement to set up driver checkpoints for alcohol awareness. With the growth of UMass Lowell and the impact of its faculty and students in areas of scientific research, engineering, and nursing, the city has seen rapid gentrification of several neighborhoods.

Cable
Lowell Telecommunication Corporation (LTC) – A community media and technology center, as well as the first public access television station in Massachusetts to unionize, despite opposition from the nonprofit organization's board of directors.

Notable people

 * See List of people from Lowell, Massachusetts

Current
The Massachusetts Medical Device Development Center (M2D2) Biotechnology Lab offers 11,000 square feet of fully equipped, shared lab facilities that can house 50 researchers and also includes plenty of co-working and meeting spaces.

The UMASS Lowell Innovation Hub (iHUB) offer entrepreneurs, startups, technology companies and established manufacturing partners 24-hour access to all the amenities they need to get their businesses up and running, such as:
 * dedicated office space
 * rapid prototype development equipment and services
 * open co-working and collaboration space, and
 * meeting and conferencing space.

Historical

 * Cash Carriers – William Stickney Lamson of Lowell patented this system in 1881.
 * CVS/pharmacy – originally named the Consumer Value Store was founded in Lowell in 1963.
 * Father John's Medicine a cough medicine that was first formulated in the United States in a Lowell pharmacy in 1855.
 * Francis Turbine – A highly efficient water-powered turbine
 * Fred C. Church – Insurance (est. 1865)
 * Market Basket – Chain of approximately 80 grocery stores in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine
 * Moxie – the first mass-produced soft drink in the U.S.
 * Telephone numbers, 1879, Lowell is the first U.S. city to have phone numbers, two years after Alexander Graham Bell demonstrates his telephone in Lowell.
 * Stuarts Department Stores
 * Wang Laboratories – Massachusetts Miracle computer company

Banks and financial institutions

 * In 1854, the Lowell Five Cent Savings Bank was founded as the first and only bank in the city that would accept a deposit of less than $1.00. It is the 73rd-oldest bank in America and has been in continuous operation since its founding.
 * In 1892, Washington Savings Bank made its first home in Lowell and has continuously served the Greater Lowell area and communities.
 * In 1989, Enterprise Bank and Trust was founded in Lowell and is the largest financial institution.
 * In 1911, Jeanne D'Arc Credit Union was founded in Lowell and is the 5th-largest credit union in Massachusetts.
 * In 1922, Align Credit Union was founded in Lowell.
 * In 1936, the Lowell Firefighters Credit Union was founded in Lowell.
 * In 1937, the Lowell Municipal Employees FCU was founded in Lowell.
 * In 1958, Mills42 Federal Credit Union was founded in Lowell.

Merged financial institutions

 * Lowell Bank and Trust Company (1970–1983; now part of Bank of America)
 * Lowell Institution for Savings (1829–1991; now part of TD Banknorth N.A.)
 * Butler Bank (1901–2010; now part of People's United Bank)
 * Lowell Co-operative Bank/Sage Bank (1885–2018; now part of Salem Five Bank)

Twin towns – sister cities
Lowell's sister cities are:

 * 🇨🇲 Bamenda, Cameroon (2002)
 * 🇱🇷 Barclayville, Liberia
 * 🇺🇦 Berdyansk, Ukraine (1997)

 * 🇬🇷 Kalamata, Greece (2020)
 * 🇰🇪 Nairobi, Kenya
 * 🇮🇪 Limerick, Ireland (2013)
 * 🇦🇴 Lobito, Angola
 * 🇰🇭 Phnom Penh, Cambodia (2015)
 * 🇫🇷 Saint-Dié-des-Vosges, France (1989)
 * 🇬🇭 Winneba, Ghana (2010)

Honors

 * 2010, Lowell designated as a "Green Community"
 * 1997 and 1998, Lowell was a finalist for the All-America City award.
 * 1999, Lowell received an All-America City award.

title: Lowell, Massachusetts


text:
Malden, Massachusetts

Malden is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. At the time of the 2020 U.S. Census, the population was 66,263 people.

History

Malden is a hilly woodland area north of the Mystic River that was settled by Puritans in 1640 on land purchased in 1629 from the Pennacook tribe, with a further grant in 1639 by the Squaw Sachem of Mistick and her husband Webcowet. The area was originally called the "Mistick Side" and was a part of Charlestown. It was incorporated as a separate town in 1649 under the name "Mauldon". The name Malden was selected by Joseph Hills, an early settler and landholder, and was named after Maldon, England. The city originally included the adjacent cities of Melrose (until 1850) and Everett (until 1870).

At the time of the American Revolution, the population was about 1,000 people, and the citizens were involved early in resisting British rule. They boycotted the consumption of tea in 1770 to protest the Revenue Act of 1766, and it was also the first town to petition the colonial government to secede from the British Empire.

Malden High School has the second-oldest continuous high school football rivalry in the United States with Medford High School. The first "Thanksgiving Day Game" dates back to 1889.

Geography
Malden is bordered by Melrose on the north, Medford on the west, Everett on the south, Revere on the east, and Saugus on the northeast. Boojum Rock located in the north west corner of Malden inside the Middlesex Fells Reservation is the highest point in Malden with an elevation of approximately 275 feet.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 5.1 sqmi, of which 5.1 sqmi is land and 0.04 sqmi (0.78%) is water. Bordered on the northwest by the cliffs of Middlesex Fells, Malden is drained by the Malden River.

Demographics

As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 59,450 people, 25,161 households, and 13,575 families residing in the city. The population density was 11,788.6 PD/sqmi. There were 23,634 housing units at an average density of 4,657.5 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the city was 52.5% White, 14.8% African American, 0.1% Native American, 20.1% Asian (11.1% Chinese, 3.1% Asian Indian, 2.8% Vietnamese ), 0.1% Pacific Islander, 2.1% from other races, and 3.5% were multiracial. 8.6% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race (1.8% Puerto Rican, 1.7% Brazilian, 1.5% Salvadoran, 0.9% Colombian, 0.7% Dominican, 0.5% Mexican, 0.4% Peruvian, 0.4% Guatemalan).

There were 23,009 households, out of which 25.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.8% were married couples living together, 12.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 41.0% were non-families. Of all households 32.2% were made up of individuals, and 11.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.42 and the average family size was 3.13.

In the city, the population was spread out, with 19.9% under the age of 18, 8.5% from 18 to 24, 36.9% from 25 to 44, 20.8% from 45 to 64, and 13.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 92.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.0 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $45,654, and the median income for a family was $55,557. Males had a median income of $37,741 versus $31,157 for females. The per capita income for the city was $22,004. About 6.6% of families and 9.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 11.6% of those under age 18 and 10.2% of those age 65 or over.

Immigrants
As of 2009 and 2010, 37% of residents of Malden were born outside of the United States. This is twice the number in 1990, and an increase from the 26% of foreign-born residents in 2000. Malden's percentage of foreign-born residents was the second-highest in Massachusetts, after Chelsea.

As of 2009 and 2010 immigrants originate from Brazil, China, Haiti, India, Morocco, and Pakistan. The Moroccan American Civic and Cultural Association is located in Malden.

Previous immigrants included Italians and Irish in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Malden also received Jews who arrived escaping Europe before and after World War II.

Asian population
In 1990 Malden had 2,805 Asian residents, making the city 5.2% Asian. In 2000 this increased to 7,882 Asians, or 14.5% of the city's population, making it one of ten Massachusetts cities with the largest Asian populations in the state. There were 4,504 ethnic Chinese people (57% of Malden's Asians), 876 ethnic Vietnamese, and 696 ethnic Indians. From 1990 to 2000 the Vietnamese population increased by 187% and the Indian population increased by 262%.

From 2000 to 2010 the Chinese population of Malden increased by about 50%.

Institutions serving the Asian community in Malden include the Immigrant Learning Center, which offers English as a second language classes; the Malden Asian Pacific American Coalition; a satellite office of the Vietnamese American Civic Association; the nonprofit multiservice organization Great Wall Center; and the antipoverty agency Tri-City Community Action Program Inc. In the 2017, South Cove Community Health center began building a new site in Malden to serve the growing Asian American population.

Education

Malden Public Schools is the school district. Malden has five public elementary and middle schools; one charter elementary, middle, and high school; one public high school; one Catholic high school, one Catholic Pre-K through 8 school, Cheverus Catholic School; and one public preschool. The elementary schools in Malden were replaced in the late 1990s with five new facilities: Beebe, Ferryway, Forestdale, Linden, and Salemwood. The city's three high schools are Malden High School, Malden Catholic High School and Mystic Valley Regional Charter High School. According to a study conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics in 2013, Malden High School was found to be the most diverse public high school in Massachusetts.

Neighborhoods

Like many communities in New England, many towns and neighborhoods are organized around squares, which are located at the crossroads and town commons dating back from the colonial times and the early 19th century. Many of the neighborhoods take their name and identity from the main square in their area.

Malden's squares include Malden Square (at Main and Pleasant streets), Converse Square (at Main, Salem, and Ferry streets) Oak Grove Square (at Oak Grove T Station), Bellrock Square (at the intersections of Cross, Main and Medford streets), Judson Square (near Ferryway School), former Suffolk Square (at Cross and Bryant streets), once the location of a thriving Jewish community, Maplewood Square (at Lebanon, Maplewood and Salem streets) and Linden Square.

Some of the neighborhoods in Malden include Faulkner (location of the former Suffolk Square), West End, Edgeworth, Linden, Ferryway, Forestdale, Maplewood, Bellrock, and Belmont Hill (located between Bellrock and Ferryway).

Bellrock

Bellrock is the south central section of the city, bordered by Main Street on the east, Charles Street on the north, the Malden River on the west, and the Everett line on the south. It contains Bell Rock Memorial Park (listed on the National Register of Historic Places) and Bell Rock Cemetery (also listed), which contains marked graves dating back to 1670. Bell Rock Cemetery was called Sandy Bank until the establishment of the Salem Street Cemetery in 1832; it was then known as the Old Burial Ground for half a century until it was renamed in 1882. Also located in this area are the headquarters for New England Coffee.

Edgeworth
The Edgeworth neighborhood is the southwestern section of the city. It contains Devir Park, Pearl St. Park, and Callahan Park. The city's football stadium, Macdonald Stadium is in Edgeworth. A school in Edgeworth is the former Emerson grammar school. The Converse Rubber Factory and offices once operated in Edgeworth at the bottom of Pearl Street. This is the original home of the Converse "All-Star" Basketball Sneakers. Malden Catholic High School was originally located in Edgeworth on Highland Avenue. The school's football team played their home games at Brother Gilbert Stadium, located at Commercial and Medford Streets in Edgeworth. Immaculate Conception Grammar School was located in Edgeworth on the corner of Charles Street and Highland Avenue. Edgeworth touches Everett and Medford.

Maplewood
In 1847, Joshua Webster, president of the Saugus Branch Railroad, purchased 200 acres in Malden along its projected route. Here, he planned a residential development with wide streets and ornamental trees. Due to the hundreds of maple trees Webster planted, the neighborhood became known as Maplewood.

Mayor and city council
The city government of Malden includes a mayor and city council. The mayor is elected to a four-year term. As of May 2021, the mayor is Gary Christenson. Christensen was most recently elected to this position on November 5, 2019 and his current four-year term expires at the end of 2023.

The Malden City Council has eleven elected members. Eight of these members are elected from the city's eight wards and are known as Ward Councillors. Three of the members, known as Councillors-at-Large, are elected city-wide. All eleven are elected to two-year terms. The city council elects from among its members an individual to serve as Council President.

Major highways
One limited access route, U.S. 1, runs through the city, connecting Boston to the North Shore suburbs. Additionally, Route 28, Route 60 and Route 99 run through Malden as arterial routes. Route 16 and Interstate 93 are a short distance outside the city's borders.

Bus and rail
The city is served by the Orange Line subway that connects it to downtown Boston. The city's subway stops are Malden Center and Oak Grove. The MBTA's commuter rail also has one stop in the city (Malden Center) and can stop at Oak Grove if necessary. During the first few years of the 2000s, the MBTA updated signal systems and Orange Line service was replaced by shuttle buses at night. Since September 2007, such service interruptions have been limited to occasional weekends, while signal system repairs necessitated closing off the northern portion of the Orange Line and rerouting passengers via replacement bus service from either the Haymarket subway stop or Wellington Station.

There is a sizable section of the old Boston and Maine Saugus Branch Railroad line running across the middle of Malden. This line is currently owned by the MBTA, but has been out of use since 1993 and has not seen passenger service since 1958. The Saugus Branch Railroad has now been converted into a 10-foot wide multi-use trail known as the Northern Strand Trail (aka Bike to the Sea Trail) which opened in December 2012. The paved section of Northern Strand trail currently extends from Wellington Street in Everett through Linden Square at the Malden/Revere. The unpaved section of the trail as of July 2019 runs through Revere and Saugus to Boston Street at the Lynn line. Trail extensions to the Mystic River / Encore Casino in Everett and paving the trail thru Revere, Saugus and to Western Avenue in Lynn will be built starting in Fall 2019. The City of Lynn and the Department of Conservation and Recreation will also be building a separated bicycle lane through Lynn Common, down Market Street and the Lynnway to Lynn and Nahant Beaches. The Malden section of the trail features the "ArtLine" a series of murals and sculptures created through the efforts of Malden Arts. Malden ArtLine

Bus service to all adjacent communities is also available via the service of the MBTA.

Points of interest

Approximately 30 park sites throughout the city provide a variety of recreational facilities including tennis courts, basketball courts, playgrounds, and ballfields. Other sites include a 400-meter synthetic running track at MacDonald Stadium; 56 acre of the Middlesex Fells Reservation; the 25 acre Fellsmere Pond; a DCR-owned-and-operated swimming pool; a 30,000 square feet (2,800 m2) field house built under the new school rebuilding plan; the state-of-the-art Malden YMCA finished construction in early 2007; and Pine Banks Park, operated by a board of trustees with equal representation by the cities of Malden and Melrose. Waitt's Mountain is also in Malden.

Other points of interest include the Converse Memorial Library and the Congregation Beth Israel. One of Malden's finest and most notable landmarks is the public library which was designed by Henry Hobson Richardson and built in 1885. The initial construction of the library was funded by Malden's first mayor, Elisha S. Converse, who also funded its acquisition of an art collection.

Notable people

 * Johnny A., musician
 * Mary Hall Barrett Adams, editor
 * Jack Albertson, award-winning actor
 * E. Florence Barker (1840–1897), first president of the National Woman's Relief Corps
 * Harold W. Blakeley, U.S. Army major general
 * The Ames Brothers, singing quartet
 * Reginald R. Belknap, military officer
 * Ella A. Bigelow (1849–1917), author and clubwoman
 * Walter Brennan, award-winning actor
 * Philip Bynoe, Three-time Grammy nominee and Emmy Award-winning Musician
 * George Loring Brown, painter
 * George R. Carey, inventor
 * Gary Cherone, singer-songwriter
 * Larnel Coleman, NFL player
 * Elisha S. Converse, first mayor of Malden
 * Kevin Cullen, journalist
 * Albert DeSalvo, The Boston Strangler
 * Timothy Dexter, businessman
 * Gary DiSarcina, former Major League Baseball player
 * Sheperd Doeleman, Astrophysicist and Director of the Event Horizon Telescope
 * Ed Emberley, children's author
 * Anna Christy Fall (1855–1930), lawyer
 * Eugene Fama, Economist and Nobel Laureate
 * Abbie M. Gannett (1845–1895), essayist, poet and philanthropist
 * Erle Stanley Gardner, author, creator of Perry Mason
 * Breno Giacomini, National Football League player
 * John Gilgun, poet and novelist
 * Ralph Goldstein (1913–1997), Olympic épée fencer
 * Norman Greenbaum, guitarist, singer-songwriter
 * Kyle Hanson, TV Meteorologist, currently with Bay News 9 in Tampa, Florida
 * Mary E. Hewitt (1807–1884), poet and editor
 * Willis B. Hunt, Jr., federal judge
 * Adoniram Judson, first Protestant missionary in Burma
 * Martin Theodore Kearney, California agriculturist
 * Toni Kelner, mystery and urban fantasy writer and editor
 * Keith Knight, cartoonist
 * Killer Kowalski, former professional wrestler
 * Ellis F. Lawrence, architect
 * Fred A. Leuchter, execution technician and Holocaust denial author
 * Torbert MacDonald, U.S. Representative
 * Ed Markey, U.S. Senator from Massachusetts
 * James Montgomery, playwright and screenwriter
 * Dodge Morgan the first American to sail solo around the world with no stops;
 * Mark Morrisroe performance artist and photographer
 * Sam Nichols, Secretary of State of Washington
 * Nerlens Noel, National Basketball Association player
 * Helen Nordquist, All-American Girls Professional Baseball League player
 * Edna May Oliver, actress
 * Daniel W. Owens, playwright, author
 * Lawrence Palmer, Olympic gold medalist and ice hockey player
 * Elliot Paul, author
 * Marjorie Pierce, architect
 * David Robinson, drummer for The Cars and the Modern Lovers
 * Richard Rodenheiser, Olympic gold medalist and ice hockey player
 * Dana Rosenblatt, former professional boxer
 * Dan Ross, former National Football League player
 * William Schofield, federal judge
 * Harriette Lucy Robinson Shattuck (1850–1937), author, writer on parliamentary law, suffragist
 * Will Sawin, mathematician
 * Louise Kidder Sparrow, sculptor and poet
 * Frank Stella, artist
 * Louise Stokes, Olympic competitor and founder of the Colored Women's Bowling League
 * Oliver Samuel Tonks, art historian
 * John A. Volpe, former Governor of Massachusetts and U.S. Ambassador to Italy
 * Michael Wigglesworth, preacher and author
 * Rufus M. Yale, prominent sailmaker in Boston

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

title: Malden, Massachusetts


text:
Marlborough, Massachusetts

Marlborough is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 41,793 at the 2020 census. Marlborough became a prosperous industrial town in the 19th century and made the transition to high technology industry in the late 20th century after the construction of the Massachusetts Turnpike. It is part of the Worcester metropolitan area.

Marlborough was declared a town in 1660, and was incorporated as a city in 1890 when it changed its municipal charter from a New England town meeting system to a mayor–council government.

History
John Howe in 1656 was a fur trader and built a house at the intersection of two Indian trails, Nashua Trail and Connecticut path. He could speak the language of the Algonquian Indians though the local tribe referred to themselves as the Pennacooks. The settlers were welcomed by the Indians because they protected them from other tribes they were at war with. In the 1650s, several families left the nearby town of Sudbury, 18 miles west of Boston, to start a new town. The village was named after Marlborough, the market town in Wiltshire, England. It was first settled in 1657 by 14 men led by Edmund Rice, John Ruddock, John Howe and a third John named John Bent ; in 1656 Rice and his colleagues petitioned the Massachusetts General Court to create the town of Marlborough and it was officially incorporated in 1660. Rice was elected a selectman at Marlborough in 1657. Sumner Chilton Powell wrote, in Puritan Village: The Formation of a New England Town, "Not only did Rice become the largest individual landholder in Sudbury, but he represented his new town in the Massachusetts legislature for five years and devoted at least eleven of his last fifteen years to serving as selectman and judge of small causes."

The Puritan minister Reverend William Brimstead became the first minister of First Church in Marlborough, William Ward the first deacon and Johnathan Johnson was the first blacksmith.

Marlborough was one of the seven "Praying Indian Towns" because they were converted to Christianity by the Rev. John Eliot of Roxbury. In 1674, a deed was drawn up dividing the land between the settlers and the natives. This is the only record of names of the natives. The settlement was almost destroyed by Native Americans in 1676 during King Philip's War.

In 1711, Marlborough's territory included Northborough, Southborough, Westborough, and Hudson. As population, business, and travel grew in the colonies, Marlborough became a favored rest stop on the Boston Post Road. Many travelers stopped at its inns and taverns, including George Washington, who visited the Williams Tavern soon after his inauguration in 1789.

In 1836, Samuel Boyd, known as the "father of the city," and his brother, Joseph, opened the first shoe manufacturing business - an act that would change the community forever. By 1890, with a population of 14,000, Marlborough had become a major shoe manufacturing center, producing boots for Union soldiers, as well as footwear for the civilian population. Marlborough became so well known for its shoes that its official seal was decorated with a factory, a shoe box, and a pair of boots when it was incorporated as a city in 1890.

The Civil War resulted in the creation of one of the region's most unusual historical monuments. Legend has it that a company from Marlborough, assigned to Harpers Ferry, appropriated the bell from the firehouse where John Brown last battled for the emancipation of the slaves. The company left the bell in the hands of one Mrs. Elizabeth Snyder for 30 years, returning in 1892 to bring it back to Marlborough. The bell now hangs in a tower at the corner of Route 85 and Main Street.

Around that time, Marlborough is believed to have been the first community in the country to receive a charter for a streetcar system, edging out Baltimore by a few months. The system, designed primarily for passenger use, provided access to Milford to the south, and Concord to the north. As a growing industrialized community, Marlborough began attracting skilled craftsmen from Quebec, Ireland, Italy, and Greece.

Shoe manufacturing continued in Marlborough long after the industry had fled many other New England communities. Rice & Hutchins, Inc. operated several factories in Marlborough from 1875 to 1929. Famous Frye boots were manufactured here through the 1970s, and The Rockport Company, founded in Marlborough in 1971, maintained an outlet store in the city until 2017. In 1990, when Marlborough celebrated its centennial as a city, the festivities included the construction of a park in acknowledgment of the shoe industry, featuring statues by the sculptor David Kapenteopolous.

The construction of Interstates 495 and 290 and the Massachusetts Turnpike has enabled the growth of the high technology and specialized electronics industries. With its easy access to major highways and the pro-business, pro-development policies of the city government, the population of Marlborough has increased to over 38,000 at the time of the 2010 census. In November 2016, the administration of Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker announced a $3 million grant to the city to fund infrastructure improvements along U.S. Route 20 to aid commercial development.

Geography
Marlborough is located at 42.35083°N, -71.5475°W (42.350909, −71.547530). According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 22.2 sqmi, of which 21.1 sqmi is land and 1.1 sqmi  (4.87%) is water. The Assabet River cuts across the northwest corner of the city. Within city limits are three large lakes, known as Lake Williams, Millham Reservoir and Fort Meadow Reservoir. (A portion of Fort Meadow Reservoir extends into nearby Hudson.)

Marlborough is crossed by Interstate 495, U.S. Route 20 and Massachusetts Route 85. The eastern terminus of Interstate 290 is also in Marlborough.

Adjacent towns
Marlborough is located in eastern Massachusetts, bordered by six municipalities: Berlin, Hudson, Sudbury, Framingham, Southborough, and Northborough.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 36,255 people, 14,501 households, and 9,280 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,719.4 PD/sqmi. There were 14,903 housing units at an average density of 706.8 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the city was 87.70% White, 2.17% African American, 0.20% Native American, 3.76% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 3.27% from other races, and 2.86% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 6.06% of the population.

There were 14,501 households, out of which 30.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.5% were married couples living together, 9.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.0% were non-families. 28.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.47 and the average family size was 3.07.

In the city, the population was spread out, with 23.3% under the age of 18, 7.0% from 18 to 24, 36.7% from 25 to 44, 21.5% from 45 to 64, and 11.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 97.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.8 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $56,879, and the median income for a family was $70,385. Males had a median income of $49,133 versus $32,457 for females. The per capita income for the city was $28,723. About 4.7% of families and 6.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 8.9% of those under age 18 and 10.3% of those age 65 or over.

Economy
Marlborough is home to many businesses, stores and restaurants.

The revitalized southwestern corner of the city – locally known as the "Southwest Quadrant" – features numerous office parks and corporate buildings clustered together in a busy industrial core dotted along Forest Street, Cedar Hill Street, Simarano Drive, Ames Street, D’Angelo Drive and Campus Drive (serving The Campus at Marlborough property) with easy access to the Interstate 495 highway. The city’s recent growth of suburban office park infrastructure adjacent to Interstate 495 – which is commonly known as Greater Boston’s outer circumferential highway – is a strategic land usage format comparable to the city of Waltham, which itself has many office parks adjacent to the region’s inner circumferential highway of Massachusetts State Route 128.

The Marlborough Center Historic District – focused primarily on Main Street in the heart of the city’s downtown area – features restaurants, hair salons, barber shops, insurance agencies and many other businesses.

Marlborough Regional Chamber of Commerce
The Marlborough Regional Chamber of Commerce is the local chamber of commerce for Marlborough and five other surrounding towns in MetroWest Massachusetts. The chamber represents the business needs of over 650 businesses and thousands of employees in the area and is headquartered in the city.

The Chamber of Commerce's role has included working with the MetroWest Regional Transit Authority to improve transportation options and to obtain recognition for Marlborough's Downtown Village as a cultural district.

Public schools

 * High schools (grades 9–12):
 * Marlborough High School
 * Assabet Valley Regional Technical High School
 * Middle school (grades 6–8)
 * 1LT Charles W. Whitcomb School (formerly 4–7 School, Marlborough Middle School, and Marlborough Intermediate Elementary School)
 * Elementary schools (grades K–5)
 * Raymond C. Richer Elementary School
 * Francis J. Kane Elementary School
 * Sgt. Charles J. Jaworek Elementary School
 * Goodnow Brothers Elementary School
 * Preschool (up to Pre-K)
 * Early Childhood Center

Charter schools

 * Advanced Math & Science Academy (grades 6–12)

Parochial schools

 * Immaculate Conception School (Catholic, PS–8) (closed June 2020)

Private schools

 * Hillside School (5–9)
 * Wayside Academy (9–12)
 * Massachusetts International Academy (closed June 2020)
 * New England Innovation Academy (6–12)

After school programs

 * Boys & Girls Clubs of Metrowest

Transportation
Marlborough is located near the intersection of Routes 495, 290, 20 and the Massachusetts Turnpike. It is connected to neighboring towns and cities by MWRTA.

Major highways
Marlborough is served by Two Interstate, one U.S Highway and one state highways:

Bus

 * The MetroWest Regional Transit Authority (MWRTA) operates a regional bus service which provides fixed-route public transportation servicing multiple communities in the MetroWest region. The agency's 16 member communities include Ashland, Dover, Framingham, Holliston, Hopedale, Hopkinton, Hudson, Marlborough, Milford, Natick, Sherborn, Southborough, Sudbury, Wayland, Wellesley and Weston.
 * MWRTA Bus Route 7 connects Marlborough to the town of Southborough and the Framingham Commuter Rail Station at the Banana Lot parking facility – the latter of which provides a direct connection to the MBTA's Framingham/Worcester Commuter Rail Line for train service to Boston, Worcester and other intermediate stops. The Banana Lot stop in Framingham also connects to Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited train and Greyhound intercity bus service.
 * MWRTA Bus Route 7C (Inner City Marlborough) runs roughly east–west through Marlborough. This route operates through downtown Marlborough and connects with multiple shopping complexes/malls, residential localities and Marlborough Hospital. Transfers can be made between Routes 7 and 7C at the Newton & Weed Street bus stop.
 * MWRTA Bus Route 15 connects Marlborough with the town of Hudson to the north. The route begins at the Newton & Weed Street bus stop in downtown Marlborough with intermediate stops at Marlborough Hospital, Boston Scientific and Walmart before reaching its outer terminus at Highland Commons in Hudson. Limited rush hour service on Route 15 is provided between Boston Scientific, the Bolton Street bus shelter (at Marlborough Center) and the MBTA's Southborough Commuter Rail Station. Route 15 passengers can transfer to both Routes 7 and 7C at the Newton & Weed Street bus stop.

Private services

 * A number of private Taxi/Limousine services have been listed as being operated in Marlborough e.g. Marlborough City Taxi, American Way, Etc.

Newspapers

 * Community Advocate, a weekly regional newspaper serving Marlborough and six surrounding communities.
 * The MetroWest Daily News, a daily newspaper covering Marlborough and surrounding communities in the MetroWest region
 * The Marlborough Enterprise, the city's weekly newspaper (defunct as of 2021)
 * Marlborough Patch (online daily)
 * The Main Street Journal, a weekly newspaper (defunct as of 2021)

Television

 * Channel 8 (Comcast), Channel 34 (Verizon): WMCT-TV Your Community Station (Marlborough Cable Trust).
 * Channel 96 (Comcast), Channel 33 (Verizon): Marlborough Access, Public Access Television (Marlborough Cable Trust).
 * Channel 98: Marlborough Public Schools' student run station

Ghost Light Players of MetroWest
Ghost Light Players is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization based in Marlborough. The group has been performing in and around the Marlborough area since 2012, with productions including Hamlet, Dog Sees God, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Godspell, and Love Comics.

Marlborough Country Club
The Marlborough Country Club was host of Senior PGA Tour Event The Marlborough Classic from 1981 to 1983. Bob Goalby won the event in 1981, with Arnold Palmer winning in 1982 and Don January winning in 1983. The event has since changed locations to the Nashawtuc Country Club in Concord, Massachusetts and is now called Bank of America Championship.

Teams

 * Providence Bruins – AHL affiliate of the Boston Bruins (temporarily relocated to Marlborough during the 2020–21 season)
 * Boston Junior Bruins – youth ice hockey team in the United States Premier Hockey League (USPHL)
 * Marlboro Shamrocks – Semi-Professional football team (New England Football League)
 * Boston Rockhoppers – former professional indoor lacrosse team in the North American Lacrosse League

Points of interest

 * Assabet River Rail Trail
 * Brigham Cemetery
 * Callahan State Park
 * Capt. Peter Rice House
 * John Brown Bell
 * John J. Carroll Water Treatment Plant
 * Maplewood Cemetery
 * Marlboro Airport (closed)
 * Marlborough Country Club
 * Marlborough Memorial Beach
 * Marlborough Center Historic District
 * New England Sports Center
 * Robin Hill Cemetery
 * Rocklawn Cemetery
 * Solomon Pond Mall
 * Weeks Cemetery
 * Wilson Cemetery

Notable people

 * Horatio Alger, Jr., author, graduated from high school in Marlborough in 1847 (The city's annual Horatio Alger Street Fair was renamed the Harvest Fair in 2007)
 * Zach Auguste National Basketball Association player
 * Ella A. Bigelow (1849–1917), author and clubwoman
 * Walter Brennan, American actor and singer, attended Marlborough High School
 * Asa Brigham, politician and businessman
 * Carl C. Brigham, psychologist and creator of the SAT Test
 * Caroline Brown Buell (1843–1927), activist
 * John Buckley, baseball pitcher
 * Mike Burns, Olympian and World Cup soccer player
 * Rich Busa, marathon runner
 * Bobby Butler, NHL hockey player
 * George T. Conway III, lawyer, political commentator; graduated from Marlborough High School in 1980
 * Marcia Cross, actress best known for her role in Desperate Housewives; graduated from Marlborough High School in 1980
 * Aaron Dalbec, guitarist in bands including Converge and Bane
 * Crystal Eastman, lawyer, journalist and activist
 * Charles "Duke" Farrell, catcher of the World Series–winning Boston Americans team of 1903
 * Heather Fogarty, musician and actress
 * Philo C. Fuller, former US Congressman
 * Joey Graceffa, actor, author, singer, and YouTube personality
 * Gilman Bigelow Howe, genealogist and author
 * James Simon Kunen, author of The Strawberry Statement: Notes of a College Revolutionary
 * Gregory Maguire, author of Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
 * Amory Maynard, industrialist, founder and namesake of Maynard, Massachusetts
 * John J. Mitchell, former U.S. Congressman
 * Robert J. Murray, Under Secretary of the Navy
 * Roy Nutt, businessman and computer pioneer
 * George Pyne II, American football player
 * Ken Reynolds, Major League Baseball player
 * Jim Reynolds, Major League Baseball umpire
 * Edmund Rice, co-founder and early resident
 * Franklin Pierce Rice, printer, publisher and antiquarian
 * Henry Rice, Massachusetts state legislator and subject of Gilbert Stuart portrait
 * John Rock, gynecologist and obstetrician, co-credited with developing the first effective oral contraceptive
 * Canaan Severin, American football wide receiver
 * Bill Simmons, sports personality
 * Lucy Goodale Thurston, missionary
 * John Patrick Treacy, Roman Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of La Crosse
 * Bobb Trimble, musician
 * Paul Warnke, diplomat
 * Katya Zamolodchikova, drag queen

Sister cities and towns
Cities Towns
 * 🇯🇵 – Akiruno, Tokyo, Japan from November 3, 1998
 * 🇧🇷 – Ipatinga, Minas Gerais, Brazil from June, 2009
 * 🇬🇧 – Marlborough, Wiltshire, England, United Kingdom from 1657

title: Marlborough, Massachusetts


text:
Medford, Massachusetts

Medford is a city 6.7 mi northwest of downtown Boston on the Mystic River in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. At the time of the 2020 U.S. Census, Medford's population was 59,659. It is home to Tufts University, which has its campus on both sides of the Medford and Somerville border.

Indigenous history
Native Americans inhabited the area that would become Medford for thousands of years prior to European colonization of the Americas. At the time of European contact and exploration, Medford was the winter home of the Naumkeag people, who farmed corn and created fishing weirs at multiple sites along the Mystic River. Naumkeag sachem Nanepashemet was killed and buried at his fortification in present-day Medford during a war with the Tarrantines in 1619. The contact period introduced a number of European infectious diseases which would decimate native populations in virgin soil epidemics, including a smallpox epidemic which in 1633 killed Nanepashemet's sons, sachems Montowompate and Wonohaquaham. Sagamore Park in West Medford is a native burial site from the contact period which includes the remains of a likely sachem, either Nanepashemet or Wonohaquaham. After the 1633 epidemic, Nanepashemet's widow, known only as the Squaw Sachem of Mistick, led the Naumkeag, and over the next two decades would deed large parts of Naumkeag territory to English settlers. In 1639, the Massachusetts General Court purchased the land that would become present day Medford, then within the boundaries of Charlestown, from the Squaw Sachem.

17th century
Medford was settled in 1630 by English colonists as part of Charlestown, of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The settlement was originally called "Mistick" by Thomas Dudley, based on the indigenous name for the area's river. Thomas Dudley's party renamed the settlement "Meadford". The name may have come from a description of the "meadow by the ford" in the Mystic River, or from two locations in England that Cradock may have known: the hamlet of Mayford or Metford in Staffordshire near Caverswall, or from the parish of Maidford or Medford (now Towcester, Northamptonshire). In 1634, the land north of the Mystic River was developed as the private plantation of Matthew Cradock, a former governor. Across the river was Ten Hills Farm, which belonged to John Winthrop, Governor of the Massachusetts Bay colony. In 1637, the first bridge (a toll bridge) across the Mystic River was built at the site of the present-day Cradock Bridge, which carries Main Street into Medford Square. It would be the only bridge across the Mystic until 1787, and as such became a major route for traffic coming into Boston from the north (though ferries and fords were also used). The bridge would be rebuilt in 1880, 1909, and 2018.

Until 1656, all of northern Medford was owned by Cradock, his heirs, or Edward Collins. Medford was governed as a "peculiar" or private plantation. As the land began to be divided among several people from different families, the new owners began to meet and make decisions locally and increasingly independently from the Charlestown town meeting. In 1674, a Board of Selectmen was elected; in 1684, the colonial legislature granted the ability to raise money independently; and in 1689, a representative to the legislature was chosen. The town got its own religious meeting room in 1690, and a secular meeting house in 1696.

In 1692, the town engaged its first ordained preacher, Rev. John Hancock Sr. During his time of service Rev. Hancock lived in Medford, serving until November 1693. One of his grandsons was John Hancock, who was a later notable figure of the American Revolutionary War and later elected as first and third governor of Massachusetts.

18th and 19th centuries
The land south of the Mystic River, present-day South Medford, was originally known as "Mistick Field". It was transferred from Charlestown to Medford in 1754. This grant also included the "Charlestown woodlots" (the Medford part of the Middlesex Fells), and part of what was at the time Woburn (now Winchester). Other parts of Medford were transferred from Charlestown in 1811, Winchester in 1850 ("Upper Medford"), and Malden in 1879. Additional land was transferred to Medford from Malden (1817), Everett (1875), and Malden (1877) again.

The population of Medford rose from 230 in 1700 to 1,114 in 1800. After 1880, the population rapidly expanded, reaching 18,244 by 1900. Farmland was divided into lots and sold to build residential and commercial buildings, starting in the 1840s and 1850s; government services expanded with the population (schools, police, post office) and technological advancement (gas lighting, electricity, telephones, railways). Tufts University was chartered in 1852 and the Crane Theological School at Tufts opened in 1869. In 1865 the Lawrence Rifles volunteer militia company was formed in Medford during the Civil War.

Medford was incorporated as a city in 1892, and was a center of industry, including the manufacture of tiles and crackers, bricks, rum, and clipper ships, such as the White Swallow and the Kingfisher, both built by Hayden & Cudworth.

Transportation
During the 17th century, a handful of major public roads (High Street, Main Street, Salem Street, "the road to Stoneham", and South Street) served the population, but the road network started a long-term expansion in the 18th century. The Medford Turnpike Company was incorporated in 1803, and (as was reasonably common at the time) turned what is now Mystic Avenue over to the city in 1866. The Andover Turnpike Company was incorporated in 1805, and turned what is now Forest Street and Fellsway West over to Medford in 1830.

Other major commercial transportation projects included the Middlesex Canal by 1803, the Boston and Lowell Railroad in West Medford in the 1830s, and the Boston and Maine Railroad to Medford Center in 1847.

A horse-powered street railway began running to Somerville and Charlestown in 1860. The street railway network expanded in the hands of various private companies, and went electric in the late 1890s, when trolleys to Everett and downtown Boston were available. Streetcars were converted to buses in the 20th century. Interstate 93 was constructed between 1956 and 1963.

Spongy moth
In 1868, a French astronomer and naturalist, Leopold Trouvelot, was attempting to breed a better silkworm using spongy moths. Several of the moths escaped from his home, at 27 Myrtle Street. Within ten years, the insect had denuded the vegetation in the neighborhood. It spread over North America.

Holiday songs
In Simpson's Tavern, a tavern and boarding house on High Street, in the late 19th century, local resident James Pierpont is rumored to have written "Jingle Bells" after watching a sleigh race from Medford to Malden. There is also a claim that Pierpont wrote it while he was the music director at Unitarian Universalist Church in Savannah, Georgia. He copyrighted the song while there.

Another local resident, Lydia Maria Child (1802–1880), made a poem out of the trip across town to her grandparents' house, now the song "Over the River and Through the Wood".

Other notables

Paul Revere's famous midnight ride traveled along Main Street, continuing onto High Street in Medford Square. An annual re-enactment takes place honoring the historic event.

The Peter Tufts House (350 Riverside Ave.) is thought to be the oldest all-brick building in New England. Another important site is the "Slave Wall" on Grove Street, built by "Pomp", an enslaved person owned by the prominent Brooks family. The Royall House and Slave Quarters, which once belonged to one of Harvard Law School's founders, Isaac Royall, Jr., is a National Historic Landmark and a local history museum. The house was used by Continental Army troops, including George Washington and John Stark, during the American Revolutionary War.

George Luther Stearns, an American industrialist and one of John Brown's Secret Six. His passion for the abolitionist cause shaped his life, bringing him into contact with the likes of Abraham Lincoln and Ralph Waldo Emerson and starting The Nation magazine. He was given the rank of major by Massachusetts Governor John Andrew and spent most of the Civil War recruiting for the 54th and 55th Massachusetts regiments and the 5th cavalry.

Medford was home to Fannie Farmer, author of one of the world's most famous cookbooks—as well as James Plimpton, the man credited with the 1863 invention of the first practical four-wheeled roller skate, which set off a roller craze that quickly spread across the United States and Europe.

Amelia Earhart lived in Medford while working as a social worker in 1925.

Elizabeth Short, the victim of an infamous Hollywood murder and who became known as The Black Dahlia, was born in Hyde Park (the southernmost neighborhood of the city of Boston, Massachusetts) but raised in Medford before going to the West Coast looking for fame.

Medford has sent more than its share of athletes to the National Hockey League; Shawn Bates, though born in Melrose, grew up in Medford, as did Keith Tkachuk, Mike Morrison, David Sacco and Joe Sacco. Former Red Sox pitcher Bill Monbouquette grew up in Medford, as did former Major League Baseball infielder Mike Pagliarulo.

Medford was home to Michael Bloomberg, American businessman, philanthropist, and the founder of Bloomberg L.P. He was the Mayor of New York City from 2002 to 2013. Mayor Bloomberg attended Medford High School and resided in Medford until after he graduated from college at Johns Hopkins University. His mother remained a resident of Medford until her death in 2011.

The only cryobank of amniotic stem cells in the United States is located in Medford, built by Biocell Center, a biotechnology company led by Giuseppe Simoni.

Notorious crimes
Medford was the location of some infamous crimes:
 * One of the biggest bank robberies and jewel heists in world history happened on Memorial Day weekend in 1980, when several crooked officers of the Medford Police and Metropolitan District Commission Police forces robbed the Depositors Trust Bank in Medford Square, yielding an estimated $25 million. The book The Cops Are Robbers: A Convicted Cop's True Story of Police Corruption is based upon this event. Salvatore's Restaurant, located at 55 High Street in Medford Square, is partially in the same location as the bank that was robbed. The private dining room in the restaurant uses the bank's vault door as an entrance way, and the hole in the corner of the ceiling that the robbers crawled through was left intact for nostalgia.
 * An admitted Mob execution by Somerville's Winter Hill Gang of Joe "Indian-Joe" Notarangeli took place at the "Pewter Pot" café in Medford Square, now called the "Lighthouse Cafe."
 * In October 1989, the FBI recorded a Mafia initiation ceremony held by the Patriarca crime family at a home on Guild St. in Medford.

Geography
Medford is located at 42.42°N, -71.10806°W (42.419996, −71.107942).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 8.6 sqmi, of which 8.1 sqmi is land and 0.5 sqmi  (5.79%) is water.

A park called the Middlesex Fells Reservation, to the north, lies partly within the city. This 2060 acre preserve is shared by Medford with the municipalities of Winchester, Stoneham, Melrose, and Malden. The Mystic River flows roughly west to southeast through the middle of the city.

Neighborhoods
People from Medford often identify themselves with a particular neighborhood.
 * West Medford
 * Brooks Estates
 * Fulton Heights/The Heights (North Medford)
 * Wellington (East Medford)
 * Glenwood
 * Lawrence Estates
 * South Medford
 * Medford Hillside
 * Tufts University (mostly contiguous, situated on Medford Hillside)

Demographics
Irish-Americans are a strong presence in the city and live in all areas. South Medford is a traditionally Italian neighborhood. West Medford, the most affluent of Medford's many neighborhoods, was once the bastion of some of Boston's elite families—including Peter Chardon Brooks, one of the wealthiest men in post-colonial America, and father-in-law to Charles Francis Adams—and is also home to an historic African-American neighborhood that dates to the Civil War.

Between 2021 and 2022, the United States Census Bureau ranked Medford as having one of the nation's fastest-growing populations.

As of the census of 2010, there were 56,173 people, 22,810 households, and 13,207 families residing in the city. The population density was 6,859.9 PD/sqmi. There were 24,046 housing units at an average density of 2,796.0 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the city was 78.6% White, 8.80% African American, 0.2% Native American, 6.9% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 2.8% from other races, and 2.7% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4.4% of the population.

There were 22,810 households, out of which 22.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.5% were married couples living together, 11.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 42.1% were non-families. 24.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.38 and the average family size was 3.00.

In the city, the population was spread out, with 13.8% under the age of 15, 14.3% from 15 to 24, 31.7% from 25 to 44, 24.9% from 45 to 64, and 15.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37.7 years. For every 100 females, there were 91.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.4 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $52,476, and the median income for a family was $62,409. Males had a median income of $41,704 versus $34,948 for females. The per capita income for the city was $24,707. About 4.1% of families and 6.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 5.7% of those under age 18 and 7.4% of those age 65 or over.

Medford has three Public, educational, and government access (PEG) cable TV channels. The Public-access television channel is TV3, The Educational-access television is channel 15 and 16 is the Government-access television (GATV) municipal channel.

Education
Medford is home to many schools, public and private.

 * Elementary
 * Public

 * Missituk Elementary School
 * Brooks Elementary School
 * John J. McGlynn Elementary School
 * Milton Fuller Roberts Elementary School
 * Private (non-sectarian)
 * Eliot-Pearson Children's School (Pre-K–2)
 * Gentle-Dragon Preschool (Pre-K)
 * Merry-Go-Round Nursery School (Pre-K)
 * Play Academy Learning Center (Pre-K–K)
 * Oakland Park Children's Center (Pre-K)
 * Six Acres Nursery School (Pre-K–K) (non-sectarian, but run through Medford Jewish Community Center)
 * Private (sectarian)
 * St. Joseph's (K–8)
 * St. Raphael's (Pre-K–8)

 * Middle School

 * John J. McGlynn Middle School
 * Madeline Dugger Andrews Middle School

 * High School
 * Public

 * Medford High School
 * Medford Vocational Technical High School
 * Mascot: Mustang

 * College
 * Private
 * Tufts University

 * Miscellaneous education
 * Private
 * The Greater Boston Japanese Language School (ボストン補習授業校), a supplementary school for Japanese people, holds classes at Medford High. Its weekday offices are in Arlington.

Local government

 * Breanna Lungo-Koehn, Mayor
 * Adam L. Hurtubise, City Clerk
 * Nina Nazarian, Chief of Staff

City Council

 * Nicole Morell, President
 * Isaac B. "Zac" Bears, Vice President
 * Richard F. Caraviello
 * Kit Collins
 * Adam Knight
 * George A. Scarpelli
 * Justin Tseng

School Committee

 * Breanna Lungo-Koehn, Chair
 * Jenny R. Graham, Vice Chair
 * Sharon Hays
 * Kathy Kreatz
 * Melanie P. McLaughlin
 * Mea Quinn Mustone
 * Paul Ruseau, Secretary

Local media and news
The City of Medford has several local news and media outlets:

Print

 * Medford Transcript
 * Medford Daily Mercury – 1880–2017
 * The Tufts Daily

Transportation
Three MBTA subway stations are located in Medford: Wellington on the Orange Line, plus Medford/Tufts and Ball Square on the Green Line. The MBTA Commuter Rail Lowell Line stops at West Medford. Medford is served by MBTA bus local routes 80, 94, 95, 96, 99, 100, 101, 108, 134, and 710, plus express routes 325 and 326.

Interstate 93 travels roughly north–south through the city. State routes passing through Medford include 16, 28, 38, and 60.

Points of interest

 * Tufts University: Though the Tufts campus is mainly located in Medford, the Somerville–Medford border actually runs through it. The school employs many local residents and has many community service projects that serve the city, especially those run through the Leonard Carmichael Society and the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service, the latter of which especially emphasizes public service in Tufts' host communities.
 * Royall House and Slave Quarters, the only surviving slave quarters in Massachusetts, a 1692 house operating as a non-profit museum.
 * The Unitarian Universalist Church of Medford: Medford's first religious community since 1690.
 * Amelia Earhart residence, 76 Brooks Street
 * John Wade House, built 1784, added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975
 * Former site of Fannie Farmer's house, corner of Paris & Salem Streets
 * Grandfather's House
 * Grace Church, designed by H. H. Richardson
 * Gravity Research Foundation monument at Tufts University
 * Henry Bradlee Jr. House
 * Jingle Bells historical marker, High Street
 * Salem Street Burying Ground
 * Old Ship Street Historic District: Area around Riverside Ave (formerly Ship Street) containing many historic homes
 * United States Post Office–Medford Main, historic 1937 building

Notable people

 * Belinda Sutton, considered an early activist for reparations for enslavement
 * Edwin Adams (1834–1877), stage comedian of the 19th century
 * Lou Antonelli, science fiction writer
 * Rev. Hosea Ballou II, Minister of 1st Universalist and first president of Tufts College
 * Shawn Bates, professional hockey player, New York Islanders
 * Bia, rapper, singer, and model
 * Jessica Biel, actress, resident while attending Tufts University
 * Heber R. Bishop (1840–1902), industrialist and financier
 * Michael Bloomberg, mayor of New York City (2002–2013)
 * Dale Bozzio, lead singer of Missing Persons
 * Foghorn Bradley, was a baseball player and umpire in Major League Baseball
 * Hall L. Brooks, former member of the Wisconsin State Assembly
 * Loren Bouchard, animator, musician, filmmaker, creator and showrunner of Bob's Burgers
 * Mary Carew, Olympic gold medalist sprinter, born in Medford
 * Terri Lyne Carrington, jazz drummer
 * John Ciardi, poet and translator of Dante
 * Lydia Maria Child, anti-slavery activist, writer of the poem "Over the River and Through the Woods"
 * Martha Coakley, former attorney general of Massachusetts
 * Joe Coleman, Major League Baseball player
 * Bill Cummings, philanthropist, real estate mogul
 * James O. Curtis (1804–1890), Medford shipbuilder who built ships powered by sail or by screw and steam
 * Thayer David, TV and film character actor
 * Edward Dugger (1894–1939), African American military commander
 * Amelia Earhart, pioneer aviator, born in Kansas, lived in Medford as a young woman
 * Eugene Fama, Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences
 * Fannie Farmer, culinary expert
 * Frank Fontaine, comedian and singer
 * Paul Geary, former drummer of hard rock band Extreme, music manager for acts such as Godsmack
 * Dana Giacchetto, American stockbroker and financial criminal
 * Alan L. Gropman, military officer, college professor, and author
 * Colonel Edward Needles Hallowell, merchant and commander of 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry in the American Civil War
 * John Hancock Sr., first ordained preacher of Medford, lived and served in Medford 1692–1693, grandfather to John Hancock, Governor of Massachusetts and famous revolutionary figure
 * Bill Hanley, audio pioneer, sound engineer, "Father of Festival Sound"
 * Robert Kelly, comedian known for Tourgasm
 * Kathleen McCartney, president of Smith College, former dean of Harvard Graduate School of Education
 * Michael McDowell, screenwriter of Beetlejuice and The Nightmare Before Christmas and author of Southern Gothic novels
 * Dave McGillivray, race director of Boston Marathon
 * Maria Menounos, Miss Massachusetts Teen USA 1996, media personality (Entertainment Tonight, Access Hollywood and Extra), actress, professional wrestler, hostess of the Eurovision Song Contest 2006
 * Bill Monbouquette, Major League Baseball pitcher 1958–1968 (Red Sox, Tigers, Yankees)
 * Priscilla Morrill, actress, played Edie Grant on the Mary Tyler Moore Show
 * John Forbes Nash, Princeton professor, winner of Nobel Prize in Economics
 * Julianne Nicholson, actress (Ally McBeal, Law and Order: Criminal Intent, August: Osage County)
 * Alexis Ohanian, founder of reddit
 * Mike Pagliarulo, Major League Baseball player (Yankees, Twins, Padres, Rangers, Orioles)
 * Sam Petrucci, Graphic Designer, Original GI Joe artist.
 * James Pierpont, writer of "Jingle Bells"
 * Rev. John Pierpont
 * Charles H. Pizzano noted sculptor
 * Ruth Posselt, classical violinist
 * Robert D. Richardson, historian, grew up in the Osgood House
 * William Zebina Ripley, economist and racial theorist
 * Mark Roopenian, NFL player
 * Isaac Royall, Jr., 18th century benefactor of Harvard, and the largest enslaver in Massachusetts
 * David Sacco, NHL player
 * Joe Sacco, NHL player and coach
 * Claude Shannon, scientist, father of Information Theory and modern digital communications
 * Elizabeth Short, aspiring actress, mutilated and murdered, dubbed the "Black Dahlia" by the press
 * Clifford Shull, Nobel Prize–winning American physicist
 * David Silva, Provost and Academic Vice President at Salem State University, linguistics scholar, essayist.
 * Rev. Clarence Skinner, Dean of Religion at Tufts University, minister Hillside Universalist Church (1917–1920), theologian and pacifist
 * Bill Staines, folk musician
 * George Luther Stearns, industrialist, one of John Brown's Secret Six, lead recruiter of 54th and 55th Regiments
 * Mark T. Sullivan, author who has written novels on his own and has co-authored three James Patterson novels
 * E. Leroy Sweetser, U.S. Army brigadier general, born in Medford
 * Alexander Theroux, poet and author of Darconville's Cat
 * Paul Theroux, author
 * Keith Tkachuk, NHL player
 * Ed Tryon, halfback at Colgate University, elected to College Football Hall of Fame in 1963
 * Bob Tufts (1955–2019), Major League Baseball pitcher

title: Medford, Massachusetts