Milford is a town in
Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 30,379 according to the
2020 census. First settled in 1662 and incorporated in 1780, Milford became a booming industrial and quarrying community in the 19th century due to its unique location which includes the nearby source of the
Charles River
The Charles River (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ), sometimes called the River Charles or simply the Charles, is an river in eastern Massachusetts. It flows northeast from Hopkinton, Massachusetts, Hopkinton to Boston along a highly me ...
, the
Mill River, the
Blackstone River watershed, and large quantities of
Milford pink granite.
History
Milford was first settled in 1662 as a part of
Mendon after Native Americans, including the Sachem,
Quashaamit, granted land to the early settlers.
King Philip's War
King Philip's War (sometimes called the First Indian War, Metacom's War, Metacomet's War, Pometacomet's Rebellion, or Metacom's Rebellion) was an armed conflict in 1675–1678 between a group of indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodland ...
destroyed the town in 1676, but settlers returned in 1680.
The Mill River flows through Milford and had several conspicuous fords that were familiar to the Native Americans, and used by the early white settlers. These "mill (river) fords" are said to have given Milford its name. Milford was incorporated April 11, 1780, and the first town hall built in 1819; a brick structure later named the Town House School. The
current town hall was built in 1854 by architect
Thomas Silloway.
Milford is renowned for its
Milford pink granite, discovered in 1870.
Milford quarries fueled the local economy until about 1940.
The granite has been used for local buildings such as
Memorial Hall; the
Bancroft Memorial Library in
Hopedale;
Worcester City Hall; and the
Boston Public Library
The Boston Public Library is a municipal public library system in Boston, Massachusetts, founded in 1848. The Boston Public Library is also Massachusetts' Library for the Commonwealth (formerly ''library of last recourse''), meaning all adult re ...
. Other notable buildings include the
original Pennsylvania Station in
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
; the
main post office in
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
; and more recently the
Singapore Changi Airport in 2002.
The Milford Hospital was donated in 1903 by Governor
Eben Sumner Draper.
Today, the health care facility exists as the
Milford Regional Medical Center. In January 2008, the Center opened a cancer treatment facility with the
Dana–Farber Cancer Institute
Dana–Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI) is a comprehensive cancer treatment and research center in Boston, Massachusetts. Dana-Farber is the founding member of the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center, Harvard's Comprehensive Cancer Center designated ...
.
The center is affiliated with
UMass Medical Center as a
teaching hospital. In 2015 the hospital completed a $54-million expansion project that created a new emergency department and updated the intensive care unit, as well as patient rooms.
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 1.82%, is water. Milford is drained by the
Charles River
The Charles River (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ), sometimes called the River Charles or simply the Charles, is an river in eastern Massachusetts. It flows northeast from Hopkinton, Massachusetts, Hopkinton to Boston along a highly me ...
.
The town is crossed by
Interstate 495 and state routes
16,
85,
109, and
140.
Demographics
As of the
census
A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...
of 2000, there were 26,799 people, 10,420 households, and 7,200 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 10,713 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 92.95%
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 ...
; 1.35%
Black
Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...
or
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 ...
; 0.11%
Native American; 1.76%
Asian; 0.06%
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 ...
; 1.99% from
other races; and 1.77% from two or more races.
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 people of any race were 4.36% of the population.
There were 10,420 households, out of which 33.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them; 54.0% were
married couples
Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...
living together; 11.2% had a female householder with no husband present; and 30.9% were non-families. 25.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.54 and the average family size was 3.08.
In the town, the population was spread out, with 24.8% under the age of 18; 6.5% from 18 to 24; 33.2% from 25 to 44; 22.6% from 45 to 64; and 12.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 94.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.6 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $50,856, and the median income for a family was $61,029. Males had a median income of $42,173 versus $30,989 for females. The
per capita income
Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year.
In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...
for the town was $23,742. About 5.8% of families and 7.2% of the population were below the
poverty line
The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...
, including 8.9% of those under age 18 and 10.4% of those age 65 or over.
Economy
Milford has been growing at a fast rate since the introduction of
Interstate 495, which opened in the area with dual exits at Route 85 and Route 109 in 1969. Since then many major retailers have opened in town.
The
Waters Corporation is based in Milford.
Government
The core of Milford's governing system is the
representative town meeting, where elected citizens can voice their opinions, but more importantly, directly effect changes in the community. Along with a Board of Selectmen, Town Administrator, Planning Board, Finance Committee, etc., the citizens of Milford have input into how the town is run.
The
Massachusetts Department of Correction is headquartered in Milford.
Library
The Milford Town Library was established in 1858. In fiscal year 2008, the town of Milford spent 1.5% ($966,758) of its budget on its public library—approximately $35 per person, per year ($42.87 adjusted for inflation to 2021).
[July 1, 2007, through June 30, 2008; cf. The FY2008 Municipal Pie: What's Your Share? Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Board of Library Commissioners. Boston: 2009. Available]
Municipal Pie Reports
. Retrieved August 4, 2010
Education
Milford Public Schools operates six public schools and is an eligible town for a
vocational school
A vocational school (alternatively known as a trade school, or technical school), is a type of educational institution, which, depending on the country, may refer to either secondary education#List of tech ed skills, secondary or post-secondar ...
,
Blackstone Valley Regional Vocational Technical High School. The current superintendent of schools in Milford is Kevin McIntyre.
Annual events
*
Independence Day
An independence day is an annual event memorialization, commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or Sovereign state, statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or after the end of a milit ...
fireworks, held on Plains Park within a day of July 4. There is also an annual parade.
* Portuguese Picnic, a two-night festival held at the Portuguese Club
Sites of interest
*
Memorial Hall, home and museum of the Milford Historical Commission
*
Ted's Diner, placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000, was the oldest diner built by the Tierney Diner Company. Ted's was left abandoned by the town and vandalized, eventually moved to make way for a new fire station.
* St. Mary's Cemetery holds the only
Irish round tower in the United States, built from local granite.
Media
* ''
The Milford Daily News'' is a daily newspaper covering Milford and several nearby towns in
Norfolk
Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...
and
Worcester counties.
*
WMRC 1490-AM and simulcasted as MyFM 101.3 on FM is the radio station licensed to serve Milford. Local news every morning with school cancellations and general information also. Local sports broadcasts of the local school teams or the major Boston sports teams can be heard on many nights. A Classic Hits format is the music that is playing when the station is playing music.
* Two non-profit
public, educational, and government access (PEG)
cable TV
Cable television is a system of delivering television broadcast programming, programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This ...
stations serve Milford-area subscribers on Channels 8 and 11. Channel 8 is the Milford town
public-access television
Public-access television (sometimes called community-access television) is traditionally a form of non-commercial mass media where the general public can create content television programming which is Narrowcasting, narrowcast through cable tele ...
station that produces and runs a variety of local shows. Channel 11 is the Milford
educational-access television station, and runs school committee meetings as well as projects made by students in the
high school
A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...
's video production classes.
*This area also receives the major television stations that serve the Boston area, which can be received over the air or through a cable or satellite provider.
In popular culture
Milford was fictitiously featured in a 2008 episode of the Fox television series ''
Fringe''.
[Plot Synopsis for FOX's Fringe (Season 1, Episode 6: "The Cure", Original Air Date: 21 October 2008)](_blank)
Notable people
*
Norm Abram, carpenter and co-host of ''This Old House''; host of the ''New Yankee Workshop''
*
Adin Ballou, author, religious leader and prominent 19th-century proponent of pacifism, socialism and abolitionism; wrote ''The History of Milford, Massachusetts'', 1882
*
Nathan Barnatt, actor and comedian
*
Michael Bavaro, producer of
Rex Trailer's ''
Boomtown
A boomtown is a community that undergoes sudden and rapid population and economic growth, or that is started from scratch. The growth is normally attributed to the nearby discovery of a precious resource such as gold, silver, or oil, although t ...
''
*
Albert Fitch Bellows, artist
*
Robert Cenedella, artist
*
Al Cass, musician and inventor
*
Horace Brigham Claflin, merchant
*
William Claflin, industrialist, philanthropist and governor
*
Chris Colabello, Major League Baseball player
*
Vincent Connare, designer of the Comic Sans and Trebuchet fonts
*
Ezekiel Cornell, member of
Continental Congress
The Continental Congress was a series of legislature, legislative bodies, with some executive function, for the Thirteen Colonies of British America, Great Britain in North America, and the newly declared United States before, during, and after ...
, 1780–1782
Catherine Coyne first woman to be elected into town office as Town Clerk in 1938
*
Paul Coyne, award-winning producer and editor of TV series including
Beyond Scared Straight and
Big Brother
*
John Davoren, politician
*
Greg Dickerson, sports broadcaster
*
William F. Draper, U.S. Representative, U.S. Ambassador to Italy
*
Brian Fair, lead singer of the metal band
Shadows Fall
*
Rich Gotham, president of the Boston Celtics
*
George F. Johnson, businessman
*
Art Kenney, pitcher for the
Boston Bees (later renamed the Boston Braves) in 1938
*
Charles Laquidara, radio disc jockey
*
Howie Long, NFL Hall of Famer, TV broadcaster and actor
*
Ralph Lumenti, Major League Baseball player
*
Leonard Chapin Mead, college president
*
Richard T. Moore, politician
*
Joseph E. Murray, pioneer in the area of organ transplants; 1990 recipient of the Nobel Prize for medicine
*
Henry "Boots" Mussulli, jazz saxophonist
*
Marie J. Parente, the only woman to serve on Milford's Select Board. Elected in 1972, she served until 1981.
*
John Ritto Penniman, decorative painter, portraitist and decorator; his works are currently displayed in several notable museums, such as the
Boston Museum of Fine Arts
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 ...
and the
Art Institute of Chicago
The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park. Its collection, stewa ...
*
Gerard Phelan, football player who caught the famous 63-yard, game-winning touchdown pass (thrown by
Doug Flutie) for the
Boston College Eagles in an
NCAA
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...
game against the
Miami Hurricanes
The Miami Hurricanes, known informally as The U, UM, or The 'Canes, are the intercollegiate sports teams that represent the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. The Hurricanes compete in NCAA Division I, Division I of the National Coll ...
*
Ruth Pointer, singer and member of
The Pointer Sisters
*
George Pyne III,
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
player
*
George Pyne, businessman
*
Jim Pyne, former NFL player
*
Jorge Rivera, mixed martial artist, UFC middleweight contender
*
Brian Skerry, underwater photo-journalist
* Nikola Sacco, with Bartolomeo Vanzetti (AKA
Sacco and Vanzetti) were Italian immigrants and anarchists who were controversially convicted of murder. Sacc
lived in Milfordfor about seven years.
*
Erik Per Sullivan, actor from ''
Malcolm in the Middle
''Malcolm in the Middle'' is an American television sitcom created by Linwood Boomer for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series premiered on January 9, 2000, and ended on May 14, 2006, after seven seasons consisting of 151 episodes.
The ...
'', ''
The Cider House Rules'', and ''
Christmas with the Kranks''
*
Michael Videira, midfielder for the
Chicago Fire Soccer Club
*
Jarvis White,
Wisconsin
Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...
State Assemblyman
Gallery
Image:Lincoln Square and Main Street, Milford, MA.jpg, Lincoln Square in 1907
Image:Old High School, Milford, MA.jpg, Old High School in 1907
Image:Boston & Albany Station, Milford, MA.jpg, B. & A. Station
See also
*
List of mill towns in Massachusetts
References
External links
Town of MilfordMilford Town LibraryMilford Performing Arts CenterUpper Charles Trail
{{Authority control
Towns in Worcester County, Massachusetts
Towns in Massachusetts