| Winthrop, Massachusetts | |
|---|---|
| — Town — | |
| Nickname(s): Winthrop-by-the-Sea | |
| Location in Suffolk County in Massachusetts | |
| Coordinates: | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Massachusetts |
| County | Suffolk |
| Settled | 1630 |
| Incorporated | 1852 |
| Government | |
| • Type | Council-manager |
| • Council President | Jeffrey Rosario Turco, Esq. |
| • Town Manager | James McKenna |
| Area | |
| • Total | 8.3 sq mi (21.5 km2) |
| • Land | 2.0 sq mi (5.2 km2) |
| • Water | 6.3 sq mi (16.3 km2) |
| Elevation | 36 ft (11 m) |
| Population (2010) | |
| • Total | 17,497 |
| • Density | 10,077/sq mi (3,875.8/km2) |
| Time zone | Eastern (UTC-5) |
| • Summer (DST) | Eastern (UTC-4) |
| ZIP code | 02152 |
| Area code(s) | 617 / 857 |
| FIPS code | 25-80930 |
| GNIS feature ID | 0618335 |
| Website | http://www.town.winthrop.ma.us/ |
The Town of Winthrop is a municipality in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population of Winthrop was 17,497 at the 2010 U.S. Census. It is an oceanside suburban community in Greater Boston situated at the north entrance to Boston Harbor and is very close to Logan International Airport. The town is a peninsula, 1.6 square miles (4.2 km2) in area, connected to Revere by a narrow isthmus and to East Boston by a bridge over the harbor inlet to the Belle Isle Marsh Reservation. Settled in 1630, Winthrop is one of the oldest communities in the United States. It is also one of the smallest and most densely populated municipalities in Massachusetts.
The town is named after John Winthrop (1587–1649), second governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and an important English Puritan leader. On 8 April 1630, Winthrop departed from the Isle of Wight, England on the ship Arbella and arrrived in Salem in June where he was met by John Endecott, the first governor of the colony. He served as governor for 12 of the colony's first 20 years of existence. It was Winthrop who decided to base the colony at the Shawmut Peninsula, where he and the colonists founded what is now the city of Boston.
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The town was settled in 1630 by English Puritan colonists as Pullen Poynt.[1] In 1775, residents of what is now Winthrop, Revere, and Chelsea played a key role in the Battle of Chelsea Creek of the Revolutionary War.[2] It was officially incorporated in 1852. It is one of the four municipalities in Suffolk County (the others are the cities of Boston, Revere, and Chelsea). It is located on a peninsula, at the beginning of the North Shore, with seven miles (11 km) of shoreline that provides views of the ocean to the east and of the Boston skyline to the west.
Originally part of an area called Winnisimmet by the Native Massachusett tribe,[3] the peninsula was annexed by Boston in 1632 and within five years became the grazing area for farm animals of the rapidly growing Boston colony. In 1637 it was divided into 15 parcels of land that were given by Governor John Winthrop to prominent men in Boston with the stipulation that each must erect a building on his land within two years. Few, if any, of these men ever lived here, but their farms prospered. One of these early houses, built initially during the first half of the 17th century, and rebuilt in 1675, was the home of Governor Winthrop’s youngest son, Deane Winthrop, who lived there until his death in 1703. This house is still standing and is maintained, for public viewing, by the Winthrop Improvement and Historical Association.[4]
In 1739, what is now Chelsea, Revere, and Winthrop withdrew from Boston due to governmental control disputes and became the Town of Chelsea. Again the desire for more local control resulted in Revere and Winthrop seceding from Chelsea in 1846 to become North Chelsea. Shortly thereafter, in 1852, Winthrop was incorporated as a town in its own right with a Board of Selectmen and Town Meeting form of government. In 1920, Winthrop was the second town in the Commonwealth to apply for and receive a Charter for a Representative Town Meeting, which continued to 2006.
Winthrop adopted a home rule charter in 2005 with a council-manager form of government[5][6] and is no longer governed by a representative town meeting. It is now classified as a town with a city form of government.[7][8] The new Town Charter, which took effect in 2006, was passed in a special election. The Board of Selectmen and Town Meeting were abolished, and legislative powers were vested in an elected Town Council. Executive power, largely ceremonial, resides in the Council President, who is popularly elected. An appointed Town Manager serves as the head of administrative services. On July 26, 2007, the Winthrop Sun Transcript reported that a movement was beginning to abolish the Town Council and return to a Representative Town Meeting. The multi-step process to reverse the changes made by the 2006 charter is quite complex, so it remains to be seen what form of government Winthrop will have going forward. As of 2011, no changes have been made to Winthrop's form of government.
Deer Island, though within the city limits of Boston, is located in Winthrop Bay. It ceased to be an island in the 1930s when Shirley Gut, which separated it from Winthrop, was filled in. The island has a sordid past as an internment camp for Native Americans during King Philip's War, a quarantine station where many immigrants died, and the site of a county jail. Today the island is home to the mammoth Deer Island Waste Water Treatment Plant, which provides sewage treatment for the Boston area.[9]
Winthrop has a weekly newspaper, the Winthrop Sun Transcript, which reports local news, current events, happenings, and concerns.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 8.3 square miles (21.5 km²), of which, 2.0 square miles (5.2 km²) of it is land and 6.3 square miles (16.3 km²) of it (76.02%) is water. However, according to the Town Government, Winthrop has a land area of just 1.6 square miles (4.1 km2).
Winthrop is connected by land skirting the Belle Isle Marsh Reservation, which is shared across the Belle Isle Inlet with Boston. Winthrop was originally separate from Deer Island, but the land between the two was filled in, with the northern end belonging to Winthrop and the southern end belonging to Boston. The town is considered the northern dividing line between Boston Harbor to its west and Massachusetts Bay to its east. There are several beaches, three yacht clubs and a golf course within the town, as well as several small parks. The town has one island, Snake Island, which lies northwest of Point Shirley and is part of the Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area.
Winthrop is one of four municipalities within Suffolk County. The town is divided into several neighborhoods around the downtown area, including Court Park and Cottage Park along the Boston Harbor side of town, Point Shirley and Cottage Hill on either side of what was Shirley Gut, and Winthrop Beach, Ocean Spray and Winthrop Heights on the Massachusetts Bay side. The town is bordered by Revere to the north, and Boston on the northwest, west, and southeast. The water rights of the town extend to the edge of the county, and border those of Nahant in Essex County. As a result of the expansion of Logan International Airport, part of four of the runways (4L/22R, 4R/22L, 15R/33L and most of 15L/33R) lies within what was once the water rights of the town. By land, Winthrop is 5.5 miles (8.9 km) from Beacon Hill, the measuring point for all road signs in Massachusetts.
Route 145 passes through the town as its only state route. It enters from the Orient Heights neighborhood of East Boston along a bridge over the Belle Isle Inlet, then passes in a loop around the main body of the town (bypassing Cottage Hill and Point Shirley) before leaving the town to the north, turning into the Winthrop Parkway in Revere. Two bus routes are provided by Paul Revere Transportation, which run from Point Shirley through the highlands and center of the town and terminate at Orient Heights. Paul Revere Transportation has operated the bus service in town since 1991. The service, which is subsidized by the MBTA, operates as Route 712 Point Shirley or Winthrop Beach to Orient Heights Station via Winthrop Highlands and Route 713 Point Shirley or Winthrop Beach to Orient Heights via Winthrop Center.[10] This service does not accept MBTA Charlie Cards or Charlie Tickets. Prior to this, the service was operated by Rapid Transit, Inc., which began bus service in Winthrop on January 28, 1940, the day immediately following the abandonment of the former Boston, Revere Beach & Lynn "Narrow Gauge" Railroad. The Blue Line of the MBTA subway system crosses near the town, with stops at Orient Heights (MBTA station), Suffolk Downs (MBTA station), and Beachmont (MBTA station), all of which are just a half mile from the city limits. A water transportation dock is located at the public landing and provides ferry service across Boston Harbor. Currently, Boston Harbor Cruises operates the service seasonally (May-October) between Winthrop and Rowes Wharf.[11] Business leaders hope that the ferry will help spur economic growth and tourism in the town.
| Historical populations | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
| 1850 | 2,154 | — |
| 1860 | 544 | −74.7% |
| 1870 | 532 | −2.2% |
| 1880 | 1,049 | +97.2% |
| 1890 | 2,726 | +159.9% |
| 1900 | 6,058 | +122.2% |
| 1910 | 10,132 | +67.2% |
| 1920 | 15,455 | +52.5% |
| 1930 | 16,852 | +9.0% |
| 1940 | 16,768 | −0.5% |
| 1950 | 19,496 | +16.3% |
| 1960 | 20,303 | +4.1% |
| 1970 | 20,335 | +0.2% |
| 1980 | 19,294 | −5.1% |
| 1990 | 18,127 | −6.0% |
| 2000 | 18,303 | +1.0% |
| 2001* | 18,667 | +2.0% |
| 2002* | 18,743 | +0.4% |
| 2003* | 18,661 | −0.4% |
| 2004* | 18,482 | −1.0% |
| 2005* | 18,277 | −1.1% |
| 2006* | 18,341 | +0.4% |
| 2007* | 18,601 | +1.4% |
| 2008* | 18,552 | −0.3% |
| 2009* | 19,235 | +3.7% |
| 2010 | 17,497 | −9.0% |
| * = population estimate. Source: United States Census records and Population Estimates Program data.[12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21] |
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As of the census[22] of 2000, there were 18,303 people, 7,843 households, and 4,580 families residing in the town. The population density was 9,208.3 people per square mile (3,551.2/km²). There were 8,067 housing units at an average density of 4,058.5 per square mile (1,565.2/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 94.44% White, 1.68% Black or African American, 0.16% Native American, 1.15% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 1.36% from other races, and 1.16% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.69% of the population.
There were 7,843 households out of which 23.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 43.1% were married couples living together, 11.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 41.6% were non-families. 32.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.30 and the average family size was 2.98.
In the town the population was spread out with 18.6% under the age of 18, 7.3% from 18 to 24, 33.2% from 25 to 44, 24.4% from 45 to 64, and 16.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 88.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.3 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $53,122, and the median income for a family was $65,696. Males had a median income of $42,135 versus $36,298 for females. The per capita income for the town was $27,374. About 3.3% of families and 5.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 4.1% of those under age 18 and 8.0% of those age 65 or over.
Winthrop has a town center with a number of businesses, including CVS/pharmacy, Michael's Mall, Samuel's Pharmacy and The Pizza Center. The town center has always had a modestly vibrant business community. However, by the mid-1990s, large shopping malls in the nearby North Shore region of Massachusetts, especially Square One Mall in Saugus, began to drain away measurable amounts of business. A small business community still survives.
The town is divided into four unique business areas: the Shirley Street Business District, the Highlands District, the Center, and Magee's Corner District.
Winthrop currently has four schools:
The town also has numerous pre-schools and day cares for parents seeking early education options.
Winthrop has many places of worship. They include:
The majority of Winthrop residents are adherents of various Christian denominations, such as Roman Catholicism, Methodism, and Episcopalianism. Adherents of Judaism make up a small, but historically significant, minority. Over the past four decades, the once large Jewish community has dwindled due to frequent migration to other parts of Massachusetts.
Winthrop, although highly developed, has a diverse ecosystem with many various flora and fauna. The climate of Winthrop is a temperate, humid continental climate, with warm summers and cold, snowy winters. Some of the flora and fauna that can be seen in Winthrop are as follows:
Winthrop abuts the largest salt marsh in Boston Harbor, the 350-acre (1.4 km2) Belle Isle Marsh Reservation. This marsh also borders East Boston and Revere. It used to be a Metropolitan District Commission (MDC) reservation, and is now run by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR.) This marsh is a reserve for a variety of wildlife and plants. It is maintained in part by the Friends of Belle Isle Marsh, a grassroots environmental organization.
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