1. Charles Goodyear invented “vulcanized” rubber in 1843. He discovered that if you removed sulphur from natural rubber, it retained its elasticity but also became winter-proof and water-proof.
2. The smallpox epidemic of 1675 cut deeply into the town's population.
3. Woburn was an early manufacturing center, tanning leather and making shoes. Production of shoes was so large that during the King Philip's Wars, town taxes were partially paid in shoes.
4. Mississippi Burning, a film by Woburn High graduates Nick Paleologos and Fred Zollo, was nominated for 7 Academy Awards in 1989.
5. Woburn is the setting for the novel A Civil Action by Jonathan Harr (made into 1998 movie starring John Travolta)
6. Eric Bogosian (Woburn High, 1971) wrote and performed the one-act play that became the basis for the movie, Talk Radio
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