Shirley Center Historic District

Shirley is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is approximately thirty miles west-northwest of Boston. The population was 7,431 at the 2020 census. The town has a well-preserved historic New England town center. It is home to the Massachusetts Correctional Institution – Shirley, a medium-security state prison. (The neighboring maximum-security Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center lies just outside the town limits in the town of Lancaster.) The remains of a Shaker village have been preserved within the grounds of the prison.

The James Parker House is a historic house on Center Road in Shirley, Massachusetts, United States. The oldest portion of this 2+1⁄2-story wood-frame house was built c. 1720, and probably consisted of a typical First Period three bay structure with a large chimney. The house was enlarged to its present five bay width in 1797 by James Parker, a noted local resident. The house stands at the end of an 18th-century road, and is one of the few 18th-century buildings left in Shirley.The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.

Shirley station is an MBTA Commuter Rail station in Shirley, Massachusetts. It serves the Fitchburg Line, and is located in the village center. The station consists of a short low-level platform with an asphalt patch for passengers to cross the tracks, plus a small wooden shelter on the inbound side. Shirley station is not accessible.

Shirley is a census-designated place (CDP) comprising the main village in the town of Shirley in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 1,611 at the 2020 census, out of 7,431 in the entire town of Shirley.

The Shirley Village Historic District encompasses the main commercial and industrial village of Shirley, Massachusetts. It is located in the southern part of the town, and grew up around a series of mills that were located along Catacoonamug Brook, and then the railroad, which was built through the area in the 1840s. The district contains 441 properties. It is roughly bounded by Center, Harvard, Leominster and Shaker Roads. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.

WTYN (91.7 FM) is a radio station airing a Christian format licensed to serve Lunenburg, Massachusetts. The station is owned by Horizon Christian Fellowship and is an affiliate of RenewFM. WTYN's programming consists of Christian music and Christian talk and teaching programs such as Turning Point with David Jeremiah, and Truth for Life with Alistair Begg. The allocation of 91.7 to Lunenburg follows a long drawn out dispute involving WAVM, University of Massachusetts Boston (owner of WUMB-FM, whose Stow repeater WUMG started during this time and shares time with WAVM), and Living Proof, Inc (the original applicant of what became WTYN).

The Lovell General Hospital North is a former hospital at Fort Devens. It was named after the first Surgeon General of the United States Army, Joseph Lovell.

The Lovell General Hospital South is a former hospital at Fort Devens. It was named after the first Surgeon General of the United States Army, Joseph Lovell.

SPARC is a tokamak under development by Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Plasma Science and Fusion Center (PSFC). Funding has come from Eni, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Temasek, Equinor, Devonshire Investors, and others. SPARC plans to verify the technology and physics required to build a power plant based on the ARC fusion power plant concept. SPARC is designed to achieve this with margin in excess of breakeven and may be capable of achieving up to 140 MW of fusion power for 10 second bursts despite its relatively compact size. The project is on schedule for operation in 2025 after completing a magnet test in 2021.

The Groton Leatherboard Company is a historic former factory complex at 6 W. Main Street in West Groton, Massachusetts. It manufactured leatherboard, a bonded leather made by pulping and compressing scrap leather, waste paper and wood pulp, but went out of business. The structure has since been renovated and adapted into senior housing called RiverCourt Residences. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2002. The factory was built in 1916 on the site of an earlier saw and grist mill, which operated by waterpower from the Squannacook River. The original mill was established by the Tarbell family, a name prominent in Groton history since its settlement. The present complex's access road is flanked by brick houses built by brothers of that family; the Col. Abel Tarbell House is today a bed-and-breakfast, while the Asa Tarbell House is a mixed-use annex of the River Court senior housing facility. In 1862, artist Edmund C. Tarbell was born in the latter.

The Squanacook River Dam is just south of Groton Road between Groton and Shirley in Middlesex County, Massachusetts. It is one of five dams on the Squannacook River, which forms the boundary between Groton and Shirley.

New England Studios is a film production facility located in Devens, Massachusetts. Established in 2012, it has quickly become a prominent hub for the film and television industry in the New England region. The studio is known for its modern facilities, versatile soundstages, central location in New England, and on-site rental department.