Editing Concord, Massachusetts (section)

==History==
[[File:Massachusetts - Cape Cod Canal through Lexington - NARA - 23941295 (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|Aerial view, December 1935]]

===Prehistory and founding===
[[File:Egg Rock Inscription.jpg|thumb|Photo of Egg Rock inscription, {{c.|1904}}]]
The area which became the town of Concord was originally known as "Musketaquid", situated at the confluence of the [[Sudbury River|Sudbury]] and [[Assabet River|Assabet]] rivers.<ref name="Musketaquid">{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9025094/Concord#195620.hook|title=Concord|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=April 9, 2007|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071016154159/https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9025094/Concord#195620.hook|archive-date=October 16, 2007}}</ref> The name was an [[Algonquian languages|Algonquian]] word for "grassy plain", fitting the area's low-lying [[marsh]]es and [[Kettle (landform)|kettle holes]].<ref>"Native Americans, Colonial Settlement, and the Concord River". Lowell Land Trust. Retrieved July 28, 2013.</ref> Native Americans had cultivated corn crops there; the rivers were rich with fish and the land was lush and arable.<ref name="Bulkeley">{{cite web|url=http://www.newenglandancestors.org/education/articles/research/special_guests/member_staff/peter_bulkeley_deacon_and_co_founder_of_concord_m_659_517.asp
|title=Peter Bulkeley: Settlement in Concord|publisher=New England Historic Genealogical Society|access-date=April 9, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927032104/http://www.newenglandancestors.org/education/articles/research/special_guests/member_staff/peter_bulkeley_deacon_and_co_founder_of_concord_m_659_517.asp <!-- Bot retrieved archive -->|archive-date=September 27, 2007}}</ref> The area was largely depopulated in 1633 by an [[Massachusetts smallpox epidemic|epidemic of smallpox]],<ref name=Shattuck1835>{{cite web|last=Shattuck|first=Lemuel|author-link=Lemuel Shattuck|title=History of the Town of Concord, Mass|publisher=RootsWeb|year=1835|url=http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/ma/middlesex/towns/concord/histch01.txt|access-date=February 5, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071120161419/http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/ma/middlesex/towns/concord/histch01.txt <!-- Bot retrieved archive -->|archive-date=November 20, 2007}}</ref> a disease likely to have been introduced to the New World by European explorers and settlers.<ref name=Riley2010>{{Cite journal|last=Riley|first=James C.|title=Smallpox and American Indians Revisited|journal=Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences|volume=65|issue=4|pages=445–477|year=2010|doi=10.1093/jhmas/jrq005|jstor=24631803|pmid=20219730|pmc=}}</ref>

In 1635, a group of English settlers led by Rev. [[Peter Bulkley]] and Major [[Simon Willard (Massachusetts colonist)|Simon Willard]] received a land grant from the General Court and negotiated a land purchase with the local [[Native Americans in the United States|indigenous tribes]]. Bulkeley was an influential religious leader who "carried a good number of planters with him into the woods";<ref>Moses Coit Tyler (1883). A History of American Literature, G. P. Putnam's Sons.</ref> Willard was a canny trader who spoke the Algonquian language and had gained the trust of Native Americans.<ref>"Simon Willard's Life In Concord." Marian H. Wheeler, Willard Family Association. Retrieved on July 28, 2013.</ref> They exchanged [[wampum]], hatchets, knives, cloth and other useful items for the {{Convert|6|sqmi|km2|adj=on|spell=in}} purchase from [[Squaw Sachem of Mistick]], which formed the basis of the new town, called "Concord" in appreciation of the peaceful acquisition.<ref name="Musketaquid"/><ref>{{cite book|title=Boston Monthly Magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qvo-AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA535|year=1825|publisher=S.L. Knapp|pages=535–536}}</ref>

===Battles of Lexington and Concord===
{{main|Battles of Lexington and Concord}}

The [[battles of Lexington and Concord]] were the first military engagements of the [[American Revolutionary War]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-american-revolution-begins|title=The American Revolution begins|access-date=June 21, 2018|work=[[History.com]]|date=November 13, 2009 |publisher=[[A&E Television Networks, LLC.]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180324020541/https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-american-revolution-begins|archive-date=March 24, 2018}}</ref> On April 19, 1775, 700 [[British Army during the American Revolutionary War|British Army]] troops led by Lieutenant-Colonel [[Francis Smith (British Army officer)|Francis Smith]] marched from [[Boston]] to Concord to confiscate a cache of arms stored in the town. Unbeknownst to them, [[Patriot (American Revolution)|Patriot]] leaders had moved most of the cache elsewhere. Around 150 Patriot [[minutemen]] from local towns, who had been forewarned of the Army's march by [[Samuel Prescott]] on April 18, quickly [[Muster (military)|mustered]] and confronted the British in [[Lexington, Massachusetts|Lexington]]. 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 a [[Bayonet|bayonet 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 the [[Old North Bridge]], leading to a number of casualties on both sides and forcing them to fall back and rejoin the Army's main force.<ref name="LOC">{{cite web|url=http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/apr19.html|title=Today In History: April 19th|publisher=The Library of Congress|access-date=April 3, 2007|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070302164826/http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/apr19.html|archive-date=March 2, 2007}}</ref>

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 reaching [[Charlestown, Boston|Charlestown]]. The minutemen then blockaded the narrow land accesses to Charlestown, initiating the [[siege of Boston]]. Poet [[Ralph 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]]".<ref name="Randolph">{{cite book|last=Randolph|first=Ryan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DItAX0GNQpwC&pg=PT85|title=Paul Revere and the Minutemen of the American Revolution|year=2002|publisher=The Rosen Publishing Group|isbn=9780823957279|via=Google Books|access-date=April 9, 2007}}</ref><ref name="Revere">{{cite web|last=Gioia|first=Dana|url=http://www.danagioia.net/essays/elongfellow.htm|title=On 'Paul Revere's Ride' by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow|access-date=April 2, 2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070203195658/http://www.danagioia.net/essays/elongfellow.htm|archive-date=February 3, 2007}}</ref> In 1894, the [[Lexington Historical Society]] petitioned the [[Massachusetts State Legislature]] to proclaim April 19 "Lexington Day"; Concord countered with "Concord Day". Governor [[Frederic T. Greenhalge]] opted for a compromise, proclaiming the day as [[Patriots' Day]]. In April 1975, Concord hosted a bicentennial celebration of the battle, featuring an address at the Old North Bridge by President [[Gerald Ford]].<ref name="Ford">{{cite web|url=http://www.mass.gov/lib/|title=Featured Resource: Photograph Collection 374|publisher=The State Library of Massachusetts|access-date=April 9, 2007|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070221042633/http://www.mass.gov/lib/|archive-date=February 21, 2007}}</ref>

===Literary history===
{{See also|Barrow Bookstore}}[[File:The Old Manse (view from Concord River), Concord, Massachusetts.JPG|thumb|[[The Old Manse]], home to [[Ralph Waldo Emerson]] and later [[Nathaniel Hawthorne]]]]
Concord has a remarkably rich literary history centered in the 19th century around [[Ralph Waldo Emerson]] (1803–1882), who moved there in 1835 and quickly became its most prominent citizen.<ref name="EmersontoConcord">{{cite web|url=http://www.concordlibrary.org/scollect/Emerson_Celebration/Introduction.html|title=Emerson in Concord|publisher=Concord Public Library – Special Collections|access-date=April 18, 2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929163320/http://www.concordlibrary.org/scollect/Emerson_Celebration/Introduction.html|archive-date=September 29, 2007}}</ref> A successful lecturer and philosopher, Emerson had deep roots in the town: his father, [[William Emerson (minister)|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.<ref name="Emerson">{{cite web|url=http://www.concordnet.org/library/scollect/Emerson_Celebration/Section_1_Essay.html|title=Emerson's Concord Heritage|publisher=Concord Public Library – Special Collections|access-date=April 9, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070205235202/http://www.concordnet.org/library/scollect/Emerson_Celebration/Section_1_Essay.html <!-- Bot retrieved archive -->|archive-date=February 5, 2007}}</ref> Emerson was at the center of a group of like-minded [[Transcendentalism|Transcendentalists]] living in Concord.<ref name="WPond">{{cite web|url=http://www.mass.gov/dcr/parks/northeast/wldn.htm|title=Henry David Thoreau|publisher=Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation|access-date=April 9, 2007|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070408022438/http://www.mass.gov/dcr/parks/northeast/wldn.htm|archive-date=April 8, 2007}}</ref> Among them were the author [[Nathaniel Hawthorne]] (1804–1864) and the philosopher [[Amos Bronson Alcott]] (1799–1888), the father of [[Louisa 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 led [[Henry James]] to dub Concord "the biggest little place in America."<ref name="Cheever">{{cite news|last=Kehe|first=Marjorie|url=http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1219/p14s02-bogn.html|title=Scenes from an American Eden|newspaper=The Christian Science Monitor|access-date=March 6, 2007|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070210092738/http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1219/p14s02-bogn.html|archive-date=February 10, 2007}}</ref>

Among the products of this intellectually stimulating environment were Emerson's many essays, including ''[[Self-Reliance]]'' (1841), Louisa May Alcott's novel ''[[Little Women]]'' (1868), and Hawthorne's story collection ''[[Mosses from an Old Manse]]'' (1846).<ref name="Authorama">{{cite web|last=Perry|first=Bliss|url=http://www.authorama.com/american-spirit-in-literature-6.html|title=The American Spirit in Literature: The Transcendentalists|publisher=Authorama.com (public domain)|access-date=April 9, 2007|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929091421/http://www.authorama.com/american-spirit-in-literature-6.html|archive-date=September 29, 2007}}</ref> Thoreau famously lived in a small cabin near [[Walden Pond]], where he wrote ''[[Walden]]'' (1854).<ref name="NPR">{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/patc/walden/|title=Thoreau's Walden, Present at the Creation|publisher=National Public Radio|access-date=April 9, 2007|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070403133625/http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/patc/walden/|archive-date=April 3, 2007}}</ref> After being imprisoned in the Concord jail for refusing to pay taxes in political protest against [[Slavery in the United States|slavery]] and the [[Mexican–American War]], Thoreau penned the influential essay "Resistance to Civil Government", popularly known as ''[[Civil Disobedience (Thoreau)|Civil Disobedience]]'' (1849).<ref name="FFF">{{cite web|last=McElroy|first=Wendy|url=http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0503e.asp|title=Henry David Thoreau and 'Civil Disobedience'|publisher=The Future of Freedom Foundation|access-date=April 9, 2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070404173449/http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0503e.asp|archive-date=April 4, 2007}}</ref> Evidencing their strong political beliefs through actions, Thoreau and many of his neighbors served as station masters and agents on the [[Underground Railroad]].<ref name="thoreauUR">{{cite web|url=http://www.calliope.org/thoreau/thurro/thurro2.html|title=Thoreau, Civil Disobedience, and the Underground Railroad|publisher=The Thoreau Project|access-date=December 6, 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111116030252/http://www.calliope.org/thoreau/thurro/thurro2.html|archive-date=November 16, 2011}}</ref>

[[The Wayside]], a house on Lexington Road, has been home to several authors.<ref name="Wayside">{{cite web|url=http://www.nps.gov/archive/mima/wayside/index1.htm|title=The Wayside|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=April 9, 2007|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070510062509/http://www.nps.gov/archive/mima/wayside/index1.htm|archive-date=May 10, 2007}}</ref> It was occupied by scientist [[John Winthrop (1714-1779)|John Winthrop]] (1714–1779) when [[Harvard College]] was temporarily moved to Concord during the Revolutionary War.<ref name="Winthrop">{{cite web|url=http://www.nps.gov/archive/mima/wayside/Histfrm1.htm|title=The Wayside: History|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=April 9, 2007|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071120022552/http://www.nps.gov/archive/mima/wayside/Histfrm1.htm|archive-date=November 20, 2007}}</ref> 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 adjacent [[Orchard House]] in 1858. Hawthorne dubbed the house "The Wayside" and lived there until his death. The house was purchased in 1883 by Boston publisher [[Daniel Lothrop]] and his wife, Harriett, who wrote the [[Five Little Peppers]] series and other children's books under the pen name [[Margaret Sidney]].<ref name="Sidney">{{cite web|url=http://www.nps.gov/archive/mima/wayside/Marg.htm|title=The Wayside Authors|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=April 9, 2007|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070422161547/http://www.nps.gov/archive/mima/wayside/Marg.htm|archive-date=April 22, 2007}}</ref> Today, The Wayside and the Orchard House are both museums. Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne and the Alcotts are buried on Authors' Ridge in Concord's [[Sleepy Hollow Cemetery (Concord, Massachusetts)|Sleepy Hollow Cemetery]].<ref name="G&M">{{cite news|last=Lipman|first=Lisa|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20001129.TR29GRAV/TPStory/Travel|title=Writers rest in Sleepy Hollow|publisher=The Globe & Mail|access-date=April 9, 2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930065400/http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20001129.TR29GRAV/TPStory/Travel|archive-date=September 30, 2007}}</ref>

The 20th-century composer [[Charles Ives]] wrote his ''[[Concord Sonata]]'' ({{circa|1904–1915|lk=no}}) 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 include [[Doris Kearns Goodwin]], [[Alan Lightman]], [[Robert B. Parker]] and [[Gregory Maguire]].

===Concord grape===
In 1849, [[Ephraim Wales Bull]] developed the now-ubiquitous [[Concord grape]] at his home on Lexington Road, where the original vine still grows.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://arnoldia.arboretum.harvard.edu/pdf/articles/1988-48-4--he-sowed-others-reaped-ephraim-wales-bull-and-the-origins-of-the-concord-grape.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150609153316/http://arnoldia.arboretum.harvard.edu/pdf/articles/1988-48-4--he-sowed-others-reaped-ephraim-wales-bull-and-the-origins-of-the-concord-grape.pdf|archive-date=June 9, 2015|url-status=live|title="He Sowed; Others Reaped": Ephraim Wales Bull and the Origins of the 'Concord' Grape|last=Schofield|first=Edmund A.|year=1988|pages=4–15}}</ref> [[Welch's]], the first company to sell grape juice, maintains a headquarters in Concord.<ref name="Welch">{{cite web|url=http://www.welchs.com|title=All About Welch's: General Company Information|publisher=Welchs.com|access-date=March 28, 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170405211550/http://welchs.com/|archive-date=April 5, 2017}}</ref> 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 the [[Massachusetts Horticultural Society|Boston 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."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.concordgrape.org/bodyhistory.html|title=The History|year=2014|access-date=June 21, 2018|work=Concord Grape Association|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180621043045/https://www.concordgrape.org/bodyhistory.html|archive-date=June 21, 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Plastic bottle ban===
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 of [[Polyethylene terephthalate|PET]] bottles of {{Convert|1|L|U.S.oz|sp=us|spell=in}} or less starting January 1, 2013.<ref>{{cite web|last=Llanos|first=Miguel|title=Concord, Mass., the first US city to ban the sale of plastic water bottles|url=http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/07/13710037-concord-mass-the-first-us-city-to-ban-sale-of-plastic-water-bottles?lite|work=NBC News|access-date=September 7, 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120909003553/http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/07/13710037-concord-mass-the-first-us-city-to-ban-sale-of-plastic-water-bottles?lite|archive-date=September 9, 2012}}</ref> The ban provoked national controversy. An editorial in the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' characterized the ban as "born of convoluted reasoning" and "wrongheaded."<ref>{{cite news|title=Concord Misfires in Plastic Bottle War|url=https://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-xpm-2012-sep-13-la-ed-plastic-bottles-ban-concord-20120913-story.html|access-date=April 11, 2014|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=September 13, 2013|url-status=live|archive-url=http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20140412103708/http://articles.latimes.com/2012/sep/13/opinion/la-ed-plastic-bottles-ban-concord-20120913|archive-date=April 12, 2014}}</ref> Some residents believed the ban would do little to affect the sales of bottled water, which was still highly accessible in the surrounding areas,<ref>{{cite web|title=Concord, Massachusetts Bans Sale of Small Water Bottles|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-20895902|work=BBC News|publisher=BBC|access-date=April 11, 2014|date=January 2, 2013|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140428032426/http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-20895902|archive-date=April 28, 2014}}</ref> and that it restricted consumers' freedom of choice.<ref>{{cite news|last=Weir|first=Richard|title=Battling Bottle Ban in Concord: Activists' Anger Not Kept Bottled Up|url=http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2013/01/battling_bottle_ban_concord|access-date=April 11, 2014|newspaper=Boston Herald|date=January 6, 2013|page=3|url-status=live|archive-url=http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20140413143850/http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2013/01/battling_bottle_ban_concord|archive-date=April 13, 2014}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite news|last=Lefferts|first=Jennifer Fenn|title=Concord to Revisit Ban on Water Bottles|newspaper=Boston Globe|date=October 13, 2013|page=Region 5}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Nanny State Alert: Massachusetts Town Bans Bottled Water!|url=http://foxnewsinsider.com/2013/04/04/nanny-state-alert-massachusetts-town-bans-bottled-water|archive-url=https://archive.today/20140411040524/http://foxnewsinsider.com/2013/04/04/nanny-state-alert-massachusetts-town-bans-bottled-water|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 11, 2014|work=Fox News Insider|publisher=Fox News|access-date=April 11, 2014|date=April 4, 2013}}</ref> Nonetheless, subsequent efforts to repeal the ban have failed in [[open town meeting]]s.<ref>{{cite news|last=Anderson|first=Leslie|title=Concord Town Meeting rejects repeal of plastic water bottle ban|url=http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/concord/2013/12/concord_rejects_repeal_of_plastic_water_bottle_ban.html|access-date=July 30, 2015|newspaper=Boston Globe|date=December 5, 2013|page=3|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151006112657/http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/concord/2013/12/concord_rejects_repeal_of_plastic_water_bottle_ban.html|archive-date=October 6, 2015}}</ref> An effort to repeal Concord's ban on the sale of plastic water bottles was resoundingly defeated at a Town Meeting. Resident Jean Hill,<ref>[https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2017/11/19/jean-hill-who-led-concord-plastic-bottle-ban-effort-dies/ZAfuGr4YcoLPi4TXkMUMKI/story.html "Jean Hill, who led Concord plastic bottle ban effort, dies at 90"] – ''Boston Globe'', November 19, 2017</ref> 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.