Freetown :

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Profile

The Town of Freetown is a pastoral community in Bristol County with a small summer colony and a maritime history. The town's early economy was based mostly on agriculture, but the water power of the Assonet River eventually brought grist, saw and fulling mills after 1695 and in the 18th century the town's industries included a tannery. One of the state's first trout hatcheries was established in Freetown, and in the 1870's railroad dining cars and the luxurious dining rooms of ocean liners were serving Freetown trout. Freetown's position at the head of a tidewater made it the closest port to the iron-producing towns of Middleborough and Lakeville, encouraging iron foundries and nails works as well as shipyards. The shipyards built sloops and schooners, some of which probably then worked the coastal or foreign trade routes and brought their cargoes back to the busy wharves of Freetown. By the 19th century, iron ore came up the Assonet and into Freetown's wharves primarily from New Jersey. From the wharves the iron went to the factories in town making machine castings for textile machinery, a significant component of Freetown's industrial product at that time. The last ship was launched in Freetown in 1848, when the demand for larger ships outgrew the depth of the Assonet River and the extension of the railroads killed off coastal freighting. Residents of the town turned to small market gardening, dairy production and lumbering and by the end of the century, much of the land that had been farmed was returning to forest as Freetown regained some of its pre-Colonial rural landscape. Residents are very proud of the town's Colonial history, pointing out that the first company of militia was formed in Freetown in 1683 and that three companies of Minute Men turned out on April 19, 1775 for the Battle of Lexington and then served honorably and well with the Continental Army. *

Address

Town of Freetown
3 North Main Street,
P.O. Box 438
Assonet, MA 02702
508.644.2203

General Info

• Total valuation FY2008: $1,061,095,420
• Residential, 79.82%; commercial, 7%; industrial, 8.17%; personal, 5%
• FY2008 Tax rates: Residential, $8.31; commercial, industrial and personal, $13.05
• 2000 population: 8,472
• Area: 34.57 square miles
• Miles of public roads: 101.82

Emergency Phone Numbers

• Police: 911, 763-4017
• Fire: 911, 763-4017
• Ambulance: 911, 763-4017

Elected Officials

• Selectmen: 644-2201
• Lawrence Ashley
• Jean C. Fox
• Lisa Anne Pacheco
• Assessors: 644-2205
• Ronald R. Batacao, chairman
• Richard L. Field
• John Laronda Jr.
• Treasurer: 644-2204
• Anita L. Howland
• Tax Collector: 644-2206
• Stephen G. Curran
• Town Clerk: 644-2203
• Jacqueline A. Brown
• Moderator: Bruce W. Wilbur
• Board of Health: 644-2201
• Lawrence Ashley, chairman
• John Laronda Jr.
• John Ashley
• Planning Board: 644-2270
• Joel B. Plissey, chairman
• Mark W. Rogers
• Kevin Desmarais
• Christopher J. Cabral
• Robert N. Raymond
• Roger Martin, appointed associate member
• Water Commisioners: 644-4000
• Robert Ward, chairman
• Gregory J. Tavares
• Howard Wilbur Jr.
• Finance Committee
• David A. Theriault, chairman
• George L. Grunwald
• Paul Deneault
• John Santangelo
• Suzanne Moquin
• Robert Alderson
• Michael McCue
• Library Trustees
• Irene Ashley, chairman
• Lucille Rosa
• Elaine D'Andrea
• Janice C. Gurney
• Lori Weider
• Richard Spencer
• Tree Warden: 763-5008
• Gary C. Loranger
• Cemetery Commission
• Ralph E. Gurney Jr., chairman
• Michael McCue
• Harris H. Chace

Appointed Officials

• Police Chief, Carlton Abbott Jr., 763-4017
• Fire Chief, Wayne A. Haskins, 644-2220
• Council on Aging, director Barbara Place, 763-9557
• Town Accountant, Steven Dooney, 644-2207
• Building Inspector, Health Agent, Paul R. Bourgeois, 644-2202
• Dog Officer, contact Comm. Center, 763-4017
• Highway Surveyor, Chuck Macomber, 763-2359

• Antonio Carreiro
• Janine Robidoux
• Jean Pierre Trahan
• Maria Ternullo
• David Mannion
• Nancy-Jean Bock
• Richard. V. Furlong

• Gary Guinen, chairman
• Jean Piere Trahan
• Daniel Loranger
• Kim Pina, alternate

• Richard Levesque

Schools

• Regional School Committee
• Jean C. Fox, chairman
• David Brown
• Robert W. Clark, Freetown appointed representative

• Local School Committee:
• Lisa Anne Pacheco, chairperson
• Robert W. Clark
• Sandra L. Souza
• Judith A. Magalhaes
• Patrick T. Matthews
• Administration: 923-2000 and 763-5183

• Administration: 923-2000 and 763-5183
• School Superintendent, Dr. Stephen J. Furtado
• Director of Instructional Services, Dr. Vincent P. McKay.
• Director of Business, Louis E. Rodrigues
• Director of Special Education, Interim Director Donald P. Noack

• Public schools
• Freetown Elementary School, 43 Bullock Road, 763-5121, 509 students in grades K-4, Principal Robert Frizelle.
• Freetown-Lakeville Middle School, 96 Howland Road, 947-7829, 923-3516, or 763-8717, 783 students in grades 6, 7 and 8, Principal James A. Hunt; Assistant Principal Winnie Beasley.
• George R. Austin Intermediate School, 112 Howland Road, Lakeville, 923-3506, 358 students in grades 4 and 5, Principal Edward Heywood.
• Apponequet Regional High School, 100 Howland Road, 947-2660 or 763-5140, 849 students in grades 9-12, Principal Gary Lincoln; Assistant Principal Christopher Costa.

Services

• No municipal sewerage. Most homes served by private wells, but some areas near Fall River and New Bedford get water from those cities.

Parks and Libraries

• Libraries:
• James White Memorial Library, 5 Washburn Road, East Freetown, 763-5344
• Guilford H. Hathaway Public Library, North Main Street, Assonet, 644-2385.

• Parks
• Freetown State Forest, Assonet, 644-5522, Wading pool, hunting, hiking, picnics and horseback riding trails. Patrolled grounds open daily; information center at entrance. Admission charge.
• Hathaway Park, Water Street, playground on the bay.
• Public access ramp to Long Pond off Middleboro Road
• Town Beach off County Road.

Links

Official Town Site:
http://town.freetown.ma.us/

Police Department:
http://town.freetown.ma.us/ps/police/

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* Described by Massachusetts Historical Commission.