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city in Bristol Country, Massachusetts, United States
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Attleboro is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. It was once known as "The Jewelry Capital of the World" for its many jewelry manufacturers. According to the 2020 census, Attleboro had a population of 46,461, its highest decennial count ever.
Attleboro is the fourth most populous municipality, but the least populous city, in Bristol County, behind New Bedford, Fall River, and Taunton.
In 1634, English settlers first arrived in the territory that is now Attleboro. The deed that granted them the land was written by Native American Wamsutta. The land. It included the towns of Cumberland, Rhode Island, until 1747 and North Attleborough, Massachusetts, until 1887. In 1643, Attleboro was part of the adjacent town of Rehoboth until it was separately incorporated as a town in 1694. 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. In the 1600's many of the people who settled in this area were from Attleborough, England, after which the city is named.
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. General Findings, M.S. Company, James A. Murphy Co., Garlan Chain, Leach & Garner, and Masters of Design are jewelry manufacturing companies still in operation.
In late 2003, The Sun Chronicle reported that a state investigation had been launched into the deaths of three women in the city from glioblastoma. In 2007, the State of Massachusetts issued a report concluding that although the diagnosis rate for brain and central nervous system (CNS) cancers was higher than expected when compared to statewide data, the increase was determined not to be statistically significant.
Scorecard, Environmental Defense's online database of polluters, lists seven facilities contributing to cancer hazards in Attleboro, including Engineered Materials Solutions Inc., the worst offender in Massachusetts.
In 2002, the Massachusetts Public Health Department was asked to evaluate the former Shpack Landfill, on the border of Norton and Attleboro, for its cancer risks. The investigation continued at least through 2004. The informal landfill included uranium fuel rods, heavy metals, and volatile organic compounds.
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. 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.
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.
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 2020 census, Attleboro had a population of 46,461. The median age was 41.7 years. 20.1% of residents were under the age of 18 and 16.3% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 96.1 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 94.2 males age 18 and over.
100.0% of residents lived in urban areas, while 0.0% lived in rural areas.
There were 18,256 households in Attleboro, of which 29.6% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 47.3% were married-couple households, 18.6% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 26.4% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 27.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
There were 19,097 housing units, of which 4.4% were vacant. The homeowner vacancy rate was 0.7% and the rental vacancy rate was 4.4%.
As of the 2010 census, there were 46,461 people and 17,781 households in the city; the population density was 1,735.0 inhabitants per square mile (669.9/km2). There were 19,097 housing units in the city. The racial makeup of the city was 77.14% White, 5.82% African American, 0.34% Native American, 4.73% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 4.52% some other race, and 7.41% from two or more races. Hispanic and Latino people of any race made up 8.91% of the total population.
Of the 17,781 households, 33.1% had someone under the age of 18 living with them, 45.5% were married couples living together, 26.5% had a female householder with no spouse present, 17.3% had a male householder with no spouse present, 12.1% were individuals, and 5.4% were people aged 65 or older living alone. The average size of household was 2.58 and the average family size was 3.12.
The age distribution in the city was: 23.1% under 18, 7.0% from 18 to 24, 28.1% from 25 to 44, 26.4% from 45 to 64, and 15.5% 65 or older. The median age was 39.4 years.
The estimated median annual income for a household in the city was $93,266, and the median income for a family was $106,104. Per capita income was $42,224. About 9.2% of the population was below the poverty line, including 11.5% of those under 18 and 9.3% of those aged 65 or over.
In 2011, Attleboro was awarded $5.4 million in state and federal funding to support revitalization efforts in its historic downtown area. The funds were intended to transform underutilized industrial and commercial parcels into areas of mixed use that included commercial, recreational, and residential space, as well as improvements to MBTA rail and GATRA bus services, and road improvements.
Attleboro has four museums.
Other places of interest in the city include:
In 2017, Attleboro began hosting the annual Jewelry City Steampunk Festival.
In 1942, the Missionaries of La Salette purchased 135 acres (0.55 km2) and a castle in Attleboro for use as a seminary. The shrine opened to the public in 1953 with a Christmas manger display. The annual Christmas Festival of Lights has grown to 300,000 lights and attracts about 250,000 visitors each year. A devastating fire destroyed the castle on November 5, 1999. A new welcome center opened in 2007 which includes a 600-seat concert hall. In addition to the Christmas Festival, the shrine offers programs, concerts, workshops and events throughout the year. The grounds also include Our Lady's Chapel of Lights, an outdoor chapel, and a 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 has a mayor-council government. The city council acts as the legislative body, and the mayor handles traditional day-to-day chief executive functions. City councilors can run as either a representative of a city ward or at large. There are 11 councilors: five at-large and six ward councilors. The mayor is former City Councilor At-Large Cathleen DeSimone. Kate Jackson serves as clerk of the Municipal Council.
Attleboro is represented in the state legislature by officials elected from the following districts:
Elected members:
Attleboro is relatively liberal. The last Republican to win the city in a Presidential election was George H. W. Bush in 1988.
Attleboro's school district, Attleboro Public Schools, 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.
The former high school building was built in the 1960s, and added wings in several renovations throughout the years. The city of Attleboro voted on whether to build a new school or renovate the building, and "reached an agreement to put proceeds from the sale toward the cost of a new high school before the $260 million was approved by voters last spring." The sale of the first Attleboro High School built in 1912 on County Street gave the city funds for the new building. The new Attleboro High School opened in 2022.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Attleboro, Massachusetts”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.