Wellesley, Massachusetts
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| Wellesley, Massachusetts | |
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| Coordinates: | |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| State | Massachusetts |
| County | Norfolk County |
| Settled | 1660 |
| Incorporated | 1881 |
| Government | |
| - Type | Representative town meeting |
| - Executive Director | |
| Area | |
| - Town | 10.5 sq mi (27.2 km²) |
| - Land | 10.2 sq mi (26.4 km²) |
| - Water | 0.3 sq mi (0.8 km²) |
| Elevation | 141 ft (43 m) |
| Population (2000) | |
| - Town | 26,613 |
| - Density | 2,614.1/sq mi (1,009.3/km²) |
| Time zone | Eastern (UTC-5) |
| - Summer (DST) | Eastern (UTC-4) |
| ZIP code | 02481, 02482 |
| Area code(s) | 339 / 781 |
| Website: http://www.wellesleyma.gov/Pages/index | |
Wellesley is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 26,613 at the 2000 census. It is best known as the home of Wellesley College and Babson College. The Hunnewell Arboretum abuts the Wellesley campus, and the Elm Bank Horticulture Center is also located in Wellesley. The public education services of the town are well regarded, especially Wellesley High School. Despite the fact that the town is not actually the wealthiest town in the state (it is behind neighboring Weston, Sudbury and Brookline) it has the reputation of being one of the most affluent and prestigious suburbs of Boston due to Wellesley College and the fact that some of the town's wealthiest neighborhoods are prominently located on its edges. Nonetheless, it is always ranked on the top 5. According to Boston Magazine's yearly "Best Places To Live" Wellesley ranks first in the United States in percentage of adults who hold at least one college degree.
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[edit] History
Wellesley was originally part of Dedham, Massachusetts, and was subsequently a part of Needham, Massachusetts called West Needham, Massachusetts. One of the businessmen attracted to the town was Henry Durant, who in 1875 founded Wellesley College, a college for women with a lakeside campus. Durant named the college to honor his next-door neighbor, Horatio Hollis Hunnewell, a wealthy businessman and town benefactor whose mansion was named "Wellesley" in commemoration of his wife, whose maiden name was Welles.
By 1880 the pace of life in town was quickening. Suddenly modern life was descending from all sides. There was the first newspaper, bank and telephone, with new churches and homes. Most importantly, the sense of identity which "West Needham" had always felt began to assert itself. Under the leadership of men like Durant and Hunnewell, joining together with town politician Joseph Fiske, Wellesley residents organized themselves and pushed for separation from Needham.
There was intrigue and frenzy, with a heated meeting at the town hall (which doubled as the poor farm and which later became the Wellesley Country Club), but finally the men of Wellesley triumphed and on April 6, 1881 the Massachusetts legislature christened the new town of Wellesley, which took its name as a tribute to benefactor Hunnewell.
Into the twentieth century, Jews and other minorities were informally blocked from living in certain parts of town. Certain groups such as Italians congregated in separate neighborhoods.
Wellesley was home to US District Court Judge Arthur Garrity, who in 1974 ordered the integration of Boston public schools. This led to racial unrest and violence in the city of Boston as well as the picketing of Garrity's Wellesley home.
[edit] Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 27.2 km² (10.5 mi²). 26.4 km² (10.2 mi²) of it is land and 0.8 km² (0.3 mi²) of it (2.96%) is water.
Wellesley is bordered on the east by Newton, on the north by Weston, on the south by Needham and Dover and on the west by Natick.
[edit] Demographics
The Census Bureau has also defined the town as a census-designated place with an area exactly equivalent to the town. As of the censusGR2 of 2000, there were 26,613 people, 8,594 households, and 6,540 families residing in the town. The population density was 1,009.4/km² (2,614.1/mi²). There were 8,861 housing units at an average density of 336.1/km² (870.4/mi²). The racial makeup of the town was 89.98% White, 6.35% Asian, 1.60% Black or African American, 0.08% Native American, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.53% from other races, and 1.44% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.32% of the population.
There were 8,594 households out of which 39.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 67.2% were married couples living together, 7.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 23.9% were non-families. 20.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.70 and the average family size was 3.14.
In the town the population was spread out with 25.1% under the age of 18, 13.9% from 18 to 24, 22.9% from 25 to 44, 24.2% from 45 to 64, and 13.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 77.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 71.1 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $113,686, and the median income for a family was $134,769. Males had a median income of $100,000 versus $53,007 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $52,866. About 2.4% of families and 3.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 4.0% of those under age 18 and 2.1% of those age 65 or over.
The town has a reputation of being a WASP and Irish-American stronghold. While this was once true, Wellesley's demographics have changed dramatically over the past 15 years.[citation needed]
[edit] Education
In addition to Wellesley College, Wellesley is also home to the main campus of Massachusetts Bay Community College, Babson College, Dana Hall School, a preparatory school for girls and Tenacre Country Day School. While independent, Dana Hall was at one time considered a feeder school to Wellesley College. Wellesley Public Schools are normally among the top scorers for the state's MCAS testing. It should also be stated that while Babson College is often considered to be in Wellesley, it is technically in Babson Park and has its own ZIP code (02457).
Wellesley opened its new Free Library building in 2003, which is part of the Minuteman Library Network. Due to the structure of budget override votes and perhaps the size of the new main branch of the library, the two branch libraries--one in Wellesley Hills, which was purpose-built to be a branch library in the 1920s, another in Wellesley Fells--closed in the summer of 2006.
The Wellesley Elementary Schools are called Fiske, Upham, Sprague, Schofield, Hunnewell, Hardy and Bates. The Middle, and High schools are just called Wellesley Middle School, and Wellesley High School.
[edit] School sports
Wellesley High School maintains the longest running Thanksgiving football game rivalry in the country with neighboring Needham High School. It currently leads the series with 58 wins, 52 losses, and 9 ties. Wellesley is also home to the half-way point of the Boston Marathon. It is also home to the 2006 MIAA div.2 Lacrosse State Champions, which boasted a season with only one loss, to the perennial powerhouse Duxbury, who is in Div. 1. It is also home to the 2005-2006 MIAA div. 2 Girls Ice Hockey State Champions, who went undefeated with a regular season record of 15-0-3.
[edit] Neighborhoods
The town is informally divided into several sections or neighborhoods:
- Wellesley Square
- Wellesley Hills
- Wellesley Farms
- Wellesley Fells
- Wellesley Lower Falls
[edit] Historic District
The town designated Cottage Street and its nearby alleys as the Historic District in its zoning plan. Most houses in this district were built around the 1860s and qualify as protected buildings certified by the town's historic commission.
[edit] Government
The town government has been run by town meeting since the town's founding.
Wellesley also receives significant funding from the state government, despite its upper-middle-class demographics. Local roads have been repaved several times in the 1990s and 2000s, causing accusations of pork barrel politics.
Since Proposition 2½ limited property tax increases to 2.5% per year in 1980, the town has had to ask residents for a number of overrides to maintain funding for certain programs. Although the main 2005 override passed, a simultaneous supplemental override to preserve certain specific programs and services failed by 17 votes. The 2006 override passed with a large majority.
[edit] Town Services
Wellesley residents receive all major services from their town government, with the exception of actual residential trash pick-up.
[edit] Wellesley's Recycling and Disposal Facility (RDF)
Residents of Wellesley cart their own refuse to Wellesley's Recycling and Disposal Facility (RDF), a town-operated multi-use waste recycling site, where items are sorted by type, recyclability and potential reuse. Old books and magazines are available for town residents to take, which have their own shelving section.
The RDF also has a 'Take it or Leave it' area where residents leave items they no longer want but that are in good repair. In 2004, the Town had to discontinue the 'Take it or Leave it' because of funding cutbacks. However, within six months town residents reinstated it by means of a volunteer system. The section reopened with volunteers on duty at all times to organize the goods and ensure that only usable items were left there. It was rumored that one year someone found an Old Masters painting worth over $300,000. The program has received international press and is available for tours through Wellesley Town Hall.[citation needed]
[edit] Culture
[edit] Cuisine
Ming Tsai, chef and host of East Meets West on the Food Network, owns the restaurant Blue Ginger in Wellesley. Blue Ginger is located in the heart of Wellesley Square, but draws patrons from the surrounding area.
[edit] Notable residents
- Danny Ainge, current executive director of basketball operations of the Boston Celtics
- Roger Nash Baldwin, co-founder of the ACLU
- Katherine Lee Bates, author of America the Beautiful
- Dee Brown, former basketball player for the Boston Celtics
- Howie Carr, journalist and radio personality
- Greg Comella, former professional football player with the New York Giants
- Jane Curtin, comedian
- Carl Everett, former center fielder for the Boston Red Sox
- Curt Gowdy, sports commentator
- Michael S. Greco, American Bar Association president
- Phil Laak, professional poker player and winner of the 2004 World Poker Tour
- Gregory Mankiw, Harvard Economics Professor
- Ossian Everett Mills, founder of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity of America
- Bill Mueller, former third baseman for the Boston Red Sox
- Joseph E. Murray, surgeon, Nobel Prize winner, 1990
- Sylvia Plath, poet
- Richard Preston and Douglas Preston, best-selling authors
- James St. Clair, defense lawyer for Richard Nixon during Watergate
- Billy Squire, rock musician
- Steven Tyler, rock musician
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Town of Wellesley
- Wellesley, MA Information
- Recycling & Disposal Facility (Wellesley RDF)
- Dana Hall School, Wellesley, Massachusetts
- The Wellesley Townsman
- The Swellesley Report
- Newcomers' Club of Wellesley
- Wellesley Public Schools
- Wellesley Police Photo Division
- Maps and aerial photos
- Street map from Google Maps, or Yahoo! Maps, or Windows Live Local
- Satellite image from Google Maps, Windows Live Local, WikiMapia
- Topographic map from TopoZone
- Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA
