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  History of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, USA

Journey back in time to Fitchburg, Massachusetts, USA

Visit Fitchburg, Massachusetts, USA. Discover its history. Learn about the people who lived there through stories, old newspaper articles, pictures, postcards and genealogy.

     

• The first account of a white person to enter Fitchburg was on February 11, 1676 when Mary Rowlandson, wife of the minister of Lancaster, was kidnapped by American Indians and held one night on Rollstone Hill.
  
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• 1730 - Fitchburg is settled
  
  Massachusetts City and Town Incorporation and Settlement Dates
  
  
• In 1735, the first resident of Fitchburg was David Page, son of Samuel Page, one of the original founders of Lancaster. His home was located near what is now Pearl and Blossom Streets. Page soon moved to Vermont.
  
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• 1764 - Fitchburg is incorporated
  
  Massachusetts City and Town Incorporation and Settlement Dates
  
  
• In 1776, Fitchburg sent 176 service to fight in the Revolutionary War. The town’s total population was 800.
  
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• In 1804, Thomas French built Fitchburg’s first paper mill.
  
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• The year 1816 was called "1800 and froze to death."
  In June, temperatures dropped to freezing and stayed that way all summer. Crops froze, birds died in the woods, animals died from lack of food, the...Read MORE...
  
  
  
• The first edition of the Fitchburg Sentinel was published on December 20, 1838.
  
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• In 1842 Alvah Crocker raised $750,000 to build a railroad that would connect Fitchburg to Boston and also to points west.
  
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• 1845 - FITCHBURG. [Pop. 2,604. Inc. 1764.]
  Fitchburg, originally a part of Lunenburg, and including a part of Ashby, was probably named after John Fitch, one of its own citizens at the...Read MORE...
  
  
  
• 1848 - Fitchburg
  This town was originally a part of the town of Lunenburg, and wholly included in the grant made to the proprietors of Turkey Hill. It was...Read MORE...
  
  
  
•  1854 - The Destructive Gate - Its Effects at the East.
  ...In Fitchburg, the large brick engine-house, belonging to the Fitchburg and Worcester Railroad Company, was blown over with a tremendous crash, a...Read MORE...
  
  
  
• 1854 - Fitchburg
  Fitchburg, a thriving post-town of Worcester co., Mass., 50 miles N.W. of Boston, is the terminus of three important railroads, has 2 banks and 1...Read MORE...
  
  
  
• After his wife complained about the difficulty in using sewing patterns from magazines, Fitchburg business man Ebenezer Butterick created the first sewing patterns for men’s dress shirts in 1863.
  
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• Fitchburg sent 824 men to battle in the Civil War. Of them, 142 were killed.
  
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• The current site of Lincoln Drug on Water Street was once a women’s prison that held women in the Civil War who were charged as spies.
  
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• 1872 - Fitchburg is incorporated as a city
  
  Massachusetts City and Town Incorporation and Settlement Dates
  
  
•  1887 - HORSE CAR ACCIDENT. A PANIC ON A STREET RAILWAY RESULTS FATALLY.
  Fitchburg, Mass., July 5. - (Special Telegram to the Bee) -- A terrible accident occurred yesterday afternoon of the Fitchburg horse railroad in...Read MORE...
  
  
  
•  1889 - A Narrow Escape.
  George E. Hayward narrowly escaped being crushed by the falling of a gravel roof about 6 p.m., Friday. The wooden ell of the brick building, 337 and...Read MORE...
  
  
  
• Fitchburg Massachusetts, 1890
  FITCHBURG is a flourishing manufacturing city, the semi-capital of Worcester County, situated in its northeasterly section, 50 miles from Boston by...Read MORE...
  
  
  
•  1893 - Fire
  Fire caught on W. A. Garno's boiler and engine house, probably from the furnace, about 9 p. m., Saturday, and an alarm was rung in from Box 37, to...Read MORE...
  
  
  
• 1895 - Fitchburg
  Fitch'burg, a city and one of the capitals of Worcester co., Mass., on the Nashua River, 50 miles W.N.W. of Boston, and 26 miles N. of Worcester. It...Read MORE...
  
  
  
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  Summer St. Fire Station
  Postcard
  
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  Iver Johnson Revolvers
  Iver Johnson's Arms & Cycle Works
  Advertisement
  
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  Depot
  Postcard
  
• In 1905, after being frustrated by trying to figure out how much a half teaspoon was, Fitchburg resident Francis Boutelle invented the first half-teaspoon measure, selling 40,000 through mail order.
  
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  Depot Square
  Postcard
  
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  High School
  Postcard
  
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  Pearl Hill from Blossom St., Fitchburg, Mass., 1905
  Postcard
  
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  Main Street, looking East, 1906
  Postcard
  
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  Post Office, 1906
  Postcard
  
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  Wallace Library and Art Museum
  First Baptist Church (1906)
  Postcard
  
• In 1907, the entire mounted police of Moscow Russia were equipped with Iver Johnson revolvers made in Fitchburg.
  
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  Day Street and First Universalist Church, 1907
  Postcard
  
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  The Lawn and Cafe Whalom Park, Fitchburg, Mass., 1907
  Postcard
  
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  The Lake, Whalom Park, Fitchburg, Mass., 1908
  Postcard
  
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  The Upper Common, 1908
  Postcard
  
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  Main Street from Depot Square
  Postcard
  
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  Swedish Lutheran Church, 1909
  Postcard
  
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  Bird's Eye View of Fitchburg, Mass.
  Postcard
  
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  Cleghorn, Fitchburg, Mass., 1910
  Postcard
  
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  Garage. Corner of Elm and Prichard Sts.
  Postcard
  
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  Highland Avenue, 1910
  Postcard
  
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  County Jail
  Postcard
  
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  Police Station No. 1
  Postcard
  
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  Rollstone Hill - Cleghorn, Fitchburg, Mass.
  Postcard
  
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  B. & M. Railroad Tracks from Kimball St. Foot Bridge, 1910
  Postcard
  
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  Fitchburg, Mass., Wachusett Lake and Mountain, 1910
  Postcard
  
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  Prospect Street looking North (1911)
  Postcard
  
•  1912 - WRECK ON BOSTON & MAINE.
  Two Killed When Engine and Train Have a Collision.
  
  FITCHBURG, Mass., Nov. 16. - One railroad employe[sic] was killed, another probably fatally...Read MORE...
  
  
  
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  Christ Church, Episcopal, 1914
  Postcard
  
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  Orswell Mills, West Fitchburg, Mass., 1914
  Postcard
  
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  Central Fire Station, 1915
  Postcard
  
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  Burbank Hospital
  Postcard
  
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  Y.M.C.A. Building, 1915
  Postcard
  
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  Fitchburg State Normal School (1915)
  Postcard
  
• 1916
  Fitchburg, a city and one of the capitals of Worcester co. Mass., on the Nashua River, 50 miles WNW. of Boston, and on the Boston and Maine and the...Read MORE...
  
  
  
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  Hastings Hall
  Postcard
  
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  State Teachers' College
  Postcard
  
•  1927 - Flood
  ...A railroad accident was averted at Fitchburg, Mass., early today when police flagged a Boston and Main train after discovering a washout...
  The Oelwein Daily Register
  Iowa
  November 4, 1927
  
  
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  Main St. Looking East from Upper Common
  Postcard
  
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  Main Street, 1946
  Postcard
  
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  Crocker Burbank Paper Mill
  Postcard
  
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  St. Bernard High School
  St. Bernard's Church
  1955
  Postcard