Hanson, Massachusetts
Encyclopedia
Hanson is a town in Plymouth County
Plymouth County, Massachusetts
Plymouth County is a county located in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. As of 2010, the population was 494,919. Its county seats are Plymouth and Brockton...

, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. The population was 9,495 at the 2000 census.

History

Hanson was first settled in 1632 as the western parish of Pembroke
Pembroke, Massachusetts
Pembroke is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 16,927 at the 2000 census.The southwestern section of Pembroke is also known as Bryantville...

. The town was officially incorporated in 1820, and was named for Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...

 newspaper publisher and U.S. Senator Alexander Contee Hanson. The town's early industry revolved around farming, as well as bog iron and quarrying. Mills also popped up along the rivers during the nineteenth century. Today the town is mostly residential, with some farming and cranberry farming. Ocean Spray
Ocean Spray (cooperative)
Ocean Spray is an agricultural cooperative of growers of cranberries and grapefruit headquartered in Lakeville/Middleborough, Massachusetts. It currently has over 600 member growers . The cooperative employs about 2,000 people, with sales of $1.4 billion in fiscal year 2005...

 was first started by several bogs in Hanson.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...

, the town has a total area of 15.7 square miles (40.6 km²), of which, 15.0 square miles (38.9 km²) of it is land and 0.7 square miles (1.7 km²) of it (4.21%) is water. It is the 250th largest town in the Commonwealth, over seven square miles smaller than the average. Hanson is considered one of the inland towns of Massachusetts's South Shore
South Shore, Massachusetts
The South Shore of Massachusetts is a geographic region stretching south and east from Boston toward Cape Cod along the shores of Massachusetts Bay and Cape Cod Bay...

, and is bordered by Rockland
Rockland, Massachusetts
Rockland is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. The 2010 census records its population at 17,489. As of December 31, 2009, there are 11,809 registered voters in the community.-History:...

 and Hanover
Hanover, Massachusetts
Hanover is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 13,164 at the 2000 census.-History:The area of Hanover was first settled by English settlers in 1649 when William Barstow, a farmer, built a bridge along the North River at what is now Washington Street...

  to the north, Pembroke
Pembroke, Massachusetts
Pembroke is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 16,927 at the 2000 census.The southwestern section of Pembroke is also known as Bryantville...

 to the east, Halifax
Halifax, Massachusetts
Halifax is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 7,500 at the 2000 census.- History :Halifax was first settled by Europeans, most notably the Bosworth family from Bosworth Fields in England, in 1669, growing with lumbering and agriculture...

 to the south, East Bridgewater
East Bridgewater, Massachusetts
East Bridgewater is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 12,974 at the 2000 census.-History:The lands that would become East Bridgewater were first settled by Carlos Mencia in 1630 A.D. as an outgrowth of the Plymouth and Duxbury plantations...

 to the west, and Whitman
Whitman, Massachusetts
Whitman is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 14,489 as of the 2010 census. It is notable as being the place where the chocolate chip cookie was invented....

 to the northwest. Hanson is located approximately nine miles east of Brockton
Brockton, Massachusetts
Brockton is a city in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States; the population was 93,810 in the 2010 Census. Brockton, along with Plymouth, are the county seats of Plymouth County...

, thirteen miles (19 km) south of Quincy
Quincy, Massachusetts
Quincy is a city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Its nicknames are "City of Presidents", "City of Legends", and "Birthplace of the American Dream". As a major part of Metropolitan Boston, Quincy is a member of Boston's Inner Core Committee for the Metropolitan Area Planning Council...

, and eighteen miles (29 km) south-southeast of Boston.

Several neighborhoods in Hanson have been given names that have stuck over many years. To the south, on the border with the Town of Halifax is the Monponsett neighborhood which actually has its own Post Office and zip code (02350). Monponsett is named for the Monponsett Twin Lakes
Monponsett Pond
Monponsett Pond, also called Monponsett Lake and the Twin Lakes, is actually a system of two ponds, West and East, mostly in Halifax, Massachusetts, with a small portion of West Monponsett Pond extending into Hanson. The western basin is , and the eastern basin is . The average depth of both ponds...

 which lie along much of the Hanson/Halifax border. In South Hanson, the area of Burrage was named for Albert Burrage, one of the Town's most prominent industrialists. He formed the Atlantic Dyestuff Company which had its first factory where present day Hawks Avenue and the Litecontrol Corporation are located. Burrage includes portions of Pleasant Street, South Street and Reed Street. The Brentwood section of Hanson encompasses much of Gorwin Drive and several of its side streets in the central part of Hanson.

Hanson, like many towns in central Plymouth County, is dominated by lakes, rivers and swamps. The largest ponds include Oldham Pond
Oldham Pond (Massachusetts)
Oldham Pond is a pond in Pembroke and Hanson, Massachusetts. The pond is a tributary to Furnace Pond. There are three islands located in the middle of the pond, the largest of which is named Monument Island. On the Pembroke side of the pond, Oldham Village lies along the eastern shore, and Oldham...

 along the Pembroke town line, Indian Head Pond
Indian Head Pond (Massachusetts)
Indian Head Pond is a pond in Hanson, Massachusetts. The pond is a tributary to Furnace Pond, a public water supply, and is the headwaters to Indian Head Brook.-External links:**...

 (the source of the Indian Head Brook) just south of Oldham Pond, Maquan Pond
Maquan Pond
Maquan Pond is a pond in Hanson, Massachusetts. Its average depth is and its maximum depth is . The pond is a tributary to Furnace Pond, a public water supply. There has been much development along the shore. The town right-of-way is on the northern shore of the pond off Maquan Street...

, located east of the center of the town, and Wampatuck Pond
Wampatuck Pond
Wampatuck Pond is a pond in Hanson, Massachusetts. Indian Head Brook both flows in and out of the pond. Along the northern shore of the pond are the Routes 14 and 58 concurrency, Hanson's Town Hall, and a small park. Access to the pond includes a concrete ramp managed by the Town of Hanson...

, located in the center of the town. In addition to Indian Head Brook, the town has several other brooks and rivers, including the Shumatuscacant River
Shumatuscacant River
The Shumatuscacant River is an river running through Abington and Whitman, Massachusetts. It forms part of the Taunton River Watershed.The river arises in a wetland just west of Vineyard Road, Abington, and flows to Poor Meadow Brook in Hanson, which then flows southwest to Robbins Pond...

 and Poor Meadow Brook
Poor Meadow Brook
Poor Meadow Brook is a stream within the Taunton River Watershed in southeastern Massachusetts. The stream runs from a wetland near County Street in Hanson to the confluence with the Satucket River in East Bridgewater....

 to the west, and the White Oak Brook to the south. To the north of town lies the Little Cedar Swamp, along the Indian Head Brook. There is a small town forest and two camps, Rainbow Camp and Camp Kiwanee, within the town as well. Burrage Pond Wildlife Management Area
Burrage Pond Wildlife Management Area
Burrage Pond Wildlife Management Area is located in the towns of Hanson, Massachusetts and Halifax, Massachusetts. The area is composed of of open land for public use. Hunting is permitted except on Sundays. BPWMA is made up mainly of swampy lands, old cranberry bogs , and cedar forest...

 lies mainly in the section of town called Burrage or South Hanson. About half of the 1625 acres (7 km²) are in Hanson, the other half in Halifax
Halifax, Massachusetts
Halifax is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 7,500 at the 2000 census.- History :Halifax was first settled by Europeans, most notably the Bosworth family from Bosworth Fields in England, in 1669, growing with lumbering and agriculture...

.

Demographics

As of the census
Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...

of 2000, there were 9,495 people, 3,123 households, and 2,545 families residing in the town. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...

 was 632.5 people per square mile (244.2/km²). There were 3,178 housing units at an average density of 211.7 per square mile (81.7/km²).

There were 3,123 households out of which 40.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 69.6% were married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...

 living together, 8.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 18.5% were non-families. 14.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.03 and the average family size was 3.38.

In the town the population was spread out with 28.2% under the age of 18, 6.9% from 18 to 24, 31.1% from 25 to 44, 25.1% from 45 to 64, and 8.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 97.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.7 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $62,687, and the median income for a family was $68,560. Males had a median income of $46,508 versus $31,337 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...

 for the town was $23,727. About 2.8% of families and 3.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 2.3% of those under age 18 and 11.6% of those age 65 or over.

Statistically, Hanson is the 180th most populous and the 154th most densely populated town in Massachusetts. It is just below the median in terms of population, and below the average but above the median in terms of density.

Government

On the national level, Hanson is divided between the Ninth
Massachusetts's 9th congressional district
Massachusetts's 9th congressional district is in eastern Massachusetts, including part of Boston and some of its southern suburbs. It is currently represented by Stephen Lynch, who has served the district since 2001. It has subsumed much of the former 11th District in the south suburbs of Boston...

 and Tenth
Massachusetts's 10th congressional district
Massachusetts's 10th congressional district is a political constituency that includes parts of the South Shore of Massachusetts, and all of Cape Cod and the islands. With a population of 635,901 and a land area of , it is the most populous of Massachusetts's ten congressional districts and the...

 congressional districts, with precinct two (the northeastern portion of town) being currently represented by Bill Keating, and precincts one and three represented by Stephen Lynch
Stephen Lynch (politician)
Stephen F. Lynch is the U.S. representative for . He is a member of the Democratic Party who has served since 2001. Lynch was previously an ironworker and lawyer, and served in both chambers of the Massachusetts General Court....

. The state's senior (Class II) member of the United States Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...

, re-elected in 2008, is John Kerry
John Kerry
John Forbes Kerry is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, the 10th most senior U.S. Senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2004 presidential election, but lost to former President George W...

. The junior (Class I) senator, elected in 2010, is Scott Brown
Scott Brown
Scott Brown is a United States senator.Scott Brown may also refer to:-Sportsmen:*Scott Brown , American college football coach of Kentucky State...

.

On the state level, Hanson is represented in the Massachusetts House of Representatives
Massachusetts House of Representatives
The Massachusetts House of Representatives is the lower house of the Massachusetts General Court, the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is composed of 160 members elected from single-member electoral districts across the Commonwealth. Representatives serve two-year terms...

 as a part of the Sixth Plymouth district, which includes the towns of Duxbury, Pembroke and portions of Halifax. The town is represented in the Massachusetts Senate
Massachusetts Senate
The Massachusetts Senate is the upper house of the Massachusetts General Court, the bicameral state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The Senate comprises 40 elected members from 40 single-member senatorial districts in the state...

 as a part of the Second Plymouth and Bristol district, which includes Brockton, Halifax, Hanover, Whitman and portions of East Bridgewater and Easton. The town is patrolled by the First (Norwell) Barracks of Troop D of the Massachusetts State Police
Massachusetts State Police
The Massachusetts State Police is an agency of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' Executive Office of Public Safety and Security responsible for criminal law enforcement and traffic vehicle regulation across the state...

.

Hanson is governed by the open town meeting
Open town meeting
An open town meeting is a form of town meeting in which all registered voters of a town may vote . This form of government is typical of smaller municipalities in the New England region of the United States....

 form of government, and is led by Town Administrator and a five member Board of Selectmen. The town hall is located on the shore of Wampatuck Pond, at the town center. In the same area are the Fire Department headquarters and the Hanson Public Library, which is a member of the Southeastern Area Internet Library Sharing (SAILS) network. The Hanson Police Department headquarters, built in 2007, is located on Main Street (Rte. 27). There is a branch firehouse along Route 27 near the train station, and the town's post office is located near the intersection of Routes 27 and 58. The town also operates a Memorial Hall, where town meetings and other town functions are held.

Education

Hanson shares the Whitman-Hanson Regional School District with neighboring Whitman. The town of Hanson operates two elementary schools, Indian Head and Maquan, both of which are located on either side of School Street. Maquan serves students from kindergarten
Kindergarten
A kindergarten is a preschool educational institution for children. The term was created by Friedrich Fröbel for the play and activity institute that he created in 1837 in Bad Blankenburg as a social experience for children for their transition from home to school...

 through second grade, and Indian Head serves students from third through fifth grades. Hanson Middle School also serves students in grades six through eight. The town sends their students to Whitman-Hanson Regional High School
Whitman-Hanson Regional High School
Whitman-Hanson Regional High School is a public high school located in Whitman, Massachusetts. It is part of the Whitman-Hanson Regional School District....

, which is shared with the neighboring town of Whitman
Whitman
-People:* Whitman , including:*Charles Whitman, tower sniper *Charles S. Whitman, New York politician *Walt Whitman, American essayist and poet *Marcus Whitman, was an American physician and Oregon missionary....

. The school was recently rebuilt through part of a $50 million project. It is located behind the previous, (which has been torn down and replaced with new athletic fields including a synthetic turf football field) along Route 27 on the town line. Whitman-Hanson's teams are known as the Panthers, and their colors are red and black. Their chief rival is nearby Abington High, whom they play in the annual Thanksgiving Day football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 game.

In addition to Whitman-Hanson, students may choose to attend South Shore Vocational Technical High School in Hanover free of charge.

The nearest colleges to Hanson are Massasoit Community College
Massasoit Community College
Massasoit Community College was founded in 1966, and named for Massasoit, the Great Sachem of the Wampanoag. Massasoit Community College offers associate degree programs in arts, sciences, and applied sciences, and one-year and short-term certificates for a range of occupations and interests...

 in Brockton, Bridgewater State College
Bridgewater State College
Bridgewater State University is a public liberal-arts college in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, in the United States. It is the largest college in the Massachusetts state university system outside of the University of Massachusetts system. The school's mascot is the bear.-History:BSU was founded by...

 in Bridgewater, and Quincy College
Quincy College
Quincy College is a public junior college located in Quincy, Massachusetts. It is an open admission commuter school that offers associate's degrees in professional fields of study.-History:...

 in Quincy.

Transportation

There are no freeways in Hanson; it is situated equidistantly between Routes 3 and 24. The main state routes through town are Route 14 and Route 58
Massachusetts Route 58
Route 58 is a south–north highway in southeastern Massachusetts. For all but its final , the route lies within Plymouth County.-Route description:...

, which intersect and run coextensively for a short stretch in the middle of town. Route 27 also passes through the town, following a portion of the Whitman and East Bridgewater borders before crossing the southern section of town.

The town lies along the Kingston-Plymouth line of the MBTA's
Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, often referred to as the MBTA or simply The T, is the public operator of most bus, subway, commuter rail and ferry systems in the greater Boston, Massachusetts, area. Officially a "body politic and corporate, and a political subdivision" of the...

 commuter rail service, with a stop
Hanson (MBTA station)
Hanson is a passenger rail station on MBTA Commuter Rail's Plymouth/Kingston Line. It is a former Bay Colony Station located at 1070 Main Street in Hanson, Massachusetts and is the last station before Halifax, where the line splits for either Plymouth or Kingston.-External links:* * *...

 along Route 27. There is a small airport, Cranland Airport
Cranland Airport
Cranland Airport, in Hanson, Massachusetts, is a public airport owned by Cranland Inc. It has one runway, averages 102 flights per week, and has approximately 22 aircraft based on its field...

, which serves only small aircraft. The nearest national and international air service is at Logan International Airport
Logan International Airport
General Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport is located in the East Boston neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts . It covers , has six runways, and employs an estimated 16,000 people. It is the 19th busiest airport in the United States.Boston serves as a focus city for JetBlue Airways...

 in Boston.

Notable residents

  • Rear Admiral
    Rear admiral (United States)
    Rear admiral is a naval commissioned officer rank above that of a commodore and captain, and below that of a vice admiral. The uniformed services of the United States are unique in having two grades of rear admirals.- Rear admiral :...

     Albert C. Read
    Albert Cushing Read
    Albert Cushing "Putty" Read was an aviator and Rear Admiral in the United States Navy.-Biography:Read was born in Lyme, New Hampshire into a Boston Brahmin family. He attended the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, graduating in the Class of 1907. In 1915, he was designated Naval Aviator No. 24.As...

     (1887–1967) Commander/Navigator of the NC-4, The first aircraft to complete a transatlantic flight in 1919.
  • Tiffany Scott
    Tiffany Scott
    Tiffany Scott is an American figure skater.Scott was born in Hanson, Massachusetts. She competed in pairs with partner Rusty Fein. Prior to teaming up with Fein in 2005, she skated with Philip Dulebohn, who was one of Scott and Fein's coaches during their brief partnership. She and Dulebohn...

    , 2002 Olympic Figure Skater.
  • Rocky Marciano
    Rocky Marciano
    Rocky Marciano , born Rocco Francis Marchegiano, was an American boxer and the heavyweight champion of the world from September 23, 1952, to April 27, 1956. Marciano is the only champion to hold the heavyweight title and go undefeated throughout his career. Marciano defended his title six times...

    , The only undefeated heavyweight boxing champion had a house located on Main Street in Hanson.
  • Jimmy Slyde
    Jimmy Slyde
    Jimmy Slyde known as the King of Slides, was a world-renowned tap dancer, especially famous for his innovative tap style mixed with jazz....

     (b.James T. Godbolt 1927-2008), World renowned Tap Dancer, famous for his innovative tap style mixed with jazz. Danced in films The Cotton Club
    The Cotton Club (film)
    The Cotton Club is a 1984 crime-drama, centered on a famed Harlem jazz club of the 1930s, the Cotton Club.The movie was co-written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, choreographed by Henry LeTang, and starred Richard Gere, Diane Lane, and Gregory Hines...

    , Tap
    Tap (film)
    Tap is a 1989 film drama written and directed by Nick Castle. It stars Gregory Hines and Sammy Davis, Jr.-Plot:Max Washington, just released from prison after serving time for burglary, is a talented tap dancer...

    , and Round Midnight
    Round Midnight (film)
    Round Midnight is a 1986 film directed by Bertrand Tavernier and written by David Rayfiel and Bertrand Tavernier. It tells the story of an African American tenor saxophone player in Paris in the 1950s who is befriended by an unsuccessful French graphic designer who idolizes the musician and who...

    . Received Tony Award
    Tony Award
    The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...

     nomination for his Broadway Debut in the Musical Black & Blue
    Black and Blue (musical)
    Black and Blue is a musical revue celebrating the black culture of dance and music in Paris between World War I and World War II.Based on an idea by Mel Howard and conceived by Hector Orezzoli and Claudio Segovia, it consists of songs by artists such as W. C...

    .

External links

Local newspapers: The Patriot Ledger and The Enterprise
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