Middlesex County, Massachusetts

History

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. 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.

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.

Beginning prior to the dissolution of the executive county government, the county comprised two regions with separate county seats for administrative purposes:

• The Middlesex-North District (smaller) with its county seat in Lowell under the Registry of Deeds consisted of the city of Lowell, and its adjacent towns of Billerica, Carlisle, Chelmsford, Dracut, Dunstable, Tewksbury, Tyngsborough, Westford and Wilmington.
• The Middlesex-South District (larger) with the county seat in Cambridge consisted of the remaining 44 cities and towns of Middlesex County.

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 has been seated in the city of Woburn; the Sheriff's Office is now administratively seated in the city of Medford and the Cambridge-based County Jail has since been amalgamated with another county jail facility in Billerica. 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.

Government and politics

Of the fourteen counties of Massachusetts, Middlesex is one of eight 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. 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.

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. 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.) 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. 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. 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.

Administrative structure today

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 by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Due to its transfer from state control, many local residents had tried to force the private developers to reduce the overall height of the structure.

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.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 847 sqmi, of which 818 sqmi is land and 29 sqmi (3.5%) is water. 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.

The MetroWest region comprises much of the southern portion of the county.

Adjacent counties

• Hillsborough County, New Hampshire (north)
• Essex County (northeast)
• Suffolk County (southeast)
• Norfolk County (south)
• Worcester County (west)

Transportation

These routes pass through Middlesex County

• , From Hopkinton to Newton
• , From Somerville to Tewksbury
• , From Newton to Wakefield
• , In Marlboro
• , From Hopkinton to Tewksbury
• , From Cambridge to Malden
• /Route 3, From Cambridge to Tyngsborough
• , From Marlborough to Watertown
• , From Littleton to Cambridge
• , From Shirley to Cambridge
• , From Burlington to Tyngsborough
• , From Lexington-Arlington line to Chelmsford
• , From Framingham to Newton
• , In Townsend
• , From Holliston to Everett
• , From Sherborn to Chelmsford
• , From Cambridge to North Reading
• , From Framingham to Newton
• , In Ashby
• , From Somerville to Dracut
• , From Groton to Chelmsford
• , From Waltham to Malden
• , From Hudson to North Reading
• , From Hopkinton to Hudson
• , From Everett to Melrose
• , From Ayer to Dracut
• , From Concord to Pepperell
• , From Pepperell to Dracut
• , In Sherborn
• , From Stow to Waltham
• , From Concord to Ashby
• , From Wilmington to North Reading
• , From Holliston to Concord
• , From Newton to Wakefield
• , From Chelmsford to Wakefield
• , From Lowell to Tewksbury
• , From Hopkinton to Natick
• , From Shirley to Lexington

National protected areas

Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge, a 2230 acre protected National Wildlife Refuge approximately 25 mi west of Boston]]

• Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge
• Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge
• Longfellow House–Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site
• Lowell National Historical Park
• Minute Man National Historical Park
• Oxbow National Wildlife Refuge (part)

Demographics

|align-fn=center 1790-1960 1900-1990 1990-2000 2010-2020

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, the county had a population of 1,632,002. Of the residents, 19.5% were under the age of 18 and 16.1% were 65 years of age or older; the median age was 38.6 years.

For every 100 females there were 95.6 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 93.5 males. 96.5% of residents lived in urban areas and 3.5% lived in rural areas.

The racial makeup of the county was 68.2% White, 5.2% Black or African American, 0.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 12.9% Asian, 0.0% Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, 5.2% from some other race, and 8.3% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino residents of any race comprised 8.8% of the population.

There were 625,916 households in the county, of which 29.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them and 26.8% had a female householder with no spouse or partner present. About 26.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.

There were 658,283 housing units, of which 4.9% were vacant. Among occupied housing units, 59.6% were owner-occupied and 40.4% were renter-occupied. The homeowner vacancy rate was 0.7% and the rental vacancy rate was 4.9%.

In 2006, Middlesex County contained the tenth most millionaires of any county in the United States.

2010 census

As of the 2010 United States census, there were 1,503,085 people, 580,688 households, and 366,656 families residing in the county.{{cite web |access-date=January 12, 2016 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20200213031244/http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/DEC/10_DP/DPDP1/0500000US25017 |archive-date=February 13, 2020 |url-status=dead |access-date=January 12, 2016 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20200213184155/http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/DEC/10_SF1/GCTPH1.CY07/0500000US25017 |archive-date=February 13, 2020 |url-status=dead

The largest ancestry groups were:{{cite web |access-date=January 12, 2016 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20200213032015/http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/10_5YR/DP02/0500000US25017 |archive-date=February 13, 2020 |url-status=dead

• 23.5% Irish
• 16.2% Italian
• 11.2% English
• 7.1% German
• 5.6% French
• 4.0% Polish
• 3.6% French Canadian
• 3.2% Chinese
• 3.1% Portuguese
• 2.9% American
• 2.7% Scottish
• 2.6% Russian
• 2.5% Indian
• 2.4% Brazilian
• 2.0% Scotch-Irish
• 2.0% Puerto Rican
• 1.7% Swedish
• 1.6% Greek
• 1.2% Sub-Saharan African
• 1.2% Haitian
• 1.2% Armenian
• 1.1% Canadian
• 1.0% Cambodian
• 1.0% Arab

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.

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.{{cite web |access-date=January 12, 2016 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20200213020651/http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/10_5YR/DP03/0500000US25017 |archive-date=February 13, 2020 |url-status=dead

79.6% spoke only English at home, while 4.3% spoke Spanish, 2.7% Portuguese, 1.6% Italian, 1.6% Chinese including Mandarin and other Chinese dialects, and 1.5% spoke French.

Middlesex County has the largest Irish-American population of any U.S. county with a plurality of Irish ancestry.

Demographic breakdown by town

Income

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.

Law enforcement

|

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.

Notable sheriffs include:

• Col. James Prescott (1775–1781)
• Col. Loammi Baldwin (1781–1794)
• Col. Samuel Chandler (1841–1851)
• Charles Kimball (1859–1879)
• John J. Buckley (1970–1980)
• John P. McGonigle (1985–1994)
• James DiPaola (1996–2010)
• John Granara (Special) (2010–2011)
• Peter Koutoujian (2011–Present)

Politics

Prior to 1960, Middlesex County was a Republican Party stronghold, backing only two Democratic Party presidential candidates from 1856 to 1956. From the 1960 election the trend reversed; the county has exclusively supported Democratic presidential candidates. This has intensified in recent decades, as George H. W. Bush in 1988 was the most recent Republican presidential candidate to receive over 40 percent of the county's votes and Mitt Romney in 2012 the last Republican to receive over 30 percent. In 2020, Joe Biden won 71% of the county’s votes, the highest share for any presidential candidate since 1964.

Communities

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.

Cities

• Cambridge (traditional county seat) de jure
• Everett
• Framingham
• Lowell (traditional county seat)
• 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
• 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

Census-designated places

• Ayer
• Cochituate
• Devens
• East Pepperell
• Groton
• Hanscom AFB
• Hopkinton
• Hudson
• Littleton Common
• Pepperell
• Pinehurst
• Shirley
• Townsend
• West Concord

Other villages and neighborhoods

• Auburndale
• Chestnut Hill
• East Lexington
• Felchville
• Forge Village
• Gleasondale
• Graniteville
• Greenwood
• Melrose Highlands
• Nabnasset
• Newton Centre
• Newton Highlands
• Newton Lower Falls
• Newton Upper Falls
• Newtonville
• Nonantum
• North Billerica
• North Chelmsford
• North Woburn
• Pingryville
• Saxonville
• Thompsonville
• Waban
• West Newton

Education

School districts include:

K-12:

• Ayer-Shirley School District
• Acton-Boxborough Regional School District
• Arlington School District
• Ashland School District
• Bedford School District
• Belmont School District
• Billerica School District
• Burlington School District
• Cambridge Public School District
• Chelmsford School District
• Dracut School District
• Everett School District
• Framingham School District
• Groton-Dunstable School District
• Holliston School District
• Hopkinton School District
• Hudson School District
• Lexington School District
• Littleton School District
• Lowell Public Schools
• Malden School District
• Marlborough School District
• Maynard School District
• Medford Public Schools
• Melrose School District
• Nashoba Regional School District
• Natick School District
• Newton School District
• North Middlesex School District
• North Reading School District
• Reading Public Schools
• Somerville School District
• Stoneham School District
• Tewksbury School District
• Tyngsborough School District
• Wakefield School District
• Waltham School District
• Watertown School District
• Wayland School District
• Westford School District
• Weston School District
• Wilmington School District
• Winchester School District
• Woburn School District

Secondary:

• Concord-Carlisle School District
• Dover-Sherborn School District
• Lincoln-Sudbury School District

Elementary:

• Carlisle School District
• Concord School District
• Lincoln School District
• Sherborn School District
• Sudbury School District

Tertiary institutions include:

• Harvard University (Cambridge)
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) (Cambridge)
• Tufts University (Medford & Somerville)
• University of Massachusetts Lowell (Lowell)
• Framingham State University (Framingham)
• Middlesex Community College (Massachusetts) (Lowell & Bedford)

Culture

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.

Explanatory notes

References

Bibliography

• History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Volume 1 (A-H), Volume 2 (L-W) by Samuel Adams Drake, published 1879 and 1880. 572 and 505 pages.
• Ancient Middlesex with Brief Biographical Sketches. By Levi Swanton Gould, published 1905, 366 pages.

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