Middlesex County | |
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Coordinates: 42°29′N71°23′W / 42.49°N 71.39°W | |
Country | United States |
State | Massachusetts |
Founded | May 10, 1643 |
Named for | Middlesex, England |
Seat | Lowell and Cambridge (de jure) |
Largest city | Cambridge |
Area | |
• Total | 847 sq mi (2,190 km2) |
• Land | 818 sq mi (2,120 km2) |
• Water | 29 sq mi (80 km2) 3.5% |
Population (2020) | |
• Total | 1,632,002 |
• Density | 1,996/sq mi (771/km2) |
Time zone | UTC−5 (Eastern) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC−4 (EDT) |
Congressional districts | 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th |
Middlesex County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,632,002, [1] making it the most populous county in both Massachusetts and New England and the 22nd most populous county in the United States. This also makes the county the most populous county on the East Coast outside of New York or Florida. Middlesex County is one of two U.S. counties (along with Santa Clara County, California) to be amongst the top 25 counties with the highest household income and the 25 most populated counties. It is included in the Census Bureau's Boston–Cambridge–Newton, MA–NH Metropolitan Statistical Area. As part of the 2020 United States census, the Commonwealth's mean center of population for that year was geo-centered in Middlesex County, in the town of Natick [2] [a] (this is not to be confused with the geographic center of Massachusetts, which is in Rutland, Worcester County).
On July 11, 1997, Massachusetts abolished the executive government of Middlesex County primarily due to the county's insolvency. [3] Middlesex County continues to exist as a geographic boundary [4] and is used primarily as district jurisdictions within the court system and for other administrative purposes; for example, as an election district. The National Weather Service weather alerts (such as severe thunderstorm warning) continue to localize based on Massachusetts's counties.
The county was created by the Massachusetts General Court on May 10, 1643, when it was ordered that "the whole plantation within this jurisdiction be divided into four shires." Middlesex initially contained Charlestown, Cambridge, Watertown, Sudbury, Concord, Woburn, Medford, and Reading. [5] In 1649 the first Middlesex County Registry of Deeds was created in Cambridge.
On April 19, 1775, Middlesex was the site of the first armed conflict of the American Revolutionary War.
In 1855, the Massachusetts State Legislature created a minor Registry of Deeds for the Northern District of Middlesex County in Lowell. [5]
In the late 19th century and early 20th century, Boston annexed several of its adjacent cities and towns including Charlestown and Brighton from Middlesex County, resulting in an enlargement and accretion toward Suffolk County. [5]
Beginning prior to the dissolution of the executive county government, the county comprised two regions with separate county seats for administrative purposes:
Since the start of the 21st century, much of the current and former county offices have physically decentralized from the Cambridge seat, with the sole exceptions being the Registry of Deeds and the Middlesex Probate and Family Court, which both retain locations in Cambridge and Lowell. Since the first quarter of 2008, the Superior Courthouse [8] [9] has been seated in the city of Woburn; [10] [11] the Sheriff's Office is now administratively seated in the city of Medford and the Cambridge-based County Jail [12] has since been amalgamated with another county jail facility in Billerica. [13] The Cambridge District Court (which has jurisdiction for Arlington, Belmont and Cambridge); along with the Middlesex County District Attorney's Office, although not a part of the Middlesex County government, was also relatedly forced to relocate to Medford at the time of the closure of the Superior Courthouse building in Cambridge. [14] [15]
Of the fourteen counties of Massachusetts, Middlesex is one of eight [16] which have had no county government or county commissioners since July 1, 1998, when county functions were assumed by state agencies at local option following a change in state law. [4] Immediately prior to its dissolution, the executive branch consisted of three County Commissioners elected at-large to staggered four-year terms. There was a County Treasurer elected to a six-year term. The county derived its revenue primarily from document filing fees at the Registries of Deeds and from a Deeds Excise Tax; also a transfer tax was assessed on the sale price of real estate and collected by the Registries of Deeds. [17]
Budgets as proposed by the County Commissioners were approved by a County Advisory Board that consisted of a single representative of each of the 54 cities and towns in Middlesex County. The votes of the individual members of the advisory board were weighted based on the overall valuation of property in their respective communities.
The County Sheriff and two Registers of Deeds (one for the Northern District at Lowell and another for the Southern District at Cambridge) are each elected to serve six-year terms. [18] Besides the employees of the Sheriff's Office and the two Registries of Deeds, the county had a Maintenance Department, a Security Department, some administrative staff in the Treasurer's and Commissioners' Offices, and the employees of the hospital.
The county government also owned and operated the Superior Courthouse, one of which was formerly in Cambridge (since 2008 relocated to Woburn.) [8] and one in Lowell; and the defunct Middlesex County Hospital in the city of Waltham.
The legislation abolishing the Middlesex County executive retained the Sheriff and Registers of Deeds as independently elected officials, and transferred the Sheriff's Office under the state Department of Public Safety and the two Registry of Deeds offices to the Massachusetts Secretary of State's Office. [19] Additionally, all county maintenance and security employees were absorbed into the corresponding staffs of the Massachusetts Trial Court. The legislation also transferred ownership of the two Superior Courthouses to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The hospital was closed. Finally, the office of County Commissioner was immediately abolished and the office of County Treasurer was abolished as of December 31, 2002. [20] Any county roads transferred to the Commonwealth as part of the dissolution. The other administrative duties (such as Sheriff, Department of Deeds and court system, etc.) and all supporting staff were transferred under the Commonwealth as well.
Sheriffs of Middlesex County [22] | |
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Sheriff | Term |
Capt. Timothy Phillips | 1692–1702 |
Capt. Samuel Gookin | 1702–1714 |
Col. Edmund Goffe | 1714–1717 |
Samuel Gookin(2nd term) | 1717–1729 |
Daniel Foster | 1729–1731 |
Richard Foster, Jr. | 1731–1764 |
Col. David Phips | 1764–1775 |
Col. James Prescott | 1775–1781 |
Col. Loammi Baldwin | 1781–1794 |
Maj. Joseph Hosmer | 1794–1808 |
Gen. William Hildreth, Jr. | 1808–1813 |
Gen. Nathaniel Austin, Jr. | 1813–1831 |
Benjamin Franklin Varnum | 1831–1841 |
Col. Samuel Chandler | 1841–1851 |
Fisher Ames Hildreth | 1851–1853 |
John Sheppard Keyes | 1853–1859 |
Charles Kimball | 1859–1879 |
Eben Winslow Fiske | 1879–1883 |
Henry Greenwood Cushing | 1883–1899 |
John Robert Fairbain | 1899–1934 |
Joseph M. McElroy | 1934–1947 |
Loring R. Kew | 1947-1947 |
Louis E. Boutwell | 1948–1949 |
Howard W. Fitzpatrick | 1949–1970 |
John J. Buckley | 1970–1980 |
Edward Henneberry | 1980–1984 |
William Quealy (acting) | 1984–1985 |
John P. McGonigle | 1985–1994 |
Robert C. Krekorian (acting) | 1994 |
Anthony M. Sasso (acting) | 1994 |
R. Bradford Bailey | 1994–1996 |
James DiPaola | 1996–2010 |
John Granara (Special) | 2010–2011 |
Peter Koutoujian | 2011–Present |
Records of land ownership in Middlesex County continue to be maintained at the two Registries of Deeds. Besides the Sheriff and the two Registers of Deeds, the Middlesex District Attorney, the Middlesex Register of Probate and the Middlesex Clerk of Courts (which were already part of state government before the abolition of Middlesex County government) are all elected countywide to six-year terms.
In Middlesex County (as in the entirety of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts), the governmental functions such as property tax assessment and collection, public education, road repair and maintenance, and elections were all conducted at the municipal city and town level and not by the county government.
In 2012 the 22-story Superior Court Building in Cambridge which was transferred from the abolished Executive County government was sold [23] [24] by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. [25] Due to its transfer from state control, [26] many local residents had tried to force the private developers to reduce the overall height of the structure. [27] [28]
Even following the abolition of the executive branch for county government in Middlesex, communities are still granted a right by the Massachusetts state legislature to form their own regional compacts for sharing of services and costs thereof.
Clerk of Courts: | Michael A. Sullivan |
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District Attorney: | Marian T. Ryan |
Register of Deeds: | Richard P. Howe, Jr. (North at Lowell) Maria C. Curtatone (South at Cambridge) |
Register of Probate: | Tara E. DeCristofaro |
County Sheriff: | Peter J. Koutoujian [29] |
State government | |
State Representative(s): | 37 Representatives [30] |
State Senator(s): | 16 Senators [31] |
Governor's Councilor(s): | Robert L. Jubinville (D-2nd district) Marilyn M. Petitto (D-3rd district) Eileen R. Duff (D-5th district) Terrence W. Kennedy (D-6th district) Paul DePalo (D-7th district) |
Federal government | |
U.S. Representative(s): | Jake Auchincloss (D- 4th district ) Lori Trahan (D- 3rd district ) Seth Moulton (D- 6th district ) Katherine Clark (D- 5th district ) Ayanna Pressley (D- 7th district ) |
U.S. Senators: | Elizabeth Warren (D), Ed Markey (D) |
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 847 square miles (2,190 km2), of which 818 square miles (2,120 km2) is land and 29 square miles (75 km2) (3.5%) is water. [32] It is the third-largest county in Massachusetts by land area.
It is bounded southeast by the Charles River and drained by the Merrimack, Nashua, and Concord rivers, and other streams. [33]
The MetroWest region comprises much of the southern portion of the county.
These routes pass through Middlesex County
Census | Pop. | Note | %± |
---|---|---|---|
1790 | 42,769 | — | |
1800 | 46,928 | 9.7% | |
1810 | 52,789 | 12.5% | |
1820 | 61,472 | 16.4% | |
1830 | 77,961 | 26.8% | |
1840 | 106,611 | 36.7% | |
1850 | 161,383 | 51.4% | |
1860 | 216,354 | 34.1% | |
1870 | 274,353 | 26.8% | |
1880 | 317,830 | 15.8% | |
1890 | 431,167 | 35.7% | |
1900 | 565,696 | 31.2% | |
1910 | 669,915 | 18.4% | |
1920 | 778,352 | 16.2% | |
1930 | 934,924 | 20.1% | |
1940 | 971,390 | 3.9% | |
1950 | 1,064,569 | 9.6% | |
1960 | 1,238,742 | 16.4% | |
1970 | 1,397,268 | 12.8% | |
1980 | 1,367,034 | −2.2% | |
1990 | 1,398,468 | 2.3% | |
2000 | 1,465,396 | 4.8% | |
2010 | 1,503,085 | 2.6% | |
2020 | 1,632,002 | 8.6% | |
2023 (est.) | 1,623,952 | [34] | −0.5% |
U.S. Decennial Census [35] 1790-1960 [36] 1900-1990 [37] 1990-2000 [38] 2010-2020 [39] |
As of 2006 [update] , Middlesex County was tenth in the United States on the list of most millionaires per county. [40]
As of the 2010 United States census, there were 1,503,085 people, 580,688 households, and 366,656 families residing in the county. [41] The population density was 1,837.9 inhabitants per square mile (709.6/km2). There were 612,004 housing units at an average density of 748.3 per square mile (288.9/km2). [42] The racial makeup of the county was 80.0% white, 9.3% Asian, 4.7% black or African American, 0.2% American Indian, 3.3% from other races, and 2.5% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 6.5% of the population. [41]
The largest ancestry groups were: [43]
Of the 580,688 households, 31.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.5% were married couples living together, 10.1% had a female householder with no husband present, 36.9% were non-families, and 27.8% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.49 and the average family size was 3.10. The median age was 38.5 years. [41]
The median income for a household in the county was $77,377 and the median income for a family was $97,382. Males had a median income of $64,722 versus $50,538 for females. The per capita income for the county was $40,139. About 5.1% of families and 7.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 8.0% of those under age 18 and 8.0% of those age 65 or over. [44]
79.6% spoke English, 4.3% Spanish, 2.7% Portuguese, 1.6% Italian, 1.6% Chinese including Mandarin and other Chinese dialects and 1.5% French as their first language.
Middlesex County has the largest Irish-American population of any U.S. county with a plurality of Irish ancestry. [45] [46]
The ranking of unincorporated communities that are included on the list is reflective if the census-designated locations and villages were included as cities or towns. Data is from the 2007-2011 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. [47] [48] [49]
Rank | Town | Per capita income | Median household income | Median family income | Population | Number of households | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Weston | Town | $96,475 | $180,815 | $220,441 | 11,229 | 3,557 |
2 | Sherborn | Town | $70,983 | $152,083 | $183,456 | 4,102 | 1,463 |
3 | Wayland | Town | $70,185 | $125,076 | $151,812 | 12,939 | 4,902 |
4 | Carlisle | Town | $68,060 | $159,063 | $171,167 | 4,814 | 1,612 |
5 | Lexington | Town | $67,584 | $136,610 | $158,888 | 31,129 | 11,411 |
6 | Concord | Town | $67,374 | $127,951 | $156,352 | 17,523 | 6,197 |
7 | Winchester | Town | $65,172 | $127,665 | $160,706 | 21,205 | 7,611 |
8 | Sudbury | Town | $63,862 | $159,713 | $173,587 | 17,482 | 5,613 |
9 | Newton | City | $60,323 | $109,724 | $141,944 | 84,583 | 30,735 |
10 | Lincoln | Town | $57,471 | $130,523 | $141,667 | 6,480 | 2,150 |
11 | Hopkinton | Town | $56,939 | $126,350 | $149,213 | 14,691 | 4,893 |
Chestnut Hill (02467) | ZCTA | $55,947 | $114,140 | $151,375 | 21,952 | 6,237 | |
12 | Belmont | Town | $54,361 | $99,529 | $121,250 | 24,548 | 9,465 |
Cochituate | CDP | $52,936 | $107,589 | $133,082 | 6,384 | 2,496 | |
13 | Boxborough | Town | $51,159 | $103,918 | $134,583 | 4,957 | 1,984 |
14 | Acton | Town | $49,603 | $109,491 | $135,000 | 21,656 | 7,924 |
15 | Natick | Town | $49,012 | $90,046 | $117,259 | 32,729 | 13,440 |
16 | Bedford | Town | $48,899 | $101,886 | $128,448 | 13,192 | 4,951 |
17 | Stow | Town | $48,448 | $112,130 | $132,061 | 6,488 | 2,328 |
West Concord | CDP | $47,633 | $103,693 | $145,242 | 6,134 | 2,069 | |
18 | Holliston | Town | $47,624 | $107,374 | $125,236 | 13,512 | 4,918 |
19 | Westford | Town | $47,587 | $119,511 | $135,000 | 21,716 | 7,308 |
20 | Arlington | Town | $47,571 | $85,059 | $107,862 | 42,570 | 19,007 |
21 | Groton | Town | $47,003 | $117,903 | $135,143 | 10,478 | 3,650 |
22 | Ashland | Town | $46,626 | $93,770 | $116,799 | 16,305 | 6,484 |
23 | Cambridge | City | $46,242 | $69,017 | $94,536 | 104,322 | 45,386 |
24 | Reading | Town | $44,949 | $99,131 | $117,477 | 24,504 | 9,055 |
25 | Chelmsford | Town | $42,535 | $90,895 | $110,967 | 33,610 | 13,304 |
26 | North Reading | Town | $42,256 | $104,069 | $116,729 | 14,703 | 5,077 |
27 | Dunstable | Town | $41,937 | $109,205 | $121,406 | 3,128 | 1,087 |
28 | Littleton | Town | $41,815 | $103,438 | $114,094 | 8,810 | 3,198 |
Middlesex County | County | $41,453 | $79,691 | $100,267 | 1,491,762 | 577,349 | |
29 | Watertown | City | $41,090 | $76,718 | $90,521 | 31,792 | 14,042 |
30 | Wakefield | Town | $40,227 | $85,379 | $112,293 | 24,794 | 10,058 |
31 | Burlington | Town | $40,083 | $92,236 | $107,339 | 24,207 | 9,177 |
32 | Melrose | City | $39,873 | $84,599 | $105,893 | 26,864 | 10,963 |
Groton | CDP | $39,208 | $55,446 | $127,708 | 1,077 | 507 | |
Hopkinton | CDP | $38,507 | $71,536 | $105,882 | 2,110 | 877 | |
33 | Tyngsborough | Town | $38,067 | $101,103 | $111,780 | 11,198 | 3,797 |
34 | Stoneham | Town | $37,573 | $77,476 | $95,490 | 21,413 | 8,909 |
35 | Marlborough | City | $37,314 | $72,853 | $94,770 | 38,087 | 15,856 |
36 | Wilmington | Town | $37,084 | $100,861 | $107,436 | 22,116 | 7,200 |
37 | Pepperell | Town | $37,081 | $84,618 | $102,946 | 11,407 | 4,125 |
38 | Maynard | Town | $36,818 | $77,255 | $93,116 | 10,083 | 4,222 |
39 | Tewksbury | Town | $36,509 | $86,378 | $103,008 | 28,778 | 10,670 |
40 | Hudson | Town | $36,141 | $76,714 | $95,746 | 18,845 | 7,679 |
Pepperell | CDP | $35,227 | $68,500 | $65,417 | 2,239 | 852 | |
Massachusetts | State | $35,051 | $65,981 | $83,371 | 6,512,227 | 2,522,409 | |
41 | Medford | City | $34,615 | $72,033 | $83,078 | 55,843 | 22,461 |
Hudson | CDP | $33,734 | $68,812 | $86,216 | 14,797 | 6,129 | |
42 | Woburn | City | $33,725 | $72,540 | $87,924 | 37,831 | 15,357 |
43 | Waltham | City | $33,717 | $68,326 | $82,233 | 60,209 | 23,520 |
44 | Framingham | City | $33,665 | $66,047 | $86,977 | 67,844 | 26,167 |
Pinehurst | CDP | $33,572 | $95,038 | $100,650 | 7,289 | 2,414 | |
45 | Billerica | Town | $33,347 | $88,531 | $98,371 | 39,930 | 13,859 |
46 | Somerville | City | $32,785 | $64,480 | $71,518 | 75,566 | 31,476 |
47 | Ashby | Town | $32,434 | $82,614 | $84,655 | 3,030 | 1,060 |
48 | Ayer | Town | $32,179 | $54,899 | $78,947 | 7,370 | 3,063 |
Littleton Common | CDP | $32,058 | $80,352 | $105,217 | 2,907 | 1,131 | |
49 | Dracut | Town | $31,533 | $71,824 | $88,281 | 29,249 | 11,173 |
50 | Townsend | Town | $31,201 | $76,250 | $91,023 | 8,906 | 3,114 |
East Pepperell | CDP | $30,475 | $74,077 | $79,104 | 2,195 | 811 | |
Ayer | CDP | $30,456 | $42,055 | $79,708 | 2,573 | 1,205 | |
United States | Country | $27,915 | $52,762 | $64,293 | 306,603,772 | 114,761,359 | |
Townsend | CDP | $27,166 | $51,512 | $71,023 | 968 | 453 | |
51 | Malden | City | $26,893 | $52,842 | $65,763 | 58,821 | 23,422 |
Shirley | CDP | $24,943 | $41,250 | $41,838 | 1,330 | 593 | |
52 | Everett | City | $24,575 | $48,319 | $58,045 | 41,079 | 15,681 |
53 | Shirley | Town | $24,427 | $71,146 | $78,493 | 7,235 | 2,189 |
54 | Lowell | City | $23,600 | $51,471 | $57,934 | 105,860 | 39,399 |
Devens | CDP | $13,933 | $72,986 | $73,194 | 1,704 | 113 |
Middlesex Sheriff's Office | |
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Abbreviation | MSO |
Agency overview | |
Formed | 1692 |
Employees | 800 |
Annual budget | $60 Million |
Jurisdictional structure | |
Operations jurisdiction | Massachusetts, U.S. |
Legal jurisdiction | County of Middlesex, Massachusetts |
General nature | |
Operational structure | |
Headquarters | Medford, Massachusetts |
Sheriff responsible | |
Facilities | |
Lockups | 2 |
Patrol Vehicles | Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor |
The primary responsibility of the Middlesex Sheriff's Office is oversight of the Middlesex House of Correction and Jail in Billerica. It formerly ran the Middlesex Jail in Cambridge, which closed on June 28, 2014. In addition, the Sheriff's Office operates the Office of Civil Process and, the Lowell Community Counseling Centers, and crime prevention and community service programs. The office of sheriff was created in 1692, making it one of the oldest law enforcement agencies in the United States. The sheriff is elected to a 6-year term. [50]
Notable sheriffs include: [22]
Voter registration and party enrollment as of August 2024 [51] | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Unenrolled | 712,349 | 62.46% | |||
Democratic | 327,852 | 29.07% | |||
Republican | 77,758 | 6.9% | |||
Libertarian | 3,095 | 0.27% | |||
Other parties | 6,641 | 0.59% | |||
Total | 1,127,675 | 100% |
Prior to 1960, Middlesex County was a Republican Party stronghold, backing only two Democratic Party presidential candidates from 1876 to 1956. The 1960 election started a reverse trend, with the county becoming a Democratic stronghold. This has been even more apparent in recent years, with George H. W. Bush in 1988 being the last Republican presidential candidate to manage forty percent of the county's votes and Mitt Romney in 2012 being the last Republican presidential candidate to manage even thirty percent of the vote. In 2020, Joe Biden won 71% of the vote, the highest percent for any presidential candidate since 1964.
Year | Republican | Democratic | Third party(ies) | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | |
2024 | 235,118 | 28.85% | 554,471 | 68.05% | 25,243 | 3.10% |
2020 | 226,956 | 26.28% | 617,196 | 71.47% | 19,425 | 2.25% |
2016 | 219,793 | 27.59% | 520,360 | 65.31% | 56,582 | 7.10% |
2012 | 267,321 | 35.45% | 471,804 | 62.56% | 15,045 | 1.99% |
2008 | 245,766 | 33.85% | 464,484 | 63.98% | 15,781 | 2.17% |
2004 | 237,815 | 34.52% | 440,862 | 63.99% | 10,283 | 1.49% |
2000 | 198,914 | 30.27% | 404,043 | 61.49% | 54,091 | 8.23% |
1996 | 169,926 | 27.06% | 398,190 | 63.41% | 59,861 | 9.53% |
1992 | 193,703 | 28.10% | 343,994 | 49.89% | 151,756 | 22.01% |
1988 | 290,352 | 43.82% | 361,563 | 54.57% | 10,713 | 1.62% |
1984 | 319,604 | 49.42% | 325,065 | 50.26% | 2,085 | 0.32% |
1980 | 256,999 | 40.30% | 270,751 | 42.46% | 109,929 | 17.24% |
1976 | 260,044 | 40.42% | 359,919 | 55.94% | 23,419 | 3.64% |
1972 | 269,064 | 43.56% | 345,343 | 55.91% | 3,244 | 0.53% |
1968 | 188,304 | 32.60% | 370,310 | 64.11% | 18,982 | 3.29% |
1964 | 134,729 | 23.36% | 439,790 | 76.25% | 2,291 | 0.40% |
1960 | 246,126 | 40.78% | 356,130 | 59.01% | 1,260 | 0.21% |
1956 | 343,125 | 61.12% | 216,668 | 38.60% | 1,580 | 0.28% |
1952 | 316,069 | 56.99% | 236,910 | 42.72% | 1,626 | 0.29% |
1948 | 228,262 | 46.98% | 248,240 | 51.09% | 9,406 | 1.94% |
1944 | 236,102 | 52.81% | 210,253 | 47.03% | 725 | 0.16% |
1940 | 242,658 | 52.36% | 218,663 | 47.18% | 2,116 | 0.46% |
1936 | 199,704 | 47.60% | 189,512 | 45.17% | 30,304 | 7.22% |
1932 | 184,486 | 50.44% | 174,257 | 47.64% | 7,008 | 1.92% |
1928 | 189,189 | 52.00% | 173,339 | 47.64% | 1,313 | 0.36% |
1924 | 162,530 | 63.68% | 64,544 | 25.29% | 28,161 | 11.03% |
1920 | 156,636 | 69.90% | 61,661 | 27.52% | 5,781 | 2.58% |
1916 | 60,802 | 53.77% | 49,844 | 44.08% | 2,426 | 2.15% |
1912 | 30,511 | 29.66% | 36,689 | 35.67% | 35,667 | 34.67% |
1908 | 58,672 | 61.19% | 31,362 | 32.71% | 5,853 | 6.10% |
1904 | 55,704 | 60.63% | 32,889 | 35.80% | 3,275 | 3.56% |
1900 | 49,638 | 60.57% | 29,476 | 35.97% | 2,841 | 3.47% |
1896 | 57,281 | 71.36% | 19,591 | 24.41% | 3,394 | 4.23% |
1892 | 40,375 | 52.37% | 34,769 | 45.10% | 1,946 | 2.52% |
1888 | 35,768 | 54.31% | 28,570 | 43.38% | 1,519 | 2.31% |
1884 | 27,654 | 48.50% | 22,206 | 38.95% | 7,157 | 12.55% |
1880 | 30,339 | 59.31% | 19,801 | 38.71% | 1,013 | 1.98% |
1876 | 27,304 | 58.02% | 19,561 | 41.57% | 193 | 0.41% |
1872 | 26,570 | 68.12% | 12,434 | 31.88% | 0 | 0.00% |
1868 | 24,694 | 66.47% | 12,454 | 33.53% | 0 | 0.00% |
Most municipalities in Middlesex County have a town form of government; the remainder are cities, and are so designated on this list. Villages listed below are census or postal divisions but have no separate corporate or statutory existence from the cities and towns in which they are located.
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (July 2022) |
School districts include: [53]
K-12:
Secondary:
Elementary:
Tertiary institutions include:
Middlesex County is home to the Middlesex County Volunteers, a fife and drum corps that plays music from the 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. Founded in 1982 at the end of the United States Bicentennial celebration, the group performs extensively throughout New England. They have also performed at the Boston Pops, throughout the British Isles and Western Europe, and at the Edinburgh Military Tattoo's Salute to Australia in Sydney, Australia.
Essex County is a county in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Massachusetts. At the 2020 census, the total population was 809,829, making it the third-most populous county in the state, and the seventy-eighth-most populous in the country. It is part of the Greater Boston area. The largest city in Essex County is Lynn. The county was named after the English county of Essex. It has two traditional county seats: Salem and Lawrence. Prior to the dissolution of the county government in 1999, Salem had jurisdiction over the Southern Essex District, and Lawrence had jurisdiction over the Northern Essex District, but currently these cities do not function as seats of government. However, the county and the districts remain as administrative regions recognized by various governmental agencies, which gathered vital statistics or disposed of judicial case loads under these geographic subdivisions, and are required to keep the records based on them. The county has been designated the Essex National Heritage Area by the National Park Service.
Norfolk County is located in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. At the 2020 census, the population was 725,981. Its county seat is Dedham. It is the fourth most populous county in the United States whose county seat is neither a city nor a borough, and it is the second most populous county that has a county seat at a town. The county was named after the English county of the same name. Two towns, Cohasset and Brookline, are exclaves. Norfolk County is included in the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH Metropolitan Statistical Area. Norfolk County is the 24th highest-income county in the United States with a median household income of $107,361. It is the wealthiest county in Massachusetts.
Suffolk County is located in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, in the United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 797,936, making it the fourth-most populous county in Massachusetts. The county comprises the cities of Boston, Chelsea, and Revere, and the town of Winthrop. The traditional county seat is Boston, the state capital and the largest city in Massachusetts. The county government was abolished in 1999, resulting in Suffolk County now functioning only as an administrative subdivision of state government and a set of communities grouped together for some statistical purposes. Suffolk County is located at the core of the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH Metropolitan Statistical Area as well as the greater Boston-Worcester-Providence, MA-RI-NH-CT Combined Statistical Area.
Newton is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is roughly 8 miles (13 km) west of downtown Boston, and comprises a patchwork of thirteen villages. The city borders Boston to the northeast and southeast, Brookline to the east, Watertown and Waltham to the north, and Weston, Wellesley, and Needham to the west. At the 2020 U.S. census, the population of Newton was 88,923.
Billerica is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 42,119 according to the 2020 census. It takes its name from the town of Billericay in Essex, England.
Chelmsford is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States.
Dracut is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. At the 2020 census, the town's population was 32,617, making it the second most populous town in Massachusetts with an open town meeting system of governance. The town covers a total area of 21.36 square miles, 0.5 square miles of which are water.
Lowell is a city in Massachusetts, United States. Alongside Cambridge, it is one of two traditional seats of Middlesex County. With an estimated population of 115,554 in 2020, it was the fifth most populous city in Massachusetts as of the last census, and the third most populous in the Boston metropolitan statistical area. The city is also part of a smaller Massachusetts statistical area, called Greater Lowell, and of New England's Merrimack Valley region.
Tyngsborough is a town in northern Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. Tyngsborough is 28 miles (45 km) from Boston along the Route 3 corridor, and located on the New Hampshire state line. At the 2020 census, the town population was 12,380. By its location, the town serves as a suburb of neighboring cities such as Nashua, New Hampshire and Lowell, Massachusetts.
Westford is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was at 24,643 at the time of the 2020 Census.
Woburn is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 40,876 at the 2020 census. Woburn is located 9 miles (14 km) north of Boston. Woburn uses Massachusetts' mayor-council form of government, in which an elected mayor is the executive and a partly district-based, partly at-large city council is the legislature. It was the last of Massachusetts' 351 municipalities to refer to members of its city council as "aldermen".
Burlington is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 26,377 at the 2020 census.
Greater Boston is the metropolitan region of New England encompassing the municipality of Boston, the capital of the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the most populous city in New England, and its surrounding areas. The most stringent definition of the region, used by the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, consists of most of the eastern third of mainland Massachusetts, excluding the Merrimack Valley and most of Southeastern Massachusetts, though most definitions include much of these areas and portions of southern New Hampshire.
The Middlesex Canal was a 27-mile (44-kilometer) barge canal connecting the Merrimack River with the port of Boston. When operational it was 30 feet wide, and 3 feet deep, with 20 locks, each 80 feet long and between 10 and 11 feet wide. It also had eight aqueducts.
The Boston and Lowell Railroad was a railroad that operated in Massachusetts in the United States. It was one of the first railroads in North America and the first major one in the state. The line later operated as part of the Boston and Maine Railroad's Southern Division.
Massachusetts's 3rd congressional district is located in north-central and northeastern Massachusetts. The largest municipalities in the district are Lowell, Lawrence, Haverhill, Methuen, Billerica (partial), Fitchburg, and Marlborough.
Greater Lowell is the region comprising the city of Lowell, Massachusetts, and its suburbs. These lie in northern Middlesex County, Massachusetts; in the Merrimack Valley; and in southern New Hampshire.
Barzillai Lew was an African-American soldier who served with distinction during the American Revolutionary War.
Elections to the Massachusetts Senate were held on November 4, 1908, to elect 40 State Senators to the 130th Massachusetts General Court. Candidates were elected at the district level, with many districts covering multiple towns or counties.
WOBURN – Middlesex Superior Court, currently located in the Edward J. Sullivan Courthouse in Cambridge, will move to a new facility in Woburn in the TradeCenter on Sylvan Road beginning Friday, according to Chief Justice for Administration and Management Robert A. Mulligan.
Woburn, MA, March 17, 2008 – The new furniture has been installed, years of case files have been dusted off, moved and organized, and the computers are all hooked up and ready to go. After 40 years in Cambridge, the Superior Court is open and ready for business in Woburn. [ ... ] Serving nearly all of the 54 communities in Middlesex County, the new Woburn building houses 15 courtrooms, clerks' offices, judges' chambers, the probation department, the law library, and more. In addition, the Court estimates that more than 400 people will use the building every day, including, lawyers, judges, administrative staff, jurors, plaintiffs, defendants, visitors, and others who work at the building and use the system.
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has extended its lease for the Middlesex County Superior Courthouse at TradeCenter 128 in Woburn for a seven-year term. This renewal comes five years after the Court moved from the Edward J. Sullivan Courthouse in Cambridge, which was in need of extensive renovations and has since been slated for redevelopment.
The Middlesex Jail at the Edward J. Sullivan Courthouse in Cambridge closed Saturday after 32 years of operation, according to Middlesex Sheriff Peter J. Koutoujian.
A high-security weekend operation has emptied the Middlesex County Jail in Cambridge of all its inmates.
The Cambridge District Court moved into Medford this week, placing itself in the former Cross Country building at 4040 Mystic Valley Pkwy.
Chief Justice for Administration and Management Robert A. Mulligan today announced that the Third District Court of Middlesex County, currently located in the Edward J. Sullivan Courthouse in Cambridge, will move to a new court facility on the Mystic Valley Parkway in Medford after the close of business on February 20, 2009, and open for business at this new site on Monday, February 23, 2009.
Leggat McCall Properties was selected from a pool of seven bidders to redevelop the 22-story, 600,000-square-foot EJ Sullivan Courthouse in East Cambridge, the state announced Friday, Dec. 14.
State officials are advertising for a buyer for the 22-story, asbestos-plagued Edward J. Sullivan Courthouse in Cambridge and hope to move prisoners housed in county jail at the facility to another location by the spring of 2013.
The Appeals Court upheld a 2015 Land Court decision that determined the former Edward J. Sullivan Courthouse, when transferred from state ownership to private ownership under Boston developer Leggat McCall Properties, would still be considered a legal, preexisting nonconforming structure despite losing its government immunity from zoning rules.
The developers who want to remodel the imposing former courthouse tower in East Cambridge and enliven its ground floor had hoped an appeals court decision last month was the final green light they needed.
Upcoming mixed-use development located steps from Kendall Square that will transform the existing 22-story Sullivan Courthouse and Middlesex Jail tower in East Cambridge into a 20-story mixed-use tower. The new 40 Thorndike Street will feature approximately 430,000 square feet of office, research & development space and 15,000 square feet of ground-floor retail, along with 24 apartment residences on lower floors. Lower office floors will be marketed to startup companies as innovation space. Retail will include a grocery store and a health club; a daycare could be included as well.
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