SOMERVILLE, sfun'i;r-vil. A city in Middle sex County, Mass., adjoining Boston, on the Mystic River, here spanned by two bridges. and on the Boston and Maine Railroad (Slap: Massa chusetts. E 3). it is largely a residential city. Many places of historic interest add to its at tractiveness. Broadway, over which Paul Re vere passed on his famous ride; Central Hill, occupied by a redoubt during the siege of Bos ton; the old Powder House, where the powder for the American Army was stored; Prospect Hill, said to be the scene of the first unfurling of the American flag, and the headquarters of Generals Greene and Charles Lee, are especially noteworthy. The city has a public library with 5(3,000 volumes, Somerville Hospital, Catholic Home for the Aged, Somerville Home for the Aged, a State armory, and a fine city hall. In the census year 1900 the various industrial os tablishments of Somerville had an invested cap ital of $10.131,590, and a production valued at $21,776,511. Slaughtering and meat packing, cloth bleaching and dyeing, the distillation of liquors, and the manufacture of metal tubing, desks, pictures and frames, and jewelry are the leading industries.
The government is vested in .R mayor, chosen annually, and a unicameral council. Of the
subordinate officials the majority are appointed by the mayor subject to the confirmation of the council; the school hoard, however, is elected by popular vote. The assessed valuation of real and personal property in 1902 was $55,485,370, and the net debt (January 1, 1903) $1,477,000. The city spends annually for maintenance and op eration about $1,000,000, the main items being: For schools, $300,000; for streets, $159,000; for the police department (including amounts for jails, workhouses, reformatories. etc.), $69,000; for the fire department, 808.000; for municipal lighting, $03,000; for water-works, $52,000; and for interest on debt, $51.000. The water-works are owned by the municipality. Population. in 1890, 40,152: in 1900, 61,043. Settled about 1631, Somerville was a part of Charlestown until separately incorporated in 1842. In 1871 it was chartered as a city. Within the limits of the present city a large body of Hessian prisoners were quartered in 1777-7S. Consult: Samuels (editor), Somerville, Past and Present (Boston, 18971 : and Hurd, History of Middlesex County (Philadelphia, 1890).