Geography: Arlington, Massachusetts is a town in eastern Massachusetts, six miles Northwest of Boston. (latitude 42 degrees 25 minutes north, longitude 71 degrees 09 minutes west)
It is situated immediately west of Cambridge and also borders on the city of Somerville, and the towns of Medford, Winchester, Lexington, and Belmont.
Arlington covers 3,517.5 acres, or 5.5 square miles, of which 286.2 acres are covered by water. There are 210.52 acres of parkland.
Name: Prior to changing the name to Arlington in 1867 in honor of those buried in Arlington National Cemetery, the area including part of what is now Belmont was incorporated in 1807 as West Cambridge. The Town of Arlington was originally settled in 1635 as a village under the name Menotomy, an Algonquin word meaning "fast moving water".
The water to which this name referred was later named Mill Brook and figured largely into Arlington's economy. Seven mills were built along the stream, including the Schwamb Mill which survives to this day. The Schwamb Mill has been a working mill since 1650, making it the longest working mill in the country. (See external link below)
History: Paul Revere's famous midnight ride to alert colonists took him through what is now known as Arlington. And later on that first day of the American Revolution, more blood was shed in Arlington than in the battles of Lexington and Concord combined. Minutemen from surrounding towns converged on Menotomy to ambush the British on their retreat from Concord and Lexington. The Jason Russell house is today a museum which remembers those twelve Americans who were killed in and around this pictured dwelling on April 19th, 1775.
Demographics: Arlington currently has approximately 42,000 residents. Based on the U.S. censuses, Arlington's population has been declining by an average of 7% per decade since 1970. (1970: 52,720; 2000: 42,389).
Government: Arlington's executive branch is comprised of an elected five-member Board of Selectmen. The day-to-day operations are handled by a Town Manager hired by the Board of Selectmen. The legislative branch is made up of 252 Town Meeting Members, elected from the 21 precincts.
Arlington is part of the 7th Massachusetts Congressional District, the 4th Middlesex State Senatorial District, and the 23rd and 26th Middlesex State Representative Districts.
Interesting facts:
- Arlington's Robbins Library contains the oldest continuously operated free children's library in the country.
- Samuel Wilson aka "Uncle Sam" was born in Arlington (September 13, 1766).
- Cyrus Dallin, who is best known for the Appeal to the Great Spirit sculpture in front of Boston's Museum of Fine Arts, lived in Arlington. (See picture above)
- Dr. George F. Grant from Arlington was the first black graduate of Harvard College and was also the inventor of the golf tee.
- Arlington was once a thriving farming community and had its own lettuce that was quite popular.
- Arlington had a large ice industry on Spy Pond from the mid-1800's until the last ice house burned down in 1930.
Points of Interest: [External links]
- Jason Russell House (http://www.arlingtonhistorical.org/house/index.php)
- Cyrus Dallin Museum (http://www.dallin.org)
- Minuteman Trail (http://minutemanbikeway.org/Pages/intro.html)
- Old Schwamb Mill (http://www.oldschwambmill.org/main.html)
- Mystic River and Lakes (http://www.tufts.edu/mystic/fomr/recreation.html)
- Arlington Reservoir (http://www.arlington2020.org/reservoir/)
- George A. Smith Museum (http://www.arlingtonhistorical.org/museum/index.php)
- Robbins Library (http://www.robbinslibrary.org)
For more information: [External links]
- Official town web site (http://www.town.arlington.ma.us)
- The Advocate - Arlington's weekly newspaper (http://www.townonline.com/arlington/)