Billerica
| Billerica, Massachusetts | ||
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| Town | ||
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| Motto: America's Yankee Doodle Town | ||
 Location in Middlesex County in Massachusetts |
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 Billerica, Massachusetts
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| Coordinates: 42°33′30″N 71°16′10″W / 42.55833°N 71.26944°WCoordinates: 42°33′30″N 71°16′10″W / 42.55833°N 71.26944°W | ||
| Country | United States | |
| State | Massachusetts | |
| County | Middlesex | |
| Settled | 1652 | |
| Incorporated | 1655 | |
| Government | ||
| • Type | Representative town meeting | |
| Area | ||
| • Total | 26.4 sq mi (68.3 km2) | |
| • Land | 25.9 sq mi (67.1 km2) | |
| • Water | 0.5 sq mi (1.3 km2) | |
| Elevation | 250 ft (76 m) | |
| Population (2010) | ||
| • Total | 40,243 | |
| • Density | 1,500/sq mi (590/km2) | |
| Time zone | Eastern (UTC-5) | |
| • Summer (DST) | Eastern (UTC-4) | |
| ZIP code | 01821 (Billerica), 01862 (North Billerica) | |
| Area code(s) | 351 / 978 | |
| FIPS code | 25-05805 | |
| GNIS feature ID | 0618217 | |
| Website | www.town.billerica.ma.us | |
Billerica 
i/bɪlˈrɪkə/ is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 40,243 according to the 2010 census. It borrows its name from the town of Billericay in Essex, England.
In the early 1630s, a Praying Indian village named Shawshin was at the current site of Billerica.
In 1638, Massachusetts Bay Governor John Winthrop and Lt. Governor Thomas Dudley were granted land along the Concord River in the wilderness which was called Shawshin by the local Native Americans. (Today, Shawshin is commonly spelled Shawsheen; see Shawsheen River.) Most of the settlement was to take place under the supervision of Cambridge; however, financial difficulties in the colony prevented this from taking place, and the issue of settling Shawshin continued to be deferred. Finally, in 1652, roughly a dozen families from Cambridge and Charlestown Village, later Woburn, had begun to occupy Shawshin as well.
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