History of Sturbridge, Massachusetts, USA

Sturbridge, Massachusetts
Worcester county. This is a very pleasant town, and is well watered by Quinebaug river. It lies 60 miles W.S.W. from Boston and 18 S.W. from Worcester. Incorporated, 1738. Population, 1830, 1,688; 1837, 2,004. The surface of the town is uneven and hilly, and the soil hard to subdue; but it has become productive by good management. There are some good fish ponds in the town, which serve to swell the Quinebaug. There are 6 cotton mills in Sturbridge and manufactures of boots, shoes, leather, chairs, cabinet ware, clothing, palm-leaf hats, trunks, harnesses, chairs, wagons, sleighs and pocket rifles; total value, the year ending April 1, 1837, $182,415.

At the Sturbridge Cotton Mills, 5 or 6 good Families, consisting of Weavers, Spinners, and Carding Room help, who are of strictly temperance habits, for which the most liberal wages will be given. -- Those who are supporters of the great principles of the country, which encourage and foster the manufacturing interest, would be preferred.
S. A. DRAKE, Agent.
Sturbridge, March 4.

The first settlers of Sturbridge were chiefly from Medfield, in Norfolk county, and the settlement at first was called New Medfield.

The Quinebaug has its sources in several ponds of this town, and furnishes good water-piivileges.

The chief manufactures are cotton goods, boots, shoes and rifles.

Distance from Worcester, 18 miles ; from Boston, 58.

The land of this town was originally granted, in 1729, to several petitioners of Medfield, and many of the first settlers were from that town. and hence the place was called New Medfield, until its incorporated in when it recieved the name of Sturbridge. The following, respecting the first settlers, is from Rev. Joseph S. Clark’s Historical Sketch of Sturbridge, published in 1838:

“Henry Fiske, one of the original proprietors, and his brother Daniel, pitched their tent near the top of the hill which has ever since borne their name. They had been at work for some time without knowing which way they must look for their nearest neighbor, or whether indeed they had a neighbor nearer than one of the adjacent towns. At length on a clear afternoon they heard the sound of an axe far off in a southerly direction, and went in pursuit of it. The individual whose solitary axe they heard had also been attracted by the sound of theirs, and was advancing towards them on the same errand. They came ...

Sturbridge, a post-village in Worcester co., Massachusetts, 00 miles W. S. W. from Boston, contains several churches. Population of township, 2119.

The Boston Transcript publishes a sketch of Deacon John Philips of Sturbridge, Mass., who is now in his one hundred and fourth year. This venerable man was born in Massachusetts when George II was King of Great Britain. He was drafted in 1776, and served in the early part of the American Revolution, and has a distinct recollection of the battle of Bunker Hill, which took place when he was fifteen years old. He has lived all his life on one farm, eaten at one table, and during a space of ninety years has not had a severe sickness.