Attleboro, Massachusetts

In 1634, English settlers first arrived in the territory that is now Attleboro.[5] The deed that granted them the land was written by Native American Wamsutta. The land was divided in 1694 as the town of Attleborough.[6] It included the towns of Cumberland, Rhode Island, until 1747 and North Attleborough, Massachusetts, until 1887. In 1697 in response to an unwanted amount of disturbances, mainly from nearby tribes of natives, the town had a meeting and ended up deciding that selectmen would keep tabs on strangers and foreigners as well as banning certain ones from entering the town. The town was reincorporated in 1914 as the City of Attleboro, with the "-ugh" removed from the name, although North Attleborough kept it. Like many towns in Massachusetts, it was named for a British town.

During the Native American insurgency in the colonial era, Nathaniel Woodcock, the son of an Attleborough resident, was murdered, and his head was placed on a pole in his father's front yard. His father's house is now a historical site. It is rumored that George Washington once passed through Attleborough and stayed near the Woodcock Garrison House at the Hatch Tavern, where he exchanged a shoe buckle with Israel Hatch, a revolutionary soldier and the new owner of the Garrison House.

The city became known for jewelry manufacturing in 1913, particularly because of the L.G. Balfour Company. That company has since moved out of the city, and the site of the former plant has been converted into a riverfront park. Attleboro was once known as "The Jewelry Capital of the World", and jewelry manufacturing firms continue to operate there. One such is the Guyot Brothers Company, which was started in 1904.[7] General Findings, M.S. Company, James A. Murphy Co., Garlan Chain, Leach & Garner, and Masters of Design are jewelry manufacturing companies still in operation.

Capron Park

Attleboro has an area of 27.772 square miles (71.930 km²), of which 26.779 square miles (69.356 km²) is land and 0.994 square miles (2.574 km²), or 3.59%, is water.[13] Its borders form an irregular polygon that resembles a truncated triangle pointing west. It is bordered by North Attleborough to the north, Mansfield and Norton to the east, Rehoboth, Seekonk, and Pawtucket, Rhode Island, to the south, and Cumberland, Rhode Island, to the west, as well as sharing a short border with Central Falls, Rhode Island through the Blackstone River. It includes the areas known as City Center, Briggs Corner, West Attleboro, East Corner, East Attleboro, North Corner, Maple Square, Camp Hebron, Oak Hill, Dodgeville, East Junction, Hebronville, Park Square, and South Attleboro.

Waterways in the city include the Ten Mile River, fed by the Bungay River, the Manchester Pond Reservoir, and several small ponds.

Attleboro's highest point is 249-foot (76 m) Oak Hill, in the southern part of the city, north of Oak Hill Avenue.[14]

Attleboro is on the border between the Massachusetts and Rhode Island regional dialects of New England English: the eastern part of the city is in the same dialect region as Boston, and the western part in the same dialect region as Providence.[15]

Attleboro Post Office

Attleboro is part of the Providence metropolitan area. It is a short distance from Boston, and is linked to the Boston metropolitan area.

As of the 2010 census, there were 43,593 people, 16,884 households, and 11,212 families living in the city; the population density was 1,626.6 inhabitants per square mile (628.0/km²). There were 18,022 housing units at an average density of 672.5 per square mile (259.7/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 87.1% White, 3.0% African American, 0.2% Native American, 4.5% Asian (1.5% Cambodian,1.3% Indian, 0.4% Chinese, 0.4% Vietnamese) 0.1% Pacific Islander, 2.8% some other race, and 2.2% from two or more races. Hispanic and Latino people of any race made up 6.3% of the total (2.0% Puerto Rican, 1.7% Guatemalan, 0.5% Mexican, 0.4% Salvadoran, 0.3% Dominican, 0.2% Colombian).[28] Most of the Hispanic and Asian populations were concentrated in the eastern portion.

Of the 16,884 households, 33.3% had someone under the age of 18 living with them, 50.1% were headed by married couples living together, 11.3% had a female householder with no husband present, 33.6% were non-families, 26.4% were individuals, and 9.8% were people aged 65 or older living alone. The average size of household was 2.55 and the average family size was 3.11.[28]

The age distribution in the city was: 22.7% under 18, 7.9% from 18 to 24, 28.5% from 25 to 44, 28.0% from 45 to 64, and 12.9% over 64. The median age was 39.5 years. For every 100 females, there were 95.5 males. For every 100 females aged 18 and over, there were 93.3 males.[28]

For the period 2009–2011, the estimated median annual income for a household in the city was $63,647, and the median income for a family was $71,091. Male full-time workers had a median income of $52,558, females $40,954. Per capita income was $30,039. About 4.2% of families and 6.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.4% of those under 18 and 7.8% of those aged 65 or over.[29]

Second Congregational Church

There are over 20 conservation areas amounting to more than 600 acres of walkable woods: the Antony Lawrence Preserve, Coleman Reservation, Attleboro Springs, and the Bungay River Conservation Area in the north of the city.

Attleboro Public Library

Attleboro's school district has five elementary schools (Hill-Roberts, Hyman Fine, A. Irvin Studley, Peter Thacher and Thomas Willett), three middle schools (Brennan, Coelho and Wamsutta), and two high schools (Attleboro High School, and Attleboro Community Academy). Attleboro High School has its own vocational division, and its football team (the "Blue Bombardiers") has a traditional rivalry with North Attleborough High School, whom they play in their Thanksgiving Day football game. Attleboro Community Academy is a night school for students aged 16–25 to obtain their high school diplomas and could not function in traditional high school. Bishop Feehan High School is a co-educational Roman Catholic high school that opened in 1961 and is named for Bishop Daniel Francis Feehan, second Bishop of the Diocese of Fall River. The city also has a satellite branch of Bristol Community College, formerly housed in the city's former high school building but since relocated to an old Texas Instruments site. Bridgewater State University opened a satellite site in Attleboro in 2009, sharing space with Bristol Community College.

• Artine Artinian (1907–2005), scholar of French literature
• Cathy Berberian (1925–1983), composer, mezzo-soprano singer, and vocalist born in Attleboro
• Roger Bowen (1932–1996), comedic actor known for his portrayal of Lt. Col. Henry Blake in the 1970 film MASH; co-founder of comedy troupe The Second City
• George Bradburn (1806–1880), an American politician and Unitarian minister in Massachusetts, known for his support for abolitionism and women's rights[46]
• Jonathan P. Braga (b.1969) United States Army lieutenant general[47]
• Geoff Cameron (born 1985), professional soccer player
• Horace Capron (1804–1885), Union Army officer during the Civil War and later an agricultural advisor to Japan; his methods revolutionized Japanese agriculture[48]
• David Cobb (1748–1830), major general of the Continental Army, speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, United States Congressman from Massachusetts[48]
• Ray Conniff (1916–2002), Easy listening recording artist
• Mark Coogan (born 1966), coach and retired American track athlete, first Massachusetts native to run the mile in under four minutes, placing 41st with a time of 2:20:27, after placing second in the U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon with at time of 2:13:05
• David Daggett (1764–1851), United States Senator, associate justice of Connecticut Supreme Court, mayor of New Haven, Connecticut, and a founder of the Yale Law School[48]
• Naphtali Daggett (1727–1780), Presbyterian clergyman, professor of divinity at Yale University, fought in the American Revolutionary War[48]
• Gilbert Franklin (1919–2004), American sculptor, educator[49]
• Paul G. Gaffney II, President, Monmouth University, US Navy Vice Admiral (Ret.), former Chief of Naval Research, President of National Defense University
• Steve Hagerty, 21st Mayor of Evanston, IL, and Founder and CEO of Hagerty Consulting, Inc
• Thomas Hobson, American actor, singer; Best known for his role as Shout in The Fresh Beat Band
• William Manchester (1922–2004), historian and biographer, author of The Death of a President
• Jonathan Maxcy (1768–1820), Baptist clergyman and president of Brown University[48]
• Virgil Maxcy (1785–1844), member of the Maryland House of Delegates and the Maryland State Senate, later first solicitor of the treasury and chargé d'affaires at the United States embassy in Belgium[48]
• Christian Petersen (1885–1961), sculptor who worked as a die-cutter in Attleboro
• Helen Watson Phelps (1864–1944), painter
• Daniel Read (1757–1836), composer, who published 400 hymns in several collections[50]
• Robert Rounseville (1914–1974), operatic tenor, who appeared in the films The Tales of Hoffmann and Carousel, and onstage in the original productions of the musicals Candide and Man of La Mancha
• Ken Ryan (born 1968), former pitcher for the Boston Red Sox and Philadelphia Phillies
• Howard Smith (1893–1968), American actor, singer
• Abby Trott, voice actress and singer best known as the voice of Nezuko Kamado in the English dubs of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba and Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train, and Ivy in Carmen Sandiego.[51][52]
• Robert A. Weygand (born 1948), U.S. representative[53]

• List of mill towns in Massachusetts

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Attleboro, Massachusetts.

• Official website