Belmont, Massachusetts
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Belmont, Massachusetts | |||
|
|||
 |
|||
| Coordinates: | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Country | United States | ||
| State | Massachusetts | ||
| County | Middlesex County | ||
| Settled | 1636 | ||
| Incorporated | 1859 | ||
| Government | |||
| - Type | Representative town meeting | ||
| Area | |||
| - Town | 4.7 sq mi (12.2 km²) | ||
| - Land | 4.7 sq mi (12.1 km²) | ||
| - Water | 0.1 sq mi (0.1 km²) | ||
| Elevation | 44 ft (13 m) | ||
| Population (2000) | |||
| - Town | 24,194 | ||
| - Density | 5,190.2/sq mi (2,003.9/km²) | ||
| Time zone | Eastern (UTC-5) | ||
| - Summer (DST) | Eastern (UTC-4) | ||
| ZIP code | 02478 | ||
| Area code(s) | 617 / 857 | ||
| Website: http://www.town.Belmont.ma.us/ | |||
Belmont is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston. The population was 24,194 at the 2000 census.
Contents |
[edit] History
Belmont was founded on March 18, 1859 by former citizens of, and land from, the bordering towns of Watertown (to the south), Waltham (to the west) and West Cambridge (now Arlington, to the north and east). The town was named after Bellmont, the 200 acre (0.8 km²) estate of one of the leading advocates of and largest donor to its creation, John Perkins Cushing. The easternmost section of the town was returned to Cambridge in a dispute over a slaughterhouse built near the local reservoir, Fresh Pond; much of that area is now a major commercial and office center for the city of Cambridge.
Preceding its incorporation, Belmont was an agrarian based town, with several large farms servicing Boston for produce and livestock. It remained largely the same until the turn of the twentieth century, when trolley service and better roads were introduced, making the town more attractive as a residential area, most notably for the building of large estates.
The economics of the town shifted from purely agrarian to a commercial greenhouse base: much of the flower and vegetable needs of Boston were met from the Belmont 'hothouses' which persisted until about 1983 when Edgar's, the last large greenhouse firm in the area, closed[citation needed]. Other commercial enterprises in Belmont included mining and waste management. The transition of a large dump and quarry off Concord Avenue into a Belmont High School and Clay Pit Pond stands as a lasting example of environmental planning. With the introduction of automobiles and highways Belmont continued its transition to a commuter-based suburb throughout the twentieth century.
From its founding in 1958 until its relocation to Appleton, Wisconsin in the early-1980s, Belmont was the home of the headquarters of the John Birch Society. It was located at 395 Concord Avenue, next-door to the Belmont branch of the Post Office. Today the building houses the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research[1].
[edit] Present day
Belmont remains a primarily residential suburb with little growth since the 1950s. It is best known for the mansion-filled Belmont Hill neighborhood, although most residents live in more densely settled, low-lying areas around the Hill. There are three major commercial centers in the town: Belmont Center in the center, Cushing Square in the south, and Waverley Square in the west. Town Hall and other civic buildings are located in Belmont Center. Large tracts of land from former farms and greenhouse estates form public or public-accessible areas such as Rock Meadow, Habitat (Audubon), portions of the McLean Hospital tract and various town fields.
The major roads in the town are Concord Avenue, which bisects the town from east to west, Common Street and Pleasant Street (Route 60) which travel north-south through Belmont, and Trapelo Road and Belmont Street which run along the southern edge of the town. Massachusetts Route 2 runs along the northern border of the town. Belmont is also served by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's Fitchburg Commuter Rail line and several bus lines.
The town is home to McLean Hospital, a psychiatric hospital and research center, and the Boston Massachusetts Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
[edit] Geography
Belmont is located at (42.391546, -71.174712).GR1
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 12.2 km² (4.7 mi²). 12.1 km² (4.7 mi²) of it is land and 0.1 km² (0.1 mi²) of it (1.06%) is water.
Belmont is bordered by Cambridge on the East, Arlington on the North, Lexington on the Northwest, Waltham on the West, and Watertown on the South.
[edit] Demographics
As of the censusGR2 of 2000, there were 24,194 people, 9,732 households, and 6,452 families residing in the town. The population density was 2,004.6/km² (5,190.2/mi²). There were 9,980 housing units at an average density of 826.9/km² (2,141.0/mi²). The racial makeup of the town was 91.19% White, 1.10% Black or African American, 0.13% Native American, 5.76% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.41% from other races, and 1.41% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.82% of the population.
There were 9,732 households out of which 31.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.9% were married couples living together, 8.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.7% were non-families. 25.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.45 and the average family size was 3.01.
In the town the population was spread out with 22.7% under the age of 18, 4.5% from 18 to 24, 31.0% from 25 to 44, 25.1% from 45 to 64, and 16.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 87.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 82.8 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $80,295, and the median income for a family was $95,057. Males had a median income of $64,579 versus $45,505 for females. The per capita income for the town was $42,485. About 3.6% of families and 4.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 3.9% of those under age 18 and 5.3% of those age 65 or over.
[edit] Education
Belmont is a part of Belmont Public Schools.
There are four public elementary schools in Belmont, the Burbank, Butler, Winn Brook, and Wellington schools. Two other public elementary schools, Payson Park and Kendall, were closed in the 1970s and 1980s, respectively. The former closed after being destroyed by fire, the latter closed due to population shifts and was converted to an arts center, which was later also destroyed by fire. There is one public middle school, the Chenery Middle School, and one public high school, Belmont High School. Belmont High has an outstanding reputation for college placement; strong athletics, academics, music, and theater arts; a typical class size of about 280 students; and average SAT's for the class of 2004 of 1179.
Belmont Hill School is a private, non-sectarian all-male high school, grades 7-12. Belmont Day School is a private, non-sectarian PK-8 school. There are several smaller private schools.
[edit] Notable residents
Because of its proximity to Cambridge and Boston, Belmont has had over a dozen Nobel Prize winners in residence at one time or another[citation needed]. Other well-known past and present residents include:
- Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney
- Folk Musician Joan Baez
- Radio and TV personality Tom Bergeron
- Harvard Business School Professor and author Clayton Christensen
- Brigham Young University-Idaho President and Harvard Business School Dean Kim B. Clark
- Scientist/Inventor/Author Nathan Cohen
- China Trader John Perkins Cushing
- Roman Catholic bishop Thomas Vose Daily
- Psychologist and author William Damon
- Power steering inventor Francis W. Davis
- Biologist and author Bernard D. Davis
- Former Director of CIA John Deutch
- Scientist and photographer Doc Edgerton
- Painter Winslow Homer
- Author William Dean Howells
- Author/Journalist Sebastian Junger
- TV Producer/Writer David E. Kelley
- Secretary of State Henry Kissinger -- Nobel Prize 1973 - Peace
- Economist Michael W. Klein
- Red Sox Pitcher Bill "Spaceman" Lee
- New York Rangers defenseman Paul Mara
- Reformationist Scholar and Novelist Richard Marius
- American actor Jared Morrison
- Philosopher Robert Nozick
- Landscape Architect Frederick Law Olmsted
- Crown Princess of Japan Masako Owada
- Composer Walter Piston
- Professor Edwin O. Reischauer, Ambassador to Japan
- Dr. Albert Sacco, astronaut and chemical engineer
- Senator Nicholas Sahagian (D)
- Economist Paul A. Samuelson -- Nobel Prize 1970 - Economics
- HUAC victim and MIT Mathematician Dirk Jan Struik
- Singer-Songwriter and Guitarist James Taylor
- Deviled ham magnate William Underwood
- Computer Scientist Leslie Valiant
- Explorer/Author/Photographer Bradford Washburn
- Junior Mints inventor and John Birch Society founder Robert W. Welch Jr.
- Astronomer Fred Lawrence Whipple [2]
- Dr. Paul Dudley White, Founder of American Heart Association
- Bach scholar Christoph Wolff
- Major League Pitcher, Red Sox and White Sox Wilbur Wood
- Organic chemist Robert Burns Woodward -- Nobel Prize 1965 - Chemistry
- Musician/Comedian, Emeen Zarookian
- Violoncellist,Yo-Yo Ma
- San Jose Sharks Forward Patrick Rissmiller
[edit] External links
- Town of Belmont
- Belmont Public Schools
- Belmont Public Library
- McLean Hospital
- Town Of Belmont / Mass.gov
- Maps and aerial photos
- Street map from Google Maps, or Yahoo! Maps, or Windows Live Local
- Satellite image from Google Maps, Windows Live Local, WikiMapia
- Topographic map from TopoZone
- Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA
