text:
Quincy, Massachusetts

Quincy is a city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the largest city in the county and a part of Greater Boston, being Boston's immediate southern suburbs. Its population in 2020 was 101,636, making it the seventh-largest city in the state. Known as the "City of Presidents", Quincy is the birthplace of two U.S. presidents—John Adams and his son John Quincy Adams—as well as John Hancock, the first signer of the Declaration of Independence and the first and third governor of Massachusetts.

First settled in 1625, Quincy was briefly part of Dorchester before becoming the north precinct of Braintree in 1640. In 1792, Quincy was split off from Braintree; the new town was named after Colonel John Quincy, maternal grandfather of Abigail Adams and after whom John Quincy Adams was also named. Quincy became a city in 1888.

For more than a century, Quincy was home to a thriving granite industry; the city was also the site of the Granite Railway, the United States' first commercial railroad. Shipbuilding at the Fore River Shipyard was another key part of the city's economy. In the 20th century, both Howard Johnson's and Dunkin' Donuts were founded in the city.

Pre-Colonial Period to the Revolution

The road that eventually became the Old Coast Road from Boston to Plymouth, going through Quincy and Braintree, started out as a native american trail.

Massachusett sachem Chickatawbut had his seat on a hill called Moswetuset Hummock prior to the settlement of the area by English colonists, situated east of the mouth of the Neponset River near what is now called Squantum. It was visited in 1621 by Plymouth Colony commander Myles Standish and Squanto, a native guide.

Four years later, a party led by Captain Richard Wollaston established a post on a low hill near the south shore of Quincy Bay east of present-day Black's Creek. The settlers found the area suitable for farming, as Chickatawbut and his group had cleared much of the land of trees. (The Indians used the name Passonagessit ("Little Neck of Land") for the area. ) This settlement was named Mount Wollaston in honor of the leader, who left the area soon after 1625, bound for Virginia.

The Wollaston neighborhood in Quincy still retains Captain Wollaston's name. Upon the departure of Wollaston, Thomas Morton took over leadership of the post. Morton's history of conflict with the Plymouth settlement and his free-thinking ideals antagonized the Plymouth settlement, who maligned the colony and accused it of debauchery with Indian women and drunkenness. Morton renamed the settlement Ma-re-Mount ("Hill by the Sea") and later wrote that the conservative separatists of Plymouth Colony to the south were "threatening to make it a woefull mount and not a merry mount", in reference to the fact that they disapproved of his libertine practices. In 1627, Morton was arrested by Standish for violating the code of conduct in a way harmful to the colony. He was sent back to England, only to return and be arrested by Puritans the next year. The area of Quincy now called Merrymount is located on the site of the original English settlement of 1625 and takes its name from the punning name given by Morton.

The area was first incorporated as part of Dorchester in 1630 and was briefly annexed by Boston in 1634. The area became Braintree in 1640, bordered along the coast of Massachusetts Bay by Dorchester to the north and Weymouth to the east. Beginning in 1708, the modern border of Quincy first took shape as the North Precinct of Braintree.

Post-Revolution
Following the American Revolution, Quincy was officially incorporated as a separate town named for Col. John Quincy in 1792, the grandfather of Abigail Adams and was made a city in 1888. Quincy, Massachusetts, is the only one of 17 cities named Quincy in the United States whose residents pronounce the name as "KWIN-zee" rather than "KWIN-see". In 1845 the Old Colony Railroad opened; the Massachusetts Historical Commission stated that the railroad was "the beginning of a trend toward suburbanization". Quincy became as accessible to Boston as was Charlestown. The first suburban land company, Bellevue Land Co., had been organized in northern Quincy in 1870. Quincy's population grew by over 50 percent during the 1920s.

Among the city's several firsts was the Granite Railway, the first commercial railroad in the United States. It was constructed in 1826 to carry granite from a Quincy quarry to the Neponset River in Milton so that the stone could then be taken by boat to erect the Bunker Hill Monument in Charlestown. Quincy granite became famous throughout the nation, and stonecutting became the city's principal economic activity. Quincy was also home to the first iron furnace in the United States, the John Winthrop Jr. Iron Furnace Site (also known as Braintree Furnace), from 1644 to 1653.

In the 1870s, the city gave its name to the Quincy Method, an influential approach to education developed by Francis W. Parker while he served as Quincy's superintendent of schools. Parker, an early proponent of progressive education, put his ideas into practice in the city's underperforming schools; four years later, a state survey found that Quincy's students were excelling. Many of Quincy’s teachers were recruited by districts in other states, spreading the Quincy method beyond Massachusetts to New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Vermont, Florida, Minnesota, and other places.

Quincy was additionally important as a shipbuilding center. Sailing ships were built in Quincy for many years, including the only seven-masted schooner ever built, Thomas W. Lawson. The Fore River area became a shipbuilding center in the 1880s; founded by Thomas A. Watson, who became wealthy as assistant to Alexander Graham Bell in developing the telephone, many famous warships were built at the Fore River Shipyard. Amongst these were the aircraft carrier USS Lexington (CV-2); the battleships USS Massachusetts (BB-59), now preserved as a museum ship at Battleship Cove in Massachusetts, and USS Nevada (BB-36); and USS Salem (CA-139), the world's last all-gun heavy warship, which is still preserved at Fore River as the main exhibit of the United States Naval Shipbuilding Museum. John J. Kilroy, reputed originator of the famous Kilroy was here graffiti, was a rivet inspector at Fore River.

Quincy was also an aviation pioneer thanks to Dennison Field. Located in the Squantum section of town it was one of the world's first airports and was partially developed by Amelia Earhart. In 1910, it was the site of the Harvard Aero Meet, the second air show in America. It was later leased to the Navy for an airfield, and served as a reserve Squantum Naval Air Station into the 1950s. The Army has also long maintained a presence in the city, with the Massachusetts Army National Guard occupying the Kelley Armory in Wollaston, from 1971 to 1976 it served as headquarters for the 187th Infantry Brigade.

The Howard Johnson's and Dunkin' Donuts restaurant chains were both founded in Quincy. Celtic punk band Dropkick Murphys got its start in the city's Wollaston neighborhood in 1996. Quincy is also home to the United States' longest-running Flag Day parade, a tradition that began in 1952 under Richard Koch, a former director of Parks and Recreation, who started the "Koch Club" sports organization for kids and had an annual parade with flags.

Geography
Quincy shares borders with Boston to the north (separated by the Neponset River), Milton to the west, Randolph and Braintree to the south, and Weymouth (separated by the Fore River) and Hull (maritime border between Quincy Bay and Hingham Bay) to the east. Historically, before incorporation when it was called "Mount Wollaston" and later as the "North Precinct" of Braintree, Quincy roughly began at the Neponset River in the north and ended at the Fore River in the south.

Quincy Bay, within city limits to the northeast, is part of Boston Harbor and Massachusetts Bay. There are several beaches in Quincy, including Wollaston Beach along Quincy Shore Drive. Located on the western shore of Quincy Bay, Wollaston Beach is the largest Boston Harbor beach. Quincy's territory includes Hangman Island, Moon Island (restricted access, and all land is owned by the City of Boston), Nut Island (now a peninsula), and Raccoon Island in the Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 26.9 sqmi, of which 16.8 sqmi is land and 10.1 sqmi is water. The total area is 37.60% water.

Although Quincy is primarily urban, 2485 acre or fully 23 percent of its land area lies within the uninhabited Blue Hills Reservation, a state park managed by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation. This undeveloped natural area encompasses the southwestern portion of Quincy and includes the city's highest point, 517 ft Chickatawbut Hill. Other hills within Quincy include Forbes Hill in Wollaston, Presidents Hill in Quincy Center and Penns Hill in South Quincy.

2020 census
As of the 2020 United States Census, there were 101,636 people and 46,789 households, making it the eighth-largest city in the state. The population density was 6,137.6 PD/sqmi. There were 51,156 housing units.

The racial makeup of the city was 56.2% White (non-Hispanic), 6.4% African American alone, 0.1% Native American alone, 28.9% Asian alone (15.6% Chinese, 3.2% Vietnamese, 2.6% Indian), 0.1% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, 0.85% from other races, and 5.3% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 5.4% of the population. 33.5% were of Irish, 12.7% Italian and 5.0% English ancestry according to the 2000 Census. 58.1% spoke only English, while 8.0% spoke Chinese or Mandarin, 2.6% Cantonese, 1.9% Spanish, 1.5% Vietnamese and 1.3% Italian in their homes.

Of the city's 46,789 households, approximately 56.6% were married couples living together, 12.5% had a female householder with no spouse present, 5.2% were male householders with no spouse present, and 25.8% were non-families. 50.1% of Quincy's population was male, and 49.9% female. The average household size was 2.2 people, and most people (84.3%) were in the same house a year ago.

In the city, the age distribution of the population shows 14% under the age of 18, 66.2% from 18 to 64, and 19.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40.8 years. The median income for a household in the city was $90,668. Males had a median income of 1.31 times greater than females ($97,905 compared to $74,737 for females). The per capita income for the city was $53,082. About 7.3% of families and 9.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 15.2% of those under age 18 and 11.1% of those age 65 or over.

Asian community
As of 2010, Quincy has the highest per capita concentration of persons of Asian origin in Massachusetts. As of 2003 about 66% of the Asians in Quincy are ethnic Chinese, giving the city one of the largest Chinese populations in the state. There is also a community of persons of East Indian origins, with most of them working in information technology and other skilled professions. A growing number of people with Vietnamese origins live in the area as well and make up the second largest Asian American group in Quincy; it is estimated that nearly 4,000 Vietnamese people live in the city.

In 1980, there were 750 persons of Asian origin in Quincy. Most of the Asian immigrants coming in the 1980s originated from Hong Kong and Taiwan. In 1990, Quincy had 5,577 persons of Asian origin, with 143 of them being of East Indian origin. The number of Asians increased to 13,546 in 2000, with about 9,000 of them being ethnic Chinese, and 1,127 of them being ethnic East Indian. The latter group grew by 688%, making it the fastest-growing Asian subgroup in Quincy. Around 2003, most Asian immigrants were coming from Fujian instead of Hong Kong and Taiwan. At that time, Quincy had a higher Asian population than the Boston Chinatown. The overall Asian population increased by 64% in the following decade, to 22,174 in 2010. Quincy's Chinese population increased by 60% during that time period.

Historically, Quincy residents traveled to shops in Chinatown, Boston, but by 2003 Asian shopping centers became established in Quincy. By 2003, New York City-based Kam Man Food was establishing a supermarket in Quincy. In February 2017, City Councilor Nina Liang presented a motion to designate Quincy as a "Sanctuary City". This motion was voted down by the City Council. Quincy has an estimated 8,000 undocumented residents and has the 11th-highest concentration of immigrants in Massachusetts overall.

As of 2000, about 50% of Asians in Quincy own their own houses; many who rent do so while saving money for down payments for their houses. Sixty-five percent of the Chinese were homeowners, while only 10% of the East Indians were homeowners. As of 2003, slightly more than 2,500 Asian Americans in Quincy were registered to vote, making up almost 25% of Asians in the city who were eligible to vote.

In the 1980s, there was racial violence against the Asian community by whites, and at the time the city did not employ any Asian police officers, leaving the Asian population to feel a lack of trust in the police. By 2003, the racial tensions had been greatly reduced, and the Quincy Police Department at that time had Asian officers.

By 2003, Quincy Asian Resources Inc. planned to establish a newsletter for Asian residents. In 2011, Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center, Inc. (BCNC; ) executive director Elaine Ng stated that the center would begin to offer services in Quincy. The number of persons using BCNC services residing in Quincy increased by almost 300% in a period beginning in 2004 and ending in 2005.

Neighborhoods
Quincy is divided into numerous neighborhoods with individual histories and characteristics.
 * Adams Shore was originally developed as a summer resort location and is now a year-round residential area.
 * Germantown was the site of a former planned manufacturing community begun in the 1750s to encourage German immigration and is now a residential neighborhood with a massive public housing project.
 * Houghs Neck is a northeastern peninsular community named for Atherton Hough, who was granted the land in 1636 for use as a farm and orchard. Hough's Neck has a substantial Irish American population.
 * Marina Bay is a residential-commercial area developed in the 1980s on the site of the closed Naval Air Station Squantum with high-rise condominiums, restaurants and a large marina.
 * Merrymount is a primarily residential neighborhood and the site of Quincy's initial settlement.
 * Montclair is the northwestern section of the city along West Squantum Street, bordering the town of Milton.
 * North Quincy is a residential and commercial neighborhood along Hancock Street and Quincy Shore Drive that includes a substantial Asian American population with substantial Asian business growth as well as the location of one of the city's largest high schools, North Quincy High School.
 * Quincy Center is the commercial and government center of the city where City Hall, Thomas Crane Public Library, the United First Parish Church (Old Stone Church), Quincy Masonic Building, and numerous office buildings and residential streets can be found.
 * Quincy Point is a densely populated residential area east of Quincy Center, with commercial areas along Quincy Avenue and Southern Artery, that is also the site of the Fore River Shipyard.
 * South Quincy is a residential area bordering the town of Braintree that includes Crown Colony office park and Faxon Park, a wooded 66 acre protected space.
 * Squantum is the peninsular northernmost part of Quincy grew from being a summer resort adjacent to an early civilian, then Naval Air Station Squantum, into a year-round residential neighborhood. Squantum boasts one of the largest Irish American populations, per capita, in the United States.
 * West Quincy is a residential and commercial section with immediate access to Interstate 93 and the site of several former granite quarries, now the Quincy Quarries Reservation, and the Granite Railway, first commercial railway in the United States.
 * Wollaston, named for Captain Richard Wollaston, the leader of Quincy's original settlers, was an early rail-accessed commuter home for Boston workers that is now a densely populated residential and commercial area and site of Eastern Nazarene College.

Economy
During its history Quincy has been known as a manufacturing and heavy industry center, with granite quarrying dominating employment in the 19th century and shipbuilding at Fore River Shipyard and Squantum Victory Yard rising to prominence in the 20th century. The recent decades have seen a shift in focus to several large employers in the professional and service sector of the economy. Quincy is the location of the corporate headquarters of several firms, including Boston Financial Data Services, the Stop & Shop supermarket chain, Arbella Insurance Group and The Patriot Ledger, the publisher of the South Shore's largest regional newspaper.

Other major employers with offices in Quincy are State Street Corporation, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and Boston Scientific. TACV, national flag carrier airline of Cape Verde, has its United States corporate office in Quincy. Icelandair has its North American headquarters in the city as well.

Income
Data is from the 2009–2013 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates.

Local
Quincy has a strong mayor government. The incumbent mayor, Thomas P. Koch, has served since 2008; he is the 33rd mayor of the city. Mayors in the city were elected to two-year terms. In 2013, the city's voters opted to extend the mayoral term to four years, beginning after the 2015 election.

In addition to the mayor, the city has a nine-member city council, with Ian Cain serving as president as of 2024. Six councilors are elected to represent Quincy's wards, and three are elected at large. Councilors serve two-year terms. The city also has a school committee with seven members—the mayor and six members elected to staggered four-year terms.

Public safety
The Quincy Police Department was formed in 1888, currently headquartered at the original Quincy Police Station which was built in 1925 as the city's first purpose-built police station and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1990. In 2010, the city of Quincy was the first in the US to have its police department carry the nasal spray Narcan (Nalaxone) to combat the overdose outbreak associated with the opioid epidemic in the US. When the program first began, the city's officers were reviving an overdose victim every four to five days. By 2014, police officers had administered the opioid antagonist over 300 times. Other cities and police departments throughout the US developed their own Narcan-dispensing programs based on the model pioneered by the Quincy PD. In 2017, overdose deaths in the city and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts had declined, it was thought, due to the use of naloxone by the police and others. The state legislature, in 2018, required all pharmacies to keep Narcan in stock and available to anyone, without a prescription.

Fire emergencies are handled by the Quincy Fire Department, which was founded in 1889 and includes the Central Fire Station, which is on the National Register of Historic Places and is still active as of 2023. The city's Emergency Medical Services are privately contracted, with ambulance response being handled by Brewster Ambulance Service since 2015.

State
Quincy is represented in the Massachusetts State Senate by Democrat John F. Keenan (Norfolk and Plymouth district). Three members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives represent Quincy: Bruce Ayers (1st Norfolk district), Tackey Chan (2nd Norfolk district), and Ronald Mariano (3rd Norfolk district). Each representative is a Democrat, and Mariano is the speaker of the House.

Education
Quincy is home to various educational institutions, public and private, including one early childhood education center, one Montessori school, one Catholic school, one college-preparatory school, two colleges, Eastern Nazarene College, a private liberal arts and sciences college, and Quincy College, a public, localized college, two public high schools, five public middle schools, and 12 public elementary schools. In the 19th century, the city became an innovator in progressive public education with the Quincy Method, developed by Francis W. Parker while he served as Quincy's superintendent of schools. Four years after its implementation, a state survey found that Quincy students excelled at reading, writing, and spelling, and ranked fourth in their county in math.

Higher education
The city is home to Eastern Nazarene College, a college of the liberal arts and sciences located in Wollaston Park. The college relocated to the area in 1919 from its original location in Saratoga Springs, New York, where it was established as a holiness college in 1900. Quincy College, a community college in Quincy Center, operates under the auspices of the City of Quincy. The college is unusual in this respect, as it is the only one of Massachusetts' 16 community colleges to be run by a city rather than by the state. It is one of only two colleges in the United States organized this way.

Public primary and secondary education
Public education at the primary and secondary levels is managed by Quincy Public Schools, a system that includes one early childhood center, eleven elementary schools, five middle schools and two high schools.

 * Public high schools
 * North Quincy High School
 * Quincy High School

 * Public middle schools
 * Atlantic
 * Broad Meadows
 * Central
 * Point Webster
 * South-West (formerly Reay E. Sterling)

 * Public elementary schools

 * Amelio Della Chiesa Early Childhood Center
 * Atherton Hough
 * Beechwood Knoll
 * Charles A. Bernazzani

 * Clifford Marshall
 * Lincoln-Hancock Community
 * Merrymount
 * Montclair

 * Francis W. Parker
 * Snug Harbor Community
 * Squantum
 * Wollaston

Private and alternative education
Private and alternative education institutions for children in preschool–8th grade include Quincy's three Catholic schools—Sacred Heart, St. Ann, and St. Mary. Because of declining enrollment and the ongoing economic crisis, the three merged to form the Quincy Catholic Academy, which opened in September 2010, at the site of the Sacred Heart school. The Woodward School for Girls is a non-sectarian college preparatory day school for girls in grades 6–12. Campus Kinder Haus (CKH) is operated by the Eastern Nazarene College on its Old Colony campus. The Adams Montessori School is open for children of preschool through elementary school age.

For a number of years, the Fore River Apprentice School was operated at the Fore River Shipyard to teach its students how to work in the shipyard.

Quincy is also home to the Massachusetts School of Barbering.

Public libraries
The Thomas Crane Public Library serves as the public library system of Quincy, Massachusetts.

Supplementary education
Peter Jae established the Quincy Chinese Language School, which offers supplementary education for Chinese children, in 1988. As of 2003 it holds Cantonese-language classes for 150 students at the Sacred Heart School in North Quincy on Saturday mornings. The school at one time had 400 students but the school reduced itself in size when a lack of qualified teachers occurred.

The Chung Yee School is another Chinese school in Quincy. As of 2008 the headmaster is Harry Kwan, who originated from Hong Kong. That year the school had 100 students and charged $100 ($ adjusted for inflation) per child per month for Chinese language and culture after school classes. It was first established around 1996. The school was briefly closed by the Quincy Police Department on November 28, 2008, due to a lack of Massachusetts state and local government permits. After the state and municipal authorities cleared the school of allegations of child abuse, it was scheduled to reopen that year. After the allegation, Chung Yee School continued to operate without obtaining a government childcare license for after-school programs.

In December 2002 the Vrindavana Preservation Society established the Vaisnava Academy which caters to Quincy's East Indian community and offers courses for children. Subjects include the Hindi language, Indian dance and music, and yoga.

Transportation
As part of Metro Boston, Quincy has easy access to transportation facilities. State highways and the Interstate system connect the Greater Boston area to the airport, port, and intermodal facilities of Boston. Due to its proximity to Boston proper, Quincy is connected not only by these modes of transportation but also to the regional subway system, operated by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), known locally as "The T". The four subway or "T" stops in Quincy, which are on the MBTA's Red Line, are North Quincy Station, Wollaston Station, Quincy Center Station, and Quincy Adams Station.

Highways and roads
Interstate 93 and U.S. Route 1 travel south to north concurrently through Quincy beginning in the southwest, where the Quincy–Randolph border bisects the median between the northern and southern halves of the Exit 5 cloverleaf at Massachusetts Route 28. Following a route around the southern extent of the Blue Hills Reservation, this I-93 and US 1 alignment is along the former southern section of Route 128. The highway travels along a wooded wetland region of the Reservation, entering Quincy completely just beyond Exit 5 and then crossing into Braintree as it approaches the Braintree Split, the junction with Massachusetts Route 3. Weekday traffic volume averages 250,000 to 275,000 vehicles per day at this intersection, the gateway from Boston and its inner core to the South Shore and Cape Cod.

As Route 3 joins I-93 and US 1 at the Braintree Split, the three travel north together toward Boston around the eastern extent of the Blue Hills Reservation, entering West Quincy as the Southeast Expressway. The expressway provides access to West Quincy at Exit 8—Furnace Brook Parkway and Exit 9—Bryant Avenue/Adams Street before entering Milton. The Furnace Brook Parkway exit also provides access to Ricciuti Drive and the Quincy Quarries Reservation as well as the eastern entrance to the Blue Hills Reservation Parkways.

Principal numbered state highways traveling within Quincy include: Route 3A south to north from Weymouth via Washington Street, Southern Artery, Merrymount Parkway and Hancock Street to the Neponset River Bridge and the Dorchester section of Boston; Route 28, which travels south to north from Randolph to Milton along Randolph Avenue in Quincy through a remote section of the Blue Hills Reservation; and Route 53, which enters traveling south to north from Braintree as Quincy Avenue, turning right to form the beginning of Southern Artery in Quincy Point before ending at the intersection with Washington Street/Route 3A.

In addition to the Blue Hills parkways, Quincy includes two other Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation parkways. Furnace Brook Parkway travels east from I-93 through the center of the city from West Quincy to Quincy Center and Merrymount at Quincy Bay. There the parkway meets Quincy Shore Drive at the mouth of Blacks Creek. Quincy Shore Drive travels in a northerly direction along the shore of Quincy Bay through Wollaston and into North Quincy, with much of its length abutting Wollaston Beach, then turns in a westerly direction upon intersecting with East Squantum Street and continues to meet Hancock Street at the Neponset River Bridge.

As for Quincy's other important city streets, Hancock Street begins at the southern extent of Quincy Center as a continuation of Quincy Avenue and travels north to Dorchester as a main commercial thoroughfare of Quincy Center, Wollaston and North Quincy. Washington Street enters the city at Fore River Rotary after crossing Weymouth Fore River via the Fore River Bridge and continues to Quincy Center, ending at Hancock Street. Along with Quincy Avenue and Southern Artery, other heavily traveled streets include Newport Avenue, which parallels Hancock Street to the west on the opposite side of the MBTA railway, Adams Street heading west from Quincy Center to Milton, and West and East Squantum Streets in the Montclair and North Quincy neighborhoods. Other streets are discussed in several of the neighborhood articles listed above.

Airport
Boston's Logan International Airport is accessible via MBTA Red Line connections at South Station, directly on the MBTA commuter boat (see below) or by motor vehicle using Interstate 93 or surface roads to the Ted Williams Tunnel.

MBTA rail and other commuter services
Subway service is available on the Red Line of the MBTA from four stations in Quincy: North Quincy, Wollaston, Quincy Center, and Quincy Adams. Commuter rail service operates out of Quincy Center. Both services serve South Station in Boston with connections to MBTA Commuter Rail and Amtrak intercity lines. Buses are also available for transportation in Quincy, including private bus lines and several lines provided by the MBTA. Most of the MBTA routes funnel through the Quincy Center station, which is the principal hub south of Boston for all MBTA bus lines. The southern bus garage for the MBTA system is adjacent to the Quincy Armory on Hancock Street.

Quincy was a major terminal for the commuter boat system that crosses Boston Harbor to Long Wharf, Hull, Rowe's Wharf, Hingham, and Logan Airport. The commuter boats, which were operated by Harbor Express under license by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, docked at the Fore River Shipyard in Quincy Point. Service ended in October 2013 after a water main break damaged the sea wall and wharf. Temporary repairs would have cost $15 million; permanent repairs $50 million. In 2014, the MBTA made the decision to permanently end the service and sell the land.

Sports
Quincy has had brief flirtations with professional sports. The Quincy Chiefs of the minor league Eastern Basketball Association (the predecessor to the defunct Continental Basketball Association) played a single season in 1977–1978, and were coached and managed by former Boston Celtics executive Leo Papile. The Chiefs finished 12–19 in third place, and lost in the playoffs to eventual league champion Wilkes-Barre. Quincy's professional baseball team, the Shipbuilders, competed in the New England League in 1933, recording a 12–6 record before moving to Nashua midseason; a revival of the team played in the NEL from 1941 through to 1944. The final season of the Boston Minutemen of the North American Soccer League was played at Veterans Memorial Stadium, in 1976, finishing 7–17.

The Real Boston Rams of the soccer 4th division Premier Development League, an affiliate club of the New England Revolution, played in Veterans Memorial Stadium from 2014 to 2015.

In 2019, the Boston Cannons, a professional men's field lacrosse team in the Premier Lacrosse League (PLL) moved their home stadium from Boston to Veterans Memorial Stadium. The team played two seasons there before the MLL–PLL merger.

The New England Free Jacks of Major League Rugby moved to Veterans Memorial Stadium in 2021, relocating from Weymouth.

Quincy has had several football teams in the semi-pro Eastern Football League over the years. The current club, the Quincy Militia, played its inaugural season in the EFL in 2009. Founded in 2009 by long-time Quincy resident Vaughn Driscoll, new owners came into the team picture in 2013. Militia games are played July to October with home games at Veterans Memorial Stadium on Saturday nights. An earlier team, the Quincy Giants, played in the minor league Atlantic Coast Football League between 1969 and 1971.

Quincy's only college sports program is the "Lions" of Eastern Nazarene College, in the D-III Commonwealth Coast Conference of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC). Games are played at Bradley Field and the Lahue Physical Education Center on-campus, or at Adams Field and Veterans Memorial Stadium.

Quincy's high school sports programs are in the Patriot League: the D-III Fisher Division "Raiders" of North Quincy High School and the DIIA Keenan Division "Presidents" of Quincy High School, who are rivals. Quincy also hosted the youth baseball Babe Ruth League World Series in 2003, 2005 and 2008. High school baseball and Babe Ruth League games are played at Adams Field. High school football is played at Veterans Memorial Stadium

Notable people

 * Abigail Adams, wife of John Adams, second President of the United States
 * Abigail "Nabby" Adams Smith, daughter of Abigail and John
 * Brooks Adams, noted historian
 * Charles Francis Adams Sr., diplomat, son of John Quincy Adams
 * Charles Francis Adams Jr., Civil War general, president of Union Pacific Railroad (1884–1890)
 * Charles Francis Adams III, 44th Secretary of the Navy, mayor of Quincy
 * Charles Adams (1770–1800), lawyer, son of John Adams
 * John Adams Sr., father of president John Adams, grandfather of president John Quincy Adams
 * John Adams, second President of the United States, first Vice President, founding father of U.S.
 * John Quincy Adams, sixth President of the United States
 * John Quincy Adams II, lawyer and politician
 * Louisa Adams, wife of John Quincy Adams, sixth President of the United States
 * Thomas Boylston Adams, Massachusetts Representative, justice
 * Paul W. Airey, first Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force
 * Carl Andre, minimalist artist
 * Louis Bell, Grammy Award-nominated record producer and songwriter
 * Henry Beston, writer and naturalist
 * Clara Blandick (1876–1962), actress, "Auntie Em" in The Wizard of Oz
 * Eva Maria Brown (1856-1917), social reformer
 * William R. Caddy, Medal of Honor recipient
 * Karen Cashman, 1994 Winter Olympics speed skating bronze medalist
 * Priscilla Chan, philanthropist and spouse of Mark Zuckerberg
 * John Cheever, novelist
 * Ken Coleman, sportscaster, called Boston Red Sox games from 1966 to 1974 and again from 1979 to 1989
 * Dick Dale, surf guitarist
 * Bill Dana, comedian (famous as "José Jiménez")
 * William Delahunt, U.S. congressman for 10th District
 * Peter Del Vecho, Oscar-winning producer of Frozen
 * Dick Donovan, major league pitcher with the Boston Braves, Chicago White Sox and Cleveland Indians
 * Joe Dudek, Denver Broncos player, college football Hall of Famer and 1985 Heisman Trophy candidate
 * Joseph Dunford, 19th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and 36th Commandant of the Marine Corps
 * Billy De Wolfe, actor
 * Illeana Douglas, actress
 * Esther Grace Earl (1994–2010), Vlogger/ YouTuber/ Author/ Nerdfighter/ Activist in the Harry Potter Alliance
 * Dick Flavin, poet laureate of Boston Red Sox
 * Gwen Gillen, artist and sculptor
 * Ruth Gordon, Oscar-winning actress and screenwriter
 * John Hancock, patriot and president of Continental Congress
 * Howard Deering Johnson, founder of Howard Johnson's chain
 * John F. Keenan, State Senator from Norfolk and Plymouth district
 * Pete Kendall, offensive lineman for NFL's Washington Redskins
 * Helen Ketola, All-American Girls Professional Baseball League player
 * Jake Kilrain, champion bare-knuckles boxer (1859–1937)
 * Adolph "Jazz" Maffie, bookie, participant in Great Brink's Robbery
 * James C. McConville, 40th Chief of Staff of the United States Army and 36th Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Army
 * Sheri McCoy, CEO of Avon
 * Ralph McLeod, Major League Baseball player (Boston Bees)
 * Sam Mele, Major League Baseball player and manager; resided in Quincy while with Boston Red Sox
 * Mike Mitchell, actor, comedian, co-host of Doughboys podcast
 * Mike Mottau, player for NHL's Boston Bruins
 * Donald Murray, Boston Globe columnist
 * Francis Wayland Parker, educator
 * Everett P. Pope, World War II Medal of Honor recipient
 * Mary Pratt, All-American Girls Professional Baseball League player
 * Dave O'Brien, sportscaster for ESPN and NESN
 * Dorothy Quincy Hancock Scott, socialite, wife of John Hancock
 * Edmund Quincy (1628–1698), built Dorothy Quincy House (1685)
 * Edmund Quincy (1681–1737), jurist
 * Edmund Quincy (1703–1788), merchant
 * John Quincy, colonel, General Court representative, and grandfather of Abigail Adams
 * Josiah Quincy II, attorney, "the Patriot", newspaper propagandist
 * Josiah Quincy III, president of Harvard University (1829–1845), U.S. Representative (1805–1813), Mayor of Boston (1823–1828)
 * Josiah Quincy Jr., Mayor of Boston (1846–1848), built Josiah Quincy Mansion
 * Josiah Quincy, General Court representative, assistant secretary of the Navy, mayor of Boston (1895–1899)
 * Samuel Miller Quincy, lawyer, historian, Civil War soldier, 28th Mayor of New Orleans (May 5, 1865 – June 8, 1865)
 * Lee Remick, Oscar-nominated actress
 * William B. Rice, industrialist and local philanthropist
 * Wilbert Robinson, Baseball Hall of Fame player and manager
 * William Rosenberg, founder of Dunkin' Donuts
 * Esther R. Sanger (1926–1995), social worker known as "Mother Teresa of South Shore"
 * Richard A. Stratton, former United States Navy officer and prisoner of war
 * Gordon R. Sullivan, retired United States Army general, who served as 32nd U.S. Army Chief of Staff
 * Charles Sweeney, Air Force major general, pilot for Nagasaki nuclear attack
 * Pete Varney, Major League Baseball catcher for (Chicago White Sox, Atlanta Braves)
 * Lesley Visser, Boston Globe journalist and television sportscaster
 * Katharine Augusta Ware (1797-1813), poet and literary magazine editor
 * Solomon Willard, builder of the Bunker Hill Monument and creator of first commercial railway in America
 * Walter Zink, professional baseball pitcher who played for the New York Giants
 * MrBallen (Jonathan B. Allen), internet personality, podcaster, philanthropist, former US Navy SEAL.

title: Quincy, Massachusetts


text:
Stoughton, Massachusetts

Stoughton (official name: Town of Stoughton) is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 29,281 at the 2020 census. The town is located approximately 17 mi from Boston, 31 mi from Providence, Rhode Island, and 35 mi from Cape Cod.

History
Stoughton was settled in 1713, and officially incorporated in 1726 from the southwestern portion of the large town of Dorchester. At its founding, it included the current towns of Sharon (which separated in 1765), Canton (which separated in 1797) and Avon (which separated in 1888). It was named after William Stoughton, who was the first chief justice of the Colonial Courts, and the most relentless and recalcitrant judge during Salem Witch Trials, who refused to acknowledge the trials were anything but successful and was infuriated when they were ended by Governor Phips.

The Suffolk Resolves were written in Old Stoughton (current day Milton, Massachusetts) at Doty's Tavern. The meeting included the Rev. Samuel Dunbar and Paul Revere; the site was chosen by Samuel Adams and Dr. Joseph Warren.

Originally an agricultural community, Stoughton developed into an important shoemaking center. In 1874, the Stoughton Public Library was established.

The oldest choral society in the United States is located in Stoughton. Founded in 1786 as The Stoughton Musical Society, it is now known as the Old Stoughton Musical Society. It has the oldest constitution of any musical society in the United States, written in 1787, only a few weeks after the United States Constitution. In 1893, this musical society distinguished itself by performing several concerts at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, heard by an audience of several thousand people. In 1986, the musical society celebrated its bicentennial with a series of concerts and special events.

In 1940, artist Jean Watson painted the mural A Massachusetts Countryside as a project of the WPA. The artwork is currently on display in the attic at the Stoughton Historic Society.

The “Save Our Stoughton” campaign attracted national attention in the 1980s for their work picketing a local adult book store. Most recently, Stoughton became the first municipality in Massachusetts to declare itself a "No Place for Hate" town.

Stoughton's train station was built in 1888, and is the only one in Massachusetts to house a clock tower. The station is unique in another way as it was built out of stones from a West Street quarry that belonged to Stoughton resident Myron Gilbert. In 1974, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Over one million dollars was raised to restore the station to its original luster in time for the 100th anniversary. In 2009, however, the MBTA permanently closed the station, which stood at the terminus of the Stoughton Branch of the MBTA's Providence/Stoughton Line. The building still stood but remained closed to the public as of 2015. In 2015, members of Town Meeting voted to purchase the train station from the state. Plans for use of the property are being developed by the Community Preservation Committee.

On May 9, 2013, a weak, brief, and unexpected tornado touched down in Stoughton, with minor damage occurring. The tornado was rated EF0 on the Enhanced Fujita scale after the National Weather Service office in Taunton, Massachusetts confirmed this tornado in a damage survey on May 10.

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 16.3 sqmi, of which 16.0 sqmi is land and 0.2 sqmi (2.41%) is water. Stoughton borders Canton to the north, Randolph to the northeast, Avon to the east, Brockton to the southeast, Easton to the south, and Sharon to the west. The highest point in Stoughton, approximately 350 feet (106.7 m) above mean sea level, is an unnamed hill in the southwestern region of town between Ames Pond and Briggs Pond (Easton).

Demographics
As of the 2010 Census, there were 26,962 people, 10,295 households, and 7,099 families residing in the town. The population density was 1654.1 PD/sqmi. There were 10,818 housing units at an average density of 663.7 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the town was 80.2% White, 11.1% African American, 0.2% Native American, 2.3% Asian, 1.3% from other races, and 2.6% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.2% of the population.

There were 10,295 households, out of which 27.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them; 51.5% were married couples living together; 13.1% had a female householder with no husband present; and 31.0% were non-families. Of all households, 25.6% were made up of individuals, and 2.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.59 and the average family size was 3.13.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 81.5% of age 16 years and over, 78.7% of age 18 years and over, 75.7% of age 21 years and over, 20.1% of age 62 years and over, and 16.4% of age 65 years and over. The median age was 42.9 years. For every 100 females, there were 92.1 males. For every 100 females aged 18 and over, there were 88.3 males.

Stoughton has a history of manufacturing and an emerging cluster of regional retail, as well as a substantial base of land zoned for commercial and industrial purposes. The major commercial and industrial areas in town are located adjacent to Route 24 and along routes 138, 139, and 27; but smaller areas are interspersed with residential zones due to the community's industrial past. The town has significant protected open space resources, including the Bird Street Sanctuary, water department lands, recreational fields, and a municipal golf course. Additional privately owned, but not protected, undeveloped lands are an important factor in the character of the community. Stoughton has good access to the regional roadway network, being served by several state routes and three interchanges on Route 24. Stoughton also has access to regional transit, being served by bus from Brockton and MBTA Commuter Rail at the station in downtown Stoughton.

Economy
The Total Value of all taxable Real Property was $4,021,541,014 in 2018, an increase of 6% compared to the previous year, due to "improved market values and conditions improved and included growth in construction of new residential, commercial, industrial dwellings and personal property." In the year 2018, property tax accounted for 55% of the town's operating budget.

Arts and culture
An annual 4th of July fireworks display takes place at the high school. Other Stoughton attractions include local drama groups, summer-time outdoor concerts, and annual parades to honor veterans. Every year on the 4th of July, Stoughton has a parade. Stoughton also has an annual parade on Veterans Day. Stoughton also holds a Holiday Parade of Lights in December. The town of Stoughton organizes swimming programs at the Ames Long Pond and provides a public basketball court, barbecue spots and picnic areas at Halloran Park.

Parks and recreation
Several organizations exist in the town for recreation and sports.

The Recreation Department offers a variety of activities throughout the year for both children and adults.

The Stoughton Youth Athletic Club (STOYAC) offers girls softball, boys and girls basketball, football and cheering.

Stoughton Youth Soccer League (SYSL) offers both in-town and travel soccer programs for spring and fall season in divisions ranging from u5 and u6 (co-ed) to u16 and even u18, when there is sufficient participation. The league is based at the Kolz Soccer Complex on West Street, where the league maintains three fields, a concession stand and bathroom facilities. All in-town and home travel games are played at the Kolz Complex. Practices are held there and at other locations around town. SYSL participates in the South Shore Soccer League for travel soccer programs.

Stoughton Youth Baseball is affiliated with Cal Ripken Baseball and Babe Ruth Baseball. It offers skills programs for 5-year-old children; t-ball and instructional leagues for ages 6 and 7; and divisions for 8- and 9-year-olds, and 10-, 11- and 12-year-olds.

Stoughton Lacrosse offers programs and leagues for both boys and girls in four divisions, u9, u11, u13 and u15.

Government
The Town is governed by a selectmen-manager plan with a representative town meeting. Stoughton's Annual Town Meeting convenes in May, and is chaired by the Town Moderator. The Board of Selectmen of the town consists of five members, all of whom are elected at large for a term of three years. The selectmen appoint a town manager, who is the chief administrative officer in the executive branch of government. The town manager carries out the policies and plans set forth by the selectmen.

Education
Stoughton Public Schools operates public schools. There is one public high school in Stoughton, one public middle school, five elementary schools and several parochial and private schools in nearby towns. The town recently completed the construction of the new high school, which was ready for the 2019–2020 school year. The old high school was demolished, and is where the new athletic fields were placed. Parts of the original High School were used to create a wall at the entrance.

At the joint meeting of the Board of Selectmen, the Stoughton School Committee and the SHS Building Committee on Tuesday November 17, 2015, there was a unanimous vote to endorse the building project by both the Board of Selectmen and the Stoughton School Committee.

The Stoughton High School Building Committee voted on Thursday, November 12, 2015, to recommend to the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) that the town construct option C2A, to build a new Stoughton High School. The preliminary cost analysis for the total project is estimated to be $126,137,847. The projected state reimbursement is estimated at $54,598,291. The town's protected share of the cost is estimated to be $71,539,557.

Transportation
Stoughton is on an MBTA commuter rail line that runs to South Station in Boston via the Providence/Stoughton Line. The Brockton Area Transit Authority (BAT) provides local bus service.

Notable people

 * Joe Allen, author
 * John Bailey, congressman
 * Supply Belcher, composer
 * Forrest Bird, aviator, inventor and biomedical engineer
 * Doris Holmes Blake, entomologist
 * Elmer Hewitt Capen, college president
 * Fannie Bishop Capen, missionary
 * Ruth G. Capen, chemist for the Bureau of Agriculture
 * Bill Chamberlain, Major League Baseball player
 * Thomas H. Collins, U.S. Coast Guard Commandant
 * Mo Cowan, U.S. senator for Massachusetts
 * Mary Baker Eddy, religious leader
 * Jacob French, composer
 * Ed Gill, Major League Baseball player
 * Richard Gridley, soldier and army engineer
 * Roger Lee Hall, musicologist and composer
 * Jonathan Hausman, rabbi of Ahavath Torah Congregation and political activist
 * Edwin Arthur Jones, composer
 * Kerry Keating, basketball coach
 * Ryan LaCasse, football player
 * Robert Lanza, medical doctor and researcher
 * Ed McGuinness, comic book artist
 * Lori McKenna, Grammy-winning singer/songwriter who wrote hits for Little Big Town, Hunter Heyes and Carrie Underwood. McKenna was born in Stoughton to Francis and Lorraine Girox on December 22, 1968
 * Shawn Phelan, actor
 * Henry L. Pierce, mayor of Boston
 * Bertha Reynolds, social worker
 * Niccola Sacco, of Sacco & Vanzetti
 * Deborah Sampson, female soldier of the Revolution
 * Roger Sherman, statesman
 * Jason Tankerley, singer/songwriter of the band Energy
 * John F. Thornell Jr., American World War II flying ace
 * T.J. Thyne, actor
 * Kenny Wormald, dancer, actor, television personality

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

title: Stoughton, Massachusetts


text:
Westwood, Massachusetts

Westwood is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 16,266 at the 2020 United States Census.

History
Westwood was first settled in 1641 and was part of the town of Dedham, originally called 'West Dedham', until it was officially incorporated in 1897. It was the last town to split from the original town of Dedham. From early in the settlement of Dedham, the people of the Clapboard Trees Precinct were "a wealthy, sophisticated lot, familiar with the bigwigs of provincial politics and prone to the religious liberalism that was à la mode in Boston." Residents did not care for the politically more powerful Calvinist views of those who lived in the village of Dedham and asked to separate.

It was originally to have been named the "Town of Nahatan:"a bill to incorporate the Town of Nahatan was reported in the Senate on March 8, 1897, by Senator Charles F. Woodward, Chairman of the Committee on Towns. No opposition to the passage of the bill appeared until it reached the House, when the representative from Nahant objected to the name "Nahatan," owing to its alleged similarity to the name Nahant.

It was desirable for the old, as well as the new town, to have the question of incorporation settled, if possible, before April 5, when appropriations for the coming year were going to be made. Therefore, in order to remove every trace of friction, however trivial, and thus expedite matters, the name was changed to Westwood.

In July 2005, CNN/Money and Money magazine ranked Westwood 13th on its list of the 100 Best Places to Live in the United States.

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 11.1 sqmi, of which 11.0 sqmi is land and 0.2 sqmi  (1.35%) is water.

Adjacent towns
Westwood is located in eastern Massachusetts, bordered by:
 * the town of Needham to the north
 * the town of Dedham to the east
 * the town of Canton to the southeast
 * the town of Norwood to the south
 * the town of Walpole to the southwest
 * the town of Dover to the west

Demographics
As of the census of 2020, there were 16,266 people and 5,424 households residing in the town with an average household size of 2.94. The population density was 1,478.7 PD/sqmi. The racial makeup of the town was 79.5% White, 2.9% African American, 0.0% Native American, 11.8% Asian, 0.0% from other races, and 4.5% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.4% of the population.

The population was spread out with 25.6% under the age of 18, 56.0% between the ages of 18 and 65, and 18.4% age 65 and over. Females were 51.6% of the population

The median household income was $171,071. The per capita income for the town was $75,396. About 2.3% of the population were below the poverty line.

Government
The town of Westwood operates under a home rule charter. This means that the town is given a degree of autonomy in regards to internal affairs. The charter defines the powers of elected boards, including the select board, which serves as the executive branch of government and hires a Town Administrator responsible for day-to-day operations of town departments. The legislative branch operates through open town meeting, which meets at least once and often twice a year where all residents are entitled to speak and vote on approval of warrant articles which authorize the town budget and may create or modify town bylaws. Select Board members and other town officials are elected through an annual town election at the end of April. The select board appoints residents to various volunteer boards and committees. The Town Administrator appoints town staff who manage public safety, recreation, and other services. The Select Board has three members who serve overlapping three-year terms. Michael F. Walsh, John M. Hickey, and Robert Gotti are currently Westwood's Select Board officials. Hickey's term will be up in 2022, Walsh’s in 2023 and Gotti’s in 2024.

The town seal, designed by a descendant of Nathaniel Colburn, includes a drawing of the Town Pound. On May 14, 1700, Lt. Joseph Colburn was paid "forty shillings of the Town rate" for constructing an animal pound measuring 33' square on his land. The pound was originally made out of wood and later reconstructed with stone. By including the tree, the new town was paying homage to Dedham, which includes the Avery Oak on its seal. The tree was toppled in the 1938 New England hurricane, but a new oak was planted in its place.

Public schools
Westwood currently has four public elementary schools:
 * Downey
 * Pine Hill (formerly Paul R. Hanlon and Deerfield)
 * Martha Jones
 * William E. Sheehan (originally Pond Plain)

Westwood has one public middle school, Thurston Middle School, named after Edmund W. Thurston. Westwood High School, the only high school in Westwood, serves the Westwood area.

Westwood High School was rebuilt in 2005, and the old school, built in 1957, was demolished. The gymnasium and swimming facility from the old school were refurbished and are part of the new high school campus. The school facilities also include a multi-use artificial turf field (named after former Westwood High School principal and teacher Charles Flahive) with a synthetic track, both of which are open to the public.

Private schools
Westwood is home to Xaverian Brothers High School, an all-boys Catholic prep school and the Westwood Montessori School, preschool.

Points of interest

 * Hale (formerly called Hale Reservation) – a private non-profit educational organization with 1,137 acres of land, including beaches and walking trails.
 * Westwood Library – On April 7, 2010, Library Trustees hosted a groundbreaking ceremony for the town's new library. The new building was opened in Summer 2013.
 * Colburn School – A school built in 1877 that is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
 * University Station – A recently built outdoor mall with restaurants, shops, and condos. University Station abuts Route 128 station, a rail station serving Amtrak and the MBTA commuter rail.
 * The rock that King Philip's men hid inside during King Philip's War.
 * Buckmaster Pond

Houses of worship

 * First Baptist Church of Westwood, 808 High Street (Association: American Baptist)
 * First Parish of Westwood United Church, 252 Nahatan Street (Association: United Church of Christ, Unitarian Universalist Association).
 * Temple Beth David, 7 Clapboardtree Street (Association: Union for Reform Judaism)
 * St. Denis Parish, 157 Washington Street (Association: Catholic Archdiocese of Boston)
 * St. John's Episcopal Church, 95 Deerfield Avenue (Association: Episcopal Diocese of Eastern Massachusetts) stjohnswestwood.org
 * St. Margaret Mary Parish, 845 High Street (Association: Catholic Archdiocese of Boston)

Westwood has an active Interfaith Council.

Transportation
Route 128 station, located in the far east corner of Westwood, is served by MBTA Commuter Rail Providence/Stoughton Line service and Amtrak and  service. Islington station is served by MBTA Franklin/Foxboro Line service. MBTA bus route operates through Westwood on Washington Street.

Trivia

 * The remains of a cave sit along Route 109, that King Philip and his men hid inside during King Philip's War. The massive rock that once contained the cave was known as the "Oven's Mouth." It was blown up along with most of the cave in the 1950s to straighten out Route 109.
 * Maj. Robert Steele, the Continental Army drummer boy during the Battle of Bunker Hill, is buried in the old Westwood Cemetery off Route 109.
 * Westwood is home of the oldest animal pound in the United States.
 * Westwood was a dry town until 2005. Restaurants can now apply for liquor licenses.

Notable people

 * Leo Beranek, American acoustic engineer and co-founder of Internet pioneer, Bolt Beranek and Newman
 * Mike Cafarella, Computer scientist and co-founder of the Apache Hadoop big data project
 * Bishop Christopher Coyne, Served as parish priest of St. Margaret Mary Church
 * Jon Finn, guitarist, rock musician
 * Fern Flaman, former Boston Bruin and Toronto Maple Leaf. Stanley Cup winner and Hockey Hall of Famer
 * Kenny Florian, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighter, FOX/UFC analyst
 * John Harrington, former CEO of the Boston Red Sox
 * Matt Hasselbeck, NFL quarterback
 * Mike Hazen, Executive vice president and general manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks
 * Paul LaCamera, United States Army four-star general and infantry officer
 * Jackie MacMullan, Newspaper sportswriter and NBA columnist for ESPN.com
 * Josh McDaniels, American Football coach
 * Peter S. Pezzati, portrait painter
 * Barry Reed, American trial lawyer and bestselling author
 * Robert B. Rheault, American military officer and commander of all US Army Special Forces in Vietnam in 1969
 * Milt Schmidt, former Boston Bruin and Hockey Hall of Famer
 * Robert Steele, drummer boy for the Continental Army during the Battle of Bunker Hill of the Revolutionary War; buried in the Old Westwood Cemetery
 * Mike Woicik, Strength and conditioning coach for the Dallas Cowboys. Tied for second most Super Bowl rings with Bill Belichick (Only behind Tom Brady)

title: Westwood, Massachusetts


text:
Wrentham, Massachusetts

Wrentham is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 12,178 at the 2020 census.

History
In 1660, five men from Dedham were sent to explore the lakes near George Indian's wigwam and to report back to the selectmen what they found. The report of those men, Daniel Fisher, Anthony Fisher, Sgt. Fuller, Richard Ellis, and Richard Wheeler, was received with such enthusiasm that in March 1661 it was voted to start a new settlement there. The Town then voted to send Ellis and Timothy Dwight to go negotiate with King Phillip to purchase the title to the area known as Wollomonopoag.

They purchased 600 acres of land for £24, 6s. The money was paid out of pocket by Captain Willett, who accompanied Ellis and Dwight. The Town voted to assess a tax upon the cow commons to repay him, but some thought the money should be paid by those who would be moving to the new village. The dispute resulted in Willet not being paid back for several years.

After the boundaries of the new community were set, the Town voted to give up all rights to the land in return for the proprietors paying Dedham £160 over four years, beginning in 1661. By January 1663, however, little progress had been made towards establishing a new village. A meeting was called, and the 10 men who volunteered to go raised several concerns about their ability to move forward.

After much discussion, it was decided not to give the 600 acres to the group of pre-selected men, but rather to lay out lots and then award them by lottery. Those who already began to improve their lots were allowed to keep them, and land for a church, burial ground, training ground, roads, and officer lots were not included. All were free to buy and sell their lots.

Not much happened at Wollomonopoag until 1668, at which time a report arrived of native peoples planting corn and cutting down trees on the land that Dedham had purchased. Eleazer Lusher was charged with sending the illiterate Indians a letter warning them to "depart from that place and trespass no further." Samuel Fisher then took it to them and read it aloud, at which point they replied that they had every intention of remaining on the land. Though they had still not paid him back for the land in question, the Town then asked Willett to speak with King Phillip and ask that he intervene.

There is no record of Phillip's response to that entreaty but, in August 1669, the Town Fathers received an odd letter from him offering to negotiate for more land if they would quickly send him a "holland shirt." Dwight and four others were appointed to negotiate with him again, provided Phillip could prove he, and not another sachem, had the rights to the land. In November, an agreement was reached to clear the title for £17 0s 8d. There is no record of whether a shirt was traded.

Samuel Sheares lived alone at Wollomonopoag for some time before a new attempt at a settlement was undertaken in 1671. Five men, John Thurston, Thomas Thurston, Robert Weare, John Weare, and Joseph Cheeney moved there with him, followed the next year by Rev. Samuel Man, a one-time teacher in the Dedham Public Schools. Robert Crossman was employed at the same time to construct a corn mill.

Those who moved there were drawn from the middle class of Dedham. They were primarily people from outside of Dedham who had purchased land there, and second generation Dedhamites who moved without their parents. Without the outsides, it is questionable whether the new community would have survived.

Soon, however, the Wollomonopoag settlers complained that those in the village center were keeping them in a state of colonial dependency. They were upset about absentee landlords whose land values were going up thanks to the labor of the inhabitants and who refused to pay taxes to support the community. They also complained that with the seat of the town government being so far away that they were disenfranchised and best by a lack of capital. Constables refused to travel to Wollomonopoag to make collections, assessments, and social judgement.

With the blessing of Dedham's Board of Selectmen, the General Court separated the new town of Wrentham on October 16, 1673.

It was burned down during King Philip's War 1675–1676. In the nineteenth century, Wrentham was the site of Day's Academy. For a short time, Wrentham was the residence of the educational reformer Horace Mann. It is also known as one of the residences of Helen Keller.

North Wrentham separated as an independent town in 1870 with Plainville splitting off as an independent town in 1905.

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 22.9 sqmi, of which 22.2 sqmi is land and 0.7 sqmi (3.14%) is water. Wrentham is bordered by Norfolk on the north, Foxboro on the east, Plainville and Cumberland, Rhode Island on the south, Bellingham on the southwest, and Franklin on the west. It has two large lakes towards the center of town, Lake Pearl and Lake Archer, as well as Mirror Lake on the Wrentham/Norfolk border and numerous smaller lakes. Sheldonville, or West Wrentham, is a rural section of Wrentham located on the western leg of town. Sheldonville still maintains a unique identity as the old farming section of Wrentham, has active commercial orchards, and has its own ZIP Code (02070). Wrentham drains into four watersheds. They are the Charles River to the north, the Taunton River to the east, the Blackstone River to the west, and the Ten Mile River to the south.

Wrentham is the only town of that name in the United States. It is named after the village of Wrentham, Suffolk, England. The only other Wrentham is Wrentham, Alberta. Wrentham, Massachusetts, is by far the most populous of the three.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 10,554 people, 3,402 households, and 2,653 families residing in the town. The population density was 475.5 PD/sqmi. There were 3,507 housing units at an average density of 158.0 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the town was 97.64% White, 0.61% African American, 0.12% Native American, 0.80% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.32% from other races, and 0.50% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.79% of the population.

There were 3,402 households, out of which 43.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 68.3% were married couples living together, 6.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 22.0% were non-families. 17.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.89 and the average family size was 3.31.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 27.8% under the age of 18, 4.8% from 18 to 24, 31.4% from 25 to 44, 24.4% from 45 to 64, and 11.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females, there were 95.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.4 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $78,043.50, and the median income for a family was $89,058.99. Males had a median income of $58,776 versus $37,219 for females. The per capita income for the town was $30,792.56. About 1.6% of families and 3.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 4.2% of those under age 18 and 10.5% of those age 65 or over.

Government
Local

Wrentham has a board of selectmen style government. The town is governed by five selectmen, each elected for three year staggered terms. The current members are Joseph F. Botaish II, Christopher Gallo, Michelle Rouse, James Anderson, and William Harrington.

In addition to the select board, there exist 12 other boards and committees in town. This includes the Board of Assessors, Board of Health, Community Preservation Committee, Conservation Commission, Cultural Council, Economic Development Commission, Finance Committee, Historical Commission, Open Space Committee, Planning Board, Recreation Commission, and Zoning Board of Appeals.

State

The town is part of the Massachusetts Senate's Norfolk, Bristol and Middlesex district where it has been represented by Rebecca Rausch since 2019. Since 2023 Marcus Vaughn, a Republican, has represented the town in the Massachusetts House of Representatives (9th Norfolk district).

Federal

Federally, Wrentham is part of Massachusetts's 4th congressional district, represented by Democrat Jake Auchincloss, elected in 2020. Elizabeth Warren and Edward Markey represent the town in the United States Senate. One of the state's former members of the United States Senate is Republican Scott Brown, a resident of Wrentham, who was elected via special election on January 19, 2010, and served until January 2013.

Education
The Wrentham Elementary School consists of three buildings which separate the different grade levels. There is the Delaney Elementary School for the lowest grades, the Vogel Elementary School for a mix of lower grades and unified arts, and the Roderick Elementary School for the highest grades (up to grade 6). All 3 of these buildings are located on one Wrentham Elementary School campus located off of Taunton St & Randall Rd in the center of Wrentham.

For secondary education Wrentham is in the King Philip Regional School District, which operates the public middle school and the comprehensive high school for Wrentham. King Philip Regional High School, located on Franklin St, is the town's public high school and serves students from Wrentham, Norfolk, and Plainville. Students in middle school attend King Philip Regional Middle School in Norfolk. Surrounding high schools, such as Tri-County Regional Vocational Technical High School in Franklin, and Norfolk County Agricultural High School in Walpole, as well as the Catholic Bishop Feehan High School in Attleboro, are also available to Wrentham students.

Transportation
Wrentham is a member of the Greater Attleboro Taunton Regional Transit Authority.

Notable people

 * Dale Arnold, radio host
 * Ayla Brown, singer and basketball player
 * Scott Brown, former U.S. Ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa and U.S. Senator from Massachusetts
 * John Cena, professional wrestler and actor
 * Cesar Chelor, the earliest documented African-American plane maker in North America
 * Chris Doughty, businessman and politician who ran in the 2022 Massachusetts Gubernatorial elections as a Republican
 * Charlotte W. Hawes, composer
 * Gail Huff, former News Reporter for WCVB-TV
 * Helen Keller, suffragist and author
 * Jake Layman, NBA basketball player
 * Garth Snow, former NHL goaltender and former GM of the New York Islanders
 * Scott Zolak, former NFL quarterback and current host/color commentator
 * John Stamos, actor

title: Wrentham, Massachusetts


text:
Brockton, Massachusetts

Brockton is a city in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States; the population was 105,643 at the 2020 United States census. Along with Plymouth, it is one of the two county seats of Plymouth County. It is the sixth-largest city in Massachusetts and is sometimes referred to as the "City of Champions", due to the success of native boxers Rocky Marciano and Marvin Hagler, as well as its successful Brockton High School sports programs. Two villages within it are Montello and Campello, both of which have MBTA Commuter Rail Stations and post offices. Campello is the smallest neighborhood, but also the most populous. Brockton hosts a baseball team, the Brockton Rox. It is the second-windiest city in the United States, with an average wind speed of 14.3 mph.

History
In 1649, Ousamequin (Massasoit) sold the surrounding Wampanoag land—then known as Saughtucket—to Myles Standish as an addition to Duxbury. Brockton was part of this area, which the English renamed Bridgewater. On June 15, 1821, a portion of the then Bridgewater Township was established as North Bridgewater. Brockton is named after Isaac Brock. He was the British commanding general at Queenston Heights—the first major battle of the War of 1812—where invading American troops retreated in defeat. Because Brock was a loyalist, naming the town after him was a subject of contention among its colonial residents. Ultimately, it was given the name Brockton in 1874, and officially became a city on April 9, 1881.

Brockton was a stop on the Underground Railroad, a network of secret routes and safe houses that helped enslaved people escape to freedom in the North and Canada. Famous abolitionist Frederick Douglass, spoke to a crowd at the Liberty Tree in Brockton during the pre-Civil War period. During the American Civil War, Brockton was America's largest producer of shoes, and until the latter parts of the 20th century, Brockton had a large shoe and leather products industry.

Since the company's 1898 founding, Brockton has been the headquarters city of office supplies retailer W.B. Mason, itself founded to provide those supplies to the city's shoe industry. The city's economy was once based on the shoe industry, but it has since diversified to include other industries such as healthcare, education, and manufacturing. Brockton has faced a number of challenges, including poverty, crime, and regional and local racial segregation. Despite these challenges, the city has made progress in recent years, particularly in the development of its downtown area, by highlighting its diversity and rich history, and working toward a more welcoming atmosphere for businesses and residents.

World firsts

 * On October 1, 1883, Brockton became the first place in the world to have a three-wire underground electrical system when Thomas Edison threw a switch to activate it.
 * The City Theater opened on October 24, 1894, the first theater in the world to be tied into the three-wire electrical system.

US firsts

 * On December 30, 1884, the first electrically operated fire station in the United States opened in Brockton.
 * The department store Santa Claus appeared in Brockton in December 1890, when James Edgar, of Edgar's Department Store, suited up for the first time.
 * Brockton became the first city in the country to abolish grade crossings in 1896.
 * In 2020, Brockton became the first city in New England with a majority-Black population. Brockton's new majority-Black population is expected to have a positive impact on the city's culture, economy, and politics.

World records

 * On November 23, 2010, Brockton set the world record for the most Santa Hat wearers in one place at one time, with 872 people participating in the event.
 * On November 20, 2011, Brockton doubled the city's Santa Claus hat-wearing record with 1792 people in downtown Brockton wearing Santa hats.

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 21.6 sqmi, of which 21.5 sqmi is land and 0.1 sqmi (0.56%) is water. Brockton is the 162nd largest city by land area in the Commonwealth, and the twelfth largest of the twenty-seven towns in Plymouth County. Brockton is bordered by Stoughton to the northwest, Avon to the north, Holbrook to the northeast, Abington to the northeast, Whitman and East Bridgewater to the southeast, West Bridgewater to the south, and Easton to the west. Brockton is approximately 25 miles south of Boston, and 30 miles northeast of Providence, Rhode Island.

Brockton is mostly an urban setting, lying along the Salisbury Plain River, which once powered the many shoe factories of the city. To the northeast lies the Beaver Brook Conservation Land, attached to the southern end of the Ames Nowell State Park in Abington. There are several parks throughout the city, but the largest is D.W. Field Park, an Olmsted-inspired park which includes ponds, Waldo Lake and Brockton Reservoir in Avon, as well as a golf course.

Climate
According to the Köppen climate classification, Brockton has either a hot-summer humid continental climate (abbreviated Dfa), or a hot-summer humid sub-tropical climate (abbreviated Cfa), depending on the isotherm used.

2020 census
As of the census of 2020, there were 105,643 people, 31,440 households, and about 3.04 people living in each household, and about an average family size of 3.59. The population density was 4,486.3 people per square mile. The racial makeup of the city treating Hispanics as if a separate race was 27.8% White, 33.8% African American, 0.2% Native American, 2.1% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 6.9% other race; 17.1% Mixed race or Multiracial, and 12.1% Hispanic or Latino of any race. The African-American population in Brockton has grown significantly since the beginning of the early 2000s.

Brockton has one of the largest population of Cape Verdean ancestry in the United States, with about 9% of its population. Brockton also has a significant Angolan American community.

Statistically, Brockton is the most populous and most densely populated community in Plymouth County. It is the sixth largest community in the commonwealth. However, it is only the twenty-seventh most densely populated community in the Commonwealth.

As of 2010, there were 33,675 households, out of which 35.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.0% were married couples living together, 19.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.4% were non-families. 26.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. In the city, the population was spread out, with 27.8% under the age of 18, 9.1% from 18 to 24, 30.5% from 25 to 44, 20.8% from 45 to 64, and 11.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females, there were 92.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.4 males.

As of 2018, the median income for a household in Brockton is $55,140. Males have an average income of $41,093 versus $35,145 for females. The per capita income for the city was $17,163. The poverty rate in Brockton is 15.61% of the population. Notably by race, 23.55% of Hispanics were in poverty, while the Black population of Brockton had about 18.61% of its population living in poverty.

Income
Data is from the 2009–2013 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates.

Music
Brockton is home to the Brockton Symphony Orchestra, a community orchestra founded in 1948. The orchestra performs five or six concerts per season at local venues such as Brockton's West Middle School Auditorium and the Oliver Ames Auditorium in the neighboring town of Easton. The orchestra comprises 65 musicians from the greater Brockton area and its musical director since 2007 is James Orent, a guest conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Boston Pops.

Festivals

 * Brockton Summer Concert Series
 * Downtown Brockton Arts and Music Festival – End of August annually
 * Towerfest – Columbus Day Weekend annually
 * Greek Festival – Third week of September
 * Veterans Day Parade annually
 * Holiday Parade – Late November annually
 * The Cape Verdean Festival – Last Sunday in July

Library
The city supports three buildings within the Brockton Public Library system. The main library is a Carnegie building.

Notable sites

 * Brockton Airport – formerly, now the South Side Shopping Center
 * Fuller Craft Museum
 * Westgate Mall

Sites listed on National Register of Historic Places

 * Brockton City Hall
 * Brockton Edison Electric Illuminating Company Power Station
 * Central Fire Station
 * Curtis Building
 * Dr. Edgar Everett Dean House
 * D.W. Field Park
 * Forest Avenue School
 * Franklin Block
 * Gardner J. Kingman House
 * Goldthwaite Block
 * Howard Block
 * Lyman Block
 * Moses Packard House
 * Old Post Office Building
 * Snow Fountain and Clock
 * South Street Historic District

Sports
Based at Campanelli Stadium, the Brockton Rox play in the Futures Collegiate Baseball League (FCBL). From 2003 through 2011, the team was a member of the independent professional Can-Am League, then in 2012 joined the amateur FCBL. Collegiate players on FCBL teams, who are looking for more experience and scouting exposure, are offered non-paid playing opportunities. The New England Knockouts, a professional baseball team of the Frontier League, begin play in 2024, also using Campanelli Stadium.

Government
On the national level, Brockton is a part of Massachusetts's 8th congressional district, and has been represented since January 2013 by Stephen Lynch.

On the state level, Brockton is represented in three districts in the Massachusetts House of Representatives: the Ninth Plymouth, Tenth Plymouth (which includes West Bridgewater and Precinct 1 of East Bridgewater), and the Eleventh Plymouth (which includes most of Easton). The city is represented in the Massachusetts Senate as a part of the Second Plymouth and Bristol district, which includes Halifax, Hanover, Hanson, Whitman and portions of East Bridgewater and Easton

Brockton has a city government led by a mayor and city council. The city elects a mayor for two-year terms. Previous mayors include Winthrop H. Farwell Jr., John T. Yunits Jr., David Crosby, Carl Pitaro, Richard L. Wainwright, John E. Sullivan, Alvin Jack Sims, Joseph H. Downey and Paul Studenski. James Harrington was elected mayor in 2005 and began his term in January 2006. He was re-elected on November 6, 2007, for another two-year term. He had previously served 16 years as a City Councilor. In the fall of 2009, City Councilor Linda Balzotti defeated Harrington to become the city's first female mayor. Balzotti was defeated in 2013 by Bill Carpenter, who won the election by only 44 votes. After the unexpected death of Bill Carpenter on July 3, 2019, City Councillor President Moises Rodrigues become the acting Mayor. On July 15, 2019 Rodrigues was unanimously elected by the 11-person City Council to become the Mayor of Brockton. Rodrigues became the first person of color to become Mayor of Brockton after serving six years on the Brockton city council. In 2009, community activist Jass Stewart was elected to councilor-at-large becoming the first African American to serve in Brockton's city council. The city council consists of four Councilors-at-Large and seven ward Councilors, one for every ward in the city. As of January 2020, the mayor of Brockton is Robert F. Sullivan.

Public schools
Brockton operates its own school system for the city's approximately 17,000 students. There is an early education school (Barrett Russell), ten elementary schools (Angelo, Arnone, Baker, Brookfield, Downey, George, Gilmore, Hancock, John F. Kennedy and Raymond), the Davis K–8 school, six middle/junior high schools (North, East, West, South, Ashfield and the Plouffe Academy), Brockton High School and four alternative schools (Huntington, Edison, Champion and B.B. Russell). Brockton High School's athletics teams are called the Boxers (after the city's undefeated heavyweight boxing champion, Rocky Marciano ). In February of 2024, Brockton High School entered the national spotlight following four district committee members requesting National Guard assistance via letter to the state’s Governor to deal with increasing levels of violence between students and security staffing shortages at the school, a request opposed by the Mayor of Brockton at the time.

Private schools
Brockton was home to three parochial schools (Sacred Heart, Saint Casimir and Saint Edward) which merged in 2007 to form two schools. Trinity Lower Campus at the former Saint Edwards school site, and Trinity Upper Campus located on the former site of the Saint Colman's school, one Christian school (South Shore Christian and the Brockton Christian School closed in 2010), and Cardinal Spellman High School, a Catholic high school named for Francis Cardinal Spellman, Brockton area native and former Archbishop of New York. Students may also choose to attend tuition-free Southeastern Regional Vocational Technical High School (in South Easton).

Higher education
Brockton is the site of Massasoit Community College and offers Adult Studies/LEAD classes in Brockton. Fisher College also has a campus in Brockton. The Brockton VA Hospital offers classes and apprenticeships to medical students from Fisher College, Harvard University, Boston University, Northeastern University, University of Massachusetts Boston, and Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. Additionally, the city also has a campus for the National College of Technical Instruction. Porter and Chester Institute also has a campus in Brockton. Brockton is also home to the Brockton Hospital School of Nursing as well as the Monna Bari Medical School.

Major highways
Massachusetts Route 24, a six-lane divided motorway, passes through the west side of the city, with exits at Route 27 to the north and Route 123 to the south. The two routes pass through the center of the city, crossing at that point. Massachusetts Route 28 passes from north to south through the center of the city, The western end of Route 14 (at its intersection with Route 27) and the southern end of Route 37 (at its intersection with Route 28) both are in the city.

Bus
Brockton has its own bus services, operated by the Brockton Area Transit Authority (BAT). Each bus has a designated route running through a section of Brockton, i.e. Montello, Campello, Cary Hill, etc. There are also buses that have routes outside the city, i.e., Bridgewater Industrial Park, Ashmont Station (MBTA subway end-of-line), Stoughton and a connecting bus stop in Montello to the Braintree Station (MBTA subway end-of-line).

Rail
The Middleborough/Lakeville Line of the MBTA's commuter rail system bisects the city running north-south, with stops in the Montello and Campello neighborhoods, as well as in the city center, providing service to points south and South Station in Boston north of the city.

Healthcare
Brockton has three hospitals: Signature Healthcare Brockton Hospital on the east side, Good Samaritan Medical Center—a Steward Family Hospital (formerly Caritas Good Samaritan, and before that Cardinal Cushing) Hospital to the northwest, and the Brockton Veterans Administration Hospital to the southwest. The VA Hospital is the sponsoring institution for the Harvard South Shore Psychiatry program. It serves as a teaching facility for students of various medical specialties from Boston University, physician assistant students from Northeastern University, nursing students from the University of Massachusetts Boston and physician assistant and pharmacy students from the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences.

Brockton has a community health center that serves individuals with low income and poor access to health care at Brockton Neighborhood Health Center.

Fire department

The city of Brockton is protected around the clock by 174 paid, professional firefighters of the city of Brockton Fire Department. The Brockton Fire Department currently operates out of six fire stations, located throughout the city, and maintains a fire apparatus fleet of five engines, three ladders, one squad, one tactical rescue unit and several other special, support, and reserve units. The fire department does not provide EMS services; ambulance coverage is currently contracted to Brewster Ambulance Service.

In 1905, local newspapers recounted many heroic acts by Brockton firefighters during the Grover Shoe Factory disaster. On March 10, 1941, thirteen Brockton firefighters died when the roof collapsed as they were fighting a fire at the Strand Theatre. That fire resulted in one of the worst firefighting tragedies in American history.

Law enforcement
The City of Brockton Police Department has roughly 181 sworn members and 31 non-sworn employees. The officers are assigned to the Patrol Division, and Operations Division which includes; Detectives, Narcotics, Gang Unit, Special Weapons And Tactics, K-9, Quality of Life, GREAT Program, Elderly Affairs, and Community Education Units. In addition, the city is patrolled by the Fourth (Middleborough) Barracks of Troop D of the Massachusetts State Police. Brockton also has several citizen anti-crime groups, including the Guardian Angels and Operation Archangel.

Notable people

 * Kristian Alfonso, actress
 * Jo Baker, singer and songwriter; niece of Mary E. Baker
 * Mary E. Baker, first African-American to work at Brockton City Hall; civic leader
 * Steve Balboni, professional baseball player
 * Ronnie Bardah, professional poker player and Survivor: Island of the Idols contestant
 * Darius Bazley, Professional NBA Basketball
 * Chris Bender, R&B singer
 * Bumpy Bumpus, sprint car racer
 * Alfred Campanelli, businessman
 * Andrew Card, politician
 * John Cariani, actor, playwright
 * Patrick Condon, author and professor of urban design
 * Robert Cottle, television personality
 * Jim Corbett, NFL player
 * William Damon, psychologist and author
 * Al Davis, owned Oakland Raiders
 * John Doucette, actor
 * Levi Lewis Dorr, American Civil War veteran and physician
 * John M. Dowd, lawyer
 * Bonnie Dumanis, District Attorney of San Diego County
 * AJ Dybantsa, basketball player
 * James Edgar, first department store Santa
 * Shawn Fanning, creator of Napster
 * Kenneth Feinberg, attorney
 * George Wilton Field, marine biologist
 * Keith Gill, stock investor
 * Edward Gilmore, first Democrat elected to US Congress from Plymouth County
 * Brian Gordon, cartoonist known for Fowl Language
 * Scott Gordon, professional hockey player, head coach of New York Islanders
 * Noel Gourdin, singer
 * Marvin Hagler, professional middleweight boxing champion
 * Pooch Hall, actor
 * Rudy Harris, professional football player
 * Josephine Hasham, women's professional baseball player
 * Josh Hennessy, professional hockey player
 * George V. Higgins, author
 * Pete Hughes, college baseball coach
 * David Hungerford (1927–1993), geneticist, co-discoverer of Philadelphia chromosome
 * George Hurley, musician
 * Megan Khang, professional golfer
 * Al Louis-Jean, NFL player
 * Joe Lauzon, professional MMA fighter
 * George N. Leighton, United States court judge
 * Jimmy Luxury, musician
 * Ken MacAfee, professional football player
 * Jim Mann, professional baseball player
 * Rocky Marciano, undefeated heavyweight boxing champion
 * Bill McGunnigle, inventor of the baseball glove
 * Greg McMurtry, professional football player
 * Arthur Mercante, boxing referee
 * Christy Mihos, entrepreneur, politician
 * Ed Nelson, professional basketball player
 * Sean Newcomb, professional baseball player
 * Aaron O'Brien, five time champion softball player
 * Leo Paquin, football player at Fordham University
 * Goody Petronelli, boxing trainer
 * Cory Quirk, professional hockey player
 * Jodie Rivera, online personality
 * Evelyn Scott, actress
 * Robbie Sims, middleweight boxer
 * Kevin Stevens, professional hockey player
 * Jason Vega, professional football player
 * Wyatt Tee Walker, civil rights leader
 * Dave Wedge, author, journalist
 * Art Whitney, professional baseball player
 * Herbert Warren Wind, writer

Awards
Brockton was named one of the 100 Best Communities for Young People in the United States in 2005, 2008, 2010, and 2011 by the America's Promise Alliance.

title: Brockton, Massachusetts


text:
Carver, Massachusetts

Carver is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 11,645 at the 2020 census. It is named for John Carver, the first governor of the Plymouth Colony. The town features two popular tourist attractions: Edaville USA theme park and King Richard's Faire, the largest and longest-running renaissance fair in New England.

History and overview
Archaeological research revealed 9,000 years of human habitation at the Annasnappet Pond Site in Carver, from 10,000 to 1,000 years ago. The site contained 100,000 stone flakes, 1,600 stone tools and a human burial.

Carver separated from Plympton, Massachusetts, and was incorporated in 1790 because many residents lived too far away to attend church in Plympton. The town was named for John Carver, the first Governor of the Plymouth Colony. Initially agricultural, Carver was known for the iron ore from its swamp lands used to make cooking tools by the 1730s. The first iron works was "Pope's Point Furnace", built in 1732, which operated for a century by using the bogs and Sampson's Pond. Over the next 150 years, sheep shearing and lumber mills were important in Carver.

Most people at the time lived in the villages of South and North Carver and Wenham, later called East Carver. European settlers had also given the names "Colchester" and "Lakenham" to what is now North Carver, and settled in what was known as South Meadow. Each village supported at least one schoolhouse. As the market for iron ore declined in the latter part of the 19th century, Carver began cranberry farming as a new use for the town's swamp lands. Farmers began growing cranberries in the 1870s, and by 1900 it was Carver's farmers who raised a fifth of all cranberries grown in the United States. A railroad line connected Carver to New York and Boston in 1920, further establishing the town.

Money from the iron helped the community to grow, as evidenced by several mansions still in existence in the town. Also located in Carver is Savery's Avenue, the first divided highway in America, which was opened to the public in 1860 by William Savery. The trees between the roads and on the outside of them were to be left for "shade and ornament for man and beast". Both road beds were macadamized in 1907. A portion of the expense was advanced by the daughters of the builder, Mrs. Mary P.S. Jowitt and Ms. H.D. Savery. By the 1940s the cranberry harvest was the largest in the world, and today it is still a major business in town. Because of the land taken for the bogs, however, growth is limited, giving the town a rural flavor it takes pride in. In 2012, most cranberry bogs are being replanted in favor of a new hybrid cranberry crop.

Carver also has two notable tourist attractions. Edaville Railroad is a narrow-gauge railroad attraction which opened in 1949. It has long been a family tourist attraction in Southeastern Massachusetts, especially for its festival of lights around Christmastime. It has experienced a revival in recent years, after being sold in 1991 and nearly closing. The town is also the site of King Richard's Faire, a re-creation of a 16th-century English fair which is open on weekends throughout September and October. It is New England's largest Renaissance fair.

Pro wrestler Mike Bennett is from Carver.

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 103 sqkm, of which 96.9 sqkm is land and 6.0 sqkm, or 5.87%, is water. It is locally famous for the large number of cranberry bogs throughout the town. Carver is bordered by Plympton to the north, Kingston to the northeast, Plymouth to the east, Wareham to the south, and Middleborough to the west. Carver is located approximately 45 mi south-southeast of Boston and 38 mi east of Providence, Rhode Island.

Carver's geography is shaped by its many small brooks, rivers and ponds including Vaughn Pond and Bates Pond. The majority of them eventually drain into Buzzards Bay, although some in the north of town lead to Cape Cod Bay or Narragansett Bay. The town also has an abundance of pine and cedar trees, and a portion of Myles Standish State Forest takes up much of the southeast corner of town. A large cedar swamp occupies the geographic center of the town. The town is also the site of a campground, a sportsmen's club, and a small town park at the center of town.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 11,163 people, 3,984 households, and 3,011 families residing in the town. The population density was 297.3 PD/sqmi. There were 4,127 housing units at an average density of 109.9 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the town was 95.78% White, 1.22% African American, 0.10% Native American, 0.30% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.96% from other races, and 1.63% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.82% of the population.

The largest self-reported ancestry groups in East Carver are Irish (37.0%), Italian (26.5%), English (23.5%), French (6.8%) and Portuguese (5.4%)

There were 3,984 households, out of which 36.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 63.3% were married couples living together, 8.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.4% were non-families. 19.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.80 and the average family size was 3.23.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 27.3% under the age of 18, 6.9% from 18 to 24, 28.3% from 25 to 44, 22.8% from 45 to 64, and 14.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 95.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.9 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $53,506, and the median income for a family was $61,738. Males had a median income of $46,414 versus $28,336 for females. The per capita income for the town was $20,398. About 4.6% of families and 5.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 3.1% of those under age 18 and 10.8% of those age 65 or over.

Government
Carver is represented in the Massachusetts House of Representatives as a part of the Second Plymouth district, which also includes Wareham and a portion of Middleborough. The town is represented in the Massachusetts Senate as a part of the First Plymouth and Bristol district, which includes Berkley, Bridgewater, Dighton, Marion, Middleborough, Raynham, Taunton and Wareham. The town is patrolled by the Fourth (Middleborough) Barracks of Troop D of the Massachusetts State Police.

On the national level, Carver is a part of Massachusetts's 9th congressional district, and is currently represented by Bill Keating. The state's senior (Class I) member of the United States Senate, elected in 2012, is Elizabeth Warren. The junior (Class II) senator is Ed Markey, who was elected in 2013 to finish John Kerry's term when he became Secretary of State.

Carver is governed by the open town meeting form of government, led by a town administrator and a board of selectmen. Carver has its own police, ALS ambulance and fire departments, with a central police station, central ambulance station and three on-call firehouses, located in the north, south and center of town.

There are also three post offices. The main ZIP code is 02330. There was also 2 other P.O. Box zip codes 02355 (North Carver Post Office) and 02366 (South Carver Post Office) originally. Now all three ZIP codes are used for general mail. 02330 All of Carver (but mainly Center Carver), 02355 (North Carver or East Carver), and 02366 (South Carver). The town's public library is located in the center of town, and is a part of the SAILS Library Network.

Education
Carver operates its own school department, led by a school committee and a superintendent of schools. There are two schools, each of which serves specific grade levels. The Carver Elementary serves pre-kindergarten through fifth grades; and the Carver Middle-High School serves sixth through twelfth grades.

In addition to the town high school, students may also choose to attend Old Colony Regional Vocational Technical High School in Rochester. They may also choose to attend Norfolk County Agricultural High School in Walpole or Bristol County Agricultural High School in Dighton. There are no private schools in the town; the nearest are in Kingston, Lakeville and Taunton.

Transportation Department
Carver operates and owns their own buses for Carver and all out of district schools except Old Colony Regional. For the middle-high school they used to run a late bus Monday to Thursday, and not on half days, but stopped in 2023.

Transportation
The town is crossed in the north of town by U.S. Route 44, a two-lane divided highway which meets Route 3 in Plymouth. The highway was recently expanded, so that rather than the highway portion ending at Route 58 (the other main route), whose right-of-way extends into Carver to a few miles after the Carver/Wareham town line. The nearest national and international airport is Logan International Airport in Boston. Another national and international airport nearby is T. F. Green Airport in Warwick, Rhode Island, which most residents prefer due to short security wait times.

title: Carver, Massachusetts