Woburn, Massachusetts Woburn, Massachusetts Woburn ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 38,120 at the 2010 census. Woburn is located north of Boston, Massachusetts. Woburn was first settled in 1640 near Horn Pond, a primary source of the Mystic River, and was officially incorporated in 1642. At that time the area included present day towns of Woburn, Winchester, Burlington, and parts of Stoneham and Wilmington. In 1740 Wilmington separated from Woburn. In 1799 Burlington separated from Woburn; in 1850 Winchester did so, too. Woburn got its name from Woburn, Bedfordshire. Woburn played host to the
Woburn Abbey 1145. Taken from its monastic residents by Henry VIII and given to John Russell, 1st Earl of Bedford, in 1547, it became the seat of the Russell family and the Dukes of Bedford. The Abbey was largely rebuilt starting in 1744 by the architects Henry Flitcroft and Henry Holland for the 4th Duke. Anna Russell, Duchess of Bedford, originated the afternoon tea ritual in 19th-century England. In April 1786 John Adams (the future second President of the United States on tour with Thomas Jefferson—who would serve as his vice-president before becoming President himself) visited Woburn Abbey and other notable houses