Uxbridge, Massachusetts

Uxbridge, Massachusetts is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 11,156 at the 2000 census.Uxbridge was first settled in 1662 and was officially incorporated in 1727. Julie Woods is the current chairman of the Board of Selectmen.

Uxbridge, like scores of communities in the commonwealth, retains many remnants of its vibrant history. Driving through town you can see examples of old colonial homesteads, brick commercial blocks, canal tow paths and textile mills. A number of them look the way they did over two hundred years ago, several others have “died” and are reborn and revitalized, and some are just shells within which you can hear echoes of the past. It is this rich cultural history that attracts countless to live in this community and call it home.
When the first pioneers came out to this area of Southern Worcester County (then Essex County) their ambition was to set up a prosperous town that would turn a profit. The founding families dreamed of settling a plantation that would be an agricultural success, and they were determined their little town would stand on its feet fiercely self sufficient. Consequently, in 1662, Squinshepauke Plantation was started at the Netmocke settlement. The plantation was later incorporated as the town of Mendon in 1667 consisting of eight miles square of Native American land. The land was purchased from the Nipmuc Indians “for divers good and vallewable considerations them there unto Moovinge and especiall for an in consideration of the summe of twenty fower pound Ster.” The settlers were ambitious and set about clearing the roads that would mark settlement patterns throughout the town’s history. Mother Mendon as the town is called gave “birth” to the towns of Blackstone, part of Bellingham, Hopedale, Milford, Millville, Northbridge, part of Upton and our own Uxbridge. Instead of walking you through a boring history timeline, let’s walk through Uxbridge’s history using the hills, valleys and roads to understand the rich record of this community.

The proprietors as they were called in Mendon gradually migrated out from the center, and for us the important migration routes were southerly and westerly. Families staked out farmsteads on the other side of Nipmuc Pond in the fertile flood plains of the rivers. The intervales became valuable farm land and the cedar swamps were precious for their cedar and the plants needed in colonial medicines. Far from the saw mill, grist mill and meetinghouse, this crew in the remote reaches of Mendon became independent and learned to survive away from the scrutiny of the town fathers. The lack of river crossings made regular contact with the center of Mendon almost impossible and gave a sense of unity to the people out west. As years would go by the settlers in the western part (often referred to as the “rabble rousing western inhabitants”) saw the potential for their area to break off and take a stand as an independent town, and they made the break on June 27, 1727. Thus the town of Uxbridge was born, a town tired of being ignored by the older parent and like any teenager, self-assured that it could do better on its own. Surrounded by three major rivers, Blackstone, Mumford and West, Uxbridge’s future as a thriving textile and commerce leader was practically guaranteed.
Local lore states that the northeast and southern parts of Uxbridge were originally settled by the Nipmuc people and the abundance of Indian arrowheads in those areas would seem to confirm this story. The Blackstone River was called the Great River by the Nipmuc’s and they were “a people of the fresh waters”. The Nipmuc name does not refer to a specific village or tribe, but to the natives that inhabited almost all of Central Massachusetts into Connecticut and Rhode Island. The Nipmuc’s stayed within their homeland traveling from site to site with the seasons, while the Blackstone River ecosystem supported their agricultural and nutritional needs. What we do know about the Nipmuc’s locally is that during King Philip’s War in 1675, Praying Indians (natives who converted to Christianity) were settled into Praying Indian Villages and at least two villages were located in Uxbridge (referred to as Waentug after the tribe that fished the rich waters). We will start our journey into Uxbridge in the southern part of town.The major artery was the Providence and Worcester Road and along this road the section mushroomed. Roads fed off what is now Route 146A and led into cedar swamps, moist cranberry bogs and deep woods. Agriculture was the backbone of any town at the time and the large farms of this section still dot the landscape; some still in the same family they were in when the town was settled. The area is seeped in antiquity and a few cellar holes are all that remain of the first homesteads built in Uxbridge. Quakers came and settled here and brought with them their religion and their industrious ways. The beginning of a commercial center called Quaker City became located along the road called the Quaker Highway. George Southwick established his general store and the Uxbridge Social and Instructive Library was located in the back room. The Quakers were abolitionists and this section was the heart of the Underground Rail Road in Uxbridge. Its proximity to the Blackstone Canal and the major rail roads made it an excellent stop on the daring adventure north. An enterprising people, the Quakers started many mills in the area and invested in rail roads and larger mills in surrounding communities. They built the beautiful meetinghouse in 1770 with bricks made from the brickyard across the street near the Blackstone River. Houses up and down Aldrich Street are made of local brick and bear the heritage of their Quaker owners. Although this section was not the industrial heart of town, small mills sprang up on the local brooks, ponds and streams. Emerson, Forge and Ironstone Brooks, which once powered mills, now attract fishing enthusiasts with their stocked trout. Lee Pond, Chocolog Pond and Ironstone Pond may have had other roles in history, but they are best remembered as excellent swimming spots on a hot summer day. Village sections of this part of Uxbridge are Albee, Aldrich, Chocolog, Happy Hollow, Ironstone and Scadden, all of which still reflect the Yankee pioneers and the richness of the area. The area today is zoned both agricultural and industrial giving it a contrasting view of itself. Alongside the meandering river with fields of produce you will see industrial parks hoping to attract tenants. Caught somewhere in the middle between the press of commercial and residential development is the future of this section.