Framingham

Sister cities

• Governador Valadares
• Lomonosov

History

Prior to English settlement, the region around Framingham was inhabited by the indigenous Nipmuc. They lived in encampments established alongside the Washakamaug ("eel fishing place") or what is today called Farm Pond. The Nipmuc Indians used game management techniques through the hunting of deer and beaver, fishing in ponds and streams, as well as established growing areas for the Three Sisters (squash, corn, beans) in the nearby hills. The ancient Indian trail later known as the Old Connecticut Path also ran through this area. During the initial period of colonization of the region by Puritan settlers, the Nipmuc suffered a rapid decline in population due to the introduction of foreign infectious diseases to which they had no immunity and violence related to their raiding settlements. Many of the Nipmuc people were forced into praying towns including nearby Natick. The first European settler in the area was John Stone who established a farm on the west bank of the Sudbury River in 1647. In 1660, Thomas Danforth, an official of the Bay Colony received a grant of land at "Danforth's Farms" and began to accumulate over . Between 1675 and 1676, King Philip's War created great tensions between English settlers and the Nipmuc people in the area. During this time, Nipmuc leader Tantamous, who lived on Nobscot Hill and who resisted Christianization by the English, was arrested with his family members and other Nipmuc men by the colonial government in 1676 for what the colony deemed treason and they were incarcerated on Deer Island. He would escape, be recaptured, and later hanged on Boston Common. In January 1676, a group of Nipmuc men went to the Eames family homestead to demand that they return a supposedly stolen corn harvest. Although the historical record is unclear…

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 26.4 square miles (68.5 km), of which 25.1 square miles (65.1 km) is land and 1.3 square miles (3.4 km) (4.99%) is water. The Golden Triangle was originally a three square mile district on the eastern side of Framingham, bordered by Worcester Rd. (Route 9), Cochituate Rd. (Route 30), and Speen Street in Natick. In 1993, the area began to expand beyond the borders of the triangle with construction of a BJ's Wholesale Club and a Super Stop & Shop just north of Route 30. It now includes the original area plus parts of Old Connecticut Path., Concord St. (Route 126), and Speen St. north of Route 30. Because of the size and complexity of this area, Framingham and Natick cooperatively operate it as a single distinct district with similar zoning. The area is one of the largest shopping districts in New England. The area was formed with the construction of Shoppers World in 1951. Shoppers' World was a large open air shopping mall, the second in the US and the first east of the Mississippi River. The mall drew many other retail construction projects to the area, including Marshalls (1961, rebuilt as Bed Bath & Beyond 1997), Caldor (1966, Rebuilt as Wal-Mart in 2002), Bradlees (1960s, rebuilt as Kohl's in 2002), the Route 30 Mall (1970), an AMC Framingham 15, the Framingham Mall (1978, rebuilt 2000), and Lowe's (formerly the Verizon Building, 2006). Complementary developments in Natick include the Natick Mall (1966, rebuilt in 1991, expanded 2007 & renamed Natick Collection), Sherwood Plaza (1960), Cloverleaf Marketplace (1978), and the Home Depot. In 1994, Shoppers' World was demolished and replaced with a strip mall named Shoppers World. There are also seven hotels and two…

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  68,604
• Black-capped Chickadee

  Poecile atricapillus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  64,510
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  62,602
• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  61,070
• Tufted Titmouse

  Baeolophus bicolor (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  55,820
• Downy Woodpecker

  Dryobates pubescens (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  50,911
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  48,502
• Song Sparrow

  Melospiza melodia (A.Wilson, 1810) · Aves
  47,835

Largest nearby schools

• Framingham High School
  High · Framingham · 2,566 students · 14.7:1 ratio
• Natick High
  High · Natick · 1,727 students · 12.2:1 ratio
• Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High
  High · Sudbury · 1,484 students · 11.7:1 ratio
• Hopkinton High
  High · Hopkinton · 1,234 students · 14.2:1 ratio
• Assabet Valley Vocational High School
  High · Marlborough · 1,128 students · 10.2:1 ratio
• Marlborough High
  High · Marlborough · 1,064 students · 11:1 ratio
• 1 LT Charles W. Whitcomb School
  Middle · Marlborough · 1,044 students · 10.5:1 ratio
• Hopkinton Middle School
  Middle · Hopkinton · 972 students · 14.7:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 3.6 — 2020-11-08
  10 km S of Bliss Corner, Massachusetts
• M 2.7 — 2018-02-15
  0 km SE of East Kingston, New Hampshire
• M 2.6 — 2015-01-13
  2 km E of Wauregan, Connecticut
• M 3.3 — 2015-01-12
  0 km NE of Wauregan, Connecticut
• M 2.5 — 2007-10-19
  2 km WSW of Littleton Common, Massachusetts
• M 2.5 — 2005-11-17
  4 km S of Plymouth, Massachusetts