WILMINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS

''For other towns and places named Wilmington, see Wilmington.''
'Wilmington' is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 21,363 at the 2000 census.

Contents

History

Geography

Demographics

Education

Services

Government

Notable residents

References

External links

History

Wilmington was first settled in 1639 and was officially incorporated in 1730. Before being officially incorporated, it was a part of Woburn.
Wilmington is host to the practice rink of the Boston Bruins. It is also where the Baldwin apple was discovered.
Wilmington is also home to the Col. Joshua Harnden Tavern, which served as a stop on the underground railroad and now houses the Wilmington Town Museum.
Wilmington is considered a cancer cluster[1] [2] ,due to the chemicals in the water that were dumped there by W.R. Grace and Beatrice Co.. The movie and book ''A Civil Action'' discusses circumstances similar to those found in Wilmington, although the events of both the book and the movie focus primarily on nearby Woburn.
Since the completion of Route 128, Wilmington's population has quadrupled. Route 93, Route 62 and Route 38 also help to make Wilmington an easy place to commute to Boston.

Geography

Wilmington is located at (42.559576, -71.170317).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 44.6 km² (17.2 mi²). 44.4 km² (17.1 mi²) of it is land and 0.2 km² (0.1 mi²) of it (0.46%) is water.
Much of Wilmington was built on or still is wetlands. The Ipswich River starts in Wilmington.
There is one lake in the town, Silver Lake. It is open for swimming during the summer.

Demographics

The Census Bureau has defined Wilmington as a census-designated place that is equivalent to the town. As of the census of 2000, there were 21,363 people, 7,027 households, and 5,776 families residing in the town. The population density was 481.5/km² (1,247.0/mi²). There were 7,158 housing units at an average density of 161.3/km² (417.8/mi²). The racial makeup of the town was 96.31% White, 0.41% Black or African American, 0.08% Native American, 2.03% Asian, 0.42% from other races, and 0.74% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.95% of the population.
There were 7,027 households out of which 41.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 69.6% were married couples living together, 9.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 17.8% were non-families. 14.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 5.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.00 and the average family size was 3.33.
In the town the population was spread out with 27.6% under the age of 18, 5.9% from 18 to 24, 33.5% from 25 to 44, 22.2% from 45 to 64, and 10.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 98.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.1 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $70,652, and the median income for a family was $76,760. Males had a median income of $50,446 versus $36,729 for females. The per capita income for the town was $25,835. About 1.8% of families and 1.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 1.7% of those under age 18 and 2.7% of those age 65 or over. It is the 181st richest place in Massachusetts. See Massachusetts locations by per capita income.

Education

Wilmington has its own schools. Kindergarten students attend the Wildwood Street School. Grades 1-3 attend the Woburn Street School and the Shawsheen School. Grades 4 and 5 attend the North Intermediate School and the West Intermediate School. Grades 6-8 attend Wilmington Middle School. High School Students attend Wilmington High School. Wilmington High's mascot is the wildcat and its athletic teams participate in the Cape Ann League or CAL. The Wildcats' colors are Navy Blue, Columbia Blue and White and the primary rivals are the Tewksbury Redmen of the Merrimack Valley Conference. The rivalry reaches its highest point every Thanksgiving when the two towns square off in a football game. Heading into the 2007 season, Wilmington has won the last 4 years, but still trails in the overall series history that started with two game in 1935. The series has never been disrupted althought they did not play on Thanksgiving in 1935 or from 1941 to 1956. In those years, their game was played on November 11th.

Services

★ Aleppo Shrine Auditorium : a 2,650-seat indoor arena

Government

Wilmington has an open town meeting, a board of selectmen and a town manager. The current town manager is Michael Caira. Five of the town's six districts are represented in the Massachusetts House of Representatives by James R. Micelli, the last is represented by Charles A. Murphy. The town's state senator is Bruce Tarr. Wilmington is in the Massachusetts 6th Congressional District and is represented in the United States House of Representatives by John F. Tierney.

Notable residents

★ Phillis Wheatley, first published African-American poet

★ Jason Bere, former MLB pitcher and American League All-Star in 1994.

★ Timothy Walker, noted 19th century jurist.

★ Sears Cook Walker, 19th century astronomer, brother of Timothy.

★ Yuan Cheng, Physicist

★ Henry Harnden, Civil War Officer, present at the capture of Jefferson Davis

★ Mike Esposito, running back and kick returner for the Atlanta Falcons in the late 1970s. He also set a number of rushing records at Boston College.

★ Joshua Harden, namesake of the Harnden Tavern, brother of Henry

★ Loammi Baldwin, Revolutionary War Colonel, noted Civil Engineer and the man who popularized the Baldwin Apple (was actually born in nearby Woburn)

★ John Ball, developer of the Baldwin Apple

★ Thomas Holmes, Executive with W.R. Grace and Ingersoll Rand

References

External links

★ Wilmington official website

★ Wilmington Police Patrolman's Union