What is it like to live in Milford?
Resident Alberto Correia hosts three local cable shows.
Alberto Correia, who was born and raised in Milford, has lived in Paris and Washington, D.C., with his wife, Sharon. “But then my daughter came along,’’ he said. “The gravitational pull [to your hometown] is unbelievable when you start considering where you want to raise your children.’’
When Correia saw his two daughters through Milford’s public schools, he came across some familiar faces, including the biology teacher who never granted perfect scores and the foreign language teacher who teased him, “Do you remember telling me in your junior year that you had no use for French?’’
Correia, who oversees commercial operations for a company that makes water-testing instruments, fondly remembers growing up in Prospect Heights, a neighborhood of row houses providing homes to immigrants from Italy, Portugal, Ireland, Poland, Armenia, and Greece, among other countries. “It’s become an ‘in thing’ to talk about diversity, but growing up, we never knew how to talk about diversity because we were living it,’’ he said.
He has served on a number of municipal and community boards, including the town’s finance and cable television committees and those associated with the Claflin Hill Symphony Orchestra and Milford Regional Medical Center.
In his spare time, he hosts three local cable programs. It started with “That Milford Show,’’ which covers town affairs. He eventually added programs focused on politics and medical issues. “We have a ball,’’ he said, crediting the work of the high school students on his crew.
While Correia acknowledges the town “isn’t perfect’’ — among its issues is the opioids epidemic — it is also a community where, “if there’s a kid who needs help, nobody has ever turned me down,’’ he said.
“It’s a very unique little community. I always joke that 28,000 people know Milford is the center of universe. It’s six billion others that need to be educated.’’
BY THE NUMBERS
1,000+
The number of men who worked in the town’s seven major quarries by 1900. Pink granite had been discovered in Milford by 1860, according to the town’s website, and the industry anchored the community’s economy until about 1940. The stone was quarried and shipped for use in buildings, monuments, and bridges, including Boston Public Library, South Station, and the original Pennsylvania Station in New York City.
1903
The year Governor Eben Sumner Draper donated Milford Hospital. Today, it is known as Milford Regional Medical Center, a full-service nonprofit teaching hospital. In 2015, the hospital completed a $54 million expansion that created a 78,000-square-foot building housing a new emergency department, updated intensive-care unit, and private patient rooms. The hospital also has a 54,000-square-foot cancer center.
6.58
The length in miles of the Milford segment of the Upper Charles Trail, a proposed 25-mile project that will link Milford, Ashland, Sherborn, Holliston, and Hopkinton via abandoned rail beds.
1977
The year Football Hall of Famer Howie Long graduated from Milford High School. The sports analyst and former defensive end played his entire career with the Raiders.
PROS & CONS
Pro
Lots of shopping
There’s little need to leave town to buy food, run errands, or dine out. Milford has several grocery stores, shopping centers, and a range of restaurants, serving everything from Italian to Thai to Ecuadorian cuisine.
Con
No commuter rail service
Although Interstate 495 passing right through town is certainly a boon, the MBTA commuter rail does not extend to Milford.
Rachel Lebeaux can be reached at [email protected]. Subscribe to the Globe’s free real estate newsletter at pages.email.bostonglobe.com/AddressSignUp.
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