Kitchen Cabinet Painting
Arlington MA

Arlington, Massachusetts
Town
Ice Harvesting on Spy Pond, from an 1854 Print.
Seal
Motto(s):  Libertatis Propugnatio Hereditas Avita (Latin) “The Defense of Liberty Is Our Ancestral Heritage”
Location in Massachusetts
Arlington Show map of Massachusetts Arlington Show map of the United States Arlington Show map of North America
Coordinates: 42°24′55″N 71°09′25″W / 42.41528°N 71.15694°W / 42.41528; -71.15694Coordinates: 42°24′55″N 71°09′25″W / 42.41528°N 71.15694°W / 42.41528; -71.15694
Country	United States
State	Massachusetts
County	Middlesex
Settled	1635
Incorporated	1807
Renamed	1867
Government
• Type	Representative town meeting
• Town Manager	Sandy Pooler
• Select Board	Stephen W. DeCourcey Lenard Diggins Eric D. Helmuth John V. Hurd Diane M. Mahon
Area
• Total	5.495 sq mi (14.235 km)
• Land	5.048 sq mi (13.077 km2)
• Water	0.447 sq mi (1.158 km)
Elevation	46 ft (14 m)
Population  (2020)
• Total	46,308
• Density	9,173.53/sq mi (3,541.18/km2)
Time zone	UTC−5 (Eastern)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−4 (Eastern)
ZIP Codes	02474, 02476
Area code	339 / 781
FIPS code	25-01605
GNIS feature ID	0619393
Website	www.arlingtonma.gov

Arlington is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The town is six miles (10 km) northwest of Boston, and its population was 46,308 at the 2020 census.

History

European colonists settled the Town of Arlington in 1635 as a village within the boundaries of Cambridge, Massachusetts, under the name Menotomy, an Algonquian word considered by some to mean “swift running water”, though linguistic anthropologists dispute that translation. A larger area, including land that was later to become the town of Belmont, and outwards to the shore of the Mystic River, which had previously been part of Charlestown, was incorporated on February 27, 1807, as West Cambridge, replacing Menotomy. In 1867, the town was renamed Arlington, in honor of those buried in Arlington National Cemetery; the name change took effect that April 30.

The Massachusett tribe, part of the Algonquian group of Native Americans, lived around the Mystic Lakes, the Mystic River and Alewife Brook. When the tribal chief, Nanepashemet, was killed by a rival tribe in about 1619, Nanepashemet’s widow, known to history only as “Squaw Sachem of Mistick”, became the acknowledged leader of the tribe. In 1639 she deeded the land of what was then Cambridge and Watertown to the colonists. She lived her last years on the west side of the Mystic Lakes near what is now Medford, Massachusetts, where she died sometime between 1650 and 1667.

A stream called Mill Brook flows through the town, which historically figured largely into Arlington’s economy. In 1637, Captain George Cooke built the first mill in this area. Subsequently, seven mills were built along the stream, including the Old Schwamb Mill, which survives to this day. The Schwamb Mill has been a working mill since 1650, making it the longest working mill in the country.

Paul Revere’s famous midnight ride to alert colonists took him through Menotomy, now known as Arlington. Later on that first day of the American Revolution, more blood was shed in Menotomy than in the battles of Lexington and Concord combined. Minutemen from surrounding towns converged on Menotomy to ambush the British on their retreat from Concord and Lexington. All in all, 25 colonials were killed in Menotomy (half of all Americans killed in the day’s battles), as well as 40 British troops (more than half their fatalities).

The Jason Russell House, a yellow colonial, is today a museum which remembers those twelve Americans, including Russell himself, who were killed in and around this pictured dwelling on April 19, 1775. Bullet holes are visible in the interior walls to this day.

In its early years, Arlington was a thriving farming community and had its own lettuce that was quite popular.

Arlington had a large ice industry on Spy Pond from the mid-19th century until the last ice house burned down in 1930; much of its ice was sent to the Caribbean and India by “Ice King” Frederic Tudor.

Arlington’s population grew by over 90 percent during the 1920s.

In 1979, the first spreadsheet software program, VisiCalc, was developed by Bob Frankston and Dan Bricklin in the attic of the Arlington apartment rented by Bob Frankston.

Arlington was the site of the accident which claimed the life of top professional cyclist Nicole Reinhart, a two-time Pan American Games winner. She was killed on September 17, 2000, when she was thrown from her bicycle during a National Calendar criterium bicycle race.

Geography and infrastructure

Arlington covers 3,517.5 acres (14 km), or 5.5 square miles, of which 286.2 acres (1.2 km²), or 0.4 square miles, are covered by water. There are 210.52 acres (0.9 km²) of parkland. Elevation ranges from 4 feet (1.2 m) above sea level (along Alewife Brook) to 377 feet (114.9 m) near Park Avenue and Eastern Avenue.

Arlington borders on the Mystic Lakes, Mystic River, and Alewife Brook. Within its borders are Spy Pond, the Arlington Reservoir, Mill Brook, and Hills Pond.

Neighborhoods

• Arlington Center
• Arlington Heights, in the west
• East Arlington, east of Franklin Street
• Brattle Square
• Jason Heights
• Arlmont Village
• Morningside
• North Union
• Turkey Hill
• Little Scotland
• Poets’ Corner
• Kelwyn Manor
• Quincy Heights, a neighborhood in Arlington Heights

Zip Codes

• 02474: East Arlington, and most of the rest of the town north of the Minuteman Bikeway
• 02476: Arlington Heights, and most of the rest of the town south of the Bikeway and west of Spy Pond

Adjacent municipalities

Arlington is located in eastern Massachusetts and is bordered by the cities of Medford to the northeast, Somerville to the east, Cambridge to the southeast, and the towns of Winchester to the north, Lexington to the west, and Belmont to the south.

Transportation

Several MBTA bus routes passes through the town.

Demographics

At the 2010 census, there were 42,844 people, 18,969 households and 10,981 families residing in the town. The population density was 8,239.2 inhabitants per square mile (3,181.2/km²). There were 19,974 housing units at an average density of 3,841.2 per square mile (1,483.1/km). The racial makeup of the town was 83.6% White, 2.3% African American, 0.1% Native American, 8.3% Asian, 0.4% from other races, and 2.1% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.3% of the population.

There were 19,007 households, of which 27.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.1% were married couples living together, 2.0% had a male householder with no wife present, 9.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 43.0% were non-families. 35.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.23 and the average family size was 2.93.

Of the 42,844 people in the population, 21.4% were under the age of 18, 5.8% were 15 to 19 years of age, 5.3% were 20 to 24 years of age, 30.3% were 25 to 44 years of age, 28.7% were 45 to 64 years of age, and 15.8% were 65 years and over. The median age was 41.7 years. For every 100 females, there were 86.8 males. For every 100 females 18 years and over there were 83.9 males.

The median household income was $85,059, and the median family income was $107,862. The median income of individuals working full-time was $78,820 for males versus $64,143 for females. The per capita income for the town was $47,571. About 1.9% of families and 4.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 2.3% of those under age 18 and 7.5% of those age 65 or over.

Income

Data is from the 2009–2013 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates.

Government

Arlington’s executive branch consists of an elected five-member Select Board. The day-to-day operations are handled by a Town Manager hired by the Select Board.
The legislative branch is a Representative Town Meeting, presided over by the Town Moderator, and is made up of 252 Town Meeting Members. Twelve Town Meeting Members are elected to staggered three year terms from each of the 21 precincts. Article LXXXIX Section 8 of the Massachusetts Constitution permits towns with a population greater than 12,000 to adopt a city form of government. The Town of Arlington meets the population requirement to become a city, but has not done so, in part because it would lose its ability to engage citizens in local government under the Representative Town Meeting form of government. Annual Town Meetings begin in April on the first Monday after Patriots’ Day, and are held two nights a week until all items on the town warrant are resolved, and generally last three to four weeks.

In April 2021, Arlington voted to become the third municipality in the United States to recognize polyamorous domestic partnerships, following adjacent cities of Somerville and Cambridge.

Education

Public schools

Arlington has a public school system with ten schools. (7 elementary schools, 2 middle schools, and 1 high school) The seven elementary schools (K–5) are Brackett, Bishop, Dallin, Hardy, Peirce, Stratton, and Thompson. There are also two middle schools, grade 6 at Gibbs, and grades 7–8 at Ottoson, and Arlington High School, which includes grades 9–12. In addition, Arlington is in the district served by the Minuteman Regional High School, located in Lexington, one of the top vocational-technical schools in Massachusetts.

Private and parochial schools

There are two Parochial schools, Arlington Catholic High School, and an elementary/middle school, St. Agnes School, both affiliated with St. Agnes Parish. In addition, there are two secular elementary schools, Lesley Ellis and the Alivia Elementary School.

Supplementary schools

The Greater Boston Japanese Language School (ボストン補習授業校, Bosuton Hoshū Jugyō Kō), a supplementary school for Japanese people, has its weekday office in Arlington, while it holds classes at Medford High School in Medford.

Parks and historical sites

• The Old Schwamb Mill is the oldest continuously-operating mill site in the United States. Founded by the Schwambs, who immigrated to the U.S. from Germany, the mill currently produces and sells museum-quality, hand-turned wooden oval and circular frames, created much as they were in 1864. Named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971, the mill-museum is operated by a nonprofit educational trust that maintains the mill’s traditions.
• Menotomy Rocks Park encompasses Hills Pond and has trails through the surrounding forested land.
• Robbins Farm Park along Eastern Avenue includes a playground, ball fields, a basketball court and a commanding view of the Boston skyline.
• Robbins Library contains the oldest continuously operated free children’s library in the country.
• Spy Pond Park provides access to the northeast shore of Spy Pond.
• The Arlington Center Historic District, where the Robbins Library and Old Burying Ground are located, is on the National Register of Historic Places.
• The Cyrus E. Dallin Art Museum is a site dedicated to the artwork and sculpture of noted artist Cyrus E. Dallin.
• The Great Meadow comprises both wet meadow swamp and forest right outside the border of Arlington. While the Great Meadow lies within the borders of Lexington, the park is owned and maintained by the Town of Arlington.
• The House at 5 Willow Court
• The Henry Swan House, built in 1888, is a historic house at 418 Massachusetts Avenue. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.
• The Jason Russell House contains a museum that displays, among other items, a mastodon tusk found in Spy Pond in the late 1950s by a fisherman who originally thought he had brought up a tree branch.
• The Minuteman Bikeway, a popular rail trail built in 1992, passes through various Arlington neighborhoods, including Arlington Center.
• The Prince Hall Mystic Cemetery, the only black Freemason Cemetery in the country.
• The Uncle Sam Memorial Statue commemorates native son Samuel Wilson, who was perhaps the original Uncle Sam.
• The Water tower at Park Circle is an exact copy of the rotunda of the ancient Greek Arsinoeon of the Samothrace temple complex.

Regent Theatre

The Regent Theatre is a historic theater in downtown Arlington. It was built in 1916 for vaudeville acts and is still used for live performances as well as films. It was remodeled in 1926. The theatre, located at 7 Medford Street, has 500 seats. It hosts the Arlington International Film Festival.

Notable people

• Sven Birkerts (born 1951), essayist and literary critic
• Paul Boudreau, former NFL offensive line coach for the St. Louis Rams
• John Quincy Adams Brackett, Former Massachusetts Governor
• William Stanley Braithwaite, writer, poet and literary critic. Won Spingarn Medal in 1918
• Christopher Castellani, writer
• Andrew Chaikin, space journalist and author of A Man on the Moon, on which HBO based a miniseries
• Haroutioun Hovanes Chakmakjian, chemistry professor, Armenian scholar, and father of Alan Hovhaness
• Pat Connaughton, Player for 2021 NBA Champion Milwaukee Bucks
• Dane Cook, comedian & actor
• Robert Creeley (1926–2005), poet
• Cyrus E. Dallin (1861–1944), sculptor; best known for the Appeal to the Great Spirit sculpture in front of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
• Adio diBiccari, sculptor
• Joshua Eric Dodge, Wisconsin Supreme Court
• Olympia Dukakis (born 1931), actress, Academy Award winner
• Bob Frankston, co-inventor of Visicalc, the first electronic spreadsheet, at 231 Broadway
• Samuel Garman (1843–1927), explorer, ichthyologist, and herpetologist
• Roy J. Glauber, Nobel Prize winner (Physics), 2005
• Katy Grannan, photographer
• George Franklin Grant, first black graduate of Harvard Dental School and inventor of a type of golf tee
• Deborah Henson-Conant, Grammy-nominated harpist
• Susan Hilferty, costume designer, Wicked
• Winslow Homer, painter (location is now in Belmont)
• Alan Hovhaness (1911–2000), composer
• Timothy Hutton, Actor, youngest winner of an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
• Anthony James (1942–2020), actor
• John A. “Johnny” Kelley, Boston Marathon winner, 1935 and 1945, Olympian athlete
• Richard Lennon, Roman Catholic Bishop of Cleveland
• J. C. R. Licklider (1915–1990), computer scientist
• Thomas Louis “Tom” Magliozzi, co-host of NPR’s weekly radio show Car Talk
• Raymond Francis “Ray” Magliozzi, co-host of NPR’s weekly radio show Car Talk
• Elaine J. McCarthy projection designer for Broadway and opera
• William J. McCarthy, President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT)
• Eugene Francis McGurl, US Army Air Forces 95th Bomb Sq., 17th Bomb Grp Navigator who flew with Crew 5 in General Jimmy Doolittle’s famous “Thirty Seconds over Tokyo” raid in World War II
• Tom McNeeley, Jr., former heavyweight contender who challenged Floyd Patterson for the heavyweight title in Toronto in 1961
• John Messuri, Princeton College hockey player
• Eileen Myles, poet, novelist
• Jordan Peterson, Canadian clinical psychologist and professor of psychology at the University of Toronto. Lived in Arlington between 1993 and 1998 while teaching at Harvard University
• David Powers, former Special Assistant to US President John F. Kennedy
• Hilary Putnam (1926–2016), philosopher, mathematician and computer scientist, professor emeritus at Harvard
• Warren Winn Rawson, market gardener and seed distributor
• Herb Reed, vocalist and founding member of The Platters
• Miles Robinson, current professional soccer player for Atlanta United
• Dave “Chico” Ryan, bassist of Sha Na Na
• Whitney Smith, vexillologist and designer of the flag of Guyana
• Chris Smither, blues guitarist/singer.
• Bill Squires, American Track & Field Coach
• Anthony Stacchi, scenarist (Open Season)
• Mark J. Sullivan, Director of the United States Secret Service
• John Townsend Trowbridge (1827–1916), writer
• Samuel Whittemore, elderly soldier in the Battle of Lexington and Concord
• Alan Wilson (1943–1970), also known as Alan “Blind Owl” Wilson; singer, songwriter, leader of Canned Heat
• Samuel Wilson (1766–1854), meat-packer, namesake of “Uncle Sam”
• Brianna Wu, video game developer, primary victim of Gamergate controversy, congressional candidate
• Tom Yewcic, former quarterback with the Boston Patriots from 1961 to 1966, and former catcher for the Detroit Tigers; only person ever to play two professional sports at Fenway Park

In popular culture

• Two feature films have been shot partially in Arlington: The Out-of-Towners, starring Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn, and Once Around, starring Richard Dreyfuss and Holly Hunter.
• Three widely recognized television shows have been filmed in Arlington: This Old House, Trading Spaces, and Made.
• A History Channel special, Bible Battles, was filmed in Arlington.
• Arlington is referenced in the movie The Verdict starring Paul Newman. South Boston’s K Street takes the place of Arlington in the movie.
• The music video for “Sing” by The Dresden Dolls was shot at the Regent Theatre in Arlington Center.
• The Steve Katsos Show is filmed at ACMi Studios in Arlington Heights.
• Arlington’s Little League baseball team won the Massachusetts State Little League championship in 1971.

Sister cities

• Teosinte, El Salvador
• Nagaokakyo, Kyoto, Japan

See also

• List of Registered Historic Places in Arlington, Massachusetts

References

Further reading

• Somerville, Arlington and Belmont Directory. 1869; 1873; 1876.

External links

• Official town web site
• Visit Town of Arlington MA website
• “Arlington Massachusetts, 1890”. Retrieved February 26, 2013.
• Arlington on the NPR program Weekend America, December 22, 2007