Ashland is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the MetroWest region. The population was 18,832 at the 2020 United States census.
History 18th–19th centuries The area now known as Ashland was settled in the early 18th century and inhabited prior to that by the Megunko Native Americans, to which Megunko Hill owes its name. Previously known as "Unionville", Ashland was incorporated in 1846, bearing the name of statesman Henry Clay's Kentucky estate. It is considerably younger than many of the surrounding towns, as Ashland's territory was taken in near-equal parts from the previously established towns of Hopkinton, Holliston (previously of colonial era Sherborn's territory), and Framingham.
The construction of the Boston & Worcester Railroad, later the Boston & Albany, in the 1830s was key to the early development of the town. Decades later, two other rail lines opened stations in Ashland. Along with the Sudbury River, the railroad helped to attract numerous mills to develop a bustling boot and shoe industry. However, by constructing three reservoirs along the river in 1878, the Boston Water Board inadvertently stymied further growth, most notably by halting the construction of the Dwight Printing Company's granite mills. Although the mills closed, starting in the 1890s the Hopkinton Railroad Company, providing a connection to Milford, and the Natick Street Railway, which operated streetcars between the towns of Sherborn, Framingham, and Natick, offered service in Ashland. These rail lines were gone by the 1920s, rendered obsolete by automobiles.
Telechron Around the same time that the local rail lines were in decline, the inventor Henry E. Warren developed the Warren Synchronizing Timer in 1916, which made synchronous electric clocks possible by keeping alternating current flowing from power plants at a consistent sixty cycles per second. Warren founded Telechron, which, in partnership with General Electric. At its height in the 1950s, Telechron employed 2,000 people, or roughly one-third of Ashland. GE manufactured electric clocks in Ashland until 1979, when it sold to Timex. Thirteen years later, the Telechron plant was closed for good. A Warren Synchronizing Timer is on display at the Smithsonian's Museum of American History in Washington D.C., and the high school sports teams are called "The Clockers".
20th century For most of the 20th century, Ashland's population remained slow in growth, until the post-war boom beginning in the 1950s. During that period, Ashland grew from a far-removed rural town west of Boston to a primarily residential suburb by the 1980s. Over time, many farms and open spaces have given way to housing, although some untouched land still remains, including the Ashland Town Forest, Ashland State Park, Warren Woods, and land comprising the beach and dam portions of Hopkinton State Park.
Two members of the Ashland Police Department have died in the line of duty. Patrolman Louis Duncan Phipps died on June 10, 1942, four days after he was injured attempting to subdue an intoxicated man at a dinner dance. Patrolman Charles E. Cadorette died on September 11, 1967, from a gunshot wound suffered when he attempted to disarm a person who had stolen a car. Cadorette's partner, Robert Gonfrade, was also shot during the incident, but managed to return fire, resulting in the death of the man who had shot Cadorette. Gonfrade recovered from his injuries and later served as Ashland's chief of police from 1973 to 1994.
Four members of the Ashland Fire Department have died in the line of duty. On August 21, 1963, three members of the department—Chief Charles Moran, Lt. Norman E. Barry, and Firefighter John Rebenacker—were killed when a fuel tank exploded while they were providing mutual aid at a fire in neighboring Framingham. Firefighter Edward J. Bessey was killed on February 23, 1966, when his car was struck by a train as he was driving to the fire station to respond to a call.
Massachusetts Route 135 and Massachusetts Route 126 pass through Ashland. Route 135 is dominated by older residential development of varying density and is also part of the route for the Boston Marathon, which began in Ashland on Pleasant Street until the start was moved to Hopkinton's Main Street in 1924. Route 126 has developed rapidly since the 1980s, as farms have given way to shopping centers and condominiums. A part of the draw of Ashland, and one that has been publicized in recent years, is its "ideal" location about halfway between the cities of Boston and Worcester. The town has its own stop on the Framingham/Worcester Line of the MBTA Commuter Rail and also has nearby access to both I-90 and I-495. I-90 briefly passes through the northernmost part of Ashland, but there is no interchange there.
Ashland is considered part of MetroWest, which also includes the nearby towns of Framingham, Holliston, and Hopkinton. Hopkinton is Ashland's longstanding rival in a traditional Thanksgiving Day football game, a rivalry with roots in the formation of the town and the resulting 1846 dispute concerning Ashland's fire engine Megunko 1.
Nyanza The US Color and Chemical Company, later named New England Aniline Works, Inc., and finally The Nyanza Color and Chemical Company, had a dye-manufacturing plant in Ashland. The plant opened in 1917 when American entry into World War I cut off the supply of dyes from Germany, then the world's principal source. In 1971, the factory was identified as a hazard when pollution was discovered in the nearby Sudbury River. The site was placed on the Superfund National Priority List in 1982 when heavy metals and organochlorides were discovered in the soil and water near the site. It was also deemed probable that particles of mercuric sulfate were blown into the air. In 1998, Trustees settled natural resource damages (NRD) claims with the responsible parties at the Nyanza Chemical Waste Dump Superfund Site for $3 million. $230,769 of the settlement was allocated for groundwater resources.
In 2006, the Massachusetts State Department of Public Health released a study that found that people who grew up in Ashland between the late 1960s and early 1980s and swam in the waters near Nyanza had a 200–300% higher incidence of cancer than those who were not exposed to the chemicals. In 2011, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection's Bureau of Waste Site Cleanup's NRD program settled with the slowly-going-bankrupt Nyanza for $3 million, which with interest has grown to almost $4 million. The Nyanza case had previously been at the NRD program of the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. In 2016, proposed housing near Nyanza site raised alarm in Ashland. In 2020, the EPA proposed a remedy to clean up groundwater near the site, the final operable unit (phase) of the site cleanup.
Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which is land and (3.72%) is water.
Adjacent towns Ashland is located in eastern Massachusetts, bordered by: Framingham on the northeast Sherborn on the east Holliston on the south Hopkinton on the southwest Southborough on the northwest
Climate Ashland's climate is typical for New England. Winters are variably cold, with frequent Nor'easters and occasional blizzards. Snowfall ranges widely from season to season, although the average is about . In the recent past, there has been as little as of snow (in the 1988–89 winter season) to (in 1995–1996). The amount decreases dramatically eastward towards Boston because of the influence of the Atlantic Ocean. Snowfall amounts can also decrease rapidly south of Ashland. Low temperatures below are not uncommon in winter, and the lowest recent temperatures have been during the 1994 North American cold wave, in January 2011, and in February 2016. Average January high temperatures are in the range . Average January low temperatures are in the range . Snow depth can reach or more during the winter season. The winter of 2010–2011 was notable for snow depths of nearly during January and February. Nearly of snowfall was recorded in Ashland in January 2011 alone. The winter of 2014–2015 saw a very cold February and March. Snow cover lasted from late January until the first week of April. February 2015 was one of the coldest months on record. Snowfall for Ashland was for the season, and snow depth reached .
Spring temperatures can be mitigated by penetrating cold fronts originating from the Canadian Maritimes, known as "backdoor cold fronts". Typically, high temperatures consistently above do not set in until late May. The last frost is usually in mid-May. Summers are generally comfortable, with periods of high humidity. Prolonged heat waves of three or more days with highs of or above are uncommon, but can occur. In July 2011, an unusually high temperature of was reached. Average July high temperatures are in the range and average lows are around .
Severe summer weather is not as common as in areas to the west in Central Massachusetts. However, on July 10, 1989, high winds occurred, causing widespread tree damage through most of Ashland with several homes damaged. This storm was part of a complex of severe storms that spawned several EF0 and EF1 tornadoes in towns in some neighboring counties. Fall is pleasant, with the first frost usually around October 1, and the peak of the fall foliage season averages around October 12. Ashland can expect a white Christmas slightly over 50 percent of the time.
Demographics
At the 2010 census, there were 16,593 people, 6,385 households and 4,531 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 6,609 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 84.2% White, 2.4% African American, 0.1% Native American, 8.8% Asian, 2.6% from other races, and 1.9% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 4.5% of the population.
There were 6,484 households, of which 36.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.0% were married couples living together, 2.7% had a male householder with no wife present, 8.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.8% were non-families. 24.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.51 and the average family size was 3.04.
Of the 16,593 people in the population, 24.9% were under the age of 18, 5.5% were 15 to 19 years of age, 4.1% were 20 to 24 years of age, 27.9% were 25 to 44 years of age, 30.7% were 45 to 64 years of age, and 10.9% were 65 years and over. The median age was 40.1 years. For every 100 females, there was 94.6 males. For every 100 females 18 years and over there were 92.0 males.
The median household income was $93,770, and the median family income was $116,799. The median income of individuals working full-time was $79,485 for males versus $60,720 for females. The per capita income for the town was $46,626. About 2.2% of families and 4.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 3.7% of those under age 18 and 9.6% of those age 65 or over.
Education In 2005, the town completed the new Ashland High School and revised the division of grades. These changes include the 6th grade being moved to join the 7th and 8th grades in the former high school to form what is now Ashland Middle School and moving the 3rd grade from the Henry E. Warren Elementary School into the Mindess Elementary School to join the 4th and 5th grades. The kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grades are in the Henry E. Warren Elementary School, and preschool is in the William Pittaway School. The graduating class of 2007 was the first class to complete a full year in the new high school.