Wakefield, Massachusetts

Wakefield is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts in the Greater Boston metropolitan area,^[1] incorporated in 1812 and located about 12.5 mi (20.1 km) north-northwest of Downtown Boston. The population was 24,932 at the 2010 census.

Wakefield was first settled in 1638 as Lynn Village. It officially separated from Lynn and incorporated as Reading in 1644 when the first church and corn mill were established. This first corn mill was built on the Mill River on Water St and later small saw mills were built on the Mill River and the Saugus River. The old parish church became known as the Old or South Parish when in 1713 the North Parish was established. This North Parish later became the town of North Reading. In 1769 the West Parish was established. In 1812 the Old or South Parish of Reading separated from Reading and was officially incorporated as South Reading. At the time it was spelt South Redding, not South Reading.

The Railroad was chartered and built in 1844 between Wilmington and Boston. This later became the main line of the Boston and Maine Railroad. The Boston and Maine Foundry was built in 1854 and was later reincorporated as the Smith and Anthony Stove Company.

The Boston Ice Company cut and shipped ice from Lake Quannapowitt starting in 1851.

The Rattan Works (which made wicker furniture) was established in 1856 by Cyrus Wakefield. This later grew into the Wakefield Rattan Company and at one time had a thousand employees. In 1868 Cyrus Wakefield donated land and money for a new Town Hall and in thanks the town voted to change its name from South Reading to Wakefield.

In 1856 the South Reading public library was established, which later became the Beebe Town Library. The first weekly newspaper in town was established in 1858. Wakefield is made up of various parts including the Westside, Montrose and Greenwood.

One of the oldest and largest manufacturers of flying model airplane toys in the world, Paul K. Guillow, Inc. is located in Wakefield. The company is particularly notable for its extensive line of balsa wood model airplane kits.

Route 128 was built along the north edge of the town by 1958 and the American Mutual Insurance Company built its headquarters between Lake Quannapowitt and Route 128. American Mutual had over 1000 employees, most of them commuting to work via Route 128. By the late 1980s American Mutual was in liquidation due to the Woburn W. R. Grace litigation. The headquarters building was sold to the Beal Company and was home to Boston Technology Inc. which invented and manufactured corporate voice mail systems that operated on computer systems. Boston Technology merged in 1997 with Comverse Technology, a digital telecommunications equipment manufacturer, who later bought the building.

The northeastern part of Wakefield was home to an amusement park, Pleasure Island, billed as "The Disneyland of the Northeast," but the park closed in 1969 after only ten years of operation.

The bicentennial of the incorporation of Wakefield will take place in 2012 after the town was incorporated in 1812.

On December 26, 2000, seven workers at Edgewater Technology in Wakefield, Massachusetts were shot and killed by an Edgewater Tech employee. The 42-year-old gunman was an application supporter at Edgewater Technology.

During his trial, he stated that he was born without a soul and that God had allowed him to earn a soul by traveling back in time to kill Nazis. However, the prosecution asserted that the killings were motivated by his employer's garnishing of his wages to the IRS, as he failed to pay back taxes. He was found guilty of seven counts of first degree murder and sentenced to seven consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.

In 2008 this case was studied on the psychology program Most Evil.

The town also gained considerable attention in August 2008 surrounding the trial of alleged double-murderer Sean Fitzpatrick. He was found guilty of killing Michael Zammitti Jr. and Chester Roberts in March 2009, about two years after the event occurred.

Wakefield is located at (42.501345, -71.071324).^[2]

Reading, Massachusetts (Northwest), Melrose, Massachusetts (South), Stoneham, Massachusetts (Southwest), Lynnfield, Massachusetts (Northeast), and Saugus, Massachusetts (Southeast) border Wakefield.

SR-129 runs through Wakefield as its Main Street.   I-95 and  SR-128 skirt the northwestern border of Wakefield as one road known as "Yankee Division Highway".

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 7.9 square miles (20 km²), of which, 7.5 square miles (19 km²) of it is land and 0.4 square miles (1.0 km²) of it (5.56%) is water.

Wakefield has two lakes: Crystal Lake and Lake Quannapowitt. Crystal Lake is used as a reservoir for some of the town's drinking water. Lake Quannapowitt is used for a wide variety of recreational activities, including boating, windsurfing and fishing, and is the primary source of the Saugus river.

In 1847, Lake Quannapowitt was named for the Indian, James Quannapowitt, one of the signers of the old Indian Deed of 1686. The earliest settlers referred to the lake simply as the "Greate Pond" or "Reading Pond." Lake Quannapowitt is also home to the oldest inland yacht club in the United States, Quannapowitt Yacht Club which was founded in 1886.

Wakefield, Massachusetts, United States
Climate chart (explanation)
J F M A M J J A S O N D     4.4   15 35     3.6   18 38     4.4   26 46     4.2   35 56     3.9   45 68     3.6   54 77     3.7   60 82     3.5   59 80     3.8   50 72     4.4   39 61     4.6   31 50     4.4   21 39 Average max. and min. temperatures in °F Precipitation totals in inches Source: http://www.idcide.com/weather/ma/wakefield.htm[3]
Metric conversion J F M A M J J A S O N D     111   -9 2     91   -8 3     111   -3 8     106   2 13     98   7 20     92   12 25     93   16 28     89   15 27     97   10 22     111   4 16     118   -1 10     111   -6 4 Average max. and min. temperatures in °C Precipitation totals in mm

Long regarded as "Wakefield's greatest natural resource," Lake Quannapowitt covers an area of 247 acres (1.00 km²). Its outlet is the Saugus River to the Atlantic Ocean. Wakefield Common sits to the south of the lake, and is the site of many recreational activities and events throughout the year.

In 1991, a group of local citizens formed "The Friends of Lake Quannapowitt" to advocate for the lake and to educate the public about this natural resource. The group has also raised money for projects that benefit the lake and the surrounding areas.

Wakefield harbors a climate typical to the Northeastern United States, with cold, snowy winters, cool, rainy springs, cool, sunny autumns, and hot, humid summers. ^[3] The town received, along with many other parts of Massachusetts, 2–3 feet of snow during a January 2011 Nor'Easter.

The population of Wakefield was 24,915 as of July 2007. ^[12]

The town's population was 47.4% (11,814) males versus 52.6% (13,101) females. ^[12]

The median resident age was 38.9 years, compared to the Massachusetts median age of 36.5. ^[12]

In 2008, the median household income was $85,011, about $20,000 above Massachusetts as a whole. ^[12]

The estimated income per capita was $39,918.

The estimated median house or condominium value in 2008 was $416,592, up from $240,300 in 2000, representing a $176,292 increase in real estate desirability. ^[12]

Racially, Wakefield broke down as ^[12]:

• 96.4% White
• 1.4% Asian
• 0.8% Hispanic
• 0.4% African American
• 0.01% Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander
• 0.8% from two or more races.

Ancestries in Wakefield broke down thus ^[12]:

• 33% Irish
• 28.5% Italian
• 13.4% English
• 6.3% French
• 5.5% German
• 4.8% French Canadian

The cost of living index was listed as 121.4, 21.4 points above the U.S. average. ^[12]

As of the census^[13] of 2000, there were 24,804 people, 9,747 households, and 6,608 families residing in the town. The population density was 3,321.6 people per square mile (1,282.0/km²). There were 9,937 housing units at an average density of 1,330.7 per square mile (513.6/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 96.94% White, 0.45% Black or African American, 0.08% Native American, 1.43% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.20% from other races, and 0.90% from two or more races.

Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.82% of the population.

There were 9,747 households out of which 30.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.1% were married couples living together, 9.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.2% were non-families. 26.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.52 and the average family size was 3.09.

In the town the population was spread out with 22.6% under the age of 18, 5.8% from 18 to 24, 32.7% from 25 to 44, 23.8% from 45 to 64, and 15.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 90.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.8 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $66,117, and the median income for a family was $77,834. Males had a median income of $51,591 versus $39,327 for females. The per capita income for the town was $30,369. About 1.7% of families and 3.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 1.7% of those under age 18 and 4.6% of those age 65 or over.

The town's population was 24,932 at the census of 2010. Further, more in-depth details from the census have yet to be gathered.

Wakefield hosts yearly major town meetings to discuss the budget. As it is a town, not a city, Wakefield's main decisions are made, in the New England style, by a Board of Selectmen. A number of other matters are handled by different committees in the town, such as the Finance Committee, or FinCom, the Zoning Board of Appeals, and the School Board. Stephen Maio was the town administrator as of July 2010. Maio hosts a "Town Administrator's Report" monthly on the Public-access television cable TV station, WCAT-TV^[14] (about which more below.)

Wakefield is home to three high schools: one public school (Wakefield High School), one regional vocational school (Northeast Vocational), and Our Lady of Nazareth Academy, a private, all-girls, Roman Catholic high school. Wakefield contains one middle school, Galvin Middle School, and four elementary schools. The Little Red School house was a one-room school house building that was last used kindergarten students on the West Side.

Wakefield is roughly composed of the following neighborhoods:^[15]

• Greenwood (southeast; borders Saugus/Melrose)
• Woodville
• Downtown/Wakefield Square
• West Side
• Lakeside
• Dolbeare
• Montrose (northeast; borders Lynnfield)

An MBTA Commuter Rail station on the Haverhill/Reading Line is located near the center of town as well as a second station in the Greenwood section. A former Boston and Maine Railroad station located east of this line is now on the National Register of Historic Places. Several MBTA buses on Route 136 and Route 137 run to surrounding communities, including the nearby Oak Grove stop as well as Malden Center, both rapid transit stations on the Orange Line. Rt. 128/I-95 runs through Wakefield with exits at Albion Street, North Avenue, Water Street, Vernon Street, New Salem Street, and Salem Street. State highway Rt. 129 also passes through Wakefield. US Route 1 runs through nearby Saugus and Lynnfield, while I-93 runs through neighboring Stoneham.

The town is covered by two daily newspapers, the locally owned Daily Item and an edition of the Daily Times Chronicle; and by one weekly newspaper, the Wakefield Observer. The Wakefield Memorial High School also has its own newspaper, written by the students, recently renamed "WHS exPRESS". The town also has its own television station, WCAT Wakefield. In addition, Wakefield also has Wakefield Nation providing election coverage and supporting local charitable causes.

Wakefield has a strong local sports fan base and a robust youth sports culture. Wakefield High School has popular football, baseball, softball, hockey and basketball programs. Wakefield High's football team earned a Division II "Super Bowl" title in 1999^[16], and its mens' and women's basketball teams won Division II state championships in 1997.^[16] Baseball is a popular spring and summer sport in the town, with two men's semiprofessional teams.

Wakefield has many active youth sports leagues. Young athletes in Wakefield can choose to play baseball, basketball, lacrosse, football, soccer and hockey among others team sports. The volunteer organizations that maintain these leagues are:

• Baseball – Wakefield Little League
• Basketball – Wakefield Basketball Association
• Lacrosse – Wakefield Youth Lacrosse Association
• Football – Wakefield Pop Warner
• Soccer – Wakefield Soccer Association
• Hockey – Wakefield Youth Skating Association

• Lake Quannapowitt is a popular recreation area for walkers, joggers, bikers, and rollerbladers
• Lucius Beebe Memorial Library.
• The town common is the central park of Wakefield, on the southern edge of Lake Quannapowitt. Events such as summer concerts and the Fourth of July festivities take place there.

• Town Day
• Independence Day Parade
• Homecoming Celebration in Autumn
• Concerts on the Common (Summer)
• Festival By The Lake

• Lucius Morris Beebe - American author, gourmand, photographer, railroad historian, journalist, and syndicated columnist born December 9, 1902 in Wakefield, MA (died 1966)
• Carleton S. Coon - Anthropologist
• David Dellinger, radical pacifist and member of the Chicago Seven was born in Wakefield and graduated from Wakefield Memorial High School in 1932.
• Israel Horovitz - American playwright and screenwriter born March 31, 1939 in Wakefield, MA. Beastie Boy Adam "Adrock" Horovitz is the son of Israel Horovitz. He completed several plays about Wakefield, collected in a book known as The Wakefield Plays.
• Mark Kumpel- Member of the 1984 US Olympic Ice Hockey Team and former NHL player with the Winnipeg Jets, Quebec Nordiques, and the Detroit Red Wings.
• Dave Lapham Former NFL player with the Cincinnati Bengals. Former USFL player with the New Jersey Generals. Current member of the Cincinnati Bengal radio broadcast team.
• John Lilley- Member of the 1994 US Olympic Ice Hockey Team and former NHL player with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.

• Judge A. David Mazzone was a judge for the U.S. District Court in Boston from 1978 until 2004. He is best known for the 1985 court decision mandating the cleanup of Boston Harbor, which ultimately cost $3.8 billion and resulted in the construction of the Deer Island wastewater treatment plant. Mazzone lived in Wakefield from 1959 until his death in 2004.
• Marcia Pankratz- Member of the 1988 and 1996 Olympic Field Hockey team and former head coach of Field Hockey at the University of Michigan.
• Buffy (Beverly) Sainte Marie, folksinger and composer, was born in Canada, but raised in Wakefield, graduating from Wakefield Memorial High School in 1958.

• Louis Sullivan, American architect considered the father of modernism, was born in Boston but lived in Wakefield with his grandparents during his school years.
• John Anthony Volpe, three time Republican governor of Massachusetts, U.S. Secretary of Transportation, and Ambassador to Italy, was born in Wakefield in 1908.
• Jimmy Pedro, multiple time Olympic medalist in judo and former World Champion.
• Scott Brown, Massachusetts State and US Senator preceded by Ted Kennedy.
• Richard Tisei, Massachusetts State Senate Minority Leader and Former candidate for Lt. Governor

• Dutton, E.P. Chart of Boston Harbor and Massachusetts Bay with Map of Adjacent Country. Published 1867. A good map of roads and rail lines from Wakefield to Boston and surrounding area.
• Walling & Gray. 1871 Atlas of Massachusetts. see 1871 Map of Middlesex County Plate 44-45 which shows Wakefield and its roads and rail lines.
• History of the Town of Reading, including the Present Towns of Wakefield, Reading and North Reading with Chronological and Historical Sketches from 1639 to 1874. By Lilley Eaton, 815 pages, published 1874.
• History of Wakefield (Middlesex county) Massachusetts, compiled by William E. Eaton and History committee. Published under the direction and authority of the Tercentenary committee of the town of Wakefield, Massachusetts. published 1944.
• History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, by Samuel Adam Drake, published 1880, Volume 2. Page 399 Wakefield by Chester W. Eaton. Page 270 Reading by Hirum Barrus and Carroll D. Wright. Page 259 North Reading.
• American Wicker: Woven Furniture from 1850 to 1930 By Jeremy Adamson, Kit Latham, Published 1993 by Rizzoli.
• Vital Records of Wakefield, Massachusetts, to the Year 1850 Compiled by Thomas W. Baldwin 1912.
• Wakefield : 350 years by the lake : an anniversary history / compiled by the Wakefield 350 Writing Committee ; edited by Nancy Bertrand, 1994.
• Wakefield (Images of America series) / by Nancy Bertrand ; Arcadia Press, 2000.
• A completed century, 1826–1926; the story of Heywood-Wakefield Company / Heywood-Wakefield Company, 1926.