Digital Equipment Corporation is established in Maynard.

Founded by Kenneth Olsen, his brother Stanley, and Harlan Anderson, it is located in a former mill building. The company pioneers the production of “minicomputers” and helps launch the “high tech” industry along Route 128 that subsequently spurs the dramatic growth of the professional services industry in Boston. Digital opens a Boston manufacturing plant in Boston in 1980.* The second largest computer company in the world (after IBM) by 1988, it declines sharply after introduction of the personal computer and is acquired by Compaq Computer Corp. in 1998.