Misplaced Pages

#528471

47-449: The Framingham and Lowell Railroad (F&L) opened between its namesake cities on October 1, 1871. Its South Sudbury station and freight house were located on the east side of the tracks, on the north side of Boston Post Road. The Massachusetts Central Railroad (MC) opened from Boston to Hudson, Massachusetts in October 1881. After going out of business in 1883, it was reopened by

94-734: A 4.8 mile segment of the Lowell Secondary between the Central Mass right of way in Sudbury and the active Fitchburg Secondary in Framingham. 1.4 miles of the South Sudbury Industrial Track are in the town of Sudbury and 3.4 miles are in the town of Framingham). Service on the line ended on April 13, 2000, when the last CSX train on the South Sudbury Industrial Track derailed off a West spur which led to

141-493: A change in state law. Immediately prior to its dissolution, the executive branch consisted of three County Commissioners elected at-large to staggered four-year terms. There was a County Treasurer elected to a six-year term. The county derived its revenue primarily from document filing fees at the Registries of Deeds and from a Deeds Excise Tax; also a transfer tax was assessed on the sale price of real estate and collected by

188-473: A day over the entire route, one morning, one midday and one evening. In 1917 the midday round trip was dropped for additional wartime freight needs; it was never restored. In 1932 service was cut in half, leaving a southbound trip and a northbound trip between Framingham and Lowell. All regular passenger service ended in 1933, although the New Haven Railroad ran northbound ski trains along it through

235-704: A lumber yard in Sudbury, this spur is located immediately South of the junction with the East West Central Mass Rail Line right of way (the Boston & Maine Railroad abandoned the Central Mass Branch Rail Line in 1980). In June 2001, CSX applied to the federal Surface Transportation Board (STB) for approval to abandon the line. In October 2001 the STB approved the abandonment, although the town of Sudbury filed notice with

282-596: A part of the Middlesex County government, was also relatedly forced to relocate to Medford at the time of the closure of the Superior Courthouse building in Cambridge. Of the fourteen counties of Massachusetts, Middlesex is one of eight which have had no county government or county commissioners since July 1, 1998, when county functions were assumed by state agencies at local option following

329-577: A three-story tower. The Old Colony Railroad was leased by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad (often referred to as just the "New Haven Railroad") in 1893, making South Sudbury one of a small number of stations which served both of New England's two largest railroads. Passenger service ended on the F&;L in 1933 (although freight service between South Sudbury and West Concord lasted until 1982, and between South Sudbury and Framingham Centre into

376-593: Is in Rutland , Worcester County ). On July 11, 1997, Massachusetts abolished the executive government of Middlesex County primarily due to the county's insolvency . Middlesex County continues to exist as a geographic boundary and is used primarily as district jurisdictions within the court system and for other administrative purposes; for example, as an election district. The National Weather Service weather alerts (such as severe thunderstorm warning ) continue to localize based on Massachusetts's counties. The county

423-591: Is land and 29 square miles (75 km ) (3.5%) is water. It is the third-largest county in Massachusetts by land area. It is bounded southeast by the Charles River and drained by the Merrimack , Nashua , and Concord rivers, and other streams. The MetroWest region comprises much of the southern portion of the county. These routes pass through Middlesex County As of 2006 , Middlesex County

470-868: Is oversight of the Middlesex House of Correction and Jail in Billerica . It formerly ran the Middlesex Jail in Cambridge , which closed on June 28, 2014. In addition, the Sheriff's Office operates the Office of Civil Process and, the Lowell Community Counseling Centers, and crime prevention and community service programs. The office of sheriff was created in 1692, making it one of the oldest law enforcement agencies in

517-538: The 2020 census , the population was 1,632,002, making it the most populous county in both Massachusetts and New England and the 22nd most populous county in the United States . This also makes the county the most populous county on the East Coast outside of New York or Florida. Middlesex County is one of two U.S. counties (along with Santa Clara County, California ) to be amongst the top 25 counties with

SECTION 10

#1732794287529

564-544: The Bruce Freeman Rail Trail began construction over the former Framingham and Lowell Railroad ROW north of the diamond crossing, and construction is expected to complete in 2024. The Bruce Freeman Rail Trail section south of the diamond crossing is in design and funded for construction in 2029. In May 2024, by Town vote Sudbury authorized the purchase of the South Sudbury station, together with

611-539: The Central Massachusetts Railroad (CM) contracted by the Boston and Lowell Railroad (B&L) in 1885, which was, in turn, acquired by the Boston and Maine Railroad (B&M) in 1887. The Old Colony Railroad , which had acquired the F&L in 1879, constructed a union station at the southeast corner of the junction of the two lines around 1887-91. This Victorian-style station included

658-695: The Central Massachusetts Railroad Section House , also known as the Section Tool House , from the MBTA. The Section House is approximately 1300 feet east of the station, past Route 20. It was built in 1890 to house a track inspection car and track repair tools for a crew of men that would maintain track for typically 5-10 miles. This building is one of the few remaining section houses and the only original one known to still exist in Massachusetts. The Section House

705-535: The Superior Courthouse , one of which was formerly in Cambridge (since 2008 relocated to Woburn.) and one in Lowell; and the defunct Middlesex County Hospital in the city of Waltham. The legislation abolishing the Middlesex County executive retained the Sheriff and Registers of Deeds as independently elected officials, and transferred the Sheriff's Office under the state Department of Public Safety and

752-506: The 1950s. By the 1960s, the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, like many railroads, was struggling to stay solvent in the face of increased competition from alternate modes of transportation, and so in 1961 it petitioned to be included in the newly formed Penn Central Transportation Company . On December 31, 1968, all of its properties were purchased by Penn Central. Penn Central, however, soon went bankrupt, and on April 1, 1976, it

799-658: The 1980s the tracks stretching from South Sudbury to Concord Junction were abandoned, and service was contracted to the Bay Colony Railroad to supply the North Acton-based lumber yards from West Concord. The present owner, CSX Transportation, took over part of the Conrail system in 1999, including one of the only remaining active portions of the Framingham and Lowell Railroad which was the South Sudbury Industrial Track (South Sudbury to Framingham Center,

846-521: The 1990s). Service on the CM past Clinton ended in 1932 and on the branch to Marlborough in 1939; by 1950, there were just four daily round trips. With such drastically-reduced traffic levels, it was no longer economical for the B&;M to maintain the large Union Station. A small wooden station was built around 1952; after failed attempts to move and preserve it, Union Station was demolished, with portions of

893-520: The Boston, Clinton and Fitchburg Railroad merged with the New Bedford Railroad , forming the Boston, Clinton, Fitchburg and New Bedford Railroad and subsequently extending the lease of the Framingham and Lowell Railroad to 998 years from October 1, 1879. On September 10, 1881, the Framingham and Lowell Railroad was deeded on execution sale to the Boston, Clinton, Fitchburg and New Bedford Railroad, and one month later, on October 5, 1881, it

940-618: The Northern District at Lowell and another for the Southern District at Cambridge) are each elected to serve six-year terms. Besides the employees of the Sheriff's Office and the two Registries of Deeds, the county had a Maintenance Department, a Security Department, some administrative staff in the Treasurer's and Commissioners' Offices, and the employees of the hospital. The county government also owned and operated

987-493: The Registries of Deeds. Budgets as proposed by the County Commissioners were approved by a County Advisory Board that consisted of a single representative of each of the 54 cities and towns in Middlesex County. The votes of the individual members of the advisory board were weighted based on the overall valuation of property in their respective communities. The County Sheriff and two Registers of Deeds (one for

SECTION 20

#1732794287529

1034-529: The STB to request that abandonment be postponed in order to allow negotiations with CSX for acquisition of the line as a rail trail. In August 2004, CSX had removed the rails and ties, leaving bridges in place in the event a path were built. By late 2005, all of the grade crossings had been removed by the Massachusetts Highway Department . In December 2020, the town of Sudbury reached a railbanking agreement with CSX. In December 2023,

1081-417: The United States. The sheriff is elected to a 6-year term. Notable sheriffs include: Prior to 1960, Middlesex County was a Republican Party stronghold, backing only two Democratic Party presidential candidates from 1876 to 1956. The 1960 election started a reverse trend, with the county becoming a Democratic stronghold. This has been even more apparent in recent years, with George H. W. Bush in 1988 being

1128-482: The building. In 2022, a buried transmission line project between Sudbury and Hudson began construction under the former Massachusetts Central Railroad ROW. This project subsidized the cost of building the Mass Central Rail Trail—Wayside , which is expected to complete in 2025. As part of this project, DCR will install granite markers to commemorate the archaeological site. In 2023, a paved section of

1175-611: The cities and towns in which they are located. School districts include: K-12: Secondary: Elementary: Tertiary institutions include: Middlesex County is home to the Middlesex County Volunteers , a fife and drum corps that plays music from the 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. Founded in 1982 at the end of the United States Bicentennial celebration, the group performs extensively throughout New England. They have also performed at

1222-549: The county was 80.0% white, 9.3% Asian, 4.7% black or African American, 0.2% American Indian, 3.3% from other races, and 2.5% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 6.5% of the population. The largest ancestry groups were: Of the 580,688 households, 31.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.5% were married couples living together, 10.1% had a female householder with no husband present, 36.9% were non-families, and 27.8% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size

1269-560: The dissolution of the executive county government, the county comprised two regions with separate county seats for administrative purposes: Since the start of the 21st century, much of the current and former county offices have physically decentralized from the Cambridge seat, with the sole exceptions being the Registry of Deeds and the Middlesex Probate and Family Court, which both retain locations in Cambridge and Lowell. Since

1316-680: The first quarter of 2008, the Superior Courthouse has been seated in the city of Woburn ; the Sheriff's Office is now administratively seated in the city of Medford and the Cambridge-based County Jail has since been amalgamated with another county jail facility in Billerica. The Cambridge District Court (which has jurisdiction for Arlington, Belmont and Cambridge); along with the Middlesex County District Attorney's Office, although not

1363-546: The governmental functions such as property tax assessment and collection, public education, road repair and maintenance, and elections were all conducted at the municipal city and town level and not by the county government. In 2012 the 22-story Superior Court Building in Cambridge which was transferred from the abolished Executive County government was sold by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Due to its transfer from state control, many local residents had tried to force

1410-489: The highest household income and the 25 most populated counties. It is included in the Census Bureau's Boston – Cambridge – Newton , MA– NH Metropolitan Statistical Area . As part of the 2020 United States census , the Commonwealth's mean center of population for that year was geo-centered in Middlesex County, in the town of Natick (this is not to be confused with the geographic center of Massachusetts, which

1457-628: The interior auctioned off to collectors. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) was formed in August 1964 to subsidize suburban commuter rail service. On January 18, 1965, services were cut back to the boundaries of the MBTA funding district. Although the MBTA initially intended to discontinue the single remaining trips on the Central Massachusetts Branch and the Lexington Branch , they were kept at

South Sudbury station - Misplaced Pages Continue

1504-469: The largest Irish-American population of any U.S. county with a plurality of Irish ancestry. The ranking of unincorporated communities that are included on the list is reflective if the census-designated locations and villages were included as cities or towns. Data is from the 2007-2011 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. The primary responsibility of the Middlesex Sheriff's Office

1551-566: The last Republican presidential candidate to manage forty percent of the county's votes and Mitt Romney in 2012 being the last Republican presidential candidate to manage even thirty percent of the vote. In 2020, Joe Biden won 71% of the vote, the highest percent for any presidential candidate since 1964. Most municipalities in Middlesex County have a town form of government; the remainder are cities, and are so designated on this list. Villages listed below are census or postal divisions but have no separate corporate or statutory existence from

1598-407: The last minute. However, the remaining CM trip was cut from Hudson to South Sudbury. On November 26, 1971, the remaining South Sudbury round trip was discontinued due to poor track conditions and dwindling ridership. The circa-1952 station building is still extant, and was in use as a private business, AAA Limousines, until 2019. Part of the platform and a station sign reading "Sudbury" remain at

1645-525: The private developers to reduce the overall height of the structure. Even following the abolition of the executive branch for county government in Middlesex, communities are still granted a right by the Massachusetts state legislature to form their own regional compacts for sharing of services and costs thereof. According to the U.S. Census Bureau , the county has a total area of 847 square miles (2,190 km ), of which 818 square miles (2,120 km )

1692-542: The town of Framingham reached a replacement railbanking agreement with the Georgetown and High Line Railway Company, which had previously reached a railbanking agreement with CSX. Today, the line is in various stages of being converted into the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail . Middlesex County, Massachusetts Middlesex County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts , United States. As of

1739-621: The two Registries of Deeds. Besides the Sheriff and the two Registers of Deeds, the Middlesex District Attorney, the Middlesex Register of Probate and the Middlesex Clerk of Courts (which were already part of state government before the abolition of Middlesex County government) are all elected countywide to six-year terms. In Middlesex County (as in the entirety of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts),

1786-559: The two Registry of Deeds offices to the Massachusetts Secretary of State's Office. Additionally, all county maintenance and security employees were absorbed into the corresponding staffs of the Massachusetts Trial Court . The legislation also transferred ownership of the two Superior Courthouses to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The hospital was closed. Finally, the office of County Commissioner

1833-661: Was 2.49 and the average family size was 3.10. The median age was 38.5 years. The median income for a household in the county was $ 77,377 and the median income for a family was $ 97,382. Males had a median income of $ 64,722 versus $ 50,538 for females. The per capita income for the county was $ 40,139. About 5.1% of families and 7.6% of the population were below the poverty line , including 8.0% of those under age 18 and 8.0% of those age 65 or over. 79.6% spoke English , 4.3% Spanish , 2.7% Portuguese , 1.6% Italian , 1.6% Chinese including Mandarin and other Chinese dialects and 1.5% French as their first language. Middlesex County has

1880-535: Was a railroad in Middlesex County, Massachusetts . It was incorporated in 1870 to provide a rail connection between the growing railroad hub of Framingham and the important mill city of Lowell , passing through the towns of Sudbury , Concord , Acton , Carlisle , Westford and Chelmsford . The 26.1 mile line opened on October 1, 1871. On April 1, 1872, the line was leased to the Boston, Clinton and Fitchburg Railroad for twenty years. On June 1, 1876,

1927-491: Was created by the Massachusetts General Court on May 10, 1643, when it was ordered that "the whole plantation within this jurisdiction be divided into four shires. " Middlesex initially contained Charlestown , Cambridge , Watertown , Sudbury , Concord , Woburn , Medford , and Reading . In 1649 the first Middlesex County Registry of Deeds was created in Cambridge. On April 19, 1775, Middlesex

South Sudbury station - Misplaced Pages Continue

1974-424: Was immediately abolished and the office of County Treasurer was abolished as of December 31, 2002. Any county roads transferred to the Commonwealth as part of the dissolution. The other administrative duties (such as Sheriff, Department of Deeds and court system , etc.) and all supporting staff were transferred under the Commonwealth as well. Records of land ownership in Middlesex County continue to be maintained at

2021-671: Was last used in 1958 when the B&M abolished section crews. It has been under a long-term lease to the Town of Sudbury who has maintained the structure. DCR will place an interpretive sign describing the history of the Section Tool House for the benefit of the future users of the Mass Central Rail Trail—Wayside. [REDACTED] Media related to South Sudbury station at Wikimedia Commons Framingham and Lowell Railroad The Framingham and Lowell Railroad

2068-704: Was renamed as the Lowell and Framingham Railroad Company . On February 27, 1886, the line was consolidated with the Old Colony Railroad , who had previously acquired the Boston, Clinton, Fitchburg and New Bedford Railroad in 1883. The Old Colony Railroad constructed a second track between Concord Junction and Acton Junction in 1891.. In 1893, the Old Colony Railroad was leased to the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad . From 1871, passenger service regularly consisted of three round trips

2115-404: Was taken over by Conrail . However, ownership of the former Framingham and Lowell Railroad line was not passed to Conrail, save for a small portion from South Sudbury to Framingham Center, which was named the South Sudbury Industrial Track in 1982; ownership of the line from South Sudbury to Lowell passed to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts , who contracted with Conrail to provide service. During

2162-403: Was tenth in the United States on the list of most millionaires per county. As of the 2010 United States Census , there were 1,503,085 people, 580,688 households, and 366,656 families residing in the county. The population density was 1,837.9 inhabitants per square mile (709.6/km ). There were 612,004 housing units at an average density of 748.3 per square mile (288.9/km ). The racial makeup of

2209-640: Was the site of the first armed conflict of the American Revolutionary War . In 1855, the Massachusetts State Legislature created a minor Registry of Deeds for the Northern District of Middlesex County in Lowell. In the late 19th century and early 20th century, Boston annexed several of its adjacent cities and towns including Charlestown and Brighton from Middlesex County, resulting in an enlargement and accretion toward Suffolk County . Beginning prior to

#528471