East Bridgewater

Miles from Boston 25
Population 12,974
Median house price $345,000 (January to June 2005)
Tax rate $11.03
Transportation Routes 14, 18, and 106
MCAS East Bridgewater's public school system ranked 152d out of 373 systems statewide, just ahead of Auburn, according to a Boston Globe analysis of 2004 MCAS results.
Census facts Median family income is $67,307, compared to a national rate of $50,046, and 22 percent of residents held a bachelor's degree or higher, compared to a national rate of 24 percent.
Website www.eastbridgewaterma.org

EAST BRIDGEWATER -- You won't find megamalls here, but you also won't feel like you're out in the wilderness.

''There's a rural feel to it . . . but you are not so deep in the woods that if you want a jug of milk you've got to get Daniel Boone and a couple of other fellows to go with you," said East Bridgewater Town Administrator George Samia.

The town does host a relatively small strip mall along Route 18, but Samia said residents rely on ''mom and pop" businesses for most of their needs.

Samia described the town as ''landlocked" -- meaning one has to travel through surrounding towns to reach Route 24 and Interstate 495, as well as the MBTA's commuter rail stations in Bridgewater, West Bridgewater, and Brockton.

While that may slow large-scale commercial development, Samia said it also means the town is still within ''striking distance" for commuters heading into Boston or for work south of here.

''There's an open feeling of being in a town where you can stretch your legs," he said.

Originally a farming community, the town became an industrial center in the 1700s when one of the first iron mills in the region started operating here, helping to produce cannons and muskets for the American Revolution. That industry has long since disappeared, and since World War II East Bridgewater has been a bedroom community.

In the next several years, Samia said, residents will be asked to spend millions of dollars to build a new high school, add a filtration system to improve water quality, and install a sewer system for a largely commercial corridor along Route 18. All of those ideas, he stressed, are still on the drawing board.

''There are at least four or five large projects that everybody's got their eye on," he said. ''Whether they go or not, I can't say."

On a recent week, Realtor.com listed 63 single-family homes, ranging from $254,900 for a three-bedroom, one-bath, 876-square-foot home to $679,900 for a four-bedroom, 3 1/2-bath, 3,600-square-foot home. Condo prices were $210,000 to $329,000.

JOHN ELLEMENT