BRAINTREE /Off Middle Street
Close-knit neighborhood of short streets
By TERI BORSETI
For The Patriot Ledger Area: 14.4 square miles
POPULATION
2000: 33,828
2006: 33,400
Density: 2,438 res./square mile
Median age: 42
Median household income: $69,910
FINANCES
Tax rate: $8.14 res./$18.92 comm.
Town budget: $100 million
Average water bill: $992/year
HOUSING
Median home price
2006: $369,000
2007: $355,000 (288 sales)
Median condo price
2006: $290,000
2007: $275,000 (159 sales)
SCHOOLS
Number of students: 5,165
Number of teachers: 383
H.S. grads to 4-year college: 71%
H.S. grads to 2-year college: 14%
Median SAT score (2006): 1552
It's difficult to find a more convenient Braintree neighborhood than the one that is just off Middle Street near the Union Street exit of Route 3. So many of the short streets in this section of town are dead-ends and this allows for micro-neighborhoods where people cannot help but know their neighbors.
Harrison Avenue, Totnes Road and Kew Road, which leads to Strathmore Circle, make up one of those tight-knit neighborhoods.
Hank Joyce has lived in his English Tudor-style home on Totnes Road for 29 years. The dead-end street is home to about half a dozen houses built during the 1940's and 50's. Capes and small Colonials are the most common house style here.
"I was from Everett and my wife grew up in Weymouth so we settled in Braintree. It's an ideal location and we're still happy here," Joyce said.
When he bought his two-story with its steeply pitched front gable roof, Joyce, the home's second owner paid $58,000.
"Everyone moved in around the same time and all our kids grew up together. Many of those kids bought the houses from their parents and live here now. I've watched my neighbors grow up," he said.
One street over is one of the area's few through streets. Harrison Avenue is about two blocks long and runs between Middle Street and Cleveland Avenue where there is a public playground. The street is lined with Capes, Colonials and the occasional bungalow, and is punctuated by a contemporary-style home at the very end.
Elizabeth Burns, a student at the university of New Hampshire, said her family "moved here from Dorchester when I was just 3 so I grew up here but most of the people I grew up with are gone now. There are so many elementary school age kids that live here now."
Burns, a 2004 Braintree High graduate, said she has great memories of riding her bike up and down the street without worrying about cars.
"And it was a great place to trick or treat at Halloween. I wouldn't mind buying this house from my parents one day," she said.
"When we first moved here, we added a bedroom to the second floor. A lot of these houses have additions like that," she said.
Burns said she never takes her car into Boston and wouldn't dream of it.
"Even though I can be in there in 15 minutes with no traffic it's just so much easier to take the train, although there's plenty of shopping right here in Braintree," she said.
Kew Road is another small street with just a few homes. The white Cape at the corner is for sale. After living there for 45 years, the owners moved into age-specific housing and the 1,563-square-foot house is listed with Kevin Keating of GKR Residential Real Estate in South Boston and Milton.
"We had a lot of interest on this house because it's in good shape and listed for $325,000. The neighborhood is a popular place for first time buyers to look for a house," Keating said.
Bill and Theresa Wells have lived in their home on Strathmore Circle for 20 years and raised three kids there who are now 26, 25 and 19. The post and beam house was built in 1929 and Wells said he's doing some renovating.
"The house was built at a different time and suited a different lifestyle. For example, every room here had a door. The idea of an open floor plan wasn't popular back then," he said.
"Everyone moved in around the same time and all our kids grew up together. Many of those kids bought the houses from their parents and live here now," says Hank Joyce of his Totnes Road neighborhood.
