Concord, Massachusetts | |
|---|---|
 Concord's Main Street in 2012 | |
 Seal | |
| Motto(s): Quam Firma Res Concordia(Latin) "How Strong Is Harmony" | |
 Location in Middlesex County, Massachusetts | |
  Concord  Concord  Concord | |
| Coordinates:42°27′37″N71°20′58″W / 42.46028°N 71.34944°W /42.46028; -71.34944 | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Massachusetts |
| County | Middlesex |
| Settled | 1635 |
| Incorporated | September 12, 1635[1] |
| Founded by | Peter Bulkley andSimon Willard |
| Government | |
| • Type | Open town meeting |
| • Town Manager | Kerry Lafleur |
| Area | |
• Total | 67.4 km2 (26.0 sq mi) |
| • Land | 64.5 km2 (24.9 sq mi) |
| • Water | 2.5 km2 (0.97 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 43 m (141 ft) |
| Population (2020) | |
• Total | 18,491 |
| • Density | 287/km2 (743/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC−5 (Eastern) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC−4 (Eastern) |
| ZIP Code | 01742 |
| Area code | 351 /978 |
| FIPS code | 25-15060 |
| GNIS feature ID | 0619398 |
| Website | www.concordma.gov |
Concord (/ˈkɒŋkərd/) is a town inMiddlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. In the2020 census, the town population was 18,491.[2] It contains thecensus-designated place ofWest Concord. TheUnited States Census Bureau considers Concord part ofGreater Boston. The town center is near where theSudbury andAssabet rivers join to form theConcord River.
The town was established in 1635 by a group ofEnglish settlers; by 1775, the population had grown to 1,400.[3]
As dissension between colonists in North America and the British crown intensified, 700 troops were sent to confiscate militia ordnance stored at Concord on April 19, 1775.[4][5] The ensuing conflict, thebattles of Lexington and Concord, were the incidents (including theshot heard round the world) which triggered theAmerican Revolutionary War.
A rich literary community developed in Concord during the mid-19th century, centered aroundRalph Waldo Emerson. Emerson's circle includedNathaniel Hawthorne,Louisa May Alcott andHenry David Thoreau. Major works written in Concord during this period include Alcott's novelLittle Women, Emerson's essaySelf-Reliance, and Thoreau'sWalden andCivil Disobedience. In this era, the now-ubiquitousConcord grape was developed in Concord byEphraim Wales Bull. Until 2025, major grape juice producerWelch's was headquartered there.[6]
In the 20th century, Concord developed into an affluent Boston suburb and tourist destination, drawing visitors to theOld North Bridge,Orchard House andWalden Pond. The town retains its literary culture and is home to notable authors, includingDoris Kearns Goodwin,Alan Lightman andGregory Maguire. Concord is also notable for its progressive and environmentalist politics, becoming in 2012 the first community in the United States to ban single-servingPET bottles.
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The area which became the town of Concord was originally known as "Musketaquid", situated at the confluence of theSudbury andAssabet rivers.[7] The name was anAlgonquian word for "grassy plain", fitting the area's low-lyingmarshes andkettle holes.[8] Native Americans had cultivated corn crops there; the rivers were rich with fish and the land was lush and arable.[9] The area was largely depopulated in 1633 by anepidemic of smallpox,[10] a disease likely to have been introduced to the New World by European explorers and settlers.[11]
In 1635, a group of English settlers led by Rev.Peter Bulkley and MajorSimon Willard received a land grant from the General Court and negotiated a land purchase with the localindigenous tribes. Bulkeley was an influential religious leader who "carried a good number of planters with him into the woods";[12] Willard was a canny trader who spoke the Algonquian language and had gained the trust of Native Americans.[13] They exchangedwampum, hatchets, knives, cloth and other useful items for the six-square-mile (16 km2) purchase fromSquaw Sachem of Mistick, which formed the basis of the new town, called "Concord" in appreciation of the peaceful acquisition.[7][14]
Thebattles of Lexington and Concord were the first military engagements of theAmerican Revolutionary War.[15] On April 19, 1775, 700British Army troops led by Lieutenant-ColonelFrancis Smith marched fromBoston to Concord to confiscate a cache of arms stored in the town. Unbeknownst to them,Patriot leaders had moved most of the cache elsewhere. Around 150 Patriotminutemen from local towns, who had been forewarned of the Army's march bySamuel Prescott on April 18, quicklymustered and confronted the British inLexington. Though who fired the first shot is unknown, a firefight broke out and the British fired a volley at the Americans before dispersing them with abayonet charge, killing eight. The British proceeded into Concord and dispersed into company-sized formations to search for the cache. At 11:00am, 400 minutemen engaged 100 British troops at theOld North Bridge, leading to a number of casualties on both sides and forcing them to fall back and rejoin the Army's main force.[16]
After the British completed their search for the cache in Concord, they marched back to Boston, but were constantly attacked by minutemen in hit-and-run attacks, suffering more casualties before reachingCharlestown. The minutemen then blockaded the narrow land accesses to Charlestown, initiating thesiege of Boston. PoetRalph Waldo Emerson subsequently described the shot fired by the minutemen at the Old North Bridge in his 1837 poem "Concord Hymn" as the "shot heard round the world".[17][18] In 1894, theLexington Historical Society petitioned theMassachusetts State Legislature to proclaim April 19 "Lexington Day"; Concord countered with "Concord Day". GovernorFrederic T. Greenhalge opted for a compromise, proclaiming the day asPatriots' Day. In April 1975, Concord hosted a bicentennial celebration of the battle, featuring an address at the Old North Bridge by PresidentGerald Ford.[19]
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Concord has a remarkably rich literary history centered in the 19th century aroundRalph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882), who moved there in 1835 and quickly became its most prominent citizen.[20] A successful lecturer and philosopher, Emerson had deep roots in the town: his father,Rev. William Emerson (1769–1811), grew up in Concord before becoming an eminent Boston minister, and his grandfather,William Emerson Sr., witnessed the battle at the North Bridge from his house, and later became a chaplain in the Continental Army.[21] Emerson was at the center of a group of like-mindedTranscendentalists living in Concord.[22] Among them were the authorNathaniel Hawthorne (1804–1864) and the philosopherAmos Bronson Alcott (1799–1888), the father ofLouisa May Alcott (1832–1888). A native Concordian,Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) was another notable member of Emerson's circle. This substantial collection of literary talent in one small town ledHenry James to dub Concord "the biggest little place in America."[23]
Among the products of this intellectually stimulating environment were Emerson's many essays, includingSelf-Reliance (1841), Louisa May Alcott's novelLittle Women (1868), and Hawthorne's story collectionMosses from an Old Manse (1846).[24] Thoreau famously lived in a small cabin nearWalden Pond, where he wroteWalden (1854).[25] After being imprisoned in the Concord jail for refusing to pay taxes in political protest againstslavery and theMexican–American War, Thoreau penned the influential essay "Resistance to Civil Government", popularly known asCivil Disobedience (1849).[26] Evidencing their strong political beliefs through actions, Thoreau and many of his neighbors served as station masters and agents on theUnderground Railroad.[27]
The Wayside, a house on Lexington Road, has been home to several authors.[28] It was occupied by scientistJohn Winthrop (1714–1779) whenHarvard College was temporarily moved to Concord during the Revolutionary War.[29] The Wayside was later the home of the Alcott family (who referred to it as "Hillside"); the Alcotts sold it to Hawthorne in 1852, and the family moved into the adjacentOrchard House in 1858. Hawthorne dubbed the house "The Wayside" and lived there until his death. The house was purchased in 1883 by Boston publisherDaniel Lothrop and his wife, Harriett, who wrote theFive Little Peppers series and other children's books under the pen nameMargaret Sidney.[30] Today, The Wayside and the Orchard House are both museums. Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne and the Alcotts are buried on Authors' Ridge in Concord'sSleepy Hollow Cemetery.[31]
The 20th-century composerCharles Ives wrote hisConcord Sonata (c. 1904–1915) as a series of impressionistic portraits of literary figures associated with the town. Concord maintains a lively literary culture to this day; notable authors who have called the town home in recent years includeDoris Kearns Goodwin,Alan Lightman,Robert B. Parker andGregory Maguire.
In 1849,Ephraim Wales Bull developed the now-ubiquitousConcord grape at his home on Lexington Road, where the original vine still grows.[32]Welch's, the first company to sell grape juice, maintains a headquarters in Concord.[33] The Boston-born Bull developed the Concord grape by experimenting with seeds from some of the native species. On his farm outside Concord, down the road from the Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne and Alcott homesteads, he planted some 22,000 seedlings before producing the ideal grape. Early ripening, to escape the killing northern frosts, but with a rich, full-bodied flavor, the hardy Concord grape thrives where European cuttings had failed to survive. In 1853, Bull felt ready to put the first bunches of Concord grapes before the public and won a prize at theBoston Horticultural Society Exhibition. From these early arbors, the fame of Bull's Concord grape spread worldwide, bringing him up to $1,000 a cutting, but he died a relatively poor man. The inscription on his tombstone reads, "He sowed—others reaped."[34]
On September 5, 2012, Concord became the first community in the United States to approve a ban on the sale of water in single-serving plastic bottles. The law banned the sale ofPET bottles of one liter (34 U.S. fl oz) or less starting January 1, 2013.[35] The ban provoked national controversy. An editorial in theLos Angeles Times characterized the ban as "born of convoluted reasoning" and "wrongheaded."[36] Some residents believed the ban would do little to affect the sales of bottled water, which was still highly accessible in the surrounding areas,[37] and that it restricted consumers' freedom of choice.[38] Opponents also considered the ban to unfairly target one product in particular, when other, less healthy alternatives such as soda and fruit juice were still readily available in bottled form.[39][40] Nonetheless, subsequent efforts to repeal the ban have failed inopen town meetings.[41] An effort to repeal Concord's ban on the sale of plastic water bottles was resoundingly defeated at a Town Meeting. Resident Jean Hill,[42] who led the initial fight for the ban, said, "I really feel at the age of 86 that I've really accomplished something." Town Moderator Eric Van Loon didn't even bother taking an official tally because opposition to repeal was so overwhelming. It appeared that upwards of 80 to 90 percent of the 1,127 voters in attendance raised their ballots against the repeal measure.
The issue had been bubbling in Concord for several years. In 2010, a ban approved in a town meeting, which wasn't written as a bylaw, was rejected by the state attorney general's office. In 2011, a new version of the ban narrowly failed at a town meeting by a vote of 265 to 272. The ban on selling water in polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles of one liter or less passed in 2012 by a vote of 403 to 364, and a repeal effort in April failed by a vote of 621 to 687.
According to theUnited States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 25.9 square miles (67 km2), of which 24.9 square miles (64 km2) is land and 1.0 square mile (2.6 km2), or 3.75%, is water. The city ofLowell is 13 miles (21 km) to the north,Boston is 19 miles (31 km) to the east, andNashua, New Hampshire, is 23 miles (37 km) to the north.
Massachusetts state routes2,2A,62,126,119,111 and117 pass through Concord. The town center is near theconfluence of theSudbury andAssabet rivers, forming theConcord River, which flows north to theMerrimack River in Lowell.Gunpowder was manufactured from 1835 to 1940 in theAmerican Powder Mills complex extending upstream along the Assabet River.[43]
Local government consists of a five-member executive Select Board[44] and a legislature utilizingopen town meeting.
On the federal level, Concord is part ofMassachusetts's 3rd congressional district, represented byLori Trahan. The state's senior (Class I) member of theUnited States Senate isElizabeth Warren. The junior (Class II) senator isEd Markey.
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
|---|---|---|
| 1850 | 2,249 | — |
| 1860 | 2,246 | −0.1% |
| 1870 | 2,412 | +7.4% |
| 1880 | 3,922 | +62.6% |
| 1890 | 4,427 | +12.9% |
| 1900 | 5,652 | +27.7% |
| 1910 | 6,421 | +13.6% |
| 1920 | 6,461 | +0.6% |
| 1930 | 7,477 | +15.7% |
| 1940 | 7,972 | +6.6% |
| 1950 | 8,623 | +8.2% |
| 1960 | 12,517 | +45.2% |
| 1970 | 16,148 | +29.0% |
| 1980 | 16,293 | +0.9% |
| 1990 | 17,076 | +4.8% |
| 2000 | 16,993 | −0.5% |
| 2010 | 17,668 | +4.0% |
| 2020 | 18,491 | +4.7% |
| 2024* | 18,092 | −2.2% |
| *=population estimate. Source:United States census records andPopulation Estimates Program data.[45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55] | ||
At the 2020 census,[2] there were 18,491 people, 7,295 housing units and 6,439 families residing in the town. The population density was 714.0 inhabitants per square mile (275.7/km2). The average density of housing units was 282.0 per square mile (108.9/km2). The racial makeup of the town was 82.94%White, 2.61%African American, 6.18%Asian, 4.55%Hispanic orLatino (of any race), 0.02%Native American, 0.02%Pacific Islander, 1.02% fromother races, and 6.86% from two or more races.
There were 6,439 families, of which 35.98% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 62.98% were married couples living together, 22.4% had a female householder with no spouse present, 12.4% had a male householder with no spouse present, 28.42% were non-families and 24.59% of all households were made up of individuals. The average family size was 3.18.
25.1% of the population were under the age of 18, 4.2% from 18 to 24, 25.8% from 25 to 44, 28.4% from 45 to 64 and 16.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females, there were 100.3 males. For every 100 women aged 18 and over, there were 101.8 men.
At the time of the2020 census, themedian household income was $184,086. About 2.5% of the population was below the poverty line, including 1.7% of those under age 18 and 1.1% of those aged 65 or over.
The town's name is pronounced by its residents as/ˈkɒŋkərd/KONG-kərd, in a manner indistinguishable from the American pronunciation of the word "conquered."[56] In thelocal dialect ofGreater Boston, it is frequently heard with the[ər] in the second syllable replaced by[ʏ] ([ˈkɒŋkʏd]KAHN-kəd).[57]
According to Concord's 2022 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report,[58] the principal employers in the town are:
| # | Employer | # of Employees |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Emerson Hospital | 1,000+ |
| 2 | Corrections Department (Commonwealth of Massachusetts) | 500+ |
| 3 | New England Deaconness (Newbury Court senior living facility) | 100+ |
| 4 | Atrius Health | 100+ |
| 5 | Care One of Concord (nursing and assisted living) | 100+ |
| 6 | Caring Companion Home Care | 100+ |
| 7 | Concord Academy (coeducational private high school) | 100+ |
| 8 | Dynasil Corporation of America (distributor) | 100+ |
Concord andWest Concord stations are served by theMBTA'sFitchburg Line. Yankee Line provides commuter bus service between Concord and Boston.[59]
Concord'ssister cities are:[60]
Concord is featured in the 2012 video gameAssassin's Creed 3,[67] the 2020 video gameAssassin's Creed Valhalla and the 2015 video gameFallout 4.[68] The video gameWalden, a game, based on Henry David Thoreau'sWalden, is set in the town.[69][70]
Scenes from the 2017 comedy filmDaddy's Home 2 were filmed at the Concord Scout House.[71] Parts of the 2019 filmLittle Women were shot on the Concord River.[72]
Jane Langton's Homer Kelly murder mystery novels are largely set in Concord. Her 1964 novelThe Transcendental Murder was described in theBoston Globe in 1975 as "a hymn to Concord, its history, its houses, its hallowed ground, its people and patriots, and its ghosts (Emerson and Thoreau)."[73]
Italian directorLucio Fulci's 1981 horror filmThe House by the Cemetery was partly filmed in Concord, notably at the Holy Family Church, a Main Street realty and theConcord Free Public Library.[74]
The Mother-Daughter Book Club series of children's novels is set in Concord.[75]
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![Concord 250, April 19, 2025[76][77]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aConcord_250_Concord_Massachusetts_2025.jpg)
Municipalities and communities ofMiddlesex County, Massachusetts,United States | ||
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| Cities |  | |
| Towns |
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| Other villages | ||
| Footnotes | ‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties | |
| International | |
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| National | |
| Geographic | |
| Other | |
