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==History== [[Image:Westford Common looking down Main St.jpg|thumb|250px|left|Westford Common, looking down Main Street]] Westford began as 'West Chelmsford,' a village in the town of [[Chelmsford, Massachusetts|Chelmsford]]. The village of West Chelmsford grew large enough to sustain its own governance in 1729, and was officially incorporated as Westford that year on September 23.<ref name="westford.com">{{cite web |url=https://westford.com/html-error-404-page-not-found/ |title=HTML Error 404 β Page Not Found β Westford, Massachusetts}}</ref><ref name="Westford Patch">{{cite web |url=https://patch.com/massachusetts/westford/you-asked-patch-answers-7c8c087c |title=How Did Westford Split From Chelmsford? |date=November 16, 2011 |website=Westford, MA Patch}}</ref> In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, Westford primarily produced [[granite]], [[apple]]s, and [[worsted]] yarn. The Abbot Worsted Company was said to be the first company in the nation to use [[camel hair]] for worsted yarns.<ref name="Westford Museum Oliphant">{{cite web |last=Oliphant |first=Robert W. |title=A brief history of Westford |url=http://www.westford.com/museum/research_westford_history.html |publisher=Westford Museum and Historical Society |access-date=April 18, 2014}}</ref> [[File:WestfordMA HenryFletcherHouse.jpg|thumbnail|right|[[Henry Fletcher House]] was built {{circa|1813}}]] Paul Revere's son attended [[Westford Academy]] and a bell cast by Revere graces its lobby today.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.wickedlocal.com/westford/town_info/history/x2136193253#axzz1YSz4BoBM |title=History of Westford Academy - Westford, MA - Westford Eagle |access-date=September 20, 2011 |archive-date=May 20, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110520023758/http://www.wickedlocal.com/westford/town_info/history/x2136193253#axzz1YSz4BoBM |url-status=dead }}</ref> A weather vane made by Paul Revere sits atop the Abbot Elementary school. By the end of the [[American Civil War]], as roads and transportation improved, Westford began to serve as a residential suburb for the factories of [[Lowell, Massachusetts|Lowell]], becoming one of the earliest notable examples of suburban [[Urban sprawl|sprawl]]. Throughout the 20th century (and with the invention of the [[automobile]]), Westford progressively grew, continuing to serve as residential housing for the industries of Lowell, and later, [[Boston]]. In the 1960s, the town was home to one of the research sites supporting [[Project West Ford]]. By the 1970s, with the advent of the [[Massachusetts Route 128|128]] [[business cluster|Technology Belt]], Westford began to act as a suburb for high-tech firms in [[Burlington, Massachusetts|Burlington]], [[Woburn, Massachusetts|Woburn]], and other areas, and later became a center of technology itself. By the 1990s, Westford was home to offices for [[Cascade Communications]] (now part of [[Nokia]]), [[NetScout Systems|NETSCOUT]], [[Red Hat]], [[Samsung]], Sonus Networks, [[Seagate Technology|Seagate]], [[Iris Associates]] and many other technology firms, most located along [[Massachusetts Route 110]], parallel to [[Interstate 495 (Massachusetts)|I-495]]. It is also the former North American headquarters for [[Puma AG|Puma]].
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