Bedford, Massachusetts

Bedford is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, USA. It is within the Greater Boston area, some 15 miles north-west of the city of Boston. The population of Bedford was 12,595 at the 2000 census.

History

Bedford was first settled in 1640 and was officially incorporated in 1729.

Bedford's flag (still on display at the Bedford Public Library) is the oldest complete flag known to exist in the United States. It is celebrated for having been the first U.S. flag flown during the Revolutionary War, as it is believed to have been carried by Nathaniel Page's outfit of Minutemen to the Old North Bridge in Concord for the Battle of Concord on April 19, 1775.

Government

The town still uses an open town meeting as its legislature. The executive branch consists of a Board of Selectmen who oversee a town Administrator.

Schools

Bedford's school system consists of four buildings: Lt. Eleazer Davis Elementary (K-2), Lt. Job Lane Elementary (3-5), John Glenn Middle School (6-8), and Bedford High School (9-12). Some students from Hanscom Air Force Base, which is partially located in Bedford, join Bedford residents at Bedford High for 9th grade and beyond. The former Center School was deactivated in the 1980s, with the Union Building (originally the High School, opened 1926) becoming the Town Hall several years later. Center School is today the Town Center building. Page School was similarly deactivated in the 1980s and today is a retirement village. John Glenn Middle School (originally called Bedford Junior High School) is named for the late John Glenn, formerly the Superintendent of Schools in Bedford; not for the U.S. Senator and astronaut. The Davis and Lane (and former Page) schools are named for local officers who took part in the Battle of Concord on April 19, 1775.

The high school mascot is the Buccaneer and the team colors are blue and white. Bedford's school sports teams compete in the Dual County League. Bedford is the smallest school in the DCL, but completely dominates in rifle, tennis, and basketball, and has a rapidly improving football team. The cross country team, though, is the jewel of the athletics department. The runners are frequently hailed and congratulated on the streets by passersby, both of Bedford and the surrounding towns. The volleyball team also is greatly improving, coming fourth in the Dual County League, their best score ever. Their games have become so popular that all the fans can not fit on the bleachers. The soccer teams have had some recent success and it is quite a popular sport.

The Bedford public schools are connected by a local area network known as "bps." Two servers, "gertrude" (SunOS 4.1.1) and "meghan" (Fedora Core 4), are provided for use by programming students. "rocky" (VAX/VMS, gertrude's predecessor) and "william" (SunOS, a mirror of gertrude) are no longer active.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 35.9 km² (13.9 mi²). 35.6 km² (13.7 mi²) of it is land and 0.3 km² (0.1 mi²) of it (0.94%) is water. Bedford is approximately 15 miles away from the coast.

Demographics

As of the census ² of 2000, there were 12,595 people, 4,621 households, and 3,419 families residing in the town. The population density was 353.9/km² (916.7/mi²). There were 4,708 housing units at an average density of 132.3/km² (342.7/mi²). The racial makeup of the town was 91.19% White, 1.65% African American, 0.22% Native American, 5.40% Asian, 0.34% from other races, and 1.19% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.80% of the population.

There were 4,621 households out of which 34.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 64.4% were married couples living together, 7.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.0% were non-families. 21.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.60 and the average family size was 3.04.

In the town the population was spread out with 23.6% under the age of 18, 3.9% from 18 to 24, 27.8% from 25 to 44, 26.3% from 45 to 64, and 18.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females there were 99.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.3 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $87,962, and the median income for a family was $101,081. Males had a median income of $65,697 versus $45,181 for females. The per capita income for the town was $39,212. About 1.4% of families and 2.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 3.1% of those under age 18 and 4.0% of those age 65 or over.

Transportation

Bedford is located slightly northwest of the intersection of I-95 (also known as MA-128) and MA-4/MA-225 (which actually cross in Lexington). Nearby highways include US-3 and MA-62. It is serviced by the 62 and 62/76 lines of the MBTA's bus service. Bedford is also served by Hanscom Field , a civilian airport, which is located adjacent to Hanscom Air Force Base.

A snowstorm on January 10, 1977, prompted the end of passenger service on the Lexington Branch of the Boston & Maine Railroad (see additional notes under Boston and Lowell Railroad). The line was embargoed four years later. In 1991, the branch was railbanked by the Interstate Commerce Commission. It is now used for the Minuteman Bikeway. In the early 1900s, the Middlesex & Boston Street Railway line ran generally down Great Road, with lines from as far west as Hudson running into Lexington and beyond.

External links

Town of Bedford official web site
Bedford Depot Park
Bedford Fire Department
Bedford Flag history on the town's site and information on seeing the flag at the Bedford Free Public Library
Hanscom Air Force Base official web site
Three Apples Storytelling Festival Annual storytelling festival in the fall

Towns in Massachusetts | Middlesex County, Massachusetts