Concord () is a town in
Middlesex County, Massachusetts
Middlesex County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,632,002, making it the most populous county in both Massachusetts and New England and the 22nd most populou ...
, United States. In the
2020 census, the town population was 18,491.
The
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...
considers Concord part of
Greater Boston
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, home to 4,941,632. The most s ...
. The town center is near where the
Sudbury and
Assabet rivers join to form the
Concord River.
The town was established in 1635 by a group of
English settlers; by 1775, the population had grown to 1,400.
As dissension between colonists in North America and the British crown intensified, 700 troops were sent to confiscate militia ordnance stored at Concord on April 19, 1775.
[ Chidsey, p. 6. This is the total size of Smith's force.] The ensuing conflict, the
battles of Lexington and Concord
The Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775 were the first major military actions of the American Revolutionary War between the Kingdom of Great Britain and Patriot (American Revolution), Patriot militias from America's Thirteen Co ...
, were the incidents (including the
shot heard round the world) which triggered the
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...
.
A rich literary community developed in Concord during the mid-19th century, centered around
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803April 27, 1882), who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, minister, abolitionism, abolitionist, and poet who led the Transcendentalism, Transcendentalist movement of th ...
. Emerson's circle included
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne (né Hathorne; July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was an American novelist and short story writer. His works often focus on history, morality, and religion.
He was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, from a family long associat ...
,
Louisa May Alcott
Louisa May Alcott (; November 29, 1832March 6, 1888) was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet best known for writing the novel ''Little Women'' (1868) and its sequels ''Good Wives'' (1869), ''Little Men'' (1871), and ''Jo's Boys'' ...
and
Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau (born David Henry Thoreau; July 12, 1817May 6, 1862) was an American naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher. A leading Transcendentalism, transcendentalist, he is best known for his book ''Walden'', a reflection upon sim ...
. Major works written in Concord during this period include Alcott's novel ''
Little Women
''Little Women'' is a coming-of-age novel written by American novelist Louisa May Alcott, originally published in two volumes, in 1868 and 1869. The story follows the lives of the four March sisters— Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy—and details th ...
'', Emerson's essay ''
Self-Reliance
"Self-Reliance" is an 1841 essay written by American transcendentalist philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson. It contains the most thorough statement of one of his recurrent themes: the need for each person to avoid conformity and false consistency, ...
'', and Thoreau's ''
Walden
''Walden'' (; first published as ''Walden; or, Life in the Woods'') is an 1854 book by American transcendentalism, transcendentalist writer Henry David Thoreau. The text is a reflection upon the author's simple living in natural surroundings. T ...
'' and ''
Civil Disobedience
Civil disobedience is the active and professed refusal of a citizenship, citizen to obey certain laws, demands, orders, or commands of a government (or any other authority). By some definitions, civil disobedience has to be nonviolent to be cal ...
''. In this era, the now-ubiquitous
Concord grape was developed in Concord by
Ephraim Wales Bull. Major grape juice producer
Welch's
Welch Foods Inc., commonly known as Welch's, is an American company, headquartered in Concord, Massachusetts, Concord, Massachusetts. It has been owned by the National Grape Cooperative Association, a Agricultural cooperative, co-op of grape ...
is still headquartered there today.
In the 20th century, Concord developed into an affluent Boston suburb and tourist destination, drawing visitors to the
Old North Bridge,
Orchard House and
Walden Pond. The town retains its literary culture and is home to notable authors, including
Doris Kearns Goodwin
Doris Helen Kearns Goodwin (born January 4, 1943) is an American biographer, historian, former sports journalism, sports journalist, and political commentator. She has written biographies of numerous U.S. presidents. Goodwin's book ''No Ordinary ...
,
Alan Lightman and
Gregory Maguire
Gregory Maguire (born June 9, 1954) is an American novelist. He is the author of ''Wicked (Maguire novel), Wicked'', ''Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister'', and several dozen other novels for adults and children. Many of Maguire's adult novels are ...
. Concord is also notable for its progressive and environmentalist politics, becoming in 2012 the first community in the United States to ban single-serving
PET
A pet, or companion animal, is an animal kept primarily for a person's company or entertainment rather than as a working animal, livestock, or a laboratory animal. Popular pets are often considered to have attractive/ cute appearances, inte ...
bottles.
History
Prehistory and founding
The area which became the town of Concord was originally known as "Musketaquid", situated at the confluence of the
Sudbury and
Assabet rivers.
The name was an
Algonquian word for "grassy plain", fitting the area's low-lying
marsh
In ecology, a marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous plants rather than by woody plants.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p More in genera ...
es and
kettle holes. Native Americans had cultivated corn crops there; the rivers were rich with fish and the land was lush and arable.
The area was largely depopulated in 1633 by an
epidemic of smallpox,
a disease likely to have been introduced to the New World by European explorers and settlers.
In 1635, a group of English settlers led by Rev.
Peter Bulkley and Major
Simon Willard received a land grant from the General Court and negotiated a land purchase with the local
indigenous tribes. Bulkeley was an influential religious leader who "carried a good number of planters with him into the woods"; Willard was a canny trader who spoke the Algonquian language and had gained the trust of Native Americans. They exchanged
wampum
Wampum is a traditional shell bead of the Eastern Woodlands tribes of Native Americans. It includes white shell beads hand-fashioned from the North Atlantic channeled whelk shell and white and purple beads made from the quahog or Western ...
, hatchets, knives, cloth and other useful items for the purchase from
Squaw Sachem of Mistick
Squaw Sachem of Mistick (-1650 or 1667) a. k. a. "Massachusetts Queene" was a prominent leader of a Massachusett tribe who deeded large tracts of land in eastern Massachusetts to early colonial settlers.
Squaw Sachem was the widow of Nanepashemet, ...
, which formed the basis of the new town, called "Concord" in appreciation of the peaceful acquisition.
Battles of Lexington and Concord
The
battles of Lexington and Concord
The Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775 were the first major military actions of the American Revolutionary War between the Kingdom of Great Britain and Patriot (American Revolution), Patriot militias from America's Thirteen Co ...
were the first military engagements of the
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...
. On April 19, 1775, 700
British Army
The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...
troops led by Lieutenant-Colonel
Francis Smith marched from
Boston
Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
to Concord to confiscate a cache of arms stored in the town. Unbeknownst to them,
Patriot leaders had moved most of the cache elsewhere. Around 150 Patriot
minutemen
Minutemen were members of the organized New England colonial militia companies trained in weaponry, tactics, and military strategies during the American Revolutionary War. They were known for being ready at a minute's notice, hence the name. Min ...
from local towns, who had been forewarned of the Army's march by
Samuel Prescott on April 18, quickly
mustered and confronted the British in
Lexington. Though who fired the first shot is unknown, a firefight broke out and the British fired a volley at the Americans before dispersing them with a
bayonet charge, killing eight. The British proceeded into Concord and dispersed into company-sized formations to search for the cache. At 11:00am, 400 minutemen engaged 100 British troops at the
Old North Bridge, leading to a number of casualties on both sides and forcing them to fall back and rejoin the Army's main force.
After the British completed their search for the cache in Concord, they marched back to Boston, but were constantly attacked by minutemen in hit-and-run attacks, suffering more casualties before reaching
Charlestown. The minutemen then blockaded the narrow land accesses to Charlestown, initiating the
siege of Boston
The siege of Boston (April 19, 1775 – March 17, 1776) was the opening phase of the American Revolutionary War. In the siege, Patriot (American Revolution), American patriot militia led by newly-installed Continental Army commander George Wash ...
. Poet
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803April 27, 1882), who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, minister, abolitionism, abolitionist, and poet who led the Transcendentalism, Transcendentalist movement of th ...
subsequently described the shot fired by the minutemen at the Old North Bridge in his 1837 poem "
Concord Hymn" as the "
shot heard round the world".
In 1894, the
Lexington Historical Society petitioned the
Massachusetts State Legislature to proclaim April 19 "Lexington Day"; Concord countered with "Concord Day". Governor
Frederic T. Greenhalge opted for a compromise, proclaiming the day as
Patriots' Day
Patriots' Day (Patriot's Day in Maine) is an annual event, formalized as a legal holiday or a special observance day in seven U.S. states, commemorating the battles of Lexington, Concord, and Menotomy, the inaugural battles of the America ...
. In April 1975, Concord hosted a bicentennial celebration of the battle, featuring an address at the Old North Bridge by President
Gerald Ford
Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. (born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was the 38th president of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, Ford assumed the p ...
.
Literary history
Concord has a remarkably rich literary history centered in the 19th century around
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803April 27, 1882), who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, minister, abolitionism, abolitionist, and poet who led the Transcendentalism, Transcendentalist movement of th ...
(1803–1882), who moved there in 1835 and quickly became its most prominent citizen.
A successful lecturer and philosopher, Emerson had deep roots in the town: his father,
Rev. William Emerson (1769–1811), grew up in Concord before becoming an eminent Boston minister, and his grandfather,
William Emerson Sr., witnessed the battle at the North Bridge from his house, and later became a chaplain in the Continental Army.
Emerson was at the center of a group of like-minded
Transcendentalists living in Concord.
Among them were the author
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne (né Hathorne; July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was an American novelist and short story writer. His works often focus on history, morality, and religion.
He was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, from a family long associat ...
(1804–1864) and the philosopher
Amos Bronson Alcott
Amos Bronson Alcott (; November 29, 1799 – March 4, 1888) was an American teacher, writer, philosopher, and reformer. As an educator, Alcott pioneered new ways of interacting with young students, focusing on a conversational style, and av ...
(1799–1888), the father of
Louisa May Alcott
Louisa May Alcott (; November 29, 1832March 6, 1888) was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet best known for writing the novel ''Little Women'' (1868) and its sequels ''Good Wives'' (1869), ''Little Men'' (1871), and ''Jo's Boys'' ...
(1832–1888). A native Concordian,
Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau (born David Henry Thoreau; July 12, 1817May 6, 1862) was an American naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher. A leading Transcendentalism, transcendentalist, he is best known for his book ''Walden'', a reflection upon sim ...
(1817–1862) was another notable member of Emerson's circle. This substantial collection of literary talent in one small town led
Henry James
Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...
to dub Concord "the biggest little place in America."
Among the products of this intellectually stimulating environment were Emerson's many essays, including ''
Self-Reliance
"Self-Reliance" is an 1841 essay written by American transcendentalist philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson. It contains the most thorough statement of one of his recurrent themes: the need for each person to avoid conformity and false consistency, ...
'' (1841), Louisa May Alcott's novel ''
Little Women
''Little Women'' is a coming-of-age novel written by American novelist Louisa May Alcott, originally published in two volumes, in 1868 and 1869. The story follows the lives of the four March sisters— Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy—and details th ...
'' (1868), and Hawthorne's story collection ''
Mosses from an Old Manse
''Mosses from an Old Manse'' is a short story collection by Nathaniel Hawthorne, first published in 1846.
Background and publication history
The collection includes several previously published short stories, and was named in honor of The Old M ...
'' (1846).
Thoreau famously lived in a small cabin near
Walden Pond, where he wrote ''
Walden
''Walden'' (; first published as ''Walden; or, Life in the Woods'') is an 1854 book by American transcendentalism, transcendentalist writer Henry David Thoreau. The text is a reflection upon the author's simple living in natural surroundings. T ...
'' (1854).
After being imprisoned in the Concord jail for refusing to pay taxes in political protest against
slavery
Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...
and the
Mexican–American War
The Mexican–American War (Spanish language, Spanish: ''guerra de Estados Unidos-México, guerra mexicano-estadounidense''), also known in the United States as the Mexican War, and in Mexico as the United States intervention in Mexico, ...
, Thoreau penned the influential essay "Resistance to Civil Government", popularly known as ''
Civil Disobedience
Civil disobedience is the active and professed refusal of a citizenship, citizen to obey certain laws, demands, orders, or commands of a government (or any other authority). By some definitions, civil disobedience has to be nonviolent to be cal ...
'' (1849).
Evidencing their strong political beliefs through actions, Thoreau and many of his neighbors served as station masters and agents on the
Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was an organized network of secret routes and safe houses used by freedom seekers to escape to the abolitionist Northern United States and Eastern Canada. Enslaved Africans and African Americans escaped from slavery ...
.
The Wayside, a house on Lexington Road, has been home to several authors.
It was occupied by scientist
John Winthrop
John Winthrop (January 12, 1588 – March 26, 1649) was an English Puritan lawyer and a leading figure in the founding of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the second major settlement in New England following Plymouth Colony. Winthrop led the fir ...
(1714–1779) when
Harvard College
Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...
was temporarily moved to Concord during the Revolutionary War.
The Wayside was later the home of the Alcott family (who referred to it as "Hillside"); the Alcotts sold it to Hawthorne in 1852, and the family moved into the adjacent
Orchard House in 1858. Hawthorne dubbed the house "The Wayside" and lived there until his death. The house was purchased in 1883 by Boston publisher
Daniel Lothrop and his wife, Harriett, who wrote the
Five Little Peppers
''The Five Little Peppers'' is a book series created by American author Margaret Sidney which was published 1881 to 1916. It covers the lives of the five children in their native state and develops with their rescue by a wealthy gentleman who ta ...
series and other children's books under the pen name
Margaret Sidney
Harriett Lothrop was an American author also known by her pseudonym Margaret Sidney (June 22, 1844 – August 2, 1924). In addition to writing popular children's stories, she ran her husband Daniel Lothrop's publishing company after his death ...
.
Today, The Wayside and the Orchard House are both museums. Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne and the Alcotts are buried on Authors' Ridge in Concord's
Sleepy Hollow Cemetery
Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Sleepy Hollow, New York, is the cemetery, final resting place of numerous famous figures, including Washington Irving, whose 1820 short story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is set in the adjacent burying ground of the ...
.
The 20th-century composer
Charles Ives
Charles Edward Ives (; October 20, 1874May 19, 1954) was an American modernist composer, actuary and businessman. Ives was among the earliest renowned American composers to achieve recognition on a global scale. His music was largely ignored d ...
wrote his ''
Concord Sonata'' () as a series of impressionistic portraits of literary figures associated with the town. Concord maintains a lively literary culture to this day; notable authors who have called the town home in recent years include
Doris Kearns Goodwin
Doris Helen Kearns Goodwin (born January 4, 1943) is an American biographer, historian, former sports journalism, sports journalist, and political commentator. She has written biographies of numerous U.S. presidents. Goodwin's book ''No Ordinary ...
,
Alan Lightman,
Robert B. Parker
Robert Brown Parker (September 17, 1932 – January 18, 2010) was an American writer, primarily of fiction within the mystery/detective genre. His most famous works include the 40 novels written about the fictional private detective Spenser. ...
and
Gregory Maguire
Gregory Maguire (born June 9, 1954) is an American novelist. He is the author of ''Wicked (Maguire novel), Wicked'', ''Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister'', and several dozen other novels for adults and children. Many of Maguire's adult novels are ...
.
Concord grape
In 1849,
Ephraim Wales Bull developed the now-ubiquitous
Concord grape at his home on Lexington Road, where the original vine still grows.
Welch's
Welch Foods Inc., commonly known as Welch's, is an American company, headquartered in Concord, Massachusetts, Concord, Massachusetts. It has been owned by the National Grape Cooperative Association, a Agricultural cooperative, co-op of grape ...
, the first company to sell grape juice, maintains a headquarters in Concord.
The Boston-born Bull developed the Concord grape by experimenting with seeds from some of the native species. On his farm outside Concord, down the road from the Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne and Alcott homesteads, he planted some 22,000 seedlings before producing the ideal grape. Early ripening, to escape the killing northern frosts, but with a rich, full-bodied flavor, the hardy Concord grape thrives where European cuttings had failed to survive. In 1853, Bull felt ready to put the first bunches of Concord grapes before the public and won a prize at the
Boston Horticultural Society Exhibition. From these early arbors, the fame of Bull's Concord grape spread worldwide, bringing him up to $1,000 a cutting, but he died a relatively poor man. The inscription on his tombstone reads, "He sowed—others reaped."
Plastic bottle ban
On September 5, 2012, Concord became the first community in the United States to approve a ban on the sale of water in single-serving plastic bottles. The law banned the sale of
PET
A pet, or companion animal, is an animal kept primarily for a person's company or entertainment rather than as a working animal, livestock, or a laboratory animal. Popular pets are often considered to have attractive/ cute appearances, inte ...
bottles of or less starting January 1, 2013. The ban provoked national controversy. An editorial in the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
'' characterized the ban as "born of convoluted reasoning" and "wrongheaded." Some residents believed the ban would do little to affect the sales of bottled water, which was still highly accessible in the surrounding areas, and that it restricted consumers' freedom of choice. Opponents also considered the ban to unfairly target one product in particular, when other, less healthy alternatives such as soda and fruit juice were still readily available in bottled form. Nonetheless, subsequent efforts to repeal the ban have failed in
open town meetings. An effort to repeal Concord's ban on the sale of plastic water bottles was resoundingly defeated at a Town Meeting. Resident Jean Hill, who led the initial fight for the ban, said, "I really feel at the age of 86 that I've really accomplished something." Town Moderator Eric Van Loon didn't even bother taking an official tally because opposition to repeal was so overwhelming. It appeared that upwards of 80 to 90 percent of the 1,127 voters in attendance raised their ballots against the repeal measure.
The issue had been bubbling in Concord for several years. In 2010, a ban approved in a town meeting, which wasn't written as a bylaw, was rejected by the state attorney general's office. In 2011, a new version of the ban narrowly failed at a town meeting by a vote of 265 to 272. The ban on selling water in polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles of one liter or less passed in 2012 by a vote of 403 to 364, and a repeal effort in April failed by a vote of 621 to 687.
Geography
According to the
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...
, the town has a total area of , of which is land and , or 3.75%, is water. The city of
Lowell is to the north,
Boston
Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
is to the east, and
Nashua, New Hampshire
Nashua () is a city in southern New Hampshire, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it had a population of 91,322, the second-largest in northern New England after nearby Manchester, New Hampshire, Manchester. It is on ...
, is to the north.
Massachusetts state routes
2,
2A,
62,
126,
119,
111 and
117 pass through Concord. The town center is near the
confluence
In geography, a confluence (also ''conflux'') occurs where two or more watercourses join to form a single channel (geography), channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main ...
of the
Sudbury and
Assabet rivers, forming the
Concord River, which flows north to the
Merrimack River
The Merrimack River (or Merrimac River, an occasional earlier spelling) is a river in the northeastern United States. It rises at the confluence of the Pemigewasset and Winnipesaukee rivers in Franklin, New Hampshire, flows southward into M ...
in Lowell.
Gunpowder
Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, charcoal (which is mostly carbon), and potassium nitrate, potassium ni ...
was manufactured from 1835 to 1940 in the
American Powder Mills complex extending upstream along the Assabet River.
Government
Local government consists of a five-member executive Select Board and a legislature utilizing
open town meeting.
On the federal level, Concord is part of
Massachusetts's 3rd congressional district, represented by
Lori Trahan
Lori Ann Trahan ( ; Loureiro; born October 27, 1973) is an American businesswoman and politician serving as the U.S. representative for since 2019. The district covers Boston's northwestern suburbs, and includes Lowell, Lawrence, Concord, a ...
. The state's senior (
Class I) member of the
United States Senate
The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...
is
Elizabeth Warren
Elizabeth Ann Warren (née Herring; born June 22, 1949) is an American politician and former law professor who is the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States senator from the state of Massachusetts, serving since 2013. A mem ...
. The junior (
Class II) senator is
Ed Markey
Edward John Markey (born July 11, 1946) is an American politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, junior United States Senate, United States senator from the state of Massachusetts, a seat he has held since 2013. A member of ...
.
Demographics
At the 2020 census,
there were 18,491 people, 7,295 housing units and 6,439 families residing in the town. The population density was . The average density of housing units was . The racial makeup of the town was 82.94%
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
, 2.61%
African American
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
, 6.18%
Asian, 4.55%
Hispanic
The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...
or
Latino (of any race), 0.02%
Native American, 0.02%
Pacific Islander
Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...
, 1.02% from
other races, and 6.86% from two or more races.
There were 6,439 families, of which 35.98% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 62.98% were married couples living together, 22.4% had a female householder with no spouse present, 12.4% had a male householder with no spouse present, 28.42% were non-families and 24.59% of all households were made up of individuals. The average family size was 3.18.
25.1% of the population were under the age of 18, 4.2% from 18 to 24, 25.8% from 25 to 44, 28.4% from 45 to 64 and 16.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females, there were 100.3 males. For every 100 women aged 18 and over, there were 101.8 men.
At the time of the
2020 census, the
median household income
The median income is the income amount that divides a population into two groups, half having an income above that amount, and half having an income below that amount. It may differ from the mean (or average) income. Both of these are ways of und ...
was $184,086. About 2.5% of the population was below the poverty line, including 1.7% of those under age 18 and 1.1% of those aged 65 or over.
Pronunciation
The town's name is pronounced by its residents as , in a manner indistinguishable from the American pronunciation of the word "conquered."
In the
local dialect
Local may refer to:
Geography and transportation
* Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand
* Local, Missouri, a community in the United States
Arts, entertainment, and media
* ''Local'' (comics), a limited series comic book by Bria ...
of
Greater Boston
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, home to 4,941,632. The most s ...
, it is frequently heard with the in the second syllable replaced by ().
Economy
Principal employers
According to Concord's 2022 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the principal employers in the town are:
Transportation
Concord and
West Concord stations are served by the
MBTA
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (abbreviated MBTA and known colloquially as "the T") is the public agency responsible for operating most public transportation services in Greater Boston, Massachusetts. The MBTA transit network in ...
's
Fitchburg Line. Yankee Line provides commuter bus service between Concord and Boston.
Sister cities
Concord's
sister cities
A sister city or a twin town relationship is International relations, a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties.
While there ar ...
are:
*
Nanae, Japan
*
Saint-Mandé
Saint-Mandé (; named for Saint Maudez) is a Communes of France, commune in the Val-de-Marne Departments of France, department in Île-de-France, in the high-end eastern inner suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the Kilometre zero, cent ...
, France
Points of interest
*
Barrett's Farm
*
Reuben Brown House, home of notable revolutionist
*
Concord Armory, home to the
Concord Players
*
Concord Art Association
*
Concord Free Public Library
The Concord Free Public Library is a public library in the town of Concord, Massachusetts. The main building is located at 129 Main Street, and the Fowler branch is located at 1322 Main Street in West Concord.
History
The Concord Free Public Li ...
*
Concord Museum
* Concord Scout House, popular venue for
contra dancing and other events
*
Concord's Colonial Inn
* Corinthian Lodge
*
Egg Rock, where the Concord River forms at the confluence of the Sudbury and Assabet rivers
*
Emerson Hospital
Emerson Hospital is a hospital located in Concord, Massachusetts, at 133 Old Road to Nine Acre Corner, founded in 1911 on donated by Charles Emerson, a nephew of Ralph Waldo Emerson. It is a full-service, non-profit community hospital and acute ...
*
Ralph Waldo Emerson House
*
Estabrook Woods
*
Fairyland Pond
* First Parish in Concord
*
Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge
*
Massachusetts Correctional Institution – Concord
*
Minute Man National Historical Park
Minute Man National Historical Park commemorates the opening battle in the American Revolutionary War. It also includes the Wayside, home in turn to three noted American authors. The National Historical Park is under the jurisdiction of the N ...
** ''
The Minute Man
''The Minute Man'' is an 1874 sculpture by Daniel Chester French in Minute Man National Historical Park, Concord, Massachusetts. It was created between 1871 and 1874 after extensive research, and was originally intended to be made of stone sculp ...
'' statue
*
Northeastern Correctional Center
*
The Old Manse, home of Emerson and Hawthorne
*
Old North Bridge
*
Orchard House
*
Punkatasset Hill
*
Sleepy Hollow Cemetery
Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Sleepy Hollow, New York, is the cemetery, final resting place of numerous famous figures, including Washington Irving, whose 1820 short story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is set in the adjacent burying ground of the ...
*
Walden Pond
*
The Wayside, home of Louisa May Alcott, Hawthorne, and Margaret Sidney
*
Wheeler-Minot Farmhouse, also known as Thoreau Farm, birthplace of Henry David Thoreau
*
Wright's Tavern
Education
*
Concord-Carlisle Regional High School, the local public high school
* Concord Middle School (Sanborn and Peabody, unified under the new Ellen Garrison building)
* Alcott School, Willard School, and Thoreau School, the local public elementary schools
*
Concord Academy
Concord Academy (also known as CA) is a coeducational, Independent school, independent University-preparatory school, college-preparatory school for boarding and day students in Concord, Massachusetts. CA educates approximately 400 students in ...
and
Middlesex School
Middlesex School (informally known as MX) is a Mixed-sex education, coeducational, Private school, independent, and Nonsectarian, non-sectarian boarding school, boarding secondary school located in Concord, Massachusetts, Concord, Middlesex Count ...
, private preparatory schools
* The Fenn School is a 4–9 boys' school.
* The Nashoba Brooks School is co-ed PK–3 and a girls' school 4–8.
Notable people
In popular culture
Concord is featured in the 2012 video game ''
Assassin's Creed 3'', the 2020 video game ''
Assassin's Creed Valhalla
''Assassin's Creed Valhalla'' is a 2020 action role-playing game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. It is the twelfth major installment in the ''Assassin's Creed'' series, and the successor to 2018's ''Assassin's Creed Odyss ...
'' and the 2015 video game ''
Fallout 4
''Fallout 4'' is a 2015 action role-playing game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. It is the fourth main game in the ''Fallout'' series and was released worldwide on November 10, 2015, for Microsoft Windo ...
''. The video game ''
Walden, a game'', based on Henry David Thoreau's ''Walden'', is set in the town.
Scenes from the 2017 comedy film ''
Daddy's Home 2'' were filmed at the Concord Scout House. Parts of the 2019 film ''
Little Women
''Little Women'' is a coming-of-age novel written by American novelist Louisa May Alcott, originally published in two volumes, in 1868 and 1869. The story follows the lives of the four March sisters— Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy—and details th ...
'' were shot on the Concord River.
Jane Langton's Homer Kelly murder mystery novels are largely set in Concord. Her 1964 novel ''The Transcendental Murder'' was described in the ''
Boston Globe
''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...
'' in 1975 as "a hymn to Concord, its history, its houses, its hallowed ground, its people and patriots, and its ghosts (Emerson and Thoreau)."
Italian director
Lucio Fulci
Lucio Fulci (; 17 June 1927 – 13 March 1996) was an Italian film director, screenwriter, and actor. Although he worked in a wide array of genres through a career spanning nearly five decades, including Commedia all'italiana, comedies and spagh ...
's 1981 horror film ''
The House by the Cemetery'' was partly filmed in Concord, notably at the Holy Family Church, a Main Street realty and the
Concord Free Public Library
The Concord Free Public Library is a public library in the town of Concord, Massachusetts. The main building is located at 129 Main Street, and the Fowler branch is located at 1322 Main Street in West Concord.
History
The Concord Free Public Li ...
.
''
The Mother-Daughter Book Club'' series of children's novels is set in Concord.
Gallery
File:Central part of Concord, Mass.jpg, An engraving of the central part of Concord,
File:Sleepy Hollow Cemetery welcome sign (Concord, Massachusetts).jpg, Sleepy Hollow Cemetery
Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Sleepy Hollow, New York, is the cemetery, final resting place of numerous famous figures, including Washington Irving, whose 1820 short story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is set in the adjacent burying ground of the ...
File:The Wayside Concord Massachusetts.jpg, The Wayside, home in turn to Louisa May Alcott
Louisa May Alcott (; November 29, 1832March 6, 1888) was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet best known for writing the novel ''Little Women'' (1868) and its sequels ''Good Wives'' (1869), ''Little Men'' (1871), and ''Jo's Boys'' ...
, Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne (né Hathorne; July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was an American novelist and short story writer. His works often focus on history, morality, and religion.
He was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, from a family long associat ...
, and Margaret Sidney
Harriett Lothrop was an American author also known by her pseudonym Margaret Sidney (June 22, 1844 – August 2, 1924). In addition to writing popular children's stories, she ran her husband Daniel Lothrop's publishing company after his death ...
File:Thoreau and Walden Streets in Concord, Mass.JPG, Street names in Concord
File:Spooky looking house in Concord Massachusetts.JPG, Cyrus Pierce House (23 Lexington Road)
File:Church and cemetery in Concord, Mass 2012-0082.jpg, Holy Family Church, and the Old Hill Burying Ground, on Monument Square in Concord
File:Concord town line sign (Massachusetts).jpg, Entering Concord sign, with the year of the town's foundation
File:Concord 250 Concord Massachusetts 2025.jpg, Concord 250, April 19, 2025[https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/250th-anniversary-of-the-battles-of-lexington-and-concord/]
See also
*
National Register of Historic Places listings in Concord, Massachusetts
*
USS ''Concord'', name of five ships
References
Further reading
''1871 Atlas of Massachusetts''.by Wall & Gray
of Massachusetts.of Middlesex County.
* ''History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts''
Volume 1 (A–H)
Volume 2 (L–W)
compiled by Samuel Adams Drake, published 1879–1880. 572 and 505 pages
Concord article
by Rev. Grindall Reynolds in volume 1, pages 380-405.
* Rorabaugh, William J. "Who Fought for the North in the Civil War? Concord, Massachusetts, Enlistments," ''Journal of American History'' 73 (December 1986): 695–70
online
*
* Wilson, Thomas. ''Concord's Wright Tavern''. Arcadia Publishing, 2024.
External links
Town of Concord official website
{{Authority control
1635 establishments in the Massachusetts Bay Colony
Populated places established in 1635
Towns in Massachusetts
Towns in Middlesex County, Massachusetts
Transcendentalism