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History of Leominster, Massachusetts, USA
Journey back in time to Leominster, Massachusetts, USA
Visit Leominster, Massachusetts, USA. Discover its history. Learn about the people who lived there through stories, old newspaper articles, pictures, postcards and ancestry.Do You Have Leominster Roots? Share MY Ancestral Story!

Leominster, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA
Leominster is the birthplace of Tupperware. It was created by Earl Tupper. He began selling it at home parties in 1951.
Leominster includes: Whalom and Gates Crossing.
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There is MUCH more to discover about Leominster, Massachusetts, USA. Read on!
Leominster Nostalgia: Vintage Photos, Ads, and Postcards

Leominster, Massachusetts, USA
Postcard

Wachusett Shirt Company
"...Leominster's shirt-making industry, which included F.A. Whitney's Wachusett Shirt Company, was even the subject of a poem, 'Song for a Leominster Shirt'..."
Leominster
Thomas K. Hazzard, Diane M. Sanabria
Arcadia Publishing, 1999
Discover Leominster: History, News, Travel, and Stories

1839 - Leominster
Leominster, Massachusetts
Worcester county. A beautiful town, of an excellent soil, and great water power, on both sides of a principal branch of Nashua river, 42 miles N.W. from Boston, and 20 N. from Worcester. This town was taken from Lancaster in 1740, and shared with that town in the sufferings occasioned by Indian hostility. The manufactures of Leominster for the year ending April 1, 1837, exclusive of the product of 5 paper mills, was $111,505. The articles manufactured were leather, boots, shoes, hats, axes, chairs, cabinet ware, combs, tin ware, straw bonnets, palm-leaf hats, chaises, carriages, and harnesses. Population, 1837, 1,944.
A rich alum rock has been found in this town which is said to be a decomposed mica slate. It contains an abundance of plumose, or feather form alum, like that of Milo, one of the Grecian isles, mixed with the green crystals of copperas, or sulphate of iron.
The New England Gazetteer containing descriptions of all the states, counties and towns in New England: also descriptions of the principal mountains, rivers lakes, capes, bays, harbors, islands and fashionable resorts within that territory. By John Hayward, author of the Columbian Traveller, Religious Creeds, &c. &c. Boston: John Hayward. Boyd & White, Concord, N.H. 1839
Leominster, Massachusetts
Worcester county. A beautiful town, of an excellent soil, and great water power, on both sides of a principal branch of Nashua river, 42 miles N.W. from Boston, and 20 N. from Worcester. This town was taken from Lancaster in 1740, and shared with that town in the sufferings occasioned by Indian hostility. The manufactures of Leominster for the year ending April 1, 1837, exclusive of the product of 5 paper mills, was $111,505. The articles manufactured were leather, boots, shoes, hats, axes, chairs, cabinet ware, combs, tin ware, straw bonnets, palm-leaf hats, chaises, carriages, and harnesses. Population, 1837, 1,944.
A rich alum rock has been found in this town which is said to be a decomposed mica slate. It contains an abundance of plumose, or feather form alum, like that of Milo, one of the Grecian isles, mixed with the green crystals of copperas, or sulphate of iron.
The New England Gazetteer containing descriptions of all the states, counties and towns in New England: also descriptions of the principal mountains, rivers lakes, capes, bays, harbors, islands and fashionable resorts within that territory. By John Hayward, author of the Columbian Traveller, Religious Creeds, &c. &c. Boston: John Hayward. Boyd & White, Concord, N.H. 1839
1845 - LEOMINSTER. [Pop. 2,019. Inc. 1740.]
Leominster was once a part of Lancaster,
The soil is good, and watered by a branch of the Nashua.
The inhabitants are mostly farmers, but large quantities of paper and combs are manufactured here.
Distance from Worcester, 7 miles; from Boston, 41 miles.
An Elementary Geography for Massachusetts Children by William Bentley Fowle and Asa Fitz, 1845
Get it HERE!
Leominster was once a part of Lancaster,
The soil is good, and watered by a branch of the Nashua.
The inhabitants are mostly farmers, but large quantities of paper and combs are manufactured here.
Distance from Worcester, 7 miles; from Boston, 41 miles.
An Elementary Geography for Massachusetts Children by William Bentley Fowle and Asa Fitz, 1845
Get it HERE!
1848 - Leominster
This town was taken from Lancaster, and was part of what was called "Lancaster New Grant.” It was incorporated in 1740.
The church here was embodied in 1743, and Rev. John Rogers was ordained their pastor. On account of difference of opinion between him and his people about some minor doctrjnal points of religion, he was dismissed in 1757. But about one fifth of the society adhering to him, a poll society was made of them by the legislature, with whom he preached till prevented by the infirmities of age; and was dismissed from them in 1788. After the settlement of the controversy with Mr. Rogers, the church and town proceeded to the choice of a minister, and in 1762 Rev. Francis Gardner was settled their second pastor. After the dismission of Mr. Rogers from the “poll society,” that church and society was dissolved, and the members united with Mr. Gardner's church. Rev. William Ba scorn, the successor of Mr. Gardner, was installed in 1815, and was succeeded by Rev. Abel Conant, in... Read MORE...
This town was taken from Lancaster, and was part of what was called "Lancaster New Grant.” It was incorporated in 1740.
The church here was embodied in 1743, and Rev. John Rogers was ordained their pastor. On account of difference of opinion between him and his people about some minor doctrjnal points of religion, he was dismissed in 1757. But about one fifth of the society adhering to him, a poll society was made of them by the legislature, with whom he preached till prevented by the infirmities of age; and was dismissed from them in 1788. After the settlement of the controversy with Mr. Rogers, the church and town proceeded to the choice of a minister, and in 1762 Rev. Francis Gardner was settled their second pastor. After the dismission of Mr. Rogers from the “poll society,” that church and society was dissolved, and the members united with Mr. Gardner's church. Rev. William Ba scorn, the successor of Mr. Gardner, was installed in 1815, and was succeeded by Rev. Abel Conant, in... Read MORE...
1854 - Leominster
Leominster, a post-township of Berkshire county, Massachusetts, intersected by the Fitchburg, and the Fitchburg and Worcester railroads, 21 miles N. by E. from Worcester, The streams afford excellent water-power, which is employed in manufacturing. The village at the centre contains several churches and an academy. Population of the town ship in 1840, 2069 : in 1850, 3121.
A New and Complete Gazetteer of the United States: Giving a Full and Comprehensive Review of the Present Condition, Industry, and Resources of the American Confederacy ... Thomas Baldwin (of Philadelphia.) Joseph Thomas January 1, 1854 Philadelphia : Lippincott, Grambo & Company 1854.
Leominster, a post-township of Berkshire county, Massachusetts, intersected by the Fitchburg, and the Fitchburg and Worcester railroads, 21 miles N. by E. from Worcester, The streams afford excellent water-power, which is employed in manufacturing. The village at the centre contains several churches and an academy. Population of the town ship in 1840, 2069 : in 1850, 3121.
A New and Complete Gazetteer of the United States: Giving a Full and Comprehensive Review of the Present Condition, Industry, and Resources of the American Confederacy ... Thomas Baldwin (of Philadelphia.) Joseph Thomas January 1, 1854 Philadelphia : Lippincott, Grambo & Company 1854.
1869 - Not an Ordinary Church Service
During the morning service at the Unitarian Church, in Leominster, Mass., on a recent Sunday, a lady went into a fit. Two other ladies immediately fainted, and before these were all disposed of, a message came to Mrs. Wm. H. Locke, that her father, Mr. Stevenson, who lived in Lancaster, had suddenly died while in the act of shaving. The news caused her to scream aloud, but during all the disturbance the minister kept on with his sermon "all the same."
St Joseph Herald
Saint Joseph, Michigan
September 4, 1869
During the morning service at the Unitarian Church, in Leominster, Mass., on a recent Sunday, a lady went into a fit. Two other ladies immediately fainted, and before these were all disposed of, a message came to Mrs. Wm. H. Locke, that her father, Mr. Stevenson, who lived in Lancaster, had suddenly died while in the act of shaving. The news caused her to scream aloud, but during all the disturbance the minister kept on with his sermon "all the same."
St Joseph Herald
Saint Joseph, Michigan
September 4, 1869
Leominster Massachusetts, 1890
Leominster is a pleasant and flourishing town in the northeast part of Worcester County, 46 miles northwest of Boston on the Fitchburg Railroad. The station on this road is North Leominster. A branch of the Old Colony Railroad runs through the town, having stations at Gate's Crossing, Leominster Centre and West Leominster, and connecting with Fitchburg and the roads on the south. Fitchburg and Lunenburg lie on the north, the latter and Lancaster on the east, Sterling on the south, and Princeton and Westminster on the west.
The assessed area is 17,487 acres, of which 5,740 are in forest, consisting of walnut, oak, birch, maple, chestnut and pine. The northern and main branch of the Nashua River, issuing from ponds at the northwest, flows northward into Fitchburg, then southward through the eastern part of Leominster, receiving from the west the Monoosnook and Fall brooks, all of which furnish good mill powers. The natural ponds are White's and Rocky, with several reservoirs almost... Read MORE...
Leominster is a pleasant and flourishing town in the northeast part of Worcester County, 46 miles northwest of Boston on the Fitchburg Railroad. The station on this road is North Leominster. A branch of the Old Colony Railroad runs through the town, having stations at Gate's Crossing, Leominster Centre and West Leominster, and connecting with Fitchburg and the roads on the south. Fitchburg and Lunenburg lie on the north, the latter and Lancaster on the east, Sterling on the south, and Princeton and Westminster on the west.
The assessed area is 17,487 acres, of which 5,740 are in forest, consisting of walnut, oak, birch, maple, chestnut and pine. The northern and main branch of the Nashua River, issuing from ponds at the northwest, flows northward into Fitchburg, then southward through the eastern part of Leominster, receiving from the west the Monoosnook and Fall brooks, all of which furnish good mill powers. The natural ponds are White's and Rocky, with several reservoirs almost... Read MORE...
1895 - Leominster
Leominster, lêm'in-ster, a post-village of Worcester co., Mass., in Leominster township, on the Boston, Clinton & Fitchburg Railroad and the Fitchburg Railroad, 54 mil W.N.W. of Boston, and 5 miles S.S.E. of Fitchburg. contains a town hall, a high school, a national bank, savings-bank, 6 churches, a public library, a newspaper office, gas-works, and manufactures of combs, paper, pianos, woollen goods, furniture, horn jewelry, and toys. Pop. about 1800. The township is drained by the Nashua River, and contains also a village named North Leominster. Pop. the township, in 1890, 7269.
Lippincott's Gazetteer of the World: A Complete Pronouncing Gazetteer Or Geographical Dictionary of the World Containing Notices of Over One Hundred and Twenty-five Thousand Places ... Joseph Thomas January 1, 1895 J.B. Lippincott
Leominster, lêm'in-ster, a post-village of Worcester co., Mass., in Leominster township, on the Boston, Clinton & Fitchburg Railroad and the Fitchburg Railroad, 54 mil W.N.W. of Boston, and 5 miles S.S.E. of Fitchburg. contains a town hall, a high school, a national bank, savings-bank, 6 churches, a public library, a newspaper office, gas-works, and manufactures of combs, paper, pianos, woollen goods, furniture, horn jewelry, and toys. Pop. about 1800. The township is drained by the Nashua River, and contains also a village named North Leominster. Pop. the township, in 1890, 7269.
Lippincott's Gazetteer of the World: A Complete Pronouncing Gazetteer Or Geographical Dictionary of the World Containing Notices of Over One Hundred and Twenty-five Thousand Places ... Joseph Thomas January 1, 1895 J.B. Lippincott
1903 - LEOMINSTER’S BIG FRIGHT. A $60,000 Fire Loss and One Death by Accident in Smoke.
Leominster, Mass., May 13 – Eight buildings on fire at one time and the town threatened with destruction, gave the townspeople such a scare, this afternoon, as they never had before. Property valued at $60,000 was destroyed, one life was lost and many firemen sustained slight injuries.
Just after 1 o’clock an alarm was sounded for a blaze in the factory of the Se??ing [illegible] comb factory in the southern part of the town. Before the bells had ceased ringing the alarm, another alarm came in from North Leominster, two miles from the center in another direction. The fire at the comb factory was handled by the shop’s crew and caused but a few dollars’ loss. The North Leominster blaze was more serious.
The North Leominster fire originated in a barn on the premises of Phelps & Harrison, tanners and curriers, being started by a boy playing with matches in a hay loft. It spread to the company’s storehouse, then jumped the road and attacked the tannery and vat house, consuming all... Read MORE...
Leominster, Mass., May 13 – Eight buildings on fire at one time and the town threatened with destruction, gave the townspeople such a scare, this afternoon, as they never had before. Property valued at $60,000 was destroyed, one life was lost and many firemen sustained slight injuries.
Just after 1 o’clock an alarm was sounded for a blaze in the factory of the Se??ing [illegible] comb factory in the southern part of the town. Before the bells had ceased ringing the alarm, another alarm came in from North Leominster, two miles from the center in another direction. The fire at the comb factory was handled by the shop’s crew and caused but a few dollars’ loss. The North Leominster blaze was more serious.
The North Leominster fire originated in a barn on the premises of Phelps & Harrison, tanners and curriers, being started by a boy playing with matches in a hay loft. It spread to the company’s storehouse, then jumped the road and attacked the tannery and vat house, consuming all... Read MORE...
1915 - Leominster is incorporated as a city
Massachusetts City and Town Incorporation and Settlement Dates
Massachusetts City and Town Incorporation and Settlement Dates
1916
Leominster, lem'in-ster, a banking post-village of Worcester co., Mass., in Leominster township (town), on the New York, New Haven and Hartford R., 54 miles WNW. of Boston. It has manufactures of combs, paper, pianos, buttons, jewelry, and toys. The town is drained by the Nashua River. Pop. of the town in 1900, 12,392.
Lippincotts New Gazetteer: A Complete Pronouncing Gazetteer Or Geographical Dictionary of the World, Containing the Most Recent and Authentic Information Respecting the Countries, Cities, Towns, Resorts, Islands, Rivers, Mountains, Seas, Lakes, Etc., in Every Portion of the Globe, Part 1 Angelo Heilprin Louis Heilprin - January 1, 1916 J.B. Lippincott - Publisher
Leominster, lem'in-ster, a banking post-village of Worcester co., Mass., in Leominster township (town), on the New York, New Haven and Hartford R., 54 miles WNW. of Boston. It has manufactures of combs, paper, pianos, buttons, jewelry, and toys. The town is drained by the Nashua River. Pop. of the town in 1900, 12,392.
Lippincotts New Gazetteer: A Complete Pronouncing Gazetteer Or Geographical Dictionary of the World, Containing the Most Recent and Authentic Information Respecting the Countries, Cities, Towns, Resorts, Islands, Rivers, Mountains, Seas, Lakes, Etc., in Every Portion of the Globe, Part 1 Angelo Heilprin Louis Heilprin - January 1, 1916 J.B. Lippincott - Publisher
1931 - Garage Annex Is Blown Into Nashua River
LEOMINSTER, April 27 - A two-stall addition to Hartwell's garage near the Main street bridge in North Leominster, was blown into the Nashua river this forenoon. The addition had just been completed. The loss is estimated at $300.
Two large elm trees on Central street, near the plant of the Whitney-Feed corporation, were uprooted and fell across the highway this forenoon blocking traffic for a half-hour.
Fitchburg Sentinel
Fitchburg, Massachusetts
April 27, 1931
LEOMINSTER, April 27 - A two-stall addition to Hartwell's garage near the Main street bridge in North Leominster, was blown into the Nashua river this forenoon. The addition had just been completed. The loss is estimated at $300.
Two large elm trees on Central street, near the plant of the Whitney-Feed corporation, were uprooted and fell across the highway this forenoon blocking traffic for a half-hour.
Fitchburg Sentinel
Fitchburg, Massachusetts
April 27, 1931
Here's a list of places to visit and things to do in and around Leominster:
Leominster State Forest: This beautiful state forest offers a range of outdoor activities, including hiking, mountain biking, picnicking, and swimming at Crow Hill Pond. It's a great place to connect with nature and escape the hustle and bustle of daily life.
Sholan Farms: Visit this lovely orchard to pick your own apples and enjoy stunning views of the surrounding countryside. They also have events like apple pie contests and hayrides during the fall.
Johnny Appleseed Visitor Center: Learn about the life and legend of John Chapman, also known as Johnny Appleseed, at this informative visitor center. It's a fascinating glimpse into American folklore.
Doyle Community Park and Center: This park offers a playground, walking trails, and a variety of recreational activities. It's a perfect spot for a family picnic or a leisurely stroll.
Leominster Art Center and Gallery: If you're into art, check out this gallery, which often hosts exhibitions and art-related events featuring... Read MORE...
Leominster State Forest: This beautiful state forest offers a range of outdoor activities, including hiking, mountain biking, picnicking, and swimming at Crow Hill Pond. It's a great place to connect with nature and escape the hustle and bustle of daily life.
Sholan Farms: Visit this lovely orchard to pick your own apples and enjoy stunning views of the surrounding countryside. They also have events like apple pie contests and hayrides during the fall.
Johnny Appleseed Visitor Center: Learn about the life and legend of John Chapman, also known as Johnny Appleseed, at this informative visitor center. It's a fascinating glimpse into American folklore.
Doyle Community Park and Center: This park offers a playground, walking trails, and a variety of recreational activities. It's a perfect spot for a family picnic or a leisurely stroll.
Leominster Art Center and Gallery: If you're into art, check out this gallery, which often hosts exhibitions and art-related events featuring... Read MORE...
Discover MY Roots: Leominster Ancestry
Ancestors Who Were Born or Died in Leominster, Massachusetts, USA
We currently have information about 130 ancestors who were born or died in Leominster.View Them Now (sorted by year of birth)
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Genealogy Resources for Leominster
Our Leominster Gift Ideas


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