At a glance ...

Settled: 1739.

Incorporated: 1759.

Named for: Marlborough, in eastern Massachusetts.

Population: 1,494 (U.S. Census, 2000); 1,416 (Town Census, 2007).

Area: 47.9 square miles.

Elevation: 1,351 feet (average).

Average annual snowfall: 78 inches (estimated).

Median resident age: 39.5 (U.S. Census, 2000).

Median household income: $46,875 (U.S. Census, 2000); $58,300 (estimated, 2005)

Median family income: $59,944 (U.S. Census, 2000).

Average house value: $417,922 (DOR, 2007).

Average property tax: $1,443, single-family home (DOR, 2007).

Unemployment rate: 5 percent (March 2007)

Races, national origin: White, 1,457; Black or African American, 25; Asian, 2; Other, 2; mixed races, 8; Hispanic or Latino, 17 (U.S. Census, 2000).

Ancestries: English, 18 percent; Irish, 14 percent; Italian, 13 percent; German, 12 percent; French, 7 percent; Polish, 4 percent; Dutch, 3 percent; British, 2 percent; Scotch-Irish, 2 percent; French Canadian, 2 percent; Swedish, 2 percent; Russian, 2 percent; African American, 2 percent; Scottish, 2 percent; Greek, 1 percent; Swiss, 1 percent; Norwegian, 1 percent; Hungarian, 1 percent; Ukrainian, 1 percent; Canadian, 1 percent; Eastern European, 1 percent (U.S. Census, 2000).

Official town Web site: www.new- marlborough.ma.us.

The town ...

... serves nearly 80 students, pre-K through fourth grade, at the New Marlborough Central School in the Mill River section of the town. Part of the Southern Berkshire Regional School District, it is also attended by students from nearby communities. The small, red-brick schoolhouse was built in 1832 and is noted for its sense of community, with a high staff-to-student ratio. Even though it retains old-fashioned charm, it is filled with high-tech equipment. ... The original New Marlborough Town Library was completed in 1920, three years after captain of industry Andrew Carnegie donated $5,000 to help build it on the site of an old store that had burned down. In 1996, the library was gutted by fire, and was rebuilt two years later. The library, in the village of Mill River, is open Tuesday through Saturday with varying hours (413) 229-6668. ... has a full-time police chief, and funding has been secured to add a part-time officer; state police from the Lee barracks assist, as needed. The volunteer fire department is based in the center of Southfield, with EMT first responders staffing a town ambulance in the same facility. ... While most working farms have disappeared, several remain, devoted to raising beef cattle or sheep and llamas. ... The Berkshire National Fish Hatchery, donated to the U.S.government by the family of trout fisherman John Sullivan Scully, cultivated trout and Atlantic salmon until it was closed in 1994 by budget cuts. In 1999, the Berkshire Hatchery Foundation was formed under an agreement by the U.S. Fisheries and Wildlife Service to allow Hampshire College and the Western Center for Sustainable Aquaculture to restore the facility for research in aquaculture and environmental education. With primary support from volunteers, the site now has ten 3,500 fish tanks operational, and there are two refurbished residences. The hatchery, which schedules special events for the public, is on Hatchery Road (originating as River Road from the north, between Routes 23 and 57) in the village of Hartsville (www.berkfish.org).