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8 Interesting Facts About Medford You Didn’t Know

By Pebbles

I live in Medford. I’ve lived there for almost 10 years and I love it. Even though I’ve been there for a while, there are still many things about it that I didn’t know. Some really interesting fun facts I didn’t know. I was driving through Medford and saw a mural of Amelia Earhart on the side of a building. She lived in Medford. I had no idea and it sent me spiraling down a Medford rabbit hole to find out more. And I did. There are so many interesting facts about Medford.

The basics about Medford

Here are some of the basic facts about Medford from Medford’s official website. “Founded in 1630, Medford was established as a City in 1892 and is one of the oldest settlements in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the US.”

The city is 6.7 miles northwest of downtown Boston on the Mystic River. It’s part of Middlesex County. According to the 2022 census, Medford is home to 65,399 people. It’s home to Tufts University, with their campus along the Medford/Somerville border. Medford has a great food scene with lots of Italian restaurants to choose from.

Don’t miss the Medford Public Library

One of my favorite things in the city is the library. It was recently renovated and named the Charlotte and William Bloomberg Medford Public Library. It is in honor of Michael Bloomberg and Marjorie Bloomberg Tiven’s parents who lived in Medford for 65 years. Michael Bloomberg made a $3 million gift toward the construction of the new public library in his hometown, recognizing the essential role it plays in the community.

I was truly excited when it re-opened and if you have children, that area of the library is exceptional! The kids will love it.

More interesting facts about Medford

Here you go. Lets take a deep dive just northwest of Boston and find out some interesting facts about Medford.

  • Amelia Earhart Is From Medford

    Amelia Earhart got her flying start in Medford

    COURTESY PHOTO A commemorative plaque in front of Amelia Earhart's former home in Medford reads: "Amelia Earhart: The famed flier lived here from 1925 until she left to make the first Transatlantic flight by a woman on July 17, 1925." By STEVE FREKER MEDFORD - The house where the world's most famous woman aviator ever lived [...]

    Amelia Earhart was an American aviation pioneer and writer. She was the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. Most people know that, but did you know that she lived in Medford? I didn’t and I live in Medford.

    Amelia, her sister Muriel, and their mother Amy, moved to Medford in 1924 following their mother’s divorce. They moved into the house at 76 Brooks Street in West Medford.

  • Home Of One Of the Biggest Bank Robberies And Jewel Heists In The World

    Since I’ve only lived in Medford for eight years, I knew nothing about this, but I’m sure it’s legendary among longtime Medford residents. The Memorial Day Heist of 1980. An estimated $10 million in cash and valuables were stolen from more than 700 bank safety deposit boxes at the Depositors Trust Co. According to this AP report, five men, including three police officers were arrested.

    According to that report, “Police said the robbers entered the bank over the Memorial Day weekend by punching through a four-inch concrete wall from an adjoining optician’s office. They apparently crawled through the hole onto the top of the vault, then bored through 18 inches of concrete and steel into the vault.”

    I never knew!

  • Jingle Bells Was Written There

    Site of 'Jingle Bells' Composition

    Discover Site of 'Jingle Bells' Composition in Medford, Massachusetts: The classic Christmas carol was written at this Massachusetts tavern in 1850.

     

  • Reddit was founded in Medford

    Reddit founders Steve Huffman and Alexis OhanianPhoto of the reddit logo in orange in the background and on a phone that a hand is holding

    Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian (Serena Williams’ husband), were roommates and students at the University of Virginia. When they lived together in Medford, they founded Reddit on June 23, 2005. They didn’t have it long though, as they sold it in 2006 for $10 million dollars. Today, Reddit is the sixth most visited website in the US and the ninth most visited website in the world. It’s also worth a whopping $10 billion dollars!

  • Medford Was The Home Of Fanny Farmer

    Fannie Farmer was born March 23, 1857 in Boston. She was an American culinary expert who lived with her family in a duplex home in Medford. The home was destroyed in a fire in 1979, but there is a memorial at the site on corner of Paris and Salem Streets in Medford. She attended Medford Public Schools and the Unitarian Church. She was paralyzed from the waist down at the age of 13, and ended up dropping out of Medford High School. She did recover, and was able to walk with a limp.

    She went to the Boston Cooking School and ended up writing the Boston Cooking School Cook Book, which later was known as the Fannie Farmer Cookbook.

    Fannie Farmer Home Site Memorial | Freedom's Way National Heritage Area

    Located at the site where the home of Fannie Farmer once stood, a commemorative plaque, installed by the Medford Historical Society, reads: "Fannie Merritt Farmer (1857 - 1915) lived in [...]

  • Maria Menunos Is From Medford

    Picture of Maria Menunos throwing out the first pitch wearing a Red Sox jersey and jeans

    TV personality Maria Menunos was born in Medford. She also went to Medford High, and even went back to the reunion a few years back. This one I knew, but still cool!

  • BIA Is From Medford - It's the talent for me!

    Rapper Bia (real name Bianca Landrau) is also from Medford, and graduated from Medford High.

    From Hip Hop Today

    Bia is a rising superstar coming out of Medford, Massachusetts. Over this past year, she has taken her career to unforeseen heights. She is a Puerto Rican rapper who raps in both English and Spanish. Her single “Whole Lotta Money”, is the song that took her career to the next level. This single instantly became famous worldwide, and Nicki Minaj was featured in the remix.

    As Bia has advanced in her career, she is beginning to attract significant attention within the music industry. She is the hottest female rapper out, and everybody wants to work with her. Recently, J Cole got the honor of working with Bia in their latest single, “London.”

    https://www.instagram.com/p/CcE4wf5PnUQ/

     

     

  • Home of what's believed to be the only remaining slave quarters in the Northern United States

    https://www.facebook.com/RoyallHouseSlaveQuarters/posts/pfbid02paYx7up74s12rKWtKcCQ6om4Hfr6pcTT2ndYJgLDM5gRcMAYFFX963MYxv64ChXml

    While not a “fun fact” about Medford, The Royall House and Slave Quarters is part of its history. Now a museum, in the eighteenth century, the Royall House and Slave Quarters was home to the largest slaveholding family in Massachusetts and 60 enslaved Africans.

    Kyera Singleton is the executive director of the museum and in a Boston Globe article, had this to say about the importance of the space.

    “I think about our space as being a space in which we can help our communities talk about racial injustice by thinking about the long history of it. That’s one of the things that we can do, and that’s what we want communities to lean on us for — to talk about how the legacy of slavery impacts Black communities and communities of color today.”

    For more information about the Royall House & Slave Quarters, and how you can visit the museum, visit their website.

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