GREATER BOSTON


'Greater Boston' is the area of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts surrounding the city of Boston, Massachusetts. In addition to Boston, other cities include Cambridge, Quincy, Newton, and the largest town in Massachusetts by population, Framingham. Greater Boston overlaps the North and South Shores, as well as the MetroWest region. Greater Boston is more urbanized than the other regions of Massachusetts, such as the more rural Western Massachusetts and the beach communities of Cape Cod. The area features many universities. There are a decreasing number of working class communities within Greater Boston.
Greater Boston encompasses many significant locations in American history and culture. Examples include the Paul Revere House, the Old North Church, the Old Granary Burying Ground, the site of the Boston Tea Party, the Battle of Bunker Hill, USS ''Constitution'', Lexington and Concord, Walden Pond, the site of the Salem witch trials, and the Christian Science Mother Church. Former President John Adams was born in Quincy, Massachusetts, as was former President John Quincy Adams. Frederick Douglass began his career as an abolitionist in Boston. Former President John F. Kennedy was born in Brookline, Massachusetts. Former President George H. W. Bush was born in Milton. Malcolm X spent a significant part of his young adulthood in Roxbury, Boston and joined the Nation of Islam while in prison in Charlestown. The National Archives has a regional center in Waltham.

Contents
Definitions
Metropolitan Area Planning Council
New England City and Town Area
Metropolitan statistical area
Combined statistical area
Principal cities/towns
Boston metropolitan area
Satellite areas
Major companies
Sports
Higher education
Historical figures and celebrities
Transportation
Highways
Bridges and tunnels
Airports
Rail transportation
Ocean transportation
Geography
References

Definitions


Metropolitan Area Planning Council

The most restrictive definition of the Greater Boston area is the region administered by the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC). About MAPC The MAPC is a regional planning organization created by the General Court of Massachusetts to oversee transportation infrastructure and economic development concerns in the Boston area. The MAPC includes 101 cities and towns that are grouped into eight subregions. These include most of the area within the region's outer circumferential highway, I-495. The population of the MAPC is 3,066,394 (as of 2000) covering an area of 1,422 square miles, of which 39% is forested and an additional 11% is water, wetland, or other open space.[1]
The eight subregions and their principal towns are: Inner Core (Boston), Minuteman (Route 2 corridor), MetroWest (Framingham), North Shore (Peabody), North Suburban (Woburn), South Shore (Route 3 corridor), SouthWest (Franklin), and Three Rivers (Norwood).
Notably excluded from the MAPC and its partner transportation-planning body, the Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization, are the Merrimack Valley cities of Lowell, Lawrence, and Haverhill, much of Plymouth County, and all of Bristol County; these areas have their own regional planning bodies.
New England City and Town Area

The urbanized area surrounding Boston serves as the core of a definition used by the U.S. Census Bureau known as the New England City and Town Area. The set of towns containing the core urbanized area plus surrounding towns with strong social and economic ties to the core area is defined as the ''Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH Metropolitan NECTA''.[2] The Boston NECTA is further subdivided into several NECTA divisions, which are listed below. The Boston, Framingham, and Peabody NECTA divisions together correspond roughly to the MAPC area. The total population of the Boston NECTA was 4,540,941 (as of 2000).

★ Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA NECTA Division (97 towns)

★ Framingham, MA NECTA Division (13 towns)

★ Peabody, MA NECTA Division (7 towns)

★ Brockton-Bridgewater-Easton, MA NECTA Division (Old Colony region) (12 towns)

★ Haverhill-North Andover-Amesbury, MA-NH NECTA Division (Merrimack Valley region) (25 towns)

★ Lawrence-Methuen-Salem, MA-NH NECTA Division (part of Merrimack Valley region) (3 towns)

★ Lowell-Billerica-Chelmsford, MA-NH NECTA Division (Northern Middlesex region) (9 towns)

★ Nashua, NH-MA NECTA Division (21 towns)

★ Taunton-Norton-Raynham, MA NECTA Division (part of Southeastern region) (6 towns)
Metropolitan statistical area

An alternative definition used by the U.S. Census Bureau using counties as building blocks instead of towns is the ''Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH'' Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is further subdivided into four metropolitan divisions. The metropolitan statistical area has a total population of about 4.4 million and is the eleventh-largest in the United States. The components of the metropolitan area with their 2005 populations are listed below.

★ Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH Metropolitan Statistical Area (4,411,835)


★ Boston-Quincy, MA Metropolitan Division (1,800,432)



Norfolk County, Massachusetts



Plymouth County, Massachusetts



Suffolk County, Massachusetts


★ Cambridge-Newton-Framingham, MA Metropolitan Division (1,459,011)



Middlesex County, Massachusetts


★ Essex County, MA Metropolitan Division (738,301)



Essex County, Massachusetts


★ Rockingham County-Strafford County, NH Metropolitan Division (414,091)



Rockingham County, New Hampshire



Strafford County, New Hampshire
Combined statistical area

A wider functional metropolitan area based on commuting patterns is also defined by the Census Bureau as the ''Boston-Worcester-Manchester, MA-RI-NH'' Combined Statistical Area, the fifth largest in the country. This area consists of the metropolitan areas of Manchester, Worcester, and Providence, in addition to Greater Boston. The total population (as of 2005) for the extended region is 7,427,336. The following areas, along with the above MSA, are included in the Combined Statistical Area:

★ Concord, NH Micropolitan Statistical Area (146,681)


Merrimack County, New Hampshire

★ Laconia, NH Micropolitan Statistical Area (61,547)


Belknap County, New Hampshire

★ Manchester-Nashua, NH Metropolitan Statistical Area (401,291)


Hillsborough County, New Hampshire

★ Worcester, MA Metropolitan Statistical Area (783,262)


Worcester County, Massachusetts

★ Providence-New Bedford-Fall River, RI-MA Metropolitan Statistical Area (1,622,520)


Bristol County, Massachusetts


Bristol County, Rhode Island


Kent County, Rhode Island


Newport County, Rhode Island


Providence County, Rhode Island


Washington County, Rhode Island

Principal cities/towns


Boston metropolitan area

''This list has been provided by the Census based on commuter populations, and is generally not what a resident of the area would consider the principal cities of the region.''

Boston

Cambridge

Framingham

Nashua

Newton

Peabody

Quincy

Waltham
''These, in decreasing order, are the ten largest cities in the Boston NECTA (2006) [1]''

Boston 590,763

Lowell 103,229

Cambridge 101,365

Brockton 94,191

Quincy 91,058

Lynn 87,991

Nashua, New Hampshire 87,157

Newton 82,819

Somerville 74,554

Lawrence 70,662
Satellite areas

''These larger cities fall within the CSA definition of Greater Boston only''

Fitchburg

Leominster

Fall River

New Bedford

Manchester

Providence

Warwick

Worcester

Major companies


CVS/pharmacy started in the Greater Boston Area, in Lowell, Massachusetts. Likewise, Dunkin Donuts and Howard Johnson's restaurants and lodgings started just outside Boston in Quincy.

★ Companies along, inside or outside I-495


3Com, in Marlboro (Headquarters)


AMD, in Marlboro


Analog Devices, in Norwood


Avid Technology, Inc, in Tewksbury (Headquarters)


BJ's Wholesale Club, Inc., in Natick (Headquarters)


Bose Corporation, in Framingham (Headquarters)


Boston Scientific Corporation, in Natick (Headquarters)


Boston Scientific Corporation, in Marlboro


Diebold, in Marlboro (Regional Headquarters)


EMC Corporation, in Hopkinton (Headquarters)


Intel, in Hudson


TJX Corporation, in Framingham (Headquarters)


Monster.com, in Maynard, Massachusetts (Headquarters)


Staples, Inc., in Framingham (Headquarters)


TripAdvisor, LLC, in Needham (Headquarters)

★ Companies along or inside I-95 (Route 128)


Akamai Technologies, in Cambridge


BBN Technologies, in Cambridge (Headquarters)


Biogen Idec, in Cambridge


Dunkin Donuts, in Canton (Headquarters)


Genzyme Corporation, in Cambridge (Headquarters)


iRobot Corporation, in Burlington (Headquarters)


InterSystems Corporation, in Cambridge, Massachusetts (Headquarters)


Meditech, in Westwood (Headquarters)


Millennium Pharmaceuticals, in Cambridge


National Amusements (Parent company of CBS), in Dedham (Headquarters)


Novartis AG, Inc, in Cambridge (Research Headquarters)


Novell, Inc., in Waltham


Raytheon, in Waltham (Headquarters)


Reebok, in Canton (U.S. Headquarters)


Sun Microsystems, in Burlington


Polaroid Corporation, in Waltham


WB Mason, in Brockton (Headquarters)


Teradyne, in North Reading (Headquarters)

★ Major companies inside Boston (Inside I-95 (Route 128))


Bain & Company (headquarters)


The Boston Consulting Group (headquarters)


Fidelity Investments (headquarters)


The Gillette Company, now owned by Procter & Gamble (headquarters)


Houghton Mifflin (headquarters)


John Hancock Financial Services, Inc, now the United States division of Canada's Manulife Financial


Liberty Mutual (headquarters)


New Balance Athletic Shoe, Inc (headquarters)


Putnam Investments (headquarters)


State Street Corporation(headquarters)

Sports


ClubSportLeagueStadium
Boston BruinsIce HockeyNational Hockey LeagueTD Banknorth Garden (Boston)
Boston CannonsLacrosseMajor League LacrosseNickerson Field (Boston)
Boston CelticsBasketballNational Basketball AssociationTD Banknorth Garden (Boston)
Boston Red SoxBaseballMajor League Baseball (AL)Fenway Park (Boston)
New England PatriotsFootballNational Football League (American Football Conference)Gillette Stadium (Foxboro)
New England RevolutionSoccerMajor League SoccerGillette Stadium (Foxboro)

Annual sporting events include:

★ The Boston Marathon follows a course from Hopkinton to Boston

★ The Head of the Charles Regatta

Higher education


A long time center of higher education, the area includes many community colleges, two-year schools, and internationally prominent undergraduate and graduate institutions. The graduate schools include highly regarded schools of law, medicine, business, technology, international relations, public health, education, and religion.

Historical figures and celebrities



John Adams - 2nd President of the United States

John Quincy Adams - 6th President of the United States

Samuel Adams - brewer, patriot

Aerosmith - rock band

Boston (band) - rock band

Ben Affleck - actor

Louisa May Alcott - writer

Eric Bogosian - actor

Charles Bulfinch - architect

Steven Carell - actor/comedian

John Cena- professional wrestler

Dane Cook - comedian

John Singleton Copley - painter

Matt Damon - actor

Dispatch - rock band

James Dole - founder of Dole Food Company

Michael Dukakis - former Massachusetts Governor, Democratic candidate in the 1988 election

Mary Dyer - religious martyr

Ralph Waldo Emerson - transcendentalist

Benjamin Franklin - statesman, scientist

Buckminster Fuller - inventor

Tom Glavine - MLB pitcher

Peter Gammons - MLB writer

John Hancock - statesman, 1st Governor of Massachusetts

Matt Hasselbeck - NFL quarterback

Nathaniel Hawthorne - writer

Nichole Hiltz - actress, ''The Riches'', ''Shallow Hal''

Oliver Wendell Holmes - writer

Winslow Homer - painter

Edward M. Kennedy - United States Senator

John F. Kennedy - 35th President of the United States

John F. Kerry - United States Senator, Democratic candidate in the 2004 election

Amos Lawrence - philanthropist

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow - poet

Robert Lowell - poet

Cotton Mather - preacher, writer

Leonard Nimoy - actor

Tip O'Neill - longest serving Speaker of the United States House of Representatives

Theodore Parker - transcendentalist

Pixies - rock band

Sylvia Plath - writer

Edgar Allan Poe - writer

Paul Revere - revolutionary

Louis Sullivan - architect

Donna Summer - singer

Henry David Thoreau - writer

Uma Thurman - actress

Barbara Walters - newscaster

Mark Wahlberg - actor

Donnie Wahlberg - actor

Daniel Webster - statesman

Samuel Wilson - Uncle Sam

James McNeill Whistler - painter

Ted Williams - Boston Red Sox player

Conan O'Brien - comedian

Howie Long - NFL Hall of Famer, Fox NFL sports commentator

Rev. Dr. Soliny Védrine - founder of Haitian Ministries International

Transportation


''See also: Boston transportation''
Highways


Central Artery/Tunnel Project (Interstate 93 within Boston)

Interstate 95: North to New Hampshire and Maine; south to Providence, Rhode Island and beyond. Largely concurrent with MA-128

U.S. Route 1

Interstate 93: North to New Hampshire; south to Canton

US Route 3

★ Massachusetts Route 2: Northwest and west

★ The Massachusetts Turnpike (Interstate 90): West to Framingham, Massachusetts and beyond

★ Massachusetts Route 9: Western suburbs

★ Massachusetts Route 24: South toward Newport, Rhode Island

★ Massachusetts Route 3: Southeast through South Shore to Cape Cod

★ Massachusetts Route 128 (I-95/I-93): Circumferential Highway (close to Boston)

Interstate 495: Circumferential (farther from Boston)


★ Route 128 is sometimes regarded as the unofficial boundary of the Greater Boston region, especially to the north and south. When the name ''Greater Boston'' is used in a more inclusive sense, I-495 is sometimes regarded as the boundary.
Bridges and tunnels


Callahan Tunnel

Sumner Tunnel

Ted Williams Tunnel

Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge

Tobin Bridge
Airports


Logan International Airport in Boston

Manchester-Boston Regional Airport in Manchester, New Hampshire

T. F. Green Airport in Providence, Rhode Island

Hanscom Field in Bedford

Norwood Memorial Airport

Worcester Regional Airport
Rail transportation

The MBTA district, with Commuter Rail lines in purple


Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA, The T)


Red Line: Boston–Cambridge and Braintree


Orange Line: Boston (Jamaica Plain)–Malden


Green Line: Brookline and Newton–Cambridge


Blue Line: Boston–Revere

MBTA Commuter Rail


Plymouth/Kingston Line and Middleborough/Lakeville Line serving Plymouth County


Attleboro/Stoughton Line serving northern Bristol County, connecting to Providence, Rhode Island


Franklin Line serving western Norfolk County


Framingham/Worcester Line serving southwestern Middlesex County, connecting to Worcester


Fitchburg Line serving northwestern Middlesex County, connecting to Fitchburg


Lowell Line serving northern Middlesex County


Haverhill/Reading Line and Newburyport/Rockport Line serving Essex County

Amtrak
The first railway line in the United States was in Quincy. See Neponset River.
Ocean transportation


Port of Boston (Massport)

Cape Cod Canal

Geography



Rivers


Charles River


Mystic River


Neponset River


Concord River


Merrimack River

Hills


Great Blue Hill


Bellevue Hill

References


1. Journey to 2030: Transportation Plan of the Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization Boston Region MPO
2. U.S. Census Bureau - Components of New England City and Town Areas


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