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Billerica

Billerica, Massachusetts
Town
Billerica Public Library
Official seal of Billerica, Massachusetts
Seal
Motto: America's Yankee Doodle Town
Location in Middlesex County in Massachusetts
Location in Middlesex County in Massachusetts
Billerica, Massachusetts is located in the US
Billerica, Massachusetts
Billerica, Massachusetts
Location in the United States
Coordinates: 42°33′30″N 71°16′10″W / 42.55833°N 71.26944°W / 42.55833; -71.26944Coordinates: 42°33′30″N 71°16′10″W / 42.55833°N 71.26944°W / 42.55833; -71.26944
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 Listeni/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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