Somerville Apartments

Somerville (pronunciation IPA: /ˈsʌmərvɪl/) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, just north of Boston. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 77,478, and was the most densely populated municipality in New England, and the most dense in the United States outside the New York – New Jersey metropolitan area. It was established as a town in 1842, when it was separated from the urbanizing Charlestown.

History

Somerville was first settled in 1630 as part of Charlestown. It was known as “Charlestown beyond the Neck” because it was part of the Massachusetts mainland, not the Charlestown Peninsula. (Charlestown Neck was the narrow strip of land that joined the two.) The incorporation of Somerville in 1842 separated the largely rural town from the urbanizing Charlestown.

The original choice for the city’s new name after breaking away from Charlestown was Walford, after the first settler of Charlestown. However this name was not adopted by the separation committee. Mr. Charles Miller, a member of this committee, proposed the name “Somerville” which was chosen. It was not derived from any one person’s name. A report commissioned by the Somerville Historical Society found that Somerville was a “purely fanciful name”.

Traffic on the Middlesex Canal began its famous route from the mouth of the Charles River in Charlestown (now Boston) to Lowell going through East Somerville, where several historical markers can be discovered today.

Historically Somerville encompassed many of the less desirable railway and industrial lands squeezed between the Charles River to the southwest and the Mystic River to the northeast. For all its problems, Somerville’s late 1800s and early 1900s industrial revolution left behind a rich historical record of Sanborn Maps, apparently invented in Somerville in 1867, and subsequently used for fire insurance appraisal across the USA. The delicate, detailed original Sanborn Maps are on display at the main branch of the Somerville Public Library.

Somerville’s industrial past left one special legacy, the invention of Fluff, the marshmallow creme.

One of the earliest American flags was raised on Prospect Hill, above Union Square, on January 1, 1776.

Somerville was once colloquially referred to as “Slummerville,” referring to its blue-collar residents and its reputation for crime, especially in the city’s east, where James “Buddy” McLean and Howie Winter and the “Winter Hill Gang” were based. However, after the gentrification period the city went through in the 1990s this name became less prevalent. More recently, lobbying by grassroots organizations is attempting to revive and preserve Somerville’s “small town” neighborhood environments by supporting local business, public transit, gardens and pedestrian/bike access.

Political history

The first Democratic Mayor of the city was John J. Murphy (1929). He succeeded on his seventh try by uniting the Irish, Italians, Greeks, and Portuguese people. There were “Candle Parades” with thousands marching to giant rallies in the middle of Union Square (and other squares too). At the time signs in real estate windows often had “Irish Catholic need not apply” under their “Flats for Rent”.

Geography

Somerville is located at 42°23′26″N, 71°6′13″W (42.390546, -71.103683).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 10.9 km² (4.2 mi²). 10.6 km² (4.1 mi²) of it is land and 0.3 km² (0.1 mi²) of it (2.61%) is water.

Somerville has a number of squares that are bustling business and entertainment centers, among them Davis Square, Union Square, Ball Square, Teele Square, and Magoun Square.

The Somerville Community Path is a tree-lined rail trail that runs from Cedar Street to Davis Square. It connects with the Linear Park, which in turn connects with the Minuteman Bikeway and the Fitchburg Cutoff Path. The city has many community groups, including Friends of the Community Path, dedicated to extending the Somerville Community Path eastward from its current ending at Cedar Street, to the Charles River Path and on to Boston.