Nicknamed "Toughtown" by residents, Stoughton has experienced a tough time over the last few months.
A five-week police corruption trial recently ended with former police Sgt. David M. Cohen serving jail time and the acquittal of officer Robert E. Letendre. Cohen was convicted with attempted extortion and witness intimidation and sentenced to three years in state prison. Letendre was found not guilty after facing charges of making a false police report to protect a fellow officer and being an accessory after the fact to a kidnapping.
Despite the controversy, community spirit is high as residents and municipal officials prefer to look toward the positive things occurring in town. Stoughton has become a mini-furniture capital. The arrival of multiple stores Ð including Bob's Furniture, La-Z-Boy Furniture, Boston Interiors and Swedish retailer IKEA Ð is proof of the success the industry has had in the area. A Target store is being built and is expected to open next fall.
Stoughton residents are proud of the town's diversity and its achievement of fulfilling state affordable housing goals; 11.7 percent of the housing stock has been deemed affordable. The town is one of 51 communities to meet the state requirement.
There has been a flood of Chapter 40B projects in Stoughton, according to Mark Stankiewicz, town manager. The so-called anti-snob zoning law encourages the production of affordable housing in Massachusetts. A minimum of 10 percent of housing units must be affordable to low- and moderate-income households. If not, developers are allowed to override zoning regulations and build more units on smaller parcels. Under 40B, at least 25 percent of a project's units must be affordable and they are guaranteed to stay low-priced for up to 90 years.
Quail Run, a 132-unit rental housing development, offers 105 of its 132 units as affordable to households with incomes between 30 percent and 80 percent of the median income, or from $25,250 to $66,150 for a family of four.
There are 40 affordable condominiums at Villages at Ames Pond, an elder community. Stage Coach Crossing, a 108-unit condominium development, is awaiting approval.
The median price of single-family homes in Stoughton fell to $325,000 for the first eight months of 2007 compared to $339,900 during the same period in 2006 Ð a 4.4 percent decrease. The number of single-family sales fell to 130 in January through August compared to 187 a year ago, according to The Warren Group, parent company of Banker & Tradesman.
Several changes in populations have produced the mixture of people residing in Stoughton today. Irish immigrants arrived during the Potato Famine to work in the shoe industry, transforming the area from an agricultural district to an industrial one, according to Stoughton historian David Allen Lambert. The shift in industry brought a link of the Boston to Providence, R.I., railroad to the downtown in the 1880s. More factories flourished, which led to more immigrant workers, Lambert said.
At the same time, Stoughton experienced an influx of Jews, Russians and Eastern Europeans. The Portuguese arrived in the 1920s, he said, and the last decade has seen a significant growth in the Brazilian population.
"Population shifts tend to occur when there is opportunity and affordable housing," said Lambert.
There have been many changes in the downtown.
"It used to be a place where you could do all your shopping," said Lambert, a lifelong resident of Stoughton. "It used to have a five-and-dime and a market, but now people go to Wal-Mart for one-stop shopping."
A member of Stoughton Historical Society's board of directors, Lambert became interested in history when he was 11 years old, after discovering antique bottles in his backyard. He maintains a Web site dedicated to the town's history, at www.stoughtonhistory.com.
"Stoughton has such a rich history," he noted. "The redeveloping of old factory sites into commercial uses like Shaw's and IKEA is a shift and it's somewhat surprising to see it happen, but it means things are going well and the town is still growing."