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WAKEFIELD

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Originally appearing in Volume V28, Page 250 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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WAKEFIELD , a township of See also:

Middlesex See also:county, See also:Massachusetts, U.S.A., about 10 m. N. of See also:Boston. Pop. (189o) 6982; (1900) 9290, of whom 2347 were See also:foreign-See also:born; (1910, See also:census) 11,404. Wakefield is served by three branches of the Boston & See also:Maine railway and by electric interurban railway to neighbouring towns and cities. It contains the outlying villages of Greenwcod, See also:Montrose and Boyntonville; and, larger than these, Wakefield, near the centre of the township. In this See also:village is the See also:town See also:hall, the See also:gift of See also:Cyrus Wakefield (1811-1873), and the Beebe Town Library, founded in 1856 as the Public Library of See also:South See also:Reading, and later renamed in See also:honour of See also:Lucius Beebe, a generous See also:patron. The town See also:park (about 25 acres), shaded by some See also:fine old elms, extends to the S. See also:shore of See also:Lake Quannapowitt and contains a soldiers' See also:monument; and in the S. See also:part of the township are Crystal Lake and See also:Hart's See also:Hill (30 acres), a public park. In the township is the Wakefield See also:Home for Aged See also:Women, and a Y.M.C.A. See also:building. Manufacturing is the See also:principal See also:industry; and among the manufactures are rattan goods, See also:hosiery, stoves and furnaces, boots and shoes, and pianos. The value of the factory products increased from $2,647,130 in 1900 to $4,807,728 in 1905, or 81.6 %. The township owns and operates the electric See also:lighting and See also:gas See also:plants and the See also:water-See also:works.

Within the See also:

present limits of Wakefield the first See also:settlement was made, in 1639, in that part of the old township of See also:Lynn which in 1644 was incorporated as Reading. In 1812 the See also:southern or " Old See also:Parish " of Reading, which was strongly Democratic-Republican while the other two parishes were strongly Federalist, was set apart and incorporated as the town of South Reading. In 1868 the present name was adopted in honour of Cyrus Wakefield, who established the rattan works here. A portion of See also:Stoneham was annexed to Wakefield in 1889. See C. W. See also:Eaton, " Wakefield," in S. A. See also:Drake's See also:History of See also:Middle-See also:sex County (Boston, 1880).

End of Article: WAKEFIELD

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