Editing Medford, Massachusetts (section)

==History==

=== Indigenous history ===
[[File:Wood 1634 Medford Detail.png|left|thumb|296x296px|Detail of William Wood's 1634 map of New England, showing Naumkeag sachem Wonohaquaham, known by English colonists as Sagamore John, in Medford<ref>{{Cite web|title=The south part of New England as it planted this yeare, 1634|url=https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth:q524n611v|access-date=2021-12-11|website=www.digitalcommonwealth.org|language=en}}</ref>]]
[[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] inhabited the area that would become Medford for thousands of years prior to [[European colonization of the Americas]]. At the time of European contact and exploration, Medford was the winter home of the [[Naumkeag people|Naumkeag]] people, who farmed corn and created fishing weirs at multiple sites along the [[Mystic River]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=Massachusetts Historical Commission|date=1980|title=MHC Reconnaissance Town Reports: Medford|url=https://www.sec.state.ma.us/mhc/mhcpdf/townreports/Boston/mdf.pdf}}</ref> Naumkeag [[sachem]] [[Nanepashemet]] was killed and buried at his fortification in present-day Medford during a war with the [[Tarrantine]]s in 1619.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last1=Bradford|first1=William|url=http://archive.org/details/mourtsrelationo00dextgoog|title=Mourt's relation or journal of the plantation at Plymouth|last2=Winslow|first2=Edward|last3=Dexter|first3=Henry Martyn|date=1865|publisher=Boston, J. K. Wiggin|others=Harvard University}}</ref> The contact period introduced several European infectious diseases which would decimate native populations in [[virgin soil epidemic]]s, including a smallpox epidemic which in 1633 killed Nanepashemet's sons, sachems [[Montowampate|Montowompate]] and [[Wonohaquaham]]. Sagamore Park in West Medford is a native burial site from the contact period, which includes the remains of a likely sachem, either Nanepashemet or Wonohaquaham.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0" /> After the 1633 epidemic, Nanepashemet's widow, known only as the [[Squaw Sachem of Mistick]], led the Naumkeag, and over the next two decades would deed large parts of Naumkeag territory to English settlers. In 1639, the [[Massachusetts General Court]] purchased the land that would become present-day Medford, then within the boundaries of [[Charlestown, Boston|Charlestown]], from the Squaw Sachem.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Medford Historical Society Papers, Volume 24., The Indians of the Mystic valley and the litigation over their land.|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2005.05.0024:chapter=26|access-date=2021-12-11|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref>

===17th century===
Medford was settled in 1630 by English colonists as part of [[Charlestown, Boston|Charlestown]], of the [[Massachusetts Bay Colony]]. The settlement was originally called "Mistick" by [[Thomas Dudley]], based on the [[Massachusett language|Massachusett]] name for [[Mystic River|the area's river]]. Thomas Dudley's party renamed the settlement "Meadford".<ref>History of the Town of Medford, p. 30</ref> The name may have come from a description of the "[[meadow]] by the [[ford (river)|ford]]" in the Mystic River, or from two locations in England that Cradock may have known: the hamlet of Mayford or Metford in [[Staffordshire]] near [[Caverswall]], or from the parish of Maidford or Medford (now [[Towcester]], Northamptonshire).<ref name="History of Middlesex County, p. 158">History of Middlesex County, p. 158</ref> In 1634, the land north of the Mystic River was developed as the private plantation of [[Matthew Cradock]], a former governor. Across the river was [[Ten Hills Farm]], which belonged to [[John Winthrop]], Governor of the Massachusetts Bay colony.<ref>History of the Town of Medford, p. 39</ref>
[[File:Cradock Bridge stone.jpg|thumb|A stone with the dates of the early Cradock Bridge in Medford]]
In 1637, the first bridge (a [[toll bridge]]) across the Mystic River was built at the site of the present-day Cradock Bridge, which carries Main Street into Medford Square.<ref name="patch">{{cite web|last=Bencks |first=Jarret |url=http://medford.patch.com/articles/cradock-bridge-to-be-replaced-in-2012-or-2013 |title=Cradock Bridge to Be Replaced in 2012 or 2013 – Medford, MA Patch |work=Medford.patch.com |publisher=AOL Inc. |date=October 27, 2011 |access-date=20 March 2012}}</ref> It would be the only bridge across the Mystic until 1787, and as such became a major route for traffic coming into Boston from the north (though ferries and fords were also used).<ref name="mhs" /> The bridge would be rebuilt in 1880, 1909, and 2018.<ref name="patch" />

Until 1656, all of northern Medford was owned by Cradock, his heirs, or Edward Collins. Medford was governed as a "peculiar" or private plantation. As the land began to be divided among several people from different families, the new owners began to meet and make decisions locally and increasingly independently from the Charlestown town meeting. In 1674, a Board of Selectmen was elected; in 1684, the colonial legislature granted the ability to raise money independently; and in 1689, a representative to the legislature was chosen. The town got its religious meeting room in 1690 and a secular meeting house in 1696.<ref name="mhs">{{cite web|url=http://www.medfordhistorical.org/medford-history/about-medford/a-peculiar-plantation-17th-century-medford/|title=A Peculiar Plantation: 17th Century Medford – Medford Historical Society & Museum|website=medfordhistorical.org|date=February 22, 2013 }}</ref>

In 1692, the town engaged its first ordained preacher, Rev. [[John Hancock Sr.]]. During his time of service, Rev. Hancock lived in Medford, serving until November 1693. One of his grandsons was [[John Hancock]], who was a later notable figure of the American Revolutionary War and later elected as first and third governor of Massachusetts.<ref name="mhs" /><ref name=hooper62>{{cite book|author=John H. Hooper|title=Proceedings of the Celebration of the Two Hundred and Seventy-fifth Anniversary of the Settlement of Medford, Massachusetts, June, Nineteen Hundred and Five: Prefaced by a Brief History of the Town and City from the Day of Settlement|url=https://archive.org/details/proceedingsofcel02hoop|access-date=September 21, 2017|year=1906|publisher=Executive Committee|page=[https://archive.org/details/proceedingsofcel02hoop/page/62 62]}}</ref>

===18th and 19th centuries===
The land south of the Mystic River, present-day [[South Medford, Massachusetts|South Medford]], was originally known as "Mistick Field". It was transferred from Charlestown to Medford in 1754.<ref>History of the Town of Medford, p. 5</ref> This grant also included the "Charlestown woodlots" (the Medford part of the Middlesex Fells), and part of what was at the time [[Woburn, Massachusetts|Woburn]] (now [[Winchester, Massachusetts|Winchester]]).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.medfordhistorical.org/medford-history/about-medford/a-quiet-country-town-18th-century-medford/|title=A Quiet Country Town: 18th Century Medford – Medford Historical Society & Museum|website=medfordhistorical.org|date=February 22, 2013 }}</ref> Other parts of Medford were transferred from Charlestown in 1811, Winchester in 1850 ("Upper Medford"), and Malden in 1879. Additional land was transferred to Medford from Malden (1817), Everett (1875), and Malden (1877) again.<ref name="History of Middlesex County, p. 158"/><ref name="mhs3">{{cite web|url=http://www.medfordhistorical.org/medford-history/about-medford/the-emerging-city-19th-century-medford/|title=The Emerging City: 19th Century Medford – Medford Historical Society & Museum|website=medfordhistorical.org|date=February 22, 2013 }}</ref>

The population of Medford rose from 230 in 1700 to 1,114 in 1800. After 1880, the population rapidly expanded, reaching 18,244 by 1900.<ref>United States census</ref> Farmland was divided into lots and sold to build residential and commercial buildings, starting in the 1840s and 1850s; government services expanded with the population (schools, police, post office) and technological advancement (gas lighting, electricity, telephones, railways).<ref name="mhs3" /> Tufts University was chartered in 1852 and the [[Crane Theological School]] at Tufts opened in 1869. In 1865, the [[Lawrence Rifles]] volunteer militia company was formed in Medford during the [[American Civil War|Civil War]].

Medford was incorporated as a city in 1892, and was a center of industry, including the manufacture of [[tile]]s and [[Cracker (food)|crackers]],<ref name=cityhistory>[http://www.medfordma.org/about-medford/history/ Medford city history]</ref> bricks,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.medfordhistorical.org/medford-history/about-medford/making-bricks-in-medford/|title=Making Bricks in Medford – Medford Historical Society & Museum|website=medfordhistorical.org|date=February 22, 2013 }}</ref> [[rum]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.medfordhistorical.org/medford-history/about-medford/medford-rum/|title=Medford Rum – Medford Historical Society & Museum|website=medfordhistorical.org|date=February 22, 2013 }}</ref> and [[clipper]] ships,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.medfordhistorical.org/medford-history/about-medford/medford-built-sailing-ships/|title=Medford-Built Sailing Ships – Medford Historical Society & Museum|website=medfordhistorical.org|date=February 22, 2013 }}</ref> such as the ''[[White Swallow (clipper)|White Swallow]]'' and the ''[[Kingfisher (clipper)|Kingfisher]]'', both built by Hayden & Cudworth.<ref name = "gleason">
{{Cite book
  | last = Gleason
  | first = Hall
  | title = Old Ships and Ship-Building Days of Medford
  | publisher = J.C. Miller
  | year = 1937
  | location = Medford, MA
  | page = 76}}
</ref>

===Transportation===
During the 17th century, a handful of major public roads (High Street, Main Street, Salem Street, "the road to Stoneham", and South Street) served the population, but the road network started a long-term expansion in the 18th century.<ref>''History of the Town of Medford'', "Roads" chapter.</ref> The Medford Turnpike Company was incorporated in 1803 and (as was reasonably common at the time) turned what is now Mystic Avenue over to the city in 1866. The Andover Turnpike Company was incorporated in 1805 and turned what is now Forest Street and Fellsway West over to Medford in 1830.<ref name="mhs3" />

Other major commercial transportation projects included the [[Middlesex Canal]] by 1803,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.medfordhistorical.org/middlesexcanal.php|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080919124926/http://medfordhistorical.org/middlesexcanal.php|url-status=dead|title=Medfordhistorical.org|archive-date=September 19, 2008|access-date=August 20, 2020}}</ref> the [[Boston and Lowell Railroad]] in West Medford in the 1830s, and the [[Boston and Maine Railroad]] to Medford Center in 1847.

A [[Horsecar|horse-powered street railway]] began running to Somerville and Charlestown in 1860. The street railway network expanded in the hands of various private companies and went electric in the late 1890s when trolleys to Everett and downtown Boston were available.<ref name="mhs3" /> Streetcars were converted to buses in the 20th century. [[Interstate 93]] was constructed between 1956 and 1963.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bostonroads.com/roads/northern/|title=Northern Expressway (I-93)|website=bostonroads.com}}</ref>

===Spongy moth===
In 1868, a French [[astronomer]] and naturalist, [[Leopold Trouvelot]], was attempting to breed a better [[silkworm]] using [[spongy moth]]s. Several [[moth]]s escaped from his home at 27 Myrtle Street. Within ten years, the insect had denuded the vegetation in the neighborhood. It spread over North America.<ref name = "forbush">
{{Cite book
  | last = Forbush
  | first = E. H.
  | title = The Gypsy Moth
  | publisher = Wright & Potter
  | year = 1896
  | location = Boston, MA
  | pages = 2–44}}
</ref><ref>{{cite web|title = Learning from the Legacy of Leopold Trouvelot | publisher = Bulletin of the ESA Summer 1989 | access-date = 13 September 2012 | url = http://www.sandyliebhold.com/pubs/trouvelot.pdf}}</ref>

===Holiday songs===
In Simpson's Tavern, a tavern and boarding house on High Street, in the late 19th century, resident [[James Pierpont (musician)|James Pierpont]] is rumored to have written "[[Jingle Bells]]" after watching a [[sleigh]] race from Medford to [[Malden, Massachusetts|Malden]]. There is also a claim that Pierpont wrote it while he was the music director at [[Unitarian Universalist Church (Savannah, Georgia)|Unitarian Universalist Church]] in [[Savannah, Georgia]]. He copyrighted the song while there.<ref>{{cite web|date=September 16, 1857|author=Pierpont, J.|title=One Horse Open Sleigh|location=Boston|publisher=Oliver Ditson & Co.|url=http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=sm1820&fileName=sm2/sm1857/620000/620520/mussm620520.db&recNum=0&itemLink=r?ammem/mussm:@filreq(@field(NUMBER+@band(sm1857+620520))+@field(COLLID+sm1820))&linkText=0|access-date=December 26, 2006}}</ref><ref name=wsav>[https://www.wsav.com/now/was-jingle-bells-actually-written-in-savannah-local-historian-discusses-popular-holiday-songs-origins/ "Was ‘Jingle Bells’ actually written in Savannah? Local historian discusses popular holiday song’s origins"] – WSAV, December 25, 2020</ref>

Another resident, [[Lydia Maria Child]] (1802–1880), made a poem out of the trip across town to her [[Grandfather's House|grandparents' house]], now the song "[[Over the River and Through the Wood]]".

===Other notables===
[[Image:View of the bridge over mystic river.jpg|thumb|left|1790 bird's-eye view from [[Battle of Bunker Hill|Bunker Hill]] of the "Malden Bridge" across the [[Mystic River]], with Medford in the background]]
[[File:PompsWall4.jpg|thumb|Pomp's Wall and Historical Marker]]

[[Paul Revere]]'s famous midnight ride traveled along Main Street and continued onto High Street in Medford Square. An annual re-enactment honors the historic event.

The [[Peter Tufts House]] (350 Riverside Ave.) is thought to be the oldest all-brick building in New England. Another important site is the "Slave Wall" on Grove Street, built by "Pomp",<ref>{{Cite web |date=2013-02-25 |title=Contributions of Enslaved Peoples in Medford |url=https://www.medfordhistorical.org/medford-history/africa-to-medford/slave-contributions/ |access-date=2023-10-24 |website=Medford Historical Society & Museum |language=en-US}}</ref> an enslaved person owned by the prominent Brooks family.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.medfordhistorical.org/medford-history/about-medford/a-quiet-country-town-18th-century-medford/ | title=A Quiet Country Town: 18th Century Medford | date=February 22, 2013 }}</ref> The [[Royall House and Slave Quarters]], which once belonged to one of [[Harvard Law School]]'s founders, [[Isaac Royall, Jr.]], is a [[National Historic Landmark]] and a local history museum. The house was used by [[Continental Army]] troops, including [[George Washington]] and [[John Stark]], during the [[American Revolutionary War]].

[[George Luther Stearns]], an American industrialist and one of John Brown's [[Secret Six]]. His passion for the abolitionist cause shaped his life, bringing him into contact with the likes of [[Abraham Lincoln]] and [[Ralph Waldo Emerson]] and starting ''[[The Nation]]'' magazine. He was given the rank of major by Massachusetts Governor [[John Albion Andrew|John Andrew]] and spent most of the Civil War recruiting for the [[54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry|54th]] and [[55th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment|55th Massachusetts regiments]] and the 5th cavalry.

Medford was home to [[Fannie Farmer]], author of one of the world's most famous cookbooks—as well as James Plimpton, the man credited with the 1863 invention of the first practical four-wheeled [[roller skate]], which set off a roller craze that quickly spread across the United States and Europe.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.rollerskatingmuseum.com/homework.html|title=National Museum of Roller Skating: Homework Help|last=Skating|first=National Museum of Roller|website=rollerskatingmuseum.com|access-date=24 January 2018|archive-date=September 30, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130930215712/http://www.rollerskatingmuseum.com/homework.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[Amelia Earhart]] lived in Medford while working as a social worker in 1925.

[[Elizabeth Short]], the victim of an infamous Hollywood murder and who became known as [[Black Dahlia|The Black Dahlia]], was born in [[Hyde Park, Boston|Hyde Park]] (the southernmost neighborhood of the city of [[Boston]], Massachusetts) but raised in Medford before going to the West Coast looking for fame.

Medford has sent more than its share of athletes to the [[National Hockey League]]; [[Shawn Bates]], though born in [[Melrose, Massachusetts|Melrose]], grew up in Medford, as did [[Keith Tkachuk]], [[Mike Morrison (ice hockey)|Mike Morrison]], [[David Sacco]] and [[Joe Sacco (ice hockey)|Joe Sacco]]. Former Red Sox pitcher [[Bill Monbouquette]] grew up in Medford, as did former Major League Baseball infielder [[Mike Pagliarulo]].

Medford was home to [[Michael Bloomberg]], American businessman, philanthropist, and the founder of [[Bloomberg L.P.]] He was the [[Mayor of New York City]] from 2002 to 2013. Mayor Bloomberg attended Medford High School and resided in Medford until after he graduated from college at Johns Hopkins University.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/medford/2009/10/a_new_biography_of_new.html | work=Boston Globe | first=Your | last=Town | title=New Michael Bloomberg biography takes a few jabs at Medford | date=October 12, 2009}}</ref> His mother remained a resident of Medford until her death in 2011.

The only cryobank of [[amniotic stem cells]] in the United States is located in Medford, built by [[Biocell Center]], a biotechnology company led by [[Giuseppe Simoni]].

===Notorious crimes===
Medford was the location of some infamous crimes:
* One of the biggest bank robberies and jewel heists in world history<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://homenewshere.com/wilmington_town_crier/article_66a96848-fb70-5ac2-acf7-f3899b679d4f.html|title=Splitting the loot on Oxford Road|first=LARZ F.|last=NEILSON|website=Homenewshere.com|date=February 12, 2011 |access-date=August 20, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://archive.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2000/03/09/burglar_caught_in_violent_web/|title=Burglar caught in violent web|first=Shelley|last=Murphy|newspaper=Boston.com|date=March 9, 2000|access-date=August 20, 2020|via=The Boston Globe}}</ref> happened on Memorial Day weekend in 1980, when several crooked officers of the Medford Police and Metropolitan District Commission Police forces robbed the Depositors Trust Bank in Medford Square, yielding an estimated $25 million. The book ''The Cops Are Robbers: A Convicted Cop's True Story of Police Corruption'' is based upon this event. Salvatore's Restaurant, now known as "The Vault", located at 55 High Street in Medford Square, is partially in the same location as the bank that was robbed. The private dining room in the restaurant uses the bank's vault door as an entrance way, and the hole in the corner of the ceiling that the robbers crawled through was left intact for nostalgia.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.resdiary.com/restaurant/salvatoresmedfordsquare|title=Salvatores - Medford Square|website=resdiary|access-date=August 20, 2020}}</ref>
* An admitted Mob execution by [[Somerville, Massachusetts|Somerville]]'s [[Winter Hill Gang]] of Joe "Indian-Joe" Notarangeli took place on April 19, 1973 at the "Pewter Pot" café in Medford Square, now called the "Lighthouse Cafe."<ref>"Black Mass: The Irish Mob, the Boston FBI and a Devil's Deal, "Dick Lehr (author), Gerard O'Neill (author) 1-891-62040-1 Public Affairs Press</ref>
* In October 1989, the FBI recorded a [[American Mafia induction rituals|Mafia initiation ceremony]] held by the [[Patriarca crime family]] at a home on Guild St. in Medford.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://apnews.com/30f0d4059505bee760d581b304b2d2ec|title=Jury Hears Tapes Of Mafia Induction Ceremony|website=AP NEWS|access-date=August 20, 2020}}</ref>