Braintree

Braintree is a city, with a mayor-council form of government, and is considered a city under Massachusetts law. The city is part of the Greater Boston area with access to the MBTA Red Line. Braintree shares borders with Quincy to the north, Randolph to the west (separated by the Cochato River), Holbrook to the south, and Weymouth to the east. The town is named after the Essex town of Braintrees, England. It is the birthplace of several prominent figures in American history: Abigail Adams, John Quincy Adams, statesman John Hancock, and General Sylvanus Thayer, an early superintendent of the United States Military Academy located at West Point, New York. The hottest month is July with a mean temperature of 69.7 °F (20.9 °C). The coldest month is January, with an average temperature of 25.7°F (3.5°C) The city averages 48.63 inches (1,240 mm) of precipitation a year, with 61.1 inches (155 cm) of snowfall per season. It has a humid continental climate (Köppen Dfb) with some maritime influence. In the winter, snowfall is fairly common, particularly in spring and early summer, but tropical storm or hurricane threats can threaten the region in late summer and early autumn, especially in late autumn and early winter. In 2014, the highest snowfall figure was 1508 (383 cm) in the winter of 2015.

History

European settlers first arrived in 1625. The town was colonized in 1635, and ultimately incorporated in 1640. In 1920, Braintree was the site of the murders that led to the trial of Sacco and Vanzetti. Abigail Adams, John Quincy Adams, and John Hancock are among the town's prominent residents. In January 2008, the town converted from a representative town meeting form of government to a mayor-council government. It is the birthplace of several prominent figures in American history, including John Adams and Sylvanus Thayer, an early superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York. It was once part of Suffolk County until the formation of Norfolk County in 1793. It has a population of 2,000, with a growth rate of more than 50% since the early 1990s. The city is named after the Essex town of Braintrees, which was founded in the same year as the town. It also includes the villages of Quincy, Randolph, and Holbrook, which were incorporated in 1792, 1793, and 1872, respectively. The village of Quincy was named after Quincy, New Jersey, where the Adams family was originally from. In 1872 the village of Holbrook was incorporated, and the town of Randolph was formed in 1892. In 2000, the city's population grew to 2,200. It had a growth spurt in the early 2000s, when the population of the town grew by more than 40%.

Geography

Braintree shares borders with Quincy to the north, Randolph to the west (separated by the Cochato River), Holbrook to the south, and Weymouth to the east. According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 14.5 square miles (37.6 km²) of which 13.9 sq miles (36.0 km²), is land and 0.6 sq mi (1.6km²) is water. The total area is 4.34% water. Park and recreation locations in Braintree include Pond Meadow Park, Sunset Lake, and Blue Hills Reservation. The town is located on the Connecticut River, which runs through the center of the town. It has a population of 2,816. It is located at the intersection of the Massachusetts Turnpike and the Connecticut Turnpiked Highway, and is located in the Cape Cod region of the New England United States. Its population is 2,715. It was the site of the U.S. Civil War Battle of Bunker Hill, which took place in 1864. It also hosted the Battle of the Bulge, which was fought from 1864 to 1875. The Battle was the first battle of the Atlantic Ocean, and the first to be won by the American Revolutionary War, which began in 1775. Its name comes from the town's name, "Bunker Hill", which means "bunker" or "hill" in English.

Climate

Braintree has a humid continental climate (Köppen Dfb) with some maritime influence. Summers are typically warm to hot, rainy, and humid, while winters oscillate between periods of cold rain and snow, with cold temperatures. The city averages 48.63 inches (1,240 mm) of precipitation a year, with 61.1 inches (155 cm) of snowfall per season. Braintree's coastal location on the North Atlantic moderates its temperature, but makes the city very prone to nor'easter weather systems that can produce much snow and rain.Thunderstorms occur from May to September and are occasionally severe, with large hail, damaging winds and heavy downpours. The last such storm to impact the city was Hurricane Sandy in October 2012. Although Braintrees has never been struck by a violent tornado, the city has experienced many tornado warnings. Damaging storms are more common in areas north, west, and northwest of the city. The occasional tropical storm or hurricane can threaten the region, especially in late summer and early autumn. The hottest month is July, with a mean temperature of 69.7 °F (20.9 °C). The coldest month is January, with an average of 25.7°F (3.5 °C) Periods exceeding 90 °F in summer and below freezing in winter are not uncommon but are rarely extended. The average window for freezing temperatures is November 9 through April 5. Official temperature records have ranged from 21 °F in February 1934, up to 101 °C in August 1949 and 1974. The temperature at the coast can be more than 20°F colder than locations a few miles inland, sometimes dropping by that amount near midday.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 33,828 people, 12,652 households, and 8,907 families residing in the town. More than 46% of town residents had Irish ancestry. As of 2014 Braintree had the 2nd highest concentration of Irish Americans in the entire country, slightly behind Scituate, Massachusetts. The median income for a household was $85,590, and the median family income was $90,590 as of a 2007 estimate. The per capita income for the town was $28,683. About 2.1% of families and 3.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 4.6% of those under age 18 and 4.3% of people age 65 or over. The town is located on the Massachusetts Turnpike, which runs through the town of BraintREE. The Turnpree River flows through the center of the town, and runs into the Boston Harbor. The Boston River is a tributary of the Massachusetts River, which flows into the Massachusetts Bay. The Massachusetts Bay is the state's only major waterway, and connects to the New England coast. The waterway was once part of the Atlantic seaboard, but has been converted to the Bay via a series of canals and rivers. It is the only waterway in the state that is not currently under the jurisdiction of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). The NTSB does not regulate the waterway or the use of the Bay.

Sports

Braintree High School participates in the Bay State Conference, a Division 1 conference in the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association. The girls' basketball team has won back-to-back state championships and finished 2014 undefeated. The Wamps baseball team won the Super Eight baseball tournament in 2015 over St. John's Preparatory School in their second-straight finals appearance. The Braintree Athletic Complex will feature two ice hockey rinks, a basketball court, a multi-use court, a swimming pool and an indoor baseball diamond. The complex is scheduled to be located at Braintrees High School and will be completed by the end of the year. It will be the first of its kind in the state of Massachusetts and will feature a baseball diamond, ice hockey rink, basketball court and multi- use court. It is expected to cost $20 million to build and is set to open in the spring of 2015. The high school is located on the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school's mascot is the Wamps, which means "Wamps" in French and "Wartime" in English. The football team is nicknamed "The Wamps" because of the team's history of winning state championships. The basketball team is known as "The Wizards" for their success. The baseball team is also known as the "Wampers" because they have won several state championships in the past. The soccer team is called "The Maroons" and plays at Hollingsworth Park. The boys' team plays at Watson Park.

Education

Braintree is home to various educational institutions, both private and public. Public education at the primary and secondary levels is managed by Braintree Public Schools (BPS), a system that includes one kindergarten center, six elementary schools, two middle schools and one high school. Private and alternative education institutions in Braintrees include Thayer Academy, Archbishop Williams High School, and CATS Academy. The town has a population of about 3,000. The city is located on the New Jersey Turnpike, which runs from New Jersey to New Jersey and into New Hampshire. It is also on the Massachusetts Turnpikes, which run from Massachusetts to New Jersey and into New England. The New England Turnpikedway runs through the town and connects the towns of Somerset, Somerset County, and Somerset County. It was built in the 1880s and was the first town in the New England region to be named after a town. It has been named after the town's first postmaster, who was born in 1881. It also has a town hall, which was founded in 1883. The village has a school district, which began in 1894. The school district has a high school, which opened in 1891. It now has a middle school, and two elementary schools and a kindergarten center. The district also has six elementary and six elementary elementary schools. The high school has one kindergarten, and one elementary elementary school, as well as a middle and elementary elementary and elementary middle school.

Infrastructure

Braintree is situated in the Greater Boston Area, which has rail, air, and highway facilities. State Route 128 and Interstate 95 divide the region into inner and outer zones, which are connected by numerous "spokes" Commuter rail service to South Station, Boston, is available on the Middleboro & Plymouth lines. The CapeFLYER rail service from Boston to Hyannis as well as Buzzards Bay stations also stops at Braintree Station. The MBTA Red Line is accessible at the same location. From 1948 to 1968, the town was the home of Braintrees Airport, a general aviation airport located near Great Pond. The airport featured a 2,800-foot (850 m) dirt runway and offered flight training. In July 2017, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker and other Baker administration transportation officials visited a construction project in the city to highlight $2.8 billion spent during Baker's administration on highway construction projects and improvements to bridges, intersections, and sidewalks. The town operates its own water treatment plant while a second treatment plant serves the Randolph-Holbrook Joint Water Board. In 2020, BraintREE, together with Randolph, and Holbrook, formed a regional drinking water supply agency, which is called the Tri-Town Water Board and will operate two water treatment plants. The city has a population of 4,000, making it one of the smallest towns in the state. It is located on the Massachusetts Turnpike, which runs between Boston and Cape Cod.

Commerce

Braintree is home to several large companies, including Altra Industrial Motion, Greater Media, Haemonetics, and TopSource LLC. From 1964 to 1991 Braintree was the home of a Valle's Steak House restaurant. The 30,000-square-foot (2,800 m2) restaurant was the largest in the chain when it opened, and featured a dining room that sat 600 customers, banquet rooms that accommodated 1,000, parking for 700 cars, and two kitchens, one used exclusively for banquets. One of the chain's busiest locations, it was capable of serving over 5,000 customers per day. The restaurant changed names several times after the Valle’s corporation closed in 1991 and was eventually razed to make way for a Toyota dealership. The chain was an East Coast landmark that stretched from Maine to Florida and had over 150 employees. It was one of the notable moments in the restaurant's history occurred in 1980 when then presidential candidate Ronald Reagan made a campaign speech at a South Shore Chamber of Commerce luncheon. He was speaking at a luncheon held by the South Shore Area Chamber of commerce in BraintREE. The store was razed in 2011 to make room for a new Toyota dealership, which was built in the same location. The building was later torn down and replaced by a home for a private security company, which has since been built. It is now home to a number of high-tech companies, such as Altra industrial Motion and Greater Media.

Air Quality, Water Quality, Superfund Sites & UV Index

The Air Quality index is in Braintree, Norfolk County, Massachusetts = 26.9. These Air Quality index is based on annual reports from the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The number of ozone alert days is used as an indicator of air quality, as are the amounts of seven pollutants including particulates, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, lead, and volatile organic chemicals. The Water Quality Index is 35. A measure of the quality of an area’s water supply as rated by the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The EPA has a complex method of measuring the watershed quality, using 15 indicators such as pollutants, turbidity, sediments, and toxic discharges. The Superfund Sites Index is 10. Higher is better (100=best). Based upon the number and impact of EPA Superfund pollution sites in the county, including spending on the cleanup efforts. The UV Index in Braintree = 3.5 and is a measure of an area's exposure to the sun's ultraviolet rays. This is most often a combination of sunny weather, altitude, and latitude. The UV Index has been defined by the WHO (www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/radiation-the-ultraviolet-(uv)-index) and is uniform worldwide.

Employed

The most recent city population of 6,822 individuals with a median age of 42.4 age the population grows by 2.67% in Braintree, Norfolk County, Massachusetts population since 2000 and are distributed over a density of 2,844.28 residents per square mile of area (1,098.16/km²). There are average 2.56 people per household in the 13,176 households with an average household income of $77,408 a year. The unemployment rate in Alabama is 8.00% of the available work force and has dropped -4.07% over the most recent 12-month period and the projected change in job supply over the next decade based on migration patterns, economic growth, and other factors will increase by 23.86%. The number of physicians in Braintree per 100,000 population = 414.4.

Weather

The annual rainfall in Braintree = 48.7 inches and the annual snowfall = 48.6 inches. The annual number of days with measurable precipitation (over .01 inch) = 129. The average number of days per year that are predominantly sunny = 197. 82 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily high temperature for the month of July and 19.3 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily low temperature for the month of January. The Comfort Index (higher=better) is 50, where higher values mean a more pleasant climate. The Comfort Index measure recognizes that humidity by itself isn't the problem. (Have you noticed nobody ever complains about the weather being 'cold and humid?) It's in the summertime that we notice the humidity the most, when it's hot and muggy. Our Comfort Index uses a combination of afternoon summer temperature and humidity to closely predict the effect that the humidity will have on people.

Median Home Cost

The percentage of housing units in Braintree, Norfolk County, Massachusetts which are owned by the occupant = 74.56%. A housing unit is a house, apartment, mobile home, or room occupied as separate living quarters. The average age of homes = 51 years with median home cost = $283,830 and home appreciation of -5.79%. This is the value of the years most recent home sales data. Its important to note that this is not the average (or arithmetic mean). The median home price is the middle value when you arrange all the sales prices of homes from lowest to highest. This is a better indicator than the average, because the median is not changed as much by a few unusually high or low values. The property tax rate of $11.91 shown here is the rate per $1,000 of home value. If for simplification for example the tax rate is $14.00 and the home value is $250,000, the property tax would be $14.00 x ($250,000/1000), or $3500. This is the 'effective' tax rate.

Study

The local school district spends $6,662 per student. There are 13.6 students for each teacher in the school, 993 students for each Librarian and 549 students for each Counselor. 8.08% of the area’s population over the age of 25 with an Associate Degree or other 2-year college degree, 21.63% with a master’s degree, Ph.D. or other advanced college degree and 10.18% with high school diplomas or high school equivalency degrees (GEDs).