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Lenox, Massachusetts

Lenox, Massachusetts
Town
Town Hall
Town Hall
Official seal of Lenox, Massachusetts
Seal
Location in Berkshire County and the state of Massachusetts.
Location in Berkshire County and the state of Massachusetts.
Coordinates: 42°21′23″N 73°17′07″W / 42.35639°N 73.28528°W / 42.35639; -73.28528Coordinates: 42°21′23″N 73°17′07″W / 42.35639°N 73.28528°W / 42.35639; -73.28528
Country United States
State Massachusetts
County Berkshire
Settled 1750
Incorporated 1767
Government
 • Type Open town meeting
Area
 • Total 21.7 sq mi (56.1 km2)
 • Land 21.2 sq mi (55.0 km2)
 • Water 0.5 sq mi (1.2 km2)
Elevation 1,200 ft (366 m)
Population (2010)
 • Total 5,025
 • Density 237/sq mi (91.4/km2)
Time zone Eastern (UTC-5)
 • Summer (DST) Eastern (UTC-4)
ZIP code 01240
Area code(s) 413
FIPS code 25-34970
GNIS feature ID 0618269
Website www.townoflenox.com

Lenox is a town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. Set in Western Massachusetts, it is part of the Pittsfield Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 5,025 at the 2010 census. Lenox is the site of Tanglewood, summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Lenox includes the villages of New Lenox and Lenoxdale, and is a tourist destination during the summer.

The area was inhabited by Mahicans, Algonquian speakers who largely lived along the Hudson and Housatonic Rivers. Hostilities during the French and Indian Wars discouraged settlement by European colonial settlers until 1750, when Jonathan and Sarah Hinsdale from Hartford, Connecticut, established a small inn and general store. The Province of Massachusetts Bay thereupon auctioned large tracts of land for 10 townships in Berkshire County, set off in 1761 from Hampshire County.

For 2,250 pounds Josiah Dean purchased Lot Number 8, which included present-day Lenox and Richmond. After conflicting land claims were resolved, however, it went to Samuel Brown, Jr., who had bought the land from the Mahican chief, on condition that he pay 650 pounds extra. It was founded as Richmond in 1765. But because the Berkshires divided the town in two, the village of Yokuntown (named for an indigenous chief) was set off as Lenox in 1767. The town was intended to be called Lennox, probably after Charles Lennox, 3rd Duke of Richmond and Lennox (Scottish Gaelic Leamhnachd), but the name was misspelled by a clerk at incorporation.


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