Ashland is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the MetroWest region. The population was 18,832 at the 2020 United States census.

History

The area now known as Ashland was settled in the early 18th century and inhabited prior to that by the Megunko Native Americans, to which Megunko Hill owes its name. Previously known as “Unionville”, Ashland was incorporated in 1846, bearing the name of statesman Henry Clay’s Kentucky estate. It is considerably younger than many of the surrounding towns, as Ashland’s territory was taken in near-equal parts from the previously established towns of Hopkinton, Holliston (previously of colonial era Sherborn’s territory), and Framingham.

The construction of the Boston & Worcester Railroad, later the Boston & Albany, in the 1830s was key to the early development of the town. Decades later, two other rail lines opened stations in Ashland. Along with the Sudbury River, the railroad helped to attract numerous mills to develop a bustling boot and shoe industry. However, by constructing three reservoirs along the river in 1878, the Boston Water Board inadvertently stymied further growth, most notably by halting the construction of the Dwight Printing Company’s granite mills. Although the mills closed, starting in the 1890s the Hopkinton Railroad Company, providing a connection to Milford, and the Natick Street Railway, which operated streetcars between the towns of Sherborn, Framingham, and Natick, offered service in Ashland. These rail lines were gone by the 1920s, rendered obsolete by automobiles.

Around the same time that the local rail lines were in decline, the inventor Henry E. Warren developed the Warren Synchronizing Timer in 1916, which made synchronous electric clocks possible by keeping alternating current flowing from power plants at a consistent sixty cycles per second. Warren founded Telechron, which, in partnership with General Electric, manufactured electric clocks in Ashland until 1979, thirteen years before Telechron itself became defunct. A Warren Synchronizing Timer is on display at the Smithsonian’s Museum of American History in Washington D.C., and the Ashland High School sports teams are called “The Clockers”.

For most of the 20th century, Ashland’s population remained slow in growth, until the post-war boom beginning in the 1950s. During that period, Ashland grew from a far-removed rural town 22 miles (35 km) west of Boston to a primarily residential suburb by the 1980s. Over time, many farms and open spaces have given way to housing, although some untouched land still remains, including the Ashland Town Forest, Ashland State Park, Warren Woods, and land comprising the beach and dam portions of Hopkinton State Park.

Two major routes, 135 and 126, pass through Ashland. Route 135 is dominated by older residential development of varying density and is also part of the route for the Boston Marathon, which began in Ashland on Pleasant Street until the start was moved to Hopkinton’s Main Street in 1924. Route 126 has developed rapidly since the 1980s, as farms have given way to shopping centers and condominiums. A part of the draw of Ashland, and one that has been publicized in recent years, is its “ideal” location about halfway between the cities of Boston and Worcester. Travel is easy, with its own stop on the Framingham/Worcester Commuter Rail Line and nearby access to both I-90 and I-495. Ashland is considered part of MetroWest, which also consists of the towns of Framingham, Holliston, and Hopkinton.

Even though Ashland has left its humble roots as a rural area, it still retains the look and feel of a typical residential Boston-area New England town. Traditions like Ashland Day and small-town favorites like the ice cream shop Murphy’s and breakfast joint Sunnyside Cafe maintain the feeling of a close-knit community. Ashland’s longstanding rival for the Thanksgiving Day football game is Hopkinton, a rivalry with roots in the formation of the town and the resulting 1846 dispute concerning Ashland’s fire engine “Megunko 1.”

Education

In 2005, the town completed the new high school and revised the division of grades. These changes include the 6th grade being moved to join the 7th and 8th grades in the former high school to form what is now Ashland Middle School and moving the 3rd grade from the Henry E. Warren Elementary School into the Mindess Elementary School to join the 4th and 5th grades. The 8th grade students have an annual short field trip to Washington D.C. The kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grades are in the Henry E. Warren Elementary School and preschool is in the William Pittaway School. The graduating class of 2007 was the first class to complete a full year in the new high school. In 2009, a new program at Ashland High School encouraged teachers to “bridge the gap between subjects like math and history to the art world and visually engage students with traditional subject matter.” This allowed students to make a connection between the material they were learning in the classroom and the knowledge of the arts and culture.

In 2014, Ashland High School was ranked #19 in the state of Massachusetts (out of 352 schools) and #396 in the country according to U.S. News & World Report. In 2015, Ashland High School was ranked #424 in the country according to Newsweek. In 2016, Ashland High school is ranked #51 among all of the high schools in Massachusetts and #1224 in national school rankings. The mathematics proficiency is at 97% and the English proficiency is at 98% at Ashland High School.

Demographics

At the 2010 census, there were 16,593 people, 6,385 households and 4,531 families residing in the town. The population density was 1,338.1 inhabitants per square mile (516.6/km²). There were 6,609 housing units at an average density of 533.0 per square mile (205.8/km). The racial makeup of the town was 84.2% White, 2.4% African American, 0.1% Native American, 8.8% Asian, 2.6% from other races, and 1.9% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4.5% of the population.

There were 6,484 households, of which 36.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.0% were married couples living together, 2.7% had a male householder with no wife present, 8.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.8% were non-families. 24.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.51 and the average family size was 3.04.

Of the 16,593 people in the population, 24.9% were under the age of 18, 5.5% were 15 to 19 years of age, 4.1% were 20 to 24 years of age, 27.9% were 25 to 44 years of age, 30.7% were 45 to 64 years of age, and 10.9% were 65 years and over. The median age was 40.1 years. For every 100 females, there was 94.6 males. For every 100 females 18 years and over there were 92.0 males.

The median household income was $93,770, and the median family income was $116,799. The median income of individuals working full-time was $79,485 for males versus $60,720 for females. The per capita income for the town was $46,626. About 2.2% of families and 4.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 3.7% of those under age 18 and 9.6% of those age 65 or over.