NORTH CENTRAL MASSACHUSETTS
A selected list on the origin of town/city names
prepared by Prof. Thomas Malloy,
Mt. Wachusett Community College
ORIGINAL TOWNS: The first towns in Northern Worcester
County were Rutland (1722) and Lunenburg (1728). They are not
included in the North Central Mass. study area.
Narragansett Towns
(Land Allocated because of a town’s service in Narragansett
raid in King Philip’s War)
Westminster ( #2)
Named after England’s ecclesiastical center
Settled in 1737
Dist. In 1759, Inc. in 1770
Templeton (#6)
Named after John Temple, a British colonial agent
Settled in 1751
Inc. in 1762
CANADA TOWNS
(Land allocated because of town’s service on Canada
Expedition in French & Indian Wars)
Ashburnham (Dorchester Canada)
Named after Second Earl of Ashburnham
Settled in 1736
Inc. in 1765
Winchendon (Ipswich Canada)
Named after a town in Buckinghamshire
Settled in 1751
Inc. in 1764
OTHER PRE-REVOLUTIONARY TOWNS
Leominster (1740 from Lancaster), Fitchburg (1764
from Lunenburg) , Princeton (1771 from Rutland) and Barre (1774
from Rutland) are not included in study area.
Petersham
Named after an English town
Settled in 1733
Inc. in 1754
Athol
Named for the second Duke of Athol in Scotland
Settled in 1735 as Pequoiag
Inc. in 1762
Royalston
Named for Isaac Royall, an original land owner who
was a loyalist and left for England in 1776.
Settled in 1762
Inc. in 1765, last land grants in Worcester County
AFTER THE REVOLUTION
Gardner
Named for Colonel Thomas Gardner of Cambridge who
died of wounds he received at the Battle of Bunker Hill
Settled in 1764
Inc. in 1785 from lands taken from Winchendon, Ashburnham,
Westminster, and Templeton
Hubbardston
Named for Thomas Hubbard, speaker of the Massachusetts
House of Representatives
Settled in 1737
Inc. in 1786 from Rutland
Phillipston
Settled in 1751
Inc. in 1786 from Templeton
Originally named Gerry after Massachusetts statesman
Eldridge Gerry. In 1814 renamed Phillipston after William Phillips
who was the Lieutenant Governor.