Woburn ( ) is a city in Middlesex County,

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

, United States. The population was 40,876 at the 2020 census. Woburn is located north of

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 ...

. 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 An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking membe ...

History

Woburn was first settled in 1640 near

Horn Pond Horn Pond is a water body located on the border of Acton, Maine, and Wakefield, New Hampshire, in the United States. The lake is both spring-fed and fed by the outflows of Great East Lake to the north and Wilson Lake to the east. Horn Pond's ...

, a primary source of the

Mystic River The Mystic River is a riverU.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 1, 2011 in Massachusetts. In the Massachusett language, means "large estuary", alluding to the tidal ...

, and was officially incorporated in 1642. At that time the area included present day towns of Woburn, Winchester, Burlington, and parts of Stoneham and Wilmington. In 1730 Wilmington separated from Woburn. In 1799 Burlington separated from Woburn; in 1850

Winchester Winchester (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs N ...

did so, too. OrdinationOfCarter

Woburn got its name from

Woburn, Bedfordshire Woburn (, meaning twisted or crooked stream) is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Bedfordshire, England, about southeast of Milton Keynes and south of junction 13 of the M1 motorway. At the 2011 census, it had a populat ...

. Woburn played host to the first religious ordination in the Americas on November 22, 1642. Rev. Thomas Carter was sworn in by many of the most prominent men of New England including John Cotton, minister of the First Church of Boston,

Richard Mather Richard Mather (1596 – 22 April 1669) was a New England Puritan minister in colonial Boston. He was father to Increase Mather and grandfather to Cotton Mather, both celebrated Boston theologians. Biography Mather was born to Thomas Mather ...

minister of the First Church of Dorchester, and Capt. Edward Johnson co-founder of the church and town of Woburn. Johnson is regarded as "the father of Woburn." He served as the first town clerk, represented the town in the Massachusetts General Court, made the first map of Massachusetts, and wrote the first history of the colony. The first organizational

Town Meeting Town meeting, also known as an "open town meeting", is a form of local government in which eligible town residents can directly participate in an assembly which determines the governance of their town. Unlike representative town meeting where ...

was held on April 13, 1644, and the first town officers were chosen. Town Selectmen were Edward Johnson,

Edward Convers Deacon Edward Convers (January 20, 1590 – August 10, 1663) was an early Puritan settler in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and was one of the founders of Woburn, MA. He built the first house and first mill in Woburn. Convers was very active ...

, John Mousall, William Learned, Ezekiel Richardson, Samuel Richardson, and James Thompson. William Learned was also selected as Constable. Michael Bacon, Ralph Hill, Thomas Richardson were chosen as Surveyors of Highways. (The History of Woburn, 1868) Deacon

was also one of the founders of Woburn. He was one of its first selectmen, and built the first house and first mill in Woburn. He was very active in town affairs and was a large landowner, miller and surveyor. List of important events *Gershom Flagg's tannery was built in 1668 *The

Middlesex Canal 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 (9.1 m) wide, and 3 feet (0.9 m) deep, with 20 locks, each 80 feet (24 m) long and between 10 ...

was opened in 1803 *Thompson established a tannery at Cummingsville in 1823 *The

Boston and Lowell Railroad 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 R ...

started operating through Woburn in 1835 *The ''Woburn Sentinel'' newspaper began in 1839 *In 1840 the first membership library opened *The telegraph started operating in Woburn in 1867 *"America's oldest active gun club," the Massachusetts Rifle Association, was founded in 1875 and moved to Woburn in 1876. *The public library opened in 1879 *The telephone was introduced in Woburn in 1882; Electric lights in 1885 *Woburn was incorporated as a City on June 12, 1888 *Route 128 opened in 1951 *Route 93 was built through the town in 1963 *Rail depot closed in 1962. *Cummings Properties, the major holder of commercial properties in the region, was founded in 1970. *Cummings Foundation was established in 1986. *Cummings Foundation purchased the former Choate Memorial Hospital site and turned it into the New Horizons of Choate senior living community in 1990. * Community Weeklies Inc. was founded by William S. Cummings and began publishing ''Woburn Advocate'' in 1991. The firm was bought by a division of Fidelity Investments in 1994, and ''Woburn Advocate'' is now being published by

GateHouse Media GateHouse Media Inc. was an American publisher of locally based print and digital media. It published 144 daily newspapers, 684 community publications, and over 569 local-market websites in 38 states. Its parent company, New Media Investment Group ...

. *Middlesex Superior Courthouse moved to TradeCenter 128 business campus in 2008. *The final phase of construction is completed on TradeCenter 128 business campus in 2010. *Woburn Police Officer John B. Maguire was killed in the line of duty while responding to an armed robbery on December 26, 2010. *Massachusetts Biotechnology Council awarded Woburn the platinum-level "Bio-Ready community" designation in 2011.

Groundwater contamination incident

Woburn was the scene of a high-profile

water contamination Water pollution (or aquatic pollution) is the contamination of water bodies, with a negative impact on their uses. It is usually a result of human activities. Water bodies include lakes, rivers, oceans, aquifers, reservoirs and groundwater. W ...

crisis. During the mid to late 1970s, the local community became concerned over the high incidence of childhood leukemia and other illnesses, particularly in the Pine Street area of east Woburn. After high levels of chemical contamination were found in City of Woburn's Wells G and H in 1979, some members of the community suspected that the unusually high incidence of

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia; pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and produce high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or '' ...

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

, and a wide variety of other health problems were linked to the possible exposure to

volatile organic compounds Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are organic compounds that have a high vapor pressure at room temperature. They are common and exist in a variety of settings and products, not limited to house mold, upholstered furniture, arts and crafts sup ...

in the groundwater pumped from wells G and H. In May 1982, a number of citizens whose children had developed or died from leukemia filed a civil lawsuit against two corporations,

W. R. Grace and Company Grace is an American chemical business based in Columbia, Maryland. It produces specialty chemicals and specialty materials in two divisions: Grace Catalysts Technologies, which makes polyethylene and polypropylene catalysts and related products ...

and

Beatrice Foods Beatrice Foods Company was a major American food conglomerate founded in 1894. One of the best-known food processing companies in the U.S., Beatrice owned many well-known brands such as Tropicana, Krispy Kreme, Jolly Rancher, Orville Reden ...

. Grace's subsidiary, Cryovac, and Beatrice were suspected of contaminating the groundwater by improperly disposing of

trichloroethylene Trichloroethylene (TCE) is an organochloride with the formula C2HCl3, commonly used as an industrial metal-degreasing solvent. It is a clear, colourless, non-flammable, volatile liquid with a chloroform-like pleasant mild smell and sweet taste.

(TCE),

perchloroethylene Tetrachloroethylene, also known as perchloroethylene or under the systematic name tetrachloroethene, and abbreviations such as perc (or PERC), and PCE, is a chlorocarbon with the formula . It is a non-flammable, stable, colorless and heavy liqu ...

(perc or PCE) and other industrial solvents at their facilities in Woburn near wells G and H. In a controversial decision, Judge Walter Jay Skinner ruled that the jurors should answer questions that they and many others considered confusing. Beatrice was acquitted and Grace only paid $8 million, a third of which went to the lawyers and lawyer fees. A

United States Environmental Protection Agency The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent agency of the United States government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it began operation on De ...

report later found Beatrice and Grace responsible for the contamination. A book titled ''

A Civil Action ''A Civil Action'' is a 1995 non-fiction book by Jonathan Harr about a water contamination case in Woburn, Massachusetts, in the 1980s. The book became a best-seller. It won the National Book Critics Circle Award for nonfiction. It is based ...

'' was written about the case by

Jonathan Harr Jonathan Harr is an American writer, best known for the nonfiction work'' A Civil Action''. Early life and education Jonathan Ensor Harr was born 13 September 1948, in Beloit, Wisconsin, the son of John Ensor Harr (1 August 1926–14 November 200 ...

. In 1998 the book was turned into a movie starring

John Travolta John Joseph Travolta (born February 18, 1954) is an American actor. He began acting in television before transitioning into a leading man in films. List of awards and nominations received by John Travolta, His accolades include a Primetime Em ...

and

Robert Duvall Robert Selden Duvall (; born January 5, 1931) is an American actor. With a career spanning seven decades, he is regarded as one of the greatest actors of all time. He has received an Academy Awards, Academy Award, a British Academy Film Awards ...

, also titled ''

''. The film was largely filmed in nearby Bedford and Lexington, with only a few shots on location in Woburn.

Geography

Woburn is located at (42.484545, −71.152060). It is bordered by the towns of Wilmington,

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

, Stoneham,

, Lexington, and Burlington. 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 city has a total area of , of which is land and , or 1.71%, is water.

Climate

Woburn features a

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...

, similar to those of many of the other Boston suburban areas. It features moderately cold winters, but not usually as cold as the ones around the Great Lakes Region or Southern Canada, or even Northern New England. Nonetheless, it features occasional 'arctic blasts' which can easily drop the temperature below zero. Spring generally starts out cool, around 45-50 degrees, often with snow still on the ground. However, it quickly begins to rapidly warm to around 75 degrees by the time summer begins. Summers are generally warm or hot and often accompanied with humidity, though not nearly as bad as cities in the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic, and even

Rhode Island Rhode Island ( ) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Connecticut to its west; Massachusetts to its north and east; and the Atlantic Ocean to its south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Is ...

. Temperatures often top in the 80s, but when an Atlantic low comes, temperatures may fail to rise out of the 60s. High pressure from the Gulf of Mexico, occasionally brings much hotter conditions with temperatures sometimes topping near 100, though this is fairly rare and only happens so often. Falls are generally crisp, but start out warm with temperature highs around 70 and lows around 50. Quickly things cool, and it feels and looks like winter with temperatures around 40 usually towards the end. Like most of the region, temperatures can vary widely in the span of a day.

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 37,258 people (37,010 by 2006 estimate), 14,997 households, and 9,658 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 15,391 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 90.57%

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 ...

, 1.87%

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 ...

, 0.10% Native American, 4.85% Asian, 0.05%

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 ...

, 1.44% from other races, and 1.13% 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 of any race were 3.09% of the population. There were 14,997 households, out of which 26.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.5% 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, 10.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.6% were non-families. 28.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.47 and the average family size was 3.09. In the city, the population was spread out, with 21.1% under the age of 18, 6.9% from 18 to 24, 34.9% from 25 to 44, 21.8% from 45 to 64, and 15.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 95.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.1 males. The median income for a household in the city was $54,897, and the median income for a family was $66,364. Males had a median income of $45,210 versus $33,239 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 city was $26,207. About 4.5% of families and 6.1% 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 7.9% of those under age 18 and 5.4% of those age 65 or over.

Economy

The ''Woburn Business Association'' (WBA) is a membership organization consisting of companies located in Woburn, Massachusetts. Memberships are also available to those firms who are situated elsewhere, but do business in Woburn. The purpose of the WBA is to promote and protect Business Interests in the City of Woburn and provide Networking Services for the Business Community. The WBA Board of Directors meets monthly to develop policy and provide direction for the Association. The Executive Committee meets periodically, usually on an "as needed" basis, to review important issues and make recommendations to the Board regarding WBA policy. The WBA accomplishes its work through committees of WBA members and representatives of the Woburn community. The membership is encouraged to actively participate on these committees. The ''Woburn Redevelopment Authority'' is an independent municipal urban renewal authority established by the City of Woburn in 1961, in accordance with Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 121B. The Authority is governed by five members, four of whom are appointed by the Mayor, and one by the Governor. The WRA functions as the City's community development agency, under an agreement with the City of Woburn executed in July 2000. Companies based in Woburn include

Boston Acoustics Boston Acoustics was an American manufacturer of home and mobile audio equipment founded in 1979. The company produced speakers for home, custom/architectural, and car audio. History Advent veterans Andy Kotsatos (known as Andy Petite) and Fra ...

Boston Metal Boston Metal is a company developing a technology known as molten oxide electrolysis (MOE) to decarbonize steelmaking and recover high-value metals from mining waste. The company is based in Woburn, Massachusetts, with its Brazilian subsidiary, B ...

, Kaspersky Lab USA,

Monotype Monotyping is a type of printmaking made by drawing or painting on a smooth, non-absorbent surface. The surface, or matrix, was historically a copper etching plate, but in contemporary work it can vary from zinc or glass to acrylic glass. The ...

Skyworks Solutions Skyworks Solutions, Inc. is an American semiconductor company headquartered in Irvine, California, United States. The company's shares are listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol SWKS and is a constituent of the S&P 50 ...

, and U-Turn Audio.

Top employers

According to the Massachusetts Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development, the top employers in the city are:

County government

Though the official

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

s remains designated to

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

with a secondary northern junior-seat at Lowell (

de jure In law and government, ''de jure'' (; ; ) describes practices that are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms, regardless of whether the practice exists in reality. The phrase is often used in contrast with '' de facto'' ('from fa ...

), since 2008 Woburn plays host to a hand-full of Middlesex County law enforcement and court related entities: the Superior Court and District Attorney Office moved first to have their base of operations relocated from Cambridge. In 2020 the county's registrar of Probate & Family Court in Cambridge subsequently also moved their base of operations and followed by the county Sheriff's office in 2022. The county's executive branch of government was abolished in 1997, and the county still exists as a geographical and political region. The employees of Middlesex County courts, jails, registries, and other county agencies now work directly for the state though with much of these offices transferred to Woburn, (only the Registry of Deeds remaining in Cambridge).

Education

Woburn's public elementary schools are the Goodyear Elementary, Altavesta Elementary, Shamrock Elementary, Malcolm White Elementary, Clyde Reeves Elementary, Linscott-Rumford Elementary, and Hurld-Wyman Elementary. The two middle schools are the John F. Kennedy Middle School and the Daniel L. Joyce Middle School. In recent years the Goodyear, Reeves, Shamrock, and Malcolm White, as well as

Woburn Memorial High School Woburn Memorial High School (WMHS) is a public high school in Woburn, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Woburn Public Schools district and participates in the Middlesex League. It is home to the Tanners and Tannerettes and the nic ...

, were rebuilt. The Hurld-Wyman sits on a portion of the city's Spence Farm property. The Clapp, Parker, Tarkey, Plympton, Golden, and Veterans' Memorial Schools are now closed, and the former Veterans' Memorial School now serves as the Woburn Senior Center. St. Charles, a Pre-K–8 private Catholic school, is part of the adjacent St. Charles Parish. It has been graduating classes since 1884 in grades K–8; the high school closed in 1972.

Public water

Woburn is one of the few communities close to Boston which provides its own drinking water. The City’s water supply mostly comes from five wells from the underground aquifer within the Horn Pond area, which is then filtered and treated at the Horn Pond Treatment Plant. About one-third of the water is supplemented by the

Massachusetts Water Resources Authority The Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) is a public authority in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts that provides wholesale drinking water and sewage services to 3.1 million people in sixty-one municipalities and more than 5,500 large ...

Transportation

* Anderson Regional Transportation Center is a transit hub, with

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

service to

Portland, Maine Portland is the List of municipalities in Maine, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine and the county seat, seat of Cumberland County, Maine, Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 at the 2020 census. The Portland metropolit ...

, and

MBTA Commuter Rail The MBTA Commuter Rail system serves as the commuter rail arm of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's (MBTA's) transportation coverage of Greater Boston in the United States. Trains run over of track on 12 lines to 142 stations. It ...

service to Boston's

North Station North Station is a commuter rail and intercity rail terminal station in Boston, Massachusetts. It is served by four MBTA Commuter Rail lines – the Fitchburg Line, Haverhill Line, Lowell Line, and Newburyport/Rockport Line – and the Amtr ...

and

Lowell, Massachusetts Lowell () is a city in Massachusetts, United States. Alongside Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cambridge, it is one of two traditional county seat, seats of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Middlesex County. With an estimated population of 115,554 in ...

, as well as bus service to

Logan International Airport General Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport — also known as Boston Logan International Airport — is an international airport located mostly in East Boston and partially in Winthrop, Massachusetts, United States. Covering , it has ...

and Manchester-Boston Regional Airport * Mishawum is a stop on the

Lowell Line The Lowell Line is a commuter rail service of the MBTA Commuter Rail system, running north–south between Boston, Massachusetts, Boston and Lowell, Massachusetts. It is long, with nine stations including the terminals at North Station and Lowel ...

that currently has only limited reverse rush hour service. *

MBTA bus The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) operates List of MBTA bus routes, 152 bus routes in the Greater Boston area. The MBTA has a policy objective to provide transit service within walking distance (defined as ) for all residents ...

routes also run through Woburn along its main roads, such as Main Street, Montvale Ave., Lexington Street and Cambridge Road. The routes run north to Burlington and Wilmington and south to

Notable people

* Samuel Warren Abbott, physician * Jane Kelley Adams, educator * Col. Loammi Baldwin, Revolutionary War engineer, builder of

Eric Bogosian Eric Michael Bogosian (; born April 24, 1953) is an American actor, playwright, monologuist, novelist, and historian. Descended from Armenian-American immigrants, he grew up in Watertown and Woburn, Massachusetts, and attended the University ...

, actor, playwright and novelist * John Carter, former

Boston Bruins The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston. The Bruins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The t ...

player *

, founder of Woburn * Christopher J. Coyne, Roman Catholic Bishop of Burlington *

Ida M. Curran Ida M. Graeber Curran (1863 – January 24, 1948) was an American journalist and editor. Early life Ida M. Graeber was an only child born in Waterbury, Vermont. When a child, her family moved to Boston and afterwards to Woburn, Massachusetts. Sh ...

, journalist and editor, ''Woburn City Press'' *

William Emmett Dever William Emmett Dever (March 13, 1862 – September 3, 1929) was an American politician. He was the mayor of Chicago from 1923 to 1927. He had previously served as a judge and before that an Chicago City Council, alderman. As an alderman and judg ...

, mayor of Chicago *

Charles Goodyear Charles Goodyear (December 29, 1800 – July 1, 1860) was an American self-taught chemist and manufacturing engineer who developed vulcanized rubber, for which he received patent number 3633 from the United States Patent Office on June 15, 1844 ...

, inventor of

vulcanized rubber Vulcanization (British English: vulcanisation) is a range of processes for hardening rubbers. The term originally referred exclusively to the treatment of natural rubber with sulfur, which remains the most common practice. It has also grown to ...

* John Martyn Harlow, financier, civic leader, physician to

Phineas Gage Phineas P. Gage (18231860) was an American railroad construction foreman remembered for his improbable survival of an accident in which a large iron rod was driven completely through his head, destroying much of his brain's left frontal lobe, ...

* Steve Hoskins, professional bowler and member of the PBA Hall of Fame * Edward Johnson, "Father of Woburn" * Courtney Kennedy, dual Olympic medalist in

hockey ''Hockey'' is a family of List of stick sports, stick sports where two opposing teams use hockey sticks to propel a ball or disk into a goal. There are many types of hockey, and the individual sports vary in rules, numbers of players, apparel, ...

* Elaine J. McCarthy,

projection designer Video design or projection design is a creative field of stagecraft. It is concerned with the creation and integration of film, motion graphics and live camera feed into the fields of theatre, opera, dance, fashion shows, concerts and other live e ...

for

Broadway theater Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), many of the extant or closed Broadway venues use or used the spelling ''Theatr ...

and opera * Charles McMahon, Marine Corporal, one of final two American servicemen killed in

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

* Julia O'Connor, labor leader * Ernest Cushing Richardson, librarian, theologian and scholar *

David Robinson David Maurice Robinson (born August 6, 1965) is an American former professional basketball player who played for the San Antonio Spurs in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1989 to 2003, and minority owner of the Spurs. Nicknamed ...

, rock drummer * Charlie Sayles, blues harmonicist, singer and songwriter *

Betsey Ann Stearns Betsey Ann Stearns ( Goward; professionally known as B. A. Stearns; June 29, 1830 – February 21, 1914) was an American inventor of the long nineteenth century. She is credited with developing a "Diagram and System for Cutting Ladies' and Childre ...

, inventor *

Benjamin Thompson Colonel (United Kingdom), Colonel Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford, Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (26 March 175321 August 1814), was an American-born British military officer, scientist and inventor. Born in Woburn, Massachusetts, he sup ...

, Count Rumford, scientist and inventor * Lyle R. Wheeler, five-time

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

-winning art-director *

Philemon Wright Philemon Wright (September 3, 1760 – June 3, 1839) was a farmer, lumberman and entrepreneur who founded the Ottawa River timber trade in 1806. He was also founder of what he named Columbia Falls Village, mostly known as (or Wrightstown) a ...

, regarded as founder of Canadian cities

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, and

Gatineau Gatineau ( ; ) is a city in southwestern Quebec, Canada. It is located on the northern bank of the Ottawa River, directly across from Ottawa, Ontario. Gatineau is the largest city in the Outaouais administrative region of Quebec and is also p ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

* George S. Zimbel, photographer

Points of interest

* 1790 House * Baldwin House * Benjamin Thompson House *

Winn Memorial Library Woburn Public Library, previously known as the Winn Memorial Library (1876–79) is a National Historic Landmark in Woburn, Massachusetts. Designed by architect H. H. Richardson, the Romanesque Revival building was a bequest of the Winn family ...

* US Post Office, National Register-listed Classical Revival building * First Congregational Church in Woburn, 1860 church belonging to a 1642 congregation

References

External links

*
Woburn official website

Woburn Historical Society Website
{{authority control Cities in Massachusetts Populated places established in 1640 Cities in Middlesex County, Massachusetts 1640 establishments in the Massachusetts Bay Colony