Devens, Massachusetts | |
|---|---|
 Devens Charity Chili Cookoff | |
| Motto: "More Than a Home. A Community"[1] | |
 Location inWorcester County and the state ofMassachusetts. | |
| Coordinates:42°32′14″N71°36′56″W / 42.53722°N 71.61556°W /42.53722; -71.61556 | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Massachusetts |
| Counties | Middlesex,Worcester |
| Towns | Ayer,Shirley,Harvard |
| Area | |
• Total | 6.87 sq mi (17.80 km2) |
| • Land | 6.78 sq mi (17.57 km2) |
| • Water | 0.089 sq mi (0.23 km2) |
| Population | |
• Total | 1,697 |
| • Density | 250.1/sq mi (96.58/km2) |
| Time zone | UTC-5 (Eastern (EST)) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-4 (EDT) |
| ZIP Codes | |
| Area code | 978 |
| FIPS code | 25-16840 |
| Website | www |
Devens is a regionalenterprise zone andcensus-designated place in the towns ofAyer andShirley (inMiddlesex County) andHarvard (inWorcester County) in theU.S. state ofMassachusetts. It is the successor toFort Devens, a military post that operated from 1917 to 1996. The population was 1,697 at the2020 census,[3] down from 1,840 in2010.[4]
 | This sectionneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.(June 2007) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
The area itself is named after jurist and Civil War generalCharles Devens. In 2011, the CDP tried to secede from Ayer, Shirley, and Harvard and become the 352nd town in the state but failed the vote. Some residents are still looking to secede to become a town.
The area operated as Camp Devens and laterFort Devens from 1917 to 1996. The Fort's sitting was due primarily to its location at a major hub of the rail network in New England. TheU.S. Army base was officially closed in 1996 after 79 years of service. Some parcels were retained by the federal military for use as the Devens Reserve Forces Training Area, reactivated as a smaller Fort Devens in 2007.
The process for distribution of surplus land parcels on the former Fort Devens allowed theFederal Bureau of Prisons,Shriver Job Corps,Massachusetts National Guard,Massachusetts Veterans andMassDevelopment[5] to acquire the land. The Bureau of Prisons established theFederal Medical Center, Devens, a prison hospital. The bulk of the land was purchased by MassDevelopment for $17 million. MassDevelopment is a quasi-public development authority that has been given the task of turning Devens into a residential and business community. Since the closing of the military base, many of the existing buildings have been renovated or reconstructed; housing developments now exist, along with a growing business park, a new hotel, restaurants, two disc golf courses and agolf course. Veterans of theArmy Security Agency have also expressed interest in building a museum there, as Fort Devens was their principal training facility for more than two decades.[citation needed]
A comprehensive disposition process has been ongoing since 2003, charged with determining the future political governance of Devens. During 2005-06 it was determined that the governance scenario best suited for the regional stakeholders was to create a new independent town. On October 24, 2006, a vote to confirm the disposition recommendation for future governance was voted down by two of the six stakeholders, the adjoining towns of Harvard and Ayer (residents of Shirley, the Devens residents, MassDevelopment and the Devens Enterprise Commission supported the resolution). On November 7, 2006, during the state elections, the second opportunity to vote on Devens disposition had only Harvard voting against the scenario with the towns of Ayer and Shirley supporting Devens as a town. Devens's disposition will now be determined by another disposition process or by the state legislature. Residents of Devens vote in either Harvard or Ayer but still have no elected representatives that have municipal authority in Devens. MassDevelopment maintains the utilities (such as gas, electricity and water) and contracts out public safety services such as firefighting and police.[citation needed]
Devens is home to, among other enterprises,New England Studios, a film studio opened in 2014[6] andCommonwealth Fusion Systems, aspinoff of theMassachusetts Institute of Technology which raised $1.8 billion in December 2021 to build atokamak fusion device.
Devens is on the boundary betweenMiddlesex andWorcester counties, with approximately half in the northwestern part of the town ofHarvard in northeastern Worcester County and the rest in the southeastern part of the town ofShirley and the western part of the town ofAyer in northwestern Middlesex County. The Devens CDP is bordered to the northeast by the village ofAyer and to the west by the village ofShirley.
Massachusetts Route 2 forms the southern edge of the community, with access from Exit 106. Route 2 leads west 7 miles (11 km) to theLeominster/Fitchburg area and east 16 miles (26 km) toConcord.
According to theU.S. Census Bureau, the Devens CDP has a total area of 6.87 square miles (17.79 km2), of which 6.78 square miles (17.56 km2) are land and 0.09 square miles (0.23 km2), or 1.31%, are water.[2] TheNashua River flows northward through the west side of the community, part of theMerrimack River watershed.
For demographic information about the area prior to 2010, seeFort Devens (CDP), Massachusetts.
| Census | Pop. | Note | %± |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 1,840 | — | |
| 2020 | 1,697 | −7.8% | |
| U.S. Decennial Census[7] | |||
Devens residents are represented at two levels:
Commonwealth Fusion Systems, an MIT spinoff, raised $1.8 billion in December 2021 to build atokamak fusion device, calledSPARC, at a scale intended to achieve “net energy,” that is, it is expected to output more energy than required to sustain its nuclear fusion reactions. The company is building this facility in Devens. The full-scale machine is planned to be fully operational by 2027.[9][10]
Devens is a non-operating school district. It currently contracts with the town of Harvard for educating its children. However, Devens is the home of theFrancis W. Parker Charter Essential School. Parker is a public charter school with students from about 30 towns in the central Massachusetts area.
With the exception of the U.S. Army Garrison Fort Devens cantonment area, the Devens Reserve Forces Training Area, and the Federal Medical Center prison, most of the former Fort Devens area has been returned to civilian use.
Of interest to the general public in Devens:
Municipalities and communities ofMiddlesex County, Massachusetts,United States | ||
|---|---|---|
| Cities |  | |
| Towns |
| |
| CDPs | ||
| Other villages | ||
| Footnotes | ‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties | |
