Westford

Westford, Massachusetts
—  Town  —
Location in Middlesex County in Massachusetts
Coordinates: 42°34′45″N 71°26′18″W / 42.57917°N 71.43833°W / 42.57917; -71.43833
Country	United States
State	Massachusetts
County	Middlesex
Settled	1635
Incorporated	1729
Government
- Type	Open town meeting
Area
- Total	31.3 sq mi (81.1 km2)
- Land	30.6 sq mi (79.3 km2)
- Water	0.7 sq mi (1.9 km2)
Elevation	406 ft (124 m)
Population (2007)
- Total	21,790
- Density	712.1/sq mi (274.8/km2)
Time zone	Eastern (UTC-5)
- Summer (DST)	Eastern (UTC-4)
ZIP code	01886
Area code(s)	351 / 978
FIPS code	25-76135
GNIS feature ID	0618244
Website	http://www.westford-ma.gov/

Westford is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 20,754 at the 2000 census.

History

Westford Common, looking down Main Street

Westford was first settled in 1635. Originally a part of neighboring Chelmsford, West Chelmsford soon grew large enough to sustain its own governance, and was officially incorporated as Westford in 1729.

In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, Westford primarily produced granite, apples, and worsted yarn. The Abbot Worsted Company was the first company in the nation to use camel hair for worsted yarns. Citizens from Westford also had some notable involvement in the Revolutionary War. It has been alleged that the town was along the path of Paul Revere's Ride on the eve of April 19, 1775, but Revere's path is well-documented, and he did not travel to Westford. Westford Minutemen were alerted by efforts of Samuel Prescott who alerted Acton, to the southeast towards Stow. A subsequent alert rider, lost to time, reached Westford. Westford's minutemen marched to Concord where they participated in the "Shot Heard Round the World". Westford Academy, the local public high school, was once attended by Paul Revere's son and a bell cast by Revere graces its lobby today, and a weather vane made by Paul Revere sits atop the Abbot Elementary School.

By the end of the American Civil War, as roads and transportation improved, Westford began to serve as a residential suburb for the factories of Lowell, becoming one of the earliest notable examples of suburban sprawl. Throughout the 20th century (and with the invention of the automobile), Westford progressively grew, continuing to serve as residential housing for the industries of Lowell, and later, Boston.

In the 1960s, the town was home to one of the research sites supporting Project West Ford.

By the 1970s, with the advent of the 128 Technology Belt, Westford began to act as a suburb for high-tech firms in Burlington, Woburn, and other areas, and later became a center of technology itself.

By the 1990s, Westford was home to offices for Red Hat, Samsung, Seagate, Iris Associates, and many other technology firms, most located along Massachusetts Route 110, parallel to I-495. It is also the North American headquarters for Puma. The leading manufacturer of EEG electrodes, HydroDot Inc., located here in 2007.

Today, Westford's agricultural past has given way to rapidly expanding high technology industries, suburban retail, and upper-middle class residential areas.

Although discredited by many historians and archaeologists, some townspeople continue to claim that Westford was once a stopping point for Scottish Earl Henry Sinclair's surverying expedition to Greenland, Iceland, Nova Scotia, and Massachusetts which is said to have occurred in 1398, nearly 90 full years before Columbus made his discovery of The Americas. The primary evidence for this tale is a burial marker in the form of a sword chiseled into a granite slab near the center of town, (known by residents and historians as the Westford Knight), which some claim is the gravestone of Sir James Gunn of Scotland, who traveled with Sinclair. The marker is generally accepted to be the result of 19th Century residents, but continues to be an integral part of Westford folklore.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 31.3 square miles (81.1 km²), of which, 30.6 square miles (79.3 km²) of it is land and 0.7 square miles (1.9 km²) of it (2.30%) is water.

The town is bordered by Chelmsford to the East, Tyngsboro to the north, Groton to the West, Littleton to the Southwest, Acton to the South, and Carlisle to the Southeast.

Demographics

As of the census^{[1][page needed]} there were 20,754 people, 6,808 households, and 5,807 families residing in the town. The population density was 678.0 people per square mile (261.8/km²). There were 6,941 housing units at an average density of 226.8/sq mi (87.6/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 93.69% White, 0.30% African American, 0.06% Native American, 4.79% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.30% from other races, and 0.85% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.10% of the population.

There were 6,808 households out of which 48.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 76.2% were married couples living together, 6.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 14.7% were non-families. 11.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 4.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.03 and the average family size was 3.31.

In the town the population was spread out with 31.8% under the age of 18, 4.2% from 18 to 24, 32.8% from 25 to 44, 23.9% from 45 to 64, and 7.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 99.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.4 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $98,272, and the median income for a family was $104,029 (these figures had risen to $113,160 and $120,410 respectively as of a 2007 estimate^[2]). Males had a median income of $77,417 versus $45,095 for females. The per capita income for the town was $37,979. About 1.3% of families and 1.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 2.2% of those under age 18 and 1.0% of those age 65 or over.

Government

This section requires expansion.

Education

• Westford Academy, Public High School (known as the W.A.)
• Nashoba Valley Technical High School, Public Regional Vocational Technical (known as Nashoba Tech)
• Lloyd G. Blanchard Middle School, Public Middle School (known as Blanchard)
• Stony Brook Middle School, Public Middle School (known as Stony Brook)
• Norman E. Day School, Public Elementary School (3-5) (known as Day)
• Abbott Elementary, Public Elementary School (3-5) (known as Abbott)
• John A. Crisafulli Elementary, Public Elementary School (3-5) (known as Crisafulli)
• Col. John Robinson School, Public Elementary School (K-2) (known as Robinson)
• Nabnasset Elementary School, Public Elementary School (K-2) (known as Nab)
• Rita Edwards Miller School, Public Elementary School (K-2) (known as Miller)

Transportation

Freight travels daily through Westford over the tracks of the historic Stony Brook Railroad. The line currently serves as a major corridor of Pan Am Railways' District 3 which connects New Hampshire and Maine with western Massachusetts, Vermont, and New York.^[3] Interstate 495 (Massachusetts) also passes through the town, linking it to other parts of the state as well as New Hampshire.^[4] US-3 passes through the town, although the nearest interchanges are located in neighboring Tyngsboro and Chelmsford.

Local routes passing through town are Massachusetts Routes 110, 40, 225, and 27.

Points of interest

The town has a largely suburban residential culture and like many New England towns, an active civic life. The Roudenbush Community Center and the Parish Center for the Arts are two notable places for residents to take classes or see concerts and art exhibitions. Westford is also home to the J.V. Fletcher Library, The Butterfly Place, The Westford Museum and Historical Society and the MIT Haystack Observatory.

Westford is home to Nashoba Valley Ski Resort and Kimball Farm, an ice cream stand featuring a miniature golf complex, summertime classic car shows, and many other attractions.

Annual events

• Every August, the Westford Rotary Club hosts the Blues & Brews Festival at the Nashoba Valley Ski Area, featuring top blues bands and many local beers to sample.
• The Kiwanis club hosts the Apple Blossom Parade and Carnival in May.
• The First Parish Church hosts a major annual festival in Westford, the Strawberry Festival in June.
• Every August, the Westford Networks for Education and Technology Partnership hosts a family bike ride called the Tour de Westford.
• In the month of October, Nashoba Valley Ski resort also hosts the Witch's Woods Halloween Screampark.
• In early May the Westford 5k/10k Road Races are held.

Media

Westford has its own community television station, called Westford Community Access Television or Westford CAT, which broadcasts on channels 8, 9 and 10 on the Comcast cable network. It produces PEG access programming for the residents and organizations of Westford.

Westford has a small weekly newspaper, the Westford Eagle. The Lowell Sun, a daily, covers Westford and the Greater Lowell area. For most media, Westford is part of the large Greater Boston market.

Notable residents

• Joel Abbot, (1793-1855), born in Westford, noted naval officer^[5]
• Pat Bradley, LPGA Tour golf champion
• Karen Bryant, ex-MTV VJ, game show hostess
• Col. Charles "Chip" Collins, WWII B-29 Superfortress A.C., 9th Bomb Group squadron leader of 35 missions over Japan, chief MIT Draper Lab test pilot, and one of a group of aviators who discovered the jet stream off the Japanese coast
• Sarah Dix Hamlin, founder of The Hamlin School in San Francisco
• Andy Hicks, WBCN disk-jockey
• Ed Lacerte, Boston Celtics trainer
• Jackie MacMullan, sportswriter
• John Nicoletta, extreme skier (1981-2008)
• Edgar Allan Poe, poet, was a temporary resident in 1848
• Lt. Col. John Robinson, Revolutionary War soldier
• Eric Smolin, pitcher with the Philadelphia Phillies
• Aaron Stanford, actor
• Ellen Henrietta Swallow Richards, creator of the field of home economics, first woman admitted to MIT, co-founder of American Association of University Women
• Tommy Severo, actor, comedian, winner on Beauty and the Geek, season 5
• Joseph Thaxter, Revolutionary War era preacher
• Michael Woodford, hockey player
• Tommy Severo,winner of Beauty and the Geek

References

Further reading

• 1871 Atlas of Massachusetts. by Wall & Gray.Map of Massachusetts. Map of Middlesex County.
• History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Volume 1 (A-H), Volume 2 (L-W) compiled by Samuel Adams Drake, published 1879 and 1880. 572 and 505 pages. Westford section in volume 2 page 475 by Hodgman and Julian Abbott.
• History of the Town of Westford, in the County of Middlesex, Massachusetts, by Rev. Edwin Ruthven Hodgman, published 1883, 494 pages.

External links

• Town of Westford
• Local Music Rocks - Local Access program featuring local bands
• Westford Community Access Television
• The Westford Web Community Web Site
• Westford Historical Society and Museum

v • d • e Municipalities and communities of Middlesex County, Massachusetts Cities Cambridge | Everett | Lowell | Malden | Marlborough | Medford | Melrose | Newton | Somerville | Waltham | Watertown | Woburn Towns Acton | Arlington | Ashby | Ashland | Ayer | Bedford | Belmont | Billerica | Boxborough | Burlington | Carlisle | Chelmsford | Concord | Dracut | Dunstable | Framingham | Groton | Holliston | Hopkinton | Hudson | Lexington | Lincoln | Littleton | Maynard | Natick | North Reading | Pepperell | Reading | Sherborn | Shirley | Stoneham | Stow | Sudbury | Tewksbury | Townsend | Tyngsborough | Wakefield | Wayland | Westford | Weston | Wilmington | Winchester CDPs Ayer | Cochituate | Fort Devens | East Pepperell | Groton | Hopkinton | Hudson | Littleton Common | Pepperell | Pinehurst | Shirley | Townsend | West Concord Other villages Auburndale | Chestnut Hill | Gleasondale | Newton Centre | Newton Highlands | Newton Lower Falls | Newton Upper Falls | Newtonville | Nonantum | North Billerica | North Chelmsford | Waban | West Newton