Middlesex County, Massachusetts facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Middlesex County
County
Images, from top down, left to right: The Great Dome at MIT; Hartwell Tavern in Minute Man National Historical Park; Historic buildings of the Lowell mills; Walden Pond in Concord
Seal
Location within the U.S. state of Massachusetts
Massachusetts's location within the U.S.
Country	United States
State	Massachusetts
Founded	May 10, 1643
Named for	Middlesex, England
Seat	Lowell and Cambridge
Largest city	Cambridge
Area
• Total	847 sq mi (2,190 km2)
• Land	818 sq mi (2,120 km2)
• Water	29 sq mi (80 km2)  3.5%
Population  (2020)
• Total	1,632,002
• Density	1,996/sq mi (771/km2)
Time zone	UTC−5 (Eastern)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−4 (EDT)
Congressional districts	3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th

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 populous county in the United States. Middlesex County is one of two U.S. counties (along with Santa Clara County, California) to be amongst the top 25 counties with the highest household income and the 25 most populated counties. It is included in the Census Bureau's Boston–Cambridge–Newton, MA–NH Metropolitan Statistical Area. As part of the 2020 United States census, the Commonwealth's mean center of population for that year was geo-centered in Middlesex County, in the town of Natick (this is not to be confused with the geographic center of Massachusetts, which is in Rutland, Worcester County).

On July 11, 1997, Massachusetts abolished the executive government of Middlesex County primarily due to the county's insolvency. Middlesex County continues to exist as a geographic boundary and is used primarily as district jurisdictions within the court system and for other administrative purposes; for example, as an election district. The National Weather Service weather alerts (such as severe thunderstorm warning) continue to localize based upon Massachusetts's counties.

History

The county was created by the Massachusetts General Court on May 10, 1643, when it was ordered that "the whole plantation within this jurisdiction be divided into four shires." Middlesex initially contained Charlestown, Cambridge, Watertown, Sudbury, Concord, Woburn, Medford, and Reading. In 1649 the first Middlesex County Registry of Deeds was created in Cambridge.

On April 19, 1775, Middlesex was site of the first armed conflict of the American Revolutionary War.

In 1855, the Massachusetts State Legislature created a minor Registry of Deeds for the Northern District of Middlesex County in Lowell.

In the late 19th century and early 20th century, Boston annexed several of its adjacent cities and towns including Charlestown and Brighton from Middlesex County, resulting in an enlargement and accretion toward Suffolk County.

Beginning prior to dissolution of the executive county government, the county comprised two regions with separate county seats for administrative purposes:

• The Middlesex-North District (smaller) with its county seat in Lowell under the Registry of Deeds consisted of the city of Lowell, and its adjacent towns of Billerica, Carlisle, Chelmsford, Dracut, Dunstable, Tewksbury, Tyngsborough, Westford and Wilmington.
• The Middlesex-South District (larger) with the county seat in Cambridge consisted of the remaining 44 cities and towns of Middlesex County.

Since the start of the 21st century much of the current and former county offices have physically decentralized from the Cambridge seat, with the sole exceptions being the Registry of Deeds and the Middlesex Probate and Family Court, which both retain locations in Cambridge and Lowell. Since the first quarter of 2008, the Superior Courthouse has been seated in the city of Woburn; the Sheriff's Office is now administratively seated in the city of Medford and the Cambridge-based County Jail has since been amalgamated with another county jail facility in Billerica. The Cambridge District Court (which has jurisdiction for Arlington, Belmont and Cambridge); along with the Middlesex County District Attorney's Office, although not a part of the Middlesex County government, was also relatedly forced to relocate to Medford at the time of the closure of the Superior Courthouse building in Cambridge.

Administrative structure today

Records of land ownership in Middlesex County continue to be maintained at the two Registries of Deeds. Besides the Sheriff and the two Registers of Deeds, the Middlesex District Attorney, the Middlesex Register of Probate and the Middlesex Clerk of Courts (which were already part of state government before the abolition of Middlesex County government) are all elected countywide to six-year terms.

In Middlesex County (as in the entirety of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts), the governmental functions such as property tax assessment and collection, public education, road repair and maintenance, and elections were all conducted at the municipal city and town level and not by the county government.

In 2012 the 22-story Superior Court Building in Cambridge which was transferred from the abolished Executive County government was sold by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Due to its transfer from state control, many local residents had tried to force the private developers to reduce the overall height of the structure.

Even following abolition of the executive branch for county government in Middlesex, communities are still granted a right by the Massachusetts state legislature to form their own regional compacts for sharing of services and costs thereof.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 847 square miles (2,190 km²), of which 818 square miles (2,120 km²) is land and 29 square miles (75 km²) (3.5%) is water. It is the third-largest county in Massachusetts by land area.

It is bounded southeast by the Charles River, and drained by the Merrimack, Nashua, and Concord rivers, and other streams.

The MetroWest region comprises much of the southern portion of the county.

Adjacent counties

• Hillsborough County, New Hampshire (north)
• Essex County (northeast)
• Suffolk County (southeast)
• Norfolk County (south)
• Worcester County (west)

Transportation

These routes pass through Middlesex County

• I‑90, From Hopkinton to Newton
• I‑93, From Somerville to Tewksbury
• I‑95, From Newton to Wakefield
• I‑290, In Marlboro
• I‑495, From Hopkinton to Tewksbury
• US 1, From Cambridge to Malden
• US 3/Route 3, From Cambridge to Tyngsborough
• US 20, From Marlborough to Watertown
• Route 2, From Littleton to Cambridge
• Route 2A, From Shirley to Cambridge
• Route 3A, From Burlington to Tyngsborough
• Route 4, From Lexington-Arlington line to Chelmsford
• Route 9, From Framingham to Newton
• Route 13, In Townsend
• Route 16, From Holliston to Everett
• Route 27, From Sherborn to Chelmsford
• Route 28, From Cambridge to North Reading
• Route 30, From Framingham to Newton
• Route 31, In Ashby
• Route 38, From Somerville to Dracut
• Route 40, From Groton to Chelmsford
• Route 60, From Waltham to Malden
• Route 62, From Hudson to North Reading
• Route 85, From Hopkinton to Hudson
• Route 99, From Everett to Melrose
• Route 110, From Ayer to Dracut
• Route 111, From Concord to Pepperell
• Route 113, From Pepperell to Dracut
• Route 115, In Sherborn
• Route 117, From Stow to Waltham
• Route 119, From Concord to Ashby
• Route 125, From Wilmington to North Reading
• Route 126, From Holliston to Concord
• Route 128, From Newton to Wakefield
• Route 129, From Chelmsford to Wakefield
• Route 133, From Lowell to Tewksbury
• Route 135, From Hopkinton to Natick
• Route 225, From Shirley to Lexington

National protected areas

• Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge
• Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge
• Longfellow House–Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site
• Lowell National Historical Park
• Minute Man National Historical Park
• Oxbow National Wildlife Refuge (part)

Demographics

As of 2006^[update], Middlesex County was tenth in the United States on the list of most millionaires per county.

As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 1,503,085 people, 580,688 households, and 366,656 families residing in the county. The population density was 1,837.9 inhabitants per square mile (709.6/km²). There were 612,004 housing units at an average density of 748.3 per square mile (288.9/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 80.0% white, 9.3% Asian, 4.7% black or African American, 0.2% American Indian, 3.3% from other races, and 2.5% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 6.5% of the population.

The largest ancestry groups were:

Of the 580,688 households, 31.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.5% were married couples living together, 10.1% had a female householder with no husband present, 36.9% were non-families, and 27.8% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.49 and the average family size was 3.10. The median age was 38.5 years.

The median income for a household in the county was $77,377 and the median income for a family was $97,382. Males had a median income of $64,722 versus $50,538 for females. The per capita income for the county was $40,139. About 5.1% of families and 7.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 8.0% of those under age 18 and 8.0% of those age 65 or over.

79.6% spoke English, 4.3% Spanish, 2.7% Portuguese, 1.6% Italian, 1.6% Chinese including Mandarin and other Chinese dialects and 1.5% French as their first language.

Middlesex County has the largest Irish-American population of any U.S. county with a plurality of Irish ancestry.

Demographic breakdown by town

Income

The ranking of unincorporated communities that are included on the list are reflective if the census designated locations and villages were included as cities or towns. Data is from the 2007-2011 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates.

Law enforcement

Middlesex Sheriff's Office
Patch of the Middlesex Sheriff's Office
Abbreviation	MSO
Agency overview
Formed	1692; 332 years ago (1692)
Employees	800
Annual budget	$60 Million
Jurisdictional structure
Operations jurisdiction	Massachusetts, U.S.
Legal jurisdiction	County of Middlesex, Massachusetts
General nature	Local civilian police
Operational structure
Headquarters	Medford, Massachusetts
Sheriff responsible	Peter Koutoujian
Facilities
Lockups	2
Patrol Vehicles	Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor

The primary responsibility of the Middlesex Sheriff's Office is oversight of the Middlesex House of Correction and Jail in Billerica. It formerly ran the Middlesex Jail in Cambridge, which closed on June 28, 2014. In addition, the Sheriff's Office operates the Office of Civil Process and, the Lowell Community Counseling Centers, and crime prevention and community service programs. The office of sheriff was created in 1692, making it one of the oldest law enforcement agencies in the United States. The sheriff is elected to a 6-year term.

Notable sheriffs include:

Communities

1889 map of Middlesex County

Map of Middlesex County, with Cambridge highlighted

Most municipalities in Middlesex County have a town form of government; the remainder are cities, and are so designated on this list. Villages listed below are census or postal divisions, but have no separate corporate or statutory existence from the cities and towns in which they are located.

Cities

Towns

Census-designated places

Other villages and neighborhoods

Education

School districts include:

K-12:

Secondary:

• Concord-Carlisle School District
• Dover-Sherborn School District
• Lincoln-Sudbury School District

Elementary:

Tertiary institutions include:

• Harvard University (Cambridge)
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) (Cambridge)
• Framingham State University (Framingham)

Culture

Middlesex County is home to the Middlesex County Volunteers, a fife and drum corps that plays music from the 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. Founded in 1982 at the end of the United States Bicentennial celebration, the group performs extensively throughout New England. They have also performed at the Boston Pops, throughout the British Isles and Western Europe, and at the Edinburgh Military Tattoo's Salute to Australia in Sydney, Australia.

See also

In Spanish: Condado de Middlesex (Massachusetts) para niños