Winthrop, Massachusetts Town of Winthrop Official seal of Town of Winthrop Town of Winthrop is positioned in the US Town of Winthrop - Town of Winthrop The Town of Winthrop is a town/city in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, United States.
Winthrop is an ocean-side suburban improve in Greater Boston situated at the north entrance to Boston Harbor, close to Logan International Airport.
Settled in 1630, Winthrop is one of the earliest communities in the United States.
In 2005, the Town of Winthrop voted to change its governance from a representative town meeting adopted in 1920 to a council-manager form of government.
Under Massachusetts law, as of 2006 when the new Town Charter took effect, Winthrop became a city.
However, it is one of 14 metros/cities in Massachusetts that chose to remain known as a 'town.' It is therefore referred to as a 'town' in this article.
Winthrop was settled in 1630 by English Puritan colonists as Pullen Poynt (Pulling Point), so titled because the tides made difficult pulling for boatmen. The present town is titled after John Winthrop (1587 1649), second governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and an English Puritan leader.
Originally part of an region called Winnisimmet by the native Massachusett tribe, Pullen Poynt was took in by the Town of Boston in 1632 and was used as a grazing area.
In 1637, it was divided into fifteen parcels of territory that were given by Governor Winthrop to prominent men in Boston with the stipulation that each must erect a building on his territory inside two years.
One of these early homes, the Deane Winthrop House, was the home of Governor Winthrop's youngest son, Deane Winthrop, who lived there until his death in 1704.
In 1739, what is now Chelsea, Revere, and Winthrop, withdrew from Boston due to governmental control disputes and became the Town of Chelsea.
In 1775, inhabitants of the Town of Chelsea played a major part in the Battle of Chelsea Creek of the American Revolutionary War. Again, the desire for more small-town control resulted in Revere and Winthrop seceding from Chelsea in 1846 to turn into North Chelsea.
Shortly after that, in 1852, Winthrop was incorporated as a town in its own right with a Board of Selectmen and Open Town Meeting form of government.
In 1920, Winthrop was the second town in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to apply for and receive a Charter for a Representative Town Meeting, which continued to 2006.
As noted above, Winthrop adopted a home rule charter in 2005 with a council-manager form of government and is no longer governed by a representative town meeting.
It is now legally a city, but chooses to be known as a town that has a town/city form of government. The new Town Charter, which took effect in 2006, was passed in a special election.
The Board of Selectmen and Town Meeting were abolished, and legislative powers were vested in an propel Town Council.
View of Boston from Winthrop's Point Shirley in 2003 1903 map showing the stations of the former Winthrop Loop of the Boston, Revere Beach and Lynn Railroad According to the United States Enumeration Bureau, the town has a total region of 8.3 square miles (21.5 km ), of which 2.0 square miles (5.2 km ) is territory and 6.3 square miles (16.3 km ) (76.02%) is water.
However, as stated to the Town Government, Winthrop has a territory area of just 1.6 square miles (4.1 km2).
Winthrop is connected by territory skirting the Belle Isle Marsh Reservation, which is shared athwart the Belle Isle Inlet with East Boston.
Although still an island by name, Deer Island has been connected to Winthrop since the former Shirley Gut channel, which once separated the island from the town, was filled in by the New England Hurricane of 1938.
The town is considered the northern dividing line between Boston Harbor to its west and Massachusetts Bay to its east.
The town is divided into a several neighborhoods with a central downtown area, including Court Park and Cottage Park along the Boston Harbor side of town, and Point Shirley, Cottage Hill, Winthrop Beach, Ocean Spray, and Winthrop Highlands on the Massachusetts Bay side.
The town is bordered by Revere to the north, and Boston on the northwest, west, and southeast.
The water rights of the town extend to the edge of the county, and border those of Nahant in Essex County.
By land, Winthrop is 5.5 miles (8.9 km) from Beacon Hill, the measuring point for all road signs in Massachusetts.
Deer Island, though inside the town/city limits of Boston, is positioned in Winthrop Bay.
It ceased to be an island in the 1930s when Shirley Gut, which separated it from Winthrop, was filled in.
Today, the island is home to the mammoth Deer Island Waste Water Treatment Plant, which provides sewage treatment for the Boston area. In spite of the existence of the water treatment plant, Deer Island has been part of the Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area since 1996 and the remainder of the island consists of park territory and offers walking, jogging, sightseeing, picnicking, and fishing.
Part of the park territory consists of a man-made earthen berm that partly conceals the treatment plant from view from Winthrop.
The island is now prominent with many Winthrop inhabitants due to the effective park landscaping and spectacular views of Boston Harbor and the Atlantic Ocean.
Massachusetts Route 145 passes through the town as its only state route and the only connection to the mainland (via Main Street and Winthrop Parkway at opposite ends of town).
It enters from the Orient Heights neighborhood of East Boston then passes in a loop around the chief body of the town (bypassing Cottage Hill and Point Shirley) before leaving the town to the north, turning into the Winthrop Parkway in Revere.
The service, which is subsidized by the MBTA, operates as Route 712 Point Shirley or Winthrop Beach to Orient Heights Station via Winthrop Highlands and Route 713 Point Shirley or Winthrop Beach to Orient Heights via Winthrop Center. This service does not accept MBTA Charlie Cards.
Prior to this, the service was directed by Rapid Transit, which began bus service in Winthrop on January 28, 1940, the day immediately following the closure of the Boston, Revere Beach and Lynn Railroad (known as the "Narrow Gauge") which had a Winthrop Branch (1877-1940) with nine stations.
Currently, Boston Harbor Cruises operates the service cyclicly (May through October) between Winthrop and Rowes Wharf. In the town the populace was spread out with 18.6% under the age of 18, 7.3% from 18 to 24, 33.2% from 25 to 44, 24.4% from 45 to 64, and 16.5% who were 65 years of age or older.
Winthrop has a town center with a number of businesses, including Ace Hardware, CVS Pharmacy, a small grocery store called the Winthrop Marketplace, and the United States Postal Service.
Located on Great Head (Water Tower Hill) is the Winthrop Water Tower.
It is maintained by Winthrop's Water Department. Winthrop has a weekly newspaper, the Winthrop Sun Transcript, which reports small-town news, current affairs, happenings, and town concerns.
Winthrop has various beaches due to being surrounded by water.
The primary beaches are Winthrop Beach and Yirrell Beach; the rest include Donovan's Beach, Halford Beach, Pico Beach, Point Shirley Beach, and Short Beach.
Winthrop is home to two historic military forts, Fort Banks and Fort Heath.
Fort Banks was a United States Coast Artillery fort, which served to defend Boston Harbor from enemy attack from the sea and was assembled in the 1890s amid what is known as the Endicott period, a time in which the coast defenses of the United States were seriously period and upgraded with new technology.
Winthrop has five places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Winthrop Center/Metcalf Square Historic District Among various baseball fields and recreational parks, Winthrop's recreational facilities include Larsen Rink, an indoor ice skating rink, and Winthrop Golf Course, a private 9-hole, par 35 golf course.
See also Category:People from Winthrop, Massachusetts.
Town of Winthrop, MA - About Winthrop.
"Historic Winthrop, 1630-1902".
Winthrop Improvement and Historical Association Town of Winthrop Town Charter Town of Winthrop Winthrop's form of government "1990 Enumeration of Population, General Population Characteristics: Massachusetts" (PDF).
"1980 Enumeration of the Population, Number of Inhabitants: Massachusetts" (PDF).
Winthrop Marketplace Community Christian Church of Winthrop.
First Church of Winthrop, United Methodist.
John the Evangelist Church | An Archdiocese of Boston Parish in Winthrop, MA.
Welcome to Temple Tifereth Israel of Winthrop, Massachusetts.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Winthrop, Massachusetts.
Municipalities and communities of Suffolk County, Massachusetts, United States
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Winthrop, Massachusetts - Populated places established in 1630 - Populated places established in 1635 - Populated coastal places in Massachusetts - 1630 establishments in Massachusetts
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