Maynard, Massachusetts

Maynard, Massachusetts
—  Town  —
Location in Middlesex County in Massachusetts
Coordinates: 42°26′00″N 71°27′00″W
Country	United States
State	Massachusetts
County	Middlesex
Settled	1638
Incorporated	1871
Government
• Type	Open town meeting
Area
• Total	5.4 sq mi (13.9 km2)
• Land	5.2 sq mi (13.6 km2)
• Water	0.1 sq mi (0.3 km2)
Elevation	186 ft (57 m)
Population (2010)
• Total	10,106
• Density	1,957.1/sq mi (748.3/km2)
Time zone	Eastern (UTC-5)
• Summer (DST)	Eastern (UTC-4)
ZIP code	01754
Area code(s)	351 / 978
FIPS code	25-39625
GNIS feature ID	0618229
Website	http://web.maynard.ma.us/

Maynard is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2010 census, the town population was 10,106.

History

Maynard, located on the Assabet River, was incorporated as an independent municipality in 1871. Prior to that it was known as 'Assabet Village' but was legally still part of the towns of Stow and Sudbury. There were some exploratory town-founding rumblings in 1870, followed by a petition to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, filed January 26, 1871. State approval was granted April 19, 1871. In return, the new town paid Sudbury and Stow about $23,600 and $8,000 respectively. Sudbury got more money because it owned shares in the railroad, plus the wool mill and paper mill were in Sudbury, and more land came from Sudbury. The population of the newly formed town - at 1,820 - was larger than either of its parent towns.

The community was named after Amory Maynard, the man whom with William Knight, had bought water-rights to the Assabet River, installed a dam and built a large carpet mill in 1847. The community grew along with the Assabet Woolen Mill and made the highest percentage of wool for U.S. Military uniforms for the Civil War. The woolen mill went bankrupt in 1898; it was purchased in 1899 by the American Woolen Company, a multi-state corporation, which greatly modernized and expanded the mill complex from 1900 through 1919.

There was an attempt in 1902 to change the town's name from "Maynard" to "Assabet." Some townspeople were upset that Amory Maynard had not left the town a gift before he died in 1890, and more were upset that Lorenzo Maynard, Amory's son, had withdrawn his own money from the Mill before it went bankrupt in 1898. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts decided to keep the name as "Maynard" without allowing the topic to come to a vote.

After the woolen mill finally shut down in 1950, local businessmen bought the property and began leasing it as office or manufacturing space. Digital Equipment Corporation moved into the complex in 1957. The company eventually made Maynard its worldwide headquarters, giving Maynard the nickname "Mini Computer Capital of the World". It remained there until 1998 when Digital was sold to Compaq, which was itself later bought out by Hewlett Packard in 2002.

"The Mill", as locals call it, was renovated in the late 1990s and renamed Clock Tower Place and houses many businesses, including the headquarters of Powell Flutes and Monster.com. The mill complex is also home to the oldest working, hand-wound clock in the country (see image).

Clock Tower Place, seen from Main St.

Geography

Maynard is located at 42°25′50″N 71°27′21″W (42.430781, -71.455943).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 5.4 square miles (13.9 km²), of which, 5.2 square miles (13.6 km²) of it is land and 0.1 square miles (0.3 km²) of it (2.42%) is water. Average elevation is roughly 200 feet above sea level; highest point is Summer Hill, elevation 358 feet; lowest is Maynard/Acton border next to the Assabet River, at 145 feet.

The Assabet River flows through Maynard from west to east, spanned by seven road bridges and one foot bridge. The river's vertical drop from the Stow border to the Acton border is 30 feet. Initially, this was sufficient to hydropower the wool and paper mills, but both later added coal-powered steam engines. Average flow in the river is 200 cubic feet per second. However, in summer months the average drops to under 100 cfs. The flood of March 2010 reached 2,500 cfs. Recent, monthly and annual riverflow data is available from the U.S. Geological Service.

Average precipitation, long-term, is 43 inches per year, with 44 inches of snow. (The snow-to-water conversion is roughly eight inches snow melts to one inch of water.) However, there has been a trend over the past 100 years of increasing precipitation, so the more recent average is closer to 50 inches/year, and five of the snowiest winters on record have been since 1992. The 2010-11 winter made the all-time top ten with 80 inches of snow.

Maynard borders the following towns: Acton, Concord, Sudbury and Stow.

Demographics

Historical populations
Year	Pop.	±%
1880	2,201	—
1890	2,700	+22.7%
1900	3,142	+16.4%
1910	6,390	+103.4%
1920	7,086	+10.9%
1930	7,156	+1.0%
1940	6,812	−4.8%
1950	6,978	+2.4%
1960	7,695	+10.3%
1970	9,710	+26.2%
1980	9,590	−1.2%
1990	10,325	+7.7%
2000	10,433	+1.0%
2001*	10,484	+0.5%
2002*	10,430	−0.5%
2003*	10,435	+0.0%
2004*	10,372	−0.6%
2005*	10,313	−0.6%
2006*	10,242	−0.7%
2007*	10,326	+0.8%
2008*	10,442	+1.1%
2009*	10,627	+1.8%
2010	10,106	−4.9%
* = population estimate. Source: United States Census records and Population Estimates Program data.

As of the census of 2000, there were 10,433 people, 4,292 households, and 2,811 families residing in the town. The population density was 1,990.6 people per square mile (768.7/km²). There were 4,406 housing units at an average density of 840.7 per square mile (324.6/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 94.64% White, 1.04% Black or African American, 0.27% Native American, 1.62% Asian, 1.18% from other races, and 1.26% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.78% of the population. 23.3% were of Irish, 15.5% Italian, 10.3% English, 6.0% German, 5.1% French and 5.1% Polish ancestry according to Census 2000.

There were 4,292 households out of which 28.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.4% were married couples living together, 9.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.5% were non-families. 28.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.43 and the average family size was 3.02.

In the town the population was spread out with 23.4% under the age of 18, 5.4% from 18 to 24, 35.1% from 25 to 44, 23.8% from 45 to 64, and 12.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 91.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.0 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $60,812, and the median income for a family was $71,875. Males had a median income of $49,279 versus $36,609 for females. The per capita income for the town was $27,016. About 3.8% of families and 5.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 7.4% of those under age 18 and 6.0% of those age 65 or over.

Further Reading and Information

Town of Maynard: http://www.townofmaynard-ma.gov/

Maynard Historical Society: http://maynardhistory.org/

Boothroyd, Paul and Lewis Halprin (1999). Maynard Massachusetts, Images of America. Mount Pleasant, SC: Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 0738500747

Boothroyd, Paul and Lewis Halprin (1999). Assabet Mills, Images of America. Mount Pleasant, SC: Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 0738502626

Boothroyd, Paul and Lewis Halprin. (2005) Maynard, Postcard History Series. Mount Pleasant, SC: Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 0738539465

Brown, Peggy Jo (2005). Hometown Soldiers: Civil War Veterans of Assabet Village and Maynard Massachusetts. Maynard, MA: Flying Heron Press.

Cummings, O.R. (1967). Concord, Maynard & Hudson Street Railway. Warehouse Point, CN: National Railway Historical Society.

Earls, Alan R. (2004) Digital Equipment Corporation. Mount Pleasant, SC: Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 9780738535876

Gutteridge, William H. (1921). A Brief History of the Town of Maynard, Massachusetts. Maynard, MA: Town of Maynard. Available at Maynard Historical Society as 19 MB pdf: http://collection.maynardhistory.org/archive/files/maynard-1921-gutteridge-web_5bacc350d3.pdf

Mark, David A. (2012). Blog of the "Life Outdoors" column from the Beacon-Villager newspaper: http://www.maynardlifeoutdoors.com

Mark, David A. (2011). MAYNARD: History and Life Outdoors. Charleston, SC: The History Press. ISBN 9781609493035

Sheridan, Ralph (1971). A History of Maynard 1871-1971. Town of Maynard Historical Committee. Available at Maynard Historic Society as a 95 MB pdf: http://collection.maynardhistory.org/archive/files/maynard-1871-1971-web_4226f59f9f.pdf

Voogd, Jan (2007). Maynard Massachusetts, A House in the Village. Charleston, SC: The History Press. ISBN 9781596292055