Concord (, locally ) is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, in the United States. At the 2010 census, the town population was 17,668. The United States Census Bureau considers Concord part of Greater Boston. The town center is located near where the confluence of the Sudbury and Assabet rivers forms the Concord River.
The area which became the town of Concord was originally known as Musketaquid, an Algonquian word for "grassy plain". It was one of the scenes of the Battle of Lexington and Concord, the initial conflict in the American Revolutionary War. It developed into a remarkably rich literary center during the mid-nineteenth century. Featured were Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Amos Bronson Alcott, Louisa May Alcott and Henry David Thoreau, all of whose homes are preserved in modern-day Concord. The now-ubiquitous Concord grape was developed here.
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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 Musketaquid was an Algonquian word for "grassy plain", fitting the area's low-lying marshes and kettle holes. Native Americans had cultivated corn crops there; the rivers were rich with fish and the land was lush and arable. However, the area was largely depopulated by the smallpox plague that swept across the Americas after the arrival of Europeans.
In 1635, a group of settlers from Britain led by Rev. Peter Bulkley and Major Simon Willard negotiated a land purchase with the remnants of the local tribe. Bulkley 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, hatchets, knives, cloth, and other useful items for the six-square-mile purchase which formed the basis of the new town, called "Concord" in appreciation of the peaceful acquisition.
Battle of Lexington and Concord
The Battle of Lexington and Concord was the first conflict in the American Revolutionary War. On April 19, 1775, a force of British Army regulars marched from Boston to Concord to capture a cache of arms that was reportedly stored in the town. Forewarned by Paul Revere and other messengers, the colonists mustered in opposition. Following an early-morning skirmish at Lexington, where the first shots of the battle were fired, the British expedition under the command of Lt. Col. Francis Smith advanced to Concord. There, colonists from Concord and surrounding towns (notably a highly drilled company from Acton led by Isaac Davis) repulsed a British detachment at the Old North Bridge and forced the British troops to retreat. Subsequently, militia arriving from across the region harried the British troops on their return to Boston, culminating in the Siege of Boston and outbreak of the war.
The battle was initially publicized by the colonists as an example of British brutality and aggression: one colonial broadside decried the "Bloody Butchery of the British Troops." A century later, however, the conflict was remembered proudly by Americans, taking on a patriotic, almost mythic status ("the shot heard 'round the world") in works like the "Concord Hymn" and "Paul Revere's Ride." In 1894 the Lexington Historical Society petitioned the Massachusetts State Legislature to proclaim April 19 as "Lexington Day." Concord countered with "Concord Day." Governor Greenhalge opted for a compromise: Patriots' Day. In April 1975, Concord hosted a bicentennial celebration of the battle, featuring an address at the Old North Bridge by President Gerald Ford.
Literary history
Concord has a remarkably rich literary history centered in the mid-nineteenth century around Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), who moved to the town in 1835 and quickly became its most prominent citizen. Emerson, a successful lecturer and philosopher, 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 (1804-1864) and the philosopher Amos Bronson Alcott (1799-1888), the father of Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888). A native Concordian, Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), was another notable member of Emerson's circle. This substantial collection of literary talent in one small town led Henry James 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 (1841), Louisa May Alcott's novel Little Women (1868), and Hawthorne's story collection Mosses from an Old Manse (1846). Thoreau famously lived in a small cabin near Walden Pond, where he wrote Walden (1854). After being imprisoned in the Concord jail for refusing to pay taxes in political protest against slavery and the Mexican-American War, Thoreau penned the influential essay "Resistance to Civil Government", popularly known as Civil Disobedience (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 Wayside, a house located on Lexington Road, has been home to a number of authors. It was occupied by scientist John Winthrop (1714-1779) when Harvard College 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 series and other children's books under the pen name Margaret Sidney. 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.
Concord maintains a lively literary culture to this day; notable authors who have called the town home in recent years include Doris Kearns Goodwin, Alan Lightman, Robert B. Parker, and Gregory Maguire.
Concord grape
In 1849 Ephraim Bull developed the now-ubiquitous Concord grape at his home on Lexington Road, where the original vine still grows. Welch's, the first company to sell grape juice, maintains a headquarters in Concord. Boston-born Ephraim Wales 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 in all, before he had produced 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, Mr. Bull felt ready to put the first bunches of his Concord grapes before the public--and won a prize at the Boston Horticultural Society Exhibition. From these early arbors, fame of Mr. Bull's ("the father of the Concord grape") Concord grape spread worldwide, bringing him up to $1,000 a cutting, but he died a relatively poor man. The inscription on his tombstone states, "He sowed--others reaped." http://www.concordgrape.org/bodyhistory.html
Plastic bottle ban
On September 5, 2012, Concord became the first community in the United States to approve a ban of the sale of water in single-serving plastic bottles. The law banned the sale of PET bottles of one liter or less starting on January 1, 2013. The ban provoked significant national controversy. An editorial in the Los Angeles Times characterized the ban as "born of convoluted reasoning" and "wrongheaded." Some residents stated that this ban would not do much to affect the sales of bottled water, which was still highly accessible in the surrounding areas, and the belief that it restricted consumers' freedom of choice. Opponents also considered the ban to represent unfair targeting of 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 Concord's plastic bottled water 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 at town meeting raised their ballots against the repeal measure. The issue has been bubbling in Concord for several years. In 2010, a town meeting-approved ban, which wasn't written as a bylaw, was rejected by the state attorney generals office. In 2011, a new version of the ban narrowly failed at 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 town has a total area of 25.9 square miles (67 km2), of which 24.9 square miles (64 km2) is land and 1.0 square mile (2.6 km2), or 3.75%, is water. The city of Lowell is 13 miles (21 km) to the north, Boston is 19 miles (31 km) to the east, and Nashua, New Hampshire, is 23 miles (37 km) to the north.
Massachusetts state routes 2, 2A, 62, 126, 119, 111, and 117 pass through Concord.
Concord borders the towns of Carlisle, Bedford, Lincoln, Sudbury, Maynard and Acton.
The town center is located near the confluence of the Sudbury and Assabet rivers, forming the Concord River, which flows north to the Merrimack River in Lowell. Gunpowder was manufactured from 1835 to 1940 in the American Powder Mills complex extending upstream along the Assabet River.
Adjacent towns
Concord is located in eastern Massachusetts, bordered by several towns:
Demographics
At the 2000 census, there were 16,993 people, 5,948 households and 4,437 families residing in the town. The population density was 682.0 per square mile (263.3/km²). There were 6,153 housing units at an average density of 246.9 per square mile (95.3/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 91.64% White, 2.24% African American, 0.09% Native American, 2.90% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 2.12% from other races, and 0.99% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.80% of the population.
There were 13,090 households of which 37.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 65.5% were married couples living together, 7.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 25.4% were non-families. 22.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.62 and the average family size was 3.08.
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 females age 18 and over, there were 101.8 males.
In 2013, the median household income was $129,960. About 2.1% of families and 3.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 3.7% of those under age 18 and 3.3% of those age 65 or over.
Pronunciation
The town's name is usually pronounced by its residents as KONG-k?rd in a manner indistinguishable from the American pronunciation of the word "conquered".
Speakers with a Boston accent often pronounce "Concord" with the [?] in the second syllable replaced by [?] (['k??k?d]).
Economy
Companies based in Concord include Pimsleur Language Programs.
Principal employers
According to Concord's 2016 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the principal employers in the city are:
Transportation
Concord station is served by the MBTA's Fitchburg Line. Yankee Line provides commuter bus service between Concord and Boston.
Sister cities
- Nanae, Japan
- Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal
- Saint-Mandé, France
- San Marcos, Nicaragua
- Torreón, Coahuila, Mexico
- Quito, Ecuador
Points of interest
- Barrett's Farm
- Reuben Brown House, home of notable revolutionist
- Concord Art Association
- Concord Free Public Library
- Concord Museum
- Corinthian LodgeEgg Rock, where the Concord River forms at the confluence of the Sudbury River and Assabet River, accessible by water or land
- Emerson Hospital
- Ralph Waldo Emerson House
- Estabrook Woods
- Fairyland Pond
- First Parish Church
- Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge
- Massachusetts Correctional Institution - Concord
- Minute Man National Historical Park
- Northeastern Correctional Center
- The Old Manse, home of Emerson and Hawthorne
- Old North Bridge
- Orchard House
- Punkatasset Hill
- Sleepy Hollow Cemetery
- 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 (consisting of two buildings about a mile apart: Sanborn and Peabody)
- Alcott School, Willard School, and Thoreau School, the local public elementary schools
- Concord Academy and Middlesex School, private preparatory schools
- The Fenn School and The Nashoba Brooks School, private primary schools
Transportation
- Commuter rail service to Boston's North Station is provided by the MBTA with two stops in Concord on its Fitchburg Line.
- Yankee Lines provides a commuter bus service to Copley Square in Boston from Concord Center.
Notable people
- Chris Abele, county executive of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin
- Seth Abramson, poet
- Amos Bronson Alcott, teacher and writer
- Louisa May Alcott, novelist
- Casper Asbjornson, Major League Baseball player
- Jane G. Austin, writer of historical fiction
- Oscar C. Badger, U.S. Navy officer
- Laurie Baker, USA ice hockey gold medalist
- Samuel Bartlett, silversmith
- Tim Berners-Lee, British computer scientist, best known as the inventor of the World Wide Web
- Frank Hagar Bigelow, U.S. astronomer and meteorologist
- Daniel Bliss, jurist, proscribed by the Massachusetts Banishment Act
- Paget Brewster, actress
- Peter Bulkley, Puritan preacher and a c0-founder of Concord
- Ephraim Bull, inventor of the Concord grape
- John Buttrick, Concord militia leader
- Steve Carell, comedian (lived in Acton but attended The Fenn School and also attended The Middlesex School)
- William Ellery Channing, poet
- Darby Conley, cartoonist
- Patricia Cornwell, contemporary American crime writer and author
- George William Curtis, writer and speaker
- Bob Diamond, former chief executive of Barclays
- Harrison Gray Dyar, chemist and inventor
- Edward Waldo Emerson, physician, writer and lecturer
- Ralph Waldo Emerson, essayist, poet and philosopher
- William Emerson, minister, father of Ralph Waldo Emerson
- Will Eno, author and playwright
- Richard Fadden, CSIS Director
- Daniel Chester French, sculptor
- Michael Fucito, Major League Soccer player
- Kevin Garnett, NBA player
- Hal Gill, National Hockey League player
- Tom Glavine, Major League Baseball player
- Doris Kearns Goodwin, historian and writer
- Richard N. Goodwin, advisor and speechwriter to Presidents Kennedy and Johnson
- William Watson Goodwin, classical scholar
- Nathaniel Hawthorne, novelist and short story writer
- Ebenezer R. Hoar, U.S. Attorney General
- George Frisbie Hoar, U.S. Congressman and Senator
- John Hoar, redeemer of famed captive Mary Rowlandson during King Philip's War
- Jonathan Hoar, colonial soldier
- Samuel Hoar, U.S. Congressman
- Frederic Hudson, journalist
- Dick Hustvedt, software engineer
- Edward Jarvis, physician and statistician
- Dick Kazmaier, Princeton American football player who was the last Ivy League Heisman Trophy winner
- George Parsons Lathrop, poet and novelist
- Joel Kurtzman, economist and journalist
- Alan Lightman, physicist, novelist and essayist
- Lynn Harold Loomis, mathematician and co-discoverer of the Loomis-Whitney inequality
- Gregory Maguire, author
- Andrew McMahon, musician and lead singer of Something Corporate and Jack's Mannequin
- Jane Mendillo, CEO of Harvard Management Company
- Russell Miller, author and historian
- William Munroe, first manufacturer of lead pencils in America
- Abigail May Alcott Nieriker, artist
- Robert B. Parker, author
- Samuel Parris, clergyman and witchcraft prosecutor
- Uta Pippig, marathon runner
- Samuel Prescott, American Revolutionary War "The Ride" with Paul Revere and William Dawes
- Sam Presti, NBA executive
- Amelia Atwater-Rhodes, novelist
- Ezra Ripley, clergyman
- William Stevens Robinson, journalist
- Dean Rosenthal, composer and musician
- Franklin Benjamin Sanborn, journalist, author and reformer
- David Allen Sibley, ornithologist and author
- Margaret Sidney (pseudonym of Harriett Mulford Stone Lothrop), author
- Robert Solow, Nobel laureate in economics
- John Augustus Stone, actor, dramatist and playwright
- Henry David Thoreau, author, naturalist and philosopher
- John Tortorella, Columbus Blue Jackets head coach
- Jonas Wheeler, Maine Senate President
- Thomas Wheeler, soldier in King Philip's War
- William W. Wheildon, writer
- William Whiting, lawyer, writer and politician
- Samuel Willard, 17th century colonial minister
- Simon Willard, 17th century intellectual and former British major who co-founded Concord.
- Stephen Wolfram, British-born scientist and developer of Mathematica software
- Gordon S. Wood, historian and author
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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