Devens, Massachusetts

Devens
—  CDP  —
Devens Location within the state of Massachusetts
Coordinates: 42°32′14″N 71°36′56″W / 42.53722°N 71.61556°W / 42.53722; -71.61556Coordinates: 42°32′14″N 71°36′56″W / 42.53722°N 71.61556°W / 42.53722; -71.61556
Country	United States
State	Massachusetts
County	Middlesex and Worcester
Population (2000)
– Total	1,017
Time zone	Eastern (EST) (UTC-5)
– Summer (DST)	EDT (UTC-4)
ZIP codes	01434
Area code(s)	978
FIPS code
GNIS feature ID

Devens, Massachusetts is an unincorporated village and census-designated place in the towns of Ayer and Shirley, in Middlesex County and Harvard in Worcester County in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. It is the successor to Fort Devens, a military post that operated from 1917 to 1996. The area itself is named after jurist and Civil War general Charles Devens. The population was 1017 at the 2000 census.

History

Military Use

Main article: Fort Devens

The area operated as Fort Devens from 1917 to 1996. In that time, a formerly sleepy area was developed into a fort that was later redeveloped into the industrial area of Devens.

Civilian Use

The U.S. Army post which resided at Fort Devens was officially closed in 1996 after 79 years of service. The process for land distribution for all parcels on the former Fort Devens allowed the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Shriver Job Corps, Massachusetts National Guard, Massachusetts Veterans and MassDevelopment^[1] to acquire the land. The bulk of the land was purchased by MassDevelopment for $17 million dollars. MassDevelopment is a semi-private development authority that has been given the task of turning Devens into a residential and business community. Since the closing of the military base, many of the existing buildings have been renovated or reconstructed; housing developments now exist, along with a growing business park, a new hotel, restaurants, a disc golf course, and a golf course. Veterans of the Army Security Agency have also expressed interest in building a museum there as Fort Devens was their principal training facility for nearly twenty-five years.

On the political side, a comprehensive disposition process has been ongoing since 2003, charged with determining the future governance of Devens. During 2005 and 2006 it was determined that the governance scenario best suited for the regional stakeholders was to create a new independent town. On October 24, 2006, a vote to confirm the disposition recommendation for future governance was voted down by 2 of the 6 stakeholders, the adjoining towns of Harvard and Ayer (residents of Shirley, the Devens residents, MassDevelopment and the Devens Enterprise Commission supported the resolution). On November 7, 2006 during the State elections the second opportunity to vote on Devens disposition had only Harvard voting against the scenario with the towns of Ayer and Shirley supporting Devens as a town. Devens's disposition will now be determined by another disposition process or by the State legislature. Residents of Devens vote in either Harvard or Ayer but still have no elected representatives that have municipal authority on Devens. MassDevelopment maintains the utilities such as gas, electric, and water; and contracts out public safety services such as firefighting and police.

Devens residents are represented by an elected committee, the Devens Committee,^[2] that is an advisory committee to MassDevelopment.

Devens is a non-operating school district. It currently contracts with the town of Harvard for educating children from 6th grade to 12th grade and the town of Shirley to educate children from pre-kindergarten to the 6th grade. However Devens is the home of the Francis W. Parker Charter Essential School. Parker is a public charter school with students from about 30 towns in the central Massachusetts area.

References

1. ^ MassDevelopment
2. ^ Devens Committee

External links

• devenscommunity.com: information about the current status of redevelopment in Devens
• devenscommittee.org: information for Devens residents