Somerville, a N. E. central co. of Texas, intersected by the Brazos river; area, about 300 sq. m. It was formed in 1875 from Hood co. The surface is rolling and the soil fertile. Wheat, Indian corn, and cotton grow well. Capital, Glen Rose.

Somerville #1

Somerville, a city of Middlesex co., Massachusetts, on the Mystic river, 2 m. N. W. of the state house, Boston; pop. in 1850, 3,540; in 1860, 8,025; in 1870, 14,685; in 1875, 21,868. It borders S. W. on Cambridge. The surface is uneven; the principal elevations are Prospect, Spring, Central, and Winter hills. A public park of about 16 acres has been laid out in the N. E. part of the city. It is lighted with gas and supplied with water from Mystic pond. It is connected with Boston by three lines of horse cars and four steam railroads. A large portion of the inhabitants do business in Boston. The principal manufacturing establishments are live brick yards, a bleachery and dye works, a leather-currying establishment, an iron fouhdery, an art foundery, several carriage factories, two manufactories of glassware, and one each of earthenware, grate bars, ice tools, ladders, mats, spikes, brass and copper tubes, steam boilers, etc. The city is divided into four wards, and is governed by a mayor, 8 aldermen, and 16 councilmen.

The valuation of property in 1874 was $30,837,-700, and the funded debt at the close of the year was $1,419,854. There are 18 public school houses, including a high school, under the control of a committee of three members from each ward; average attendance in 1874, 3,022; expenditures, $86,705 13, of which $55,990 62 were for teachers' wages. The free public library contains about 5,000 volumes. There are two weekly newspapers and 15 churches, viz. : 3 Baptist, 3 Congregational, 2 Episcopal, 4 Methodist, 1 Roman Catholic, 1 Unitarian, and 1 Universalist. The McLean asylum for the insane is in the E. part of the city. - Somerville was set off from Charlestown in 1842, and incorporated as a city in 1872.