Woburn, MA

East Woburn's Wells G and H site keeps the consequences of the city's industrial past physically present. The federal Superfund area covers about 330 acres of commercial, industrial, and residential land. Municipal wells opened there in 1964 and 1967 and once supplied 30 percent of Woburn's drinking water; Massachusetts closed them after finding chemical contamination in 1979. The site entered the federal Superfund program in 1983, and cleanup remained underway in 2026. Reuse has proceeded alongside that work, including businesses, hotels, an ice arena, and a public trail. As of December 2025, the site held 305 businesses employing 2,484 people, even as groundwater cleanup continued across this large mixed-use part of East Woburn. Holland Arena opened on reused site land in 2008, followed by additional commercial and hospitality uses during the next decade. Woburn Center and Horn Pond provide a different view of local life.

The public library began in 1856, and its 1879 building was the first public library designed by H. H. Richardson. The restored building and a modern addition reopened together in 2019, keeping archives, programs, study space, and community events in the historic center. West of downtown, Horn Pond supports fishing, cycling, and walking around protected water and woodland. A paved circuit and the Horn Pond Brook path extend those routes toward Winchester Center. East of downtown, the Aberjona Nature Trail opened in 2017 on city land within the Wells G and H reuse area. That trail along the river gives residents direct access to a landscape still being repaired from Woburn's industrial era.

The city's earlier industrial rise began with transportation as well. Settled in 1640 and incorporated in 1642, Woburn remained largely agricultural until the Middlesex Canal opened in 1803 and the Boston and Lowell Railroad arrived in 1835. Charles Goodyear made his pioneering discovery of rubber vulcanization in East Woburn in 1839. Leather became the larger local industry: 21 tanning and currying establishments operated by 1865, and Woburn led the area in leather production by 1885. Tanneries drew immigrant workers and supported chemical works, machine shops, and specialized toolmakers. The industry declined during the 1930s and eventually disappeared. A tannery knife on the city seal still represents that defining line of work.

Woburn's present employment base spreads through life-science firms, office parks, small businesses, retail sites, and industrial properties near the meeting of Interstate 93 and Route 128/Interstate 95. Large office complexes such as Cummings and TradeCenter cluster around the highway network, while Main Street runs through Woburn Center. Anderson Regional Transportation Center adds an unusual set of regional connections in the east. MBTA commuter rail serves the station, every northbound and southbound Downeaster train stops there, and Logan Express buses connect it to Boston's airport. Northbound Downeaster trips are available from Woburn; rail passengers bound for Boston use MBTA commuter rail. Commuting, airport trips, and northbound intercity travel all meet at this one eastern station.