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Melrose, Massachusetts

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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A city of Middlesex county, Massachusetts, U.S.A., about 7 m. N. of Boston. Pop. (1890), 8519; (1900), 12,962, of whom 2924 were foreign-born and 130 were negroes; (1910 census) 15,715. It is served by the Boston & Maine railroad, and by inter-urban electric railways. The city covers 4.8 sq. m. of broken, hilly country, in which is a part of the state park of Middlesex Fells; it includes the villages of Melrose, Melrose Highlands, Wyoming and Fells. In 1905 the total factory product was valued at $9,450,929 (an increase of 176.6% over the value of the factory product in 1900). The principal products are rubber shoes (at the village of Fells), skirts (at the village of Wyoming), and leather and silverware (at Melrose Highlands). The water supply of Melrose, like that of Stoneham and of Medford, is derived from the metropolitan reservoir called Spot Pond in Stoneham, immediately west of Melrose. The city was the home of Samuel Adams Drake (1833-1905), American historian, whose History of Middlesex County (Boston, 1880; vol. 2, "Melrose," by E. H. Goss) should be consulted; and of William Frederick Poole (1821-1894), the librarian and the originator of indexes of periodical literature. Melrose was settled about 1633, and was a part of Charlestown until 1649, and of Malden until 1850. The eastern part of Stoneham was annexed to it in 1853. In 1899 it was chartered as a city; the charter came into effect in 1900. The name is said to be due to a resemblance of the scenery to that of Melrose, Scotland.