Settled in 1640, Woburn is a suburban industrial city located about ten miles north of Boston. It’s a small city located in the upper Mystic River Valley, occupying 13.1 miles of the Fells Upland.
Incorporated in 1642, Woburn became an early manufacturing center, tanning leather and making shoes. Production was large enough that during King Philip’s War town taxes were partially paid in shoes. The smallpox epidemic of 1675 cut deeply into the town’s population. The Middlesex Canal from Boston opened here in 1803, and the Boston and Lowell Railroad in 1835. Woburn was an early English settlement and has a notable old burying ground.
Today the city is also known for its industry and is home to several high-tech and pharmaceutical companies. Largely suburban, the city offers a mixture of older and newer housing. It is home to several shopping centers, with the upscale Burlington Mall located just outside the town line. The world renowned Lahey Clinic in neighboring Burlington is the town’s nearest hospital.
The city has direct access to routes 93 and 128 and is an easy commute to Boston as well as to the North Shore and Greater Merrimack Valley. It also offers a commuter rail link to Boston, local public bus transportation, and Amtrak train service to Portland, Maine. Cultural attractions include the Joseph Bartlett House and the Benjamin Thompson House, both on the National Register of Historic Places, and portions of the old Middlesex Canal which once connected Boston to the Merrimack River.
