Massachusetts State Facts, Symbols and History

Massachusetts Fast Facts

Capital: Boston (pop) 641,352 (2011 est.)

Massachusetts Population: 6,646,144 ( 2012 census ) (14th)

Massachusetts Quarter: Massachusetts Quarter 6th in the series and the first quarter to be released in the 2000 series features the design of “Active Man,” a statue standing guard in Minuteman National Historical Park in Concord, Massachusetts.The Minutemen played a big role in defending our country against the British during the Revolutionary War. These forces have been trained to rally and fight on mere notice of the moment, thus the term “active man”.

Language: English, others

Largest Cities: (by population) Boston, Worcester, Springfield, Lowell, Cambridge, Brockton

Name: The name, Massachusetts, is from an Algonquian Indian language meaning “great hill place”.

Statehood: February 6, 1788 (6th state)

Symbols of Massachusetts

• Bird: titmouse
• Fish: cod
• Flag of Massachusetts
• Flower: Mayflower
• Gemstone: Rhodonite
• Horse: Morgan’s horse
• Motto: “Ense that calms petty placidam sub libertate”(By the sword we strive for peace, but peace is only under freedom),
• Nickname: Gulf State
• Song: “Welcome to Massachusetts”
• State seal
• Wood: white elm

Massachusetts Geostatistics

• Land area:
  (land)7,840 sq. miles
  (water) 2,717 sq. miles
  (TOTAL) 10,557 sq. miles
• Land area: (all states)
• Horizontal Width: 119 miles from the New York border, direcly east to Boston.
• Vertical Length: 48 miles from the New Hampshire border, directly south to the Connecticut Note: Lengths and widths are point to point, straight line measurements from the Mercator map projection and will vary some use of other map projections
• Border States: (5) Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Vermont, and New Hampshire
• Counties: (14) Map
• County: ( largest in population) Middlesex 1,473,298
• Geographic Center: located in the city of Rutland in Worcester County
• Highest Point: Greylock, at 3,487 feet.
• Lowest Point: Atlantic Ocean, 0 ft.
• Latitude and longitude
• Average Elevation: 492 ft.

Massachusetts (Commonwealth of Massachusetts) is a state located in the eastern United States, on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean.

The colony got its name from the local Massachusetts tribe, which means “great mountain place”. The first settlement was founded in the city of Plymouth by religious refugees who sailed on the Mayflower ship. They were followed by the Puritans, who founded the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Massachusetts was one of 13 American colonies that started a rebellion against England. On February 6, 1788, Massachusetts ratified the US Constitution and became the sixth state of the new nation.

The state capital is the city of Boston, its governor is Mitt Romney, a member of the Republican Party. See cities and towns in Massachusetts.

Population 6,587,536 (2011)

Massachusetts is known as the most leftist and most liberal of the American states. On May 17, 2004, Massachusetts began to register same-sex marriages for the first time in the United States, according to a decision of the State Supreme Court.

Massachusetts is bordered by New Hampshire and Vermont to the north, New York to the west, Connecticut and Rhode Island to the south, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. The islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket are located to the south. Boston is the state’s largest city, but most of the metropolitan population lives in the suburbs.

• AbbreviationFinder: Demonstrates how the two-letter acronym of MA stands for Massachusetts and a list of frequently used abbreviations related to the state of Massachusetts.

Massachusetts is called the Bay State because of the several bays along its coast: Massachusetts Bay, Cape Cod Bay, Buzzards Bay, and Narragansett Bay.

The state’s 1999 gross product was $262 billion, 11th in the United States. In 2002, the personal income per person in the state was about 40 thousand dollars, the 3rd in the country.

The state’s main agricultural products are seafood, seedlings, dairy products, cranberries, and vegetables. The main industrial products are machine tools, electrical equipment, scientific instruments, printing and publishing, and tourism. Higher education, healthcare, and financial services also play an important economic role.

Massachusetts is a small state, but a large number of scientific and educational institutions are concentrated in it. Only in Boston (and suburbs) there are 8 so-called research universities: Boston College, Boston University, Brandeis, Harvard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Northeastern University, Tufts and the University of Massachusetts – Boston.

One university (Harvard) belongs to the Ivy League, three – to the League of Women’s Seven Sisters Universities (Mount Holyoke, Smith College and Wellesley College). Outside of Boston are five Pioneer Valley colleges of great repute: the aforementioned Mount Holyoke and Smith College, as well as Hampshire College, Amherst College and the University of Massachusetts-Amherst; besides them the College of Williams and the State College of Worcester. The most famous technological universities, in addition to the world famous Massachusetts Institute of Technology – Worcester Polytechnic Institute and the University of Massachusetts – Lowell.

In addition, the Berkeley Conservatory and the New England Conservatory are well-known, as well as the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and the Marine Biological Laboratory.