Chelmsford, Massachusetts This article is about the town in Massachusetts.
Town of Chelmsford Official seal of Town of Chelmsford Chelmsford / t lmsf rd/ is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts in the Greater Lowell area.
As of the 2010 United States Census, the town's populace was 33,802.
Besides Lowell on its northeast, Chelmsford is surrounded by four towns: Tyngsborough to the north, Billerica to the southeast, Carlisle to the south, and Westford to the west.
Chelmsford is bordered by two sizeable rivers: the Merrimack River to the north, and the Concord River to the east.
Named after Chelmsford, England, the town was incorporated in May 1655 by an act of the Massachusetts General Court.
The farming improve of East Chelmsford was incorporated as Lowell in the 1820s; over the next decades it would go on to turn into one of the first large-scale factory suburbs in the United States because of its early part in the country's Industrial Revolution.
Chelmsford experienced a drastic increase in populace between 1950 and 1970, coinciding with the connection of U.S.
Route 3 in Lowell to Massachusetts Route 128 in the 1950s and the extension of U.S.
Route 3 from Chelmsford to New Hampshire in the 1960s.
Chelmsford has a representative town meeting form of government.
The town has one enhance high school Chelmsford High School, which is ranked among the top 500 schools in the country as well as two middle schools, and four elementary schools.
The charter middle school started in Chelmsford became a county-wide charter school (Innovation Academy Charter School) covering grades 5 through 12, now positioned in Tyngsborough.
Chelmsford high school age students also have the option of attending the Nashoba Valley Technical High School, positioned in Westford.
In 2011, Chelmsford was declared the 28th best place to live in the United States by Money magazine. An act of the Massachusetts General Court in the last week of May 1655 town incorporated Chelmsford, and it was titled after Chelmsford, England.
Chelmsford originally contained the neighboring town of Westford, and parts of Carlisle, Tyngsborough, and a large part of Lowell (formerly known as East Chelmsford).
Both the Middlesex Canal and Middlesex Turnpike, primary transportation routes, were assembled through Chelmsford in the first part of the 19th century. Chelmsford Public Library The Chelmsford militia played a part in the American Revolution at the Battle of Lexington and Concord and the Battle of Bunker Hill in 1775, the latter where Colonel Moses Parker (namesake of the Parker School) and Captain Benjamin Walker of this town were killed. Ralph Waldo Emerson opened a school in Chelmsford in 1825, method it after a several months to take over his brother's school in Roxbury. Chelmsford was the place of birth of the Chelmsford Spring Co.
Chelmsford, Massachusetts According to the United States Enumeration Bureau, the town has a total region of 23.2 square miles (60 km2), of which 22.6 square miles (59 km2) is territory and 0.5 square miles (1.3 km2), or 2.29%, is water.
Chelmsford is bordered by two sizeable rivers: the Merrimack River to the north, and the Concord River to the east.
In addition to the town center, lesser areas include South Chelmsford, West Chelmsford, East Chelmsford, North Chelmsford and The Westlands.
North Chelmsford, an industrialized village, is distinct from the rest of the town to the extent that it has many of its own town services.
The northern parts of Chelmsford tend to be more urban and densely populated, while the south is generally more rural.
Like much of the rest of Massachusetts, Chelmsford has a humid continental climate as stated to the Koppen climate classification.
Typical homes in Chelmsford, Mass In the town, the populace was spread out with 25.0% under the age of 18, 5.2% from 18 to 24, 30.9% from 25 to 44, 25.9% from 45 to 64, and 13.0% who were 65 years of age or older.
As of 2008, Chelmsford had a violent crime rate of 132 incidents per 100,000 citizens , compared to a rate of 449 in Massachusetts as a whole and 455 nationwide. The town had a property crime rate of 1,904 incidents per 100,000 citizens in 2008, compared to a rate of 2,400 for the state and 3,213 nationwide. Chelmsford has one police station positioned near Mc - Carthy Middle School.
Old Town Hall, now the town's Center for the Arts The town uses a representative town meeting model with a Board of Selectmen overseeing the operation of the town.
Reporting to the Board of Selectmen are the town manager, town counsel, and town accountant.
As of 2010 Chelmsford is represented in the Massachusetts Senate by Mike Barrett. The town sends four delegates to the Massachusetts House of Representatives, each of whom represent one or more of Chelmsford's nine precincts. Corey Atkins is the state representative for precincts one and nine; Thomas Golden, precincts two, six and eight; James Arciero, precincts three, five and seven; and David Nangle, precinct four. on behalf of the Massachusetts Department of Youth Services, first opened in North Chelmsford in 1982; this facility had 16 beds. In 2006 the school moved to its current locale in Westborough. The Chelmsford enhance schools precinct serves students in pre-Kindergarten through twelfth grade.
According to data for 2008 09 from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (ESE), schools in the precinct include the Charles D.
There are three other elementary schools serving Kindergarten through fourth grade: Byam Elementary School, with 536 students; Center Elementary School, with 521 students; and South Row, with 473 students.
Westlands Elementary School, which had been serving Kindergarten through fourth grade, with 366 students as of the 2007 08 school year, was closed in 2008 due to budget cuts but repurposed as the home building for Chelmsford Community Education and the Chelmsford Integrated Preschool ("CHIPS")., and North School burned down in 1981.
Chelmsford has two middle schools, serving grades five through eight: Colonel Moses Parker Middle School, with 757 students; and Mc - Carthy Middle School, with 947 students.
The town contains one high school, Chelmsford High School, serving grades nine through twelve to 1,641 students as of 2008 09. The town also had one enhance charter school, Innovation Academy, serving 400 students in grades five through ten.
As of September 2008, Innovation Academy moved to the town of Tyngsborough, presently serving grades five through twelve. Past schools, the buildings of which are either no longer existing or have been repurposed, include: -the first Chelmsford High School (now Town Hall) -North School (burned down in 1981, Chelmsford Senior Center assembled on the property) -Quessy School (no longer standing) -Highland School (interior rebuilt as residentiary) -Mc - Farlane School (interior rebuilt as residentiary for the elderly) -East School (building in use as a commercial property) All expenditures considered, the Chelmsford enhance schools precinct spent $10,070 per pupil as of 2008, which was lower than the state average of $12,449.
In 2009, Chelmsford High School ranked 66th out of 150 enhance high schools considered by Boston Magazine.
The ranking took into account many statistics associated with character of education and academic performance, including the school's 14.5:1 student teacher ratio. In the 2006 2007 school year, the average SAT scores for Chelmsford High School were 527 in the reading section, 519 in writing, and 535 in math. Chelmsford High School performed decidedly better than the state average in the English, math and science portions of the 2009 Grade 10 MCAS tests, scoring 89, 87 and 77 out of 100, in the order given. Chelmsford is served by the Chelmsford Independent newspaper, and the Lowell Sun newspaper. Old Chelmsford Garrison House Chelmsford Center Historic District Old Chelmsford Garrison House (1691), now a exhibition Chelmsford is positioned at the intersection of the primary US highways of I-495 and Route 3.
Also found in Chelmsford are state routes 3 - A, 4, 27, 40, 110, and 129.
Chelmsford Center is a notorious junction of roadways.
In addition to the Square, Chelmsford Center is a series of merging and splitting roads, many one-way, including the beginning of route 27.
The Bruce Freeman Rail Trail runs 6.8 miles (10.9 km) through Chelmsford, including the Central Square intersection.
The LRTA bus routes 15, 16 and 17 connect Chelmsford to the Lowell train station on the MBTA Commuter Rail Lowell Line.
North Chelmsford will get a Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority commuter rail station if the proposed extension of the Lowell Line to Nashua, New Hampshire is completed. Josiah Gardner Abbott (1814 1891), born in Chelmsford, member of the United States House of Representatives, the Massachusetts House of Representatives and the Massachusetts Senate Played on Chelmsford High School's first ever "Super Bowl" team in 1978.
Many consider him the reason Chelmsford lost the game for he drew a penalty on a touchdown play resulting in Chelmsford High School's loss.
George Condo, Chelmsford High School graduate.
Lance Wilder, background design supervisor for The Simpsons, 1986 Chelmsford High School graduate.
The elementary school appearing in The Simpsons is based on Mc - Carthy Middle School, which was Chelmsford's high school before the assembly of the current Chelmsford High School in 1974.
The town hall in the show is based on the Chelmsford Public Library (prior to the recent ongoing standard ).
Many other small-town businesses and stores in Chelmsford find their way into the background in The Simpsons' hometown of Springfield, including Zesty Pizza, and the now defunct, Skip's Restaurant, Skip's Ice Cream, Tony and Ann's Pizza, and Jack's Diner.
"Massachusetts by Place and County Subdivision - GCT-T1.
"1990 Enumeration of Population, General Population Characteristics: Massachusetts" (PDF).
"1980 Enumeration of the Population, Number of Inhabitants: Massachusetts" (PDF).
"1950 Enumeration of Population" (PDF).
"1920 Enumeration of Population" (PDF).
"1890 Enumeration of the Population" (PDF).
"1870 Enumeration of the Population" (PDF).
"Massachusetts: Offenses Known to Law Enforcement by State by City, 2008".
"Crime in the United States by State, 2008".
Town of Chelmsford.
Town of Chelmsford.
Rotenberg School North Chelmsford, Massachusetts" ().
"Student Data, Chelmsford: Enrollment by Grade".
"Search for Public Schools: Chelmsford".
"General Data, Chelmsford: Total Expenditure Per Pupil, All Funds, By Function".
History of Chelmsford, Massachusetts, by Wilson Waters, Henry Spaulding Perham, presented 1917, 893 pages.
Two versions of History of Chelmsford, Massachusetts are online: Page images and HTML Wikimedia Commons has media related to Chelmsford, Massachusetts.
Town of Chelmsford official website Municipalities and communities of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States
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