Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Housatonic

(Encyclopedia)Housatonic ho͞osətŏnˈĭk [key], river rising in the Berkshires, W Mass., and flowing generally south c.130 mi (210 km) through W Connecticut to Long Island Sound at Stratford. The river has long b...

Longfellow, Samuel

(Encyclopedia)Longfellow, Samuel, 1819–92, American clergyman and hymn writer, b. Portland, Maine; brother and biographer of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. He was a Unitarian pastor in Fall River, Mass., Brooklyn, N...

Winthrop, John, 1714–79, American scientist

(Encyclopedia)Winthrop, John, 1714–79, American scientist, b. Boston, Mass., grad. Harvard, 1732. Because of his study of earthquakes, he is sometimes called the founder of seismology. He made scientific observat...

Weston

(Encyclopedia)Weston, town (1990 pop. 10,200), Middlesex co., E Mass., W of Boston; settled c.1642, set off from Watertown and inc. 1713. The town is mainly residential. Regis College, the Weston Observatory of Bos...

Westwood

(Encyclopedia)Westwood. 1 Residential town (1990 pop. 12,557), Norfolk co., E Mass., in the greater Boston area; settled 1640, inc. 1897. Clothing is manufactured, and the town has several early 18th-century buildi...

Wachusett Reservoir

(Encyclopedia)Wachusett Reservoir wôcho͞oˈsĭt [key], on the South Branch of the Nashua River, central Mass., NE of Worcester; built 1897–1905. Impounded by Wachusett Dam (completed 1906), it receives some of ...

Brockton

(Encyclopedia)Brockton, industrial city (2020 pop. 105,643), Plymouth co., E Mass.; settled c.1700, set off from Bridgewater 1821, inc. as a city 1881. It formerly ha...

Stoughton

(Encyclopedia)Stoughton stōˈtən [key], town (1990 pop. 26,777), Norfolk co., E Mass.; founded 1637, inc. 1726. A largely residential town, it was the site of shoe and textile industries in the 1800s. Today, manu...

Bates, Katharine Lee

(Encyclopedia)Bates, Katharine Lee, 1859–1929, American author, b. Falmouth, Mass., grad. Wellesley, 1880. She was professor of English literature at Wellesley (1891–1925). Her hymn, “America the Beautiful,�...

Sudbury, town, United States

(Encyclopedia)Sudbury, town (1990 pop. 14,358), Middlesex co., E Mass.; inc. 1639. Electrical and electronic equipment is manufactured. The tavern (built 1686; restored) that was the scene of Henry Wadsworth Longfe...