Clinton #62: Central MA’s Best Communities

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Monday, June 25, 2012

GoLocalWorcester Best Communities Team

Clinton ranks as the 62nd Best Community in Central Mass.  

Home to the Wachusett Reservoir dam, Clinton is also home to Fuller Field, one of the oldest continuously used baseball fields in the world. The Museum of Russian Icons, which was established in 2006, has more than 500 icons and artifacts, the largest collection in North America. Several of Clinton’s mills have been converted into housing units.

Clinton is the #2 town in Central Mass for safety, and also ranks in the top ten for arts and culture. Its ranking for economic condition is second to last, and it ranks 67th for affordability.
 

Established: 1850
Population: 13,606
Median household income: $55,826
Median housing price: $199,138

2012 Best Communities rankings
Overall ranking: 62
Affordability ranking: 67
Education ranking: 50
Economic condition ranking: 71
Safety ranking: 2
Arts & Culture ranking: 9

History in a nutshell:

First settled in 1654 as part of Lancaster, Clinton was renamed and then incorporated in 1850 following the successes of the Bigelow brothers that spurred the growth of the town. Brothers Erastus and Horatio were mechanics then entrepreneurs, with one inventing a power loom for manufacturing textiles and the other an expert marketer. Bigelow's textiles and then rugs became worldwide--found in the White House, the Waldorf-Astoria and the SS Titanic. The boom came to a halt with the Great Depression but was revitalized by the '70s and 80s.
 

Famous residents:  

Tim Fortugno, MLB pitcher
Joseph L. Gormley, Chief of chemistry and toxicology for the FBI
Billy Hamilton, Baseball Hall of Fame
Agnes Moorehead, Actress
Sydney Schanberg, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter
Scott Young, NHL athlete

Famous residents source: Wikipedia 
Additional reporting by Grace Fenton

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