A Brief Town History

Excerpt from: Upton, A Pictorial History

Upton was formed from the outlying areas of four towns, Hopkinton, Mendon, Uxbridge and Sutton. John Hazeltine went to Boston to receive Upton's charter which was signed by the governor on June 14, 1735.

The first town meeting was held at John Sadler's house on the road to Mendon. The first minister was Thomas Weld. The first meeting house was built within the walls of the burying ground off the corner of Grove and Mendon Streets.

Upton was in Worcester County except for the Hopkinton section which was owned by Havard College and was in Middlesex County. Harvard leased the land to the inhabitants until a settlement was reached in 1832, at which time all of Upton was in Worcester County and the residents owned their land.

The Reverend Elisha Fish, Upton's second, and first lifetime minister, came in 1750. He and most of the rest of the town were solidly in favor of the fight for independence from England.

For one hundred years, Upton was a boot and shoe town. In the next one hundred years it became known as a hat town with the arrival of William Knowlton and his straw factory. By 1995, it had become a bedroom town.

In 1848, the First Parish Church, Congregational, erected a new building in Upton Center. The same year, the First Unitarian Society built its church directly across the common. In 1874, William Knowlton built a church in the west part of town for the Unitarians. The church they left was sold to the Catholics and was named Holy Angels. In 1876, the Methodist Church was built in Upton Center. In 1970, the Methodist and Congregational churches merged, becoming the United Parish. The town bought the Methodist building and remodeled it for town offices.

A high school was built in 1897, halfway between the centers of Upton and West Upton. The school burned in December 1944. The Memorial School was built on the site in 1951. The Nipmuc Regional High School opened in 1960. Blackstone Valley Regional Vocational Technical High School opened in 1966.

For a more detailed history of Upton, see the Town of Upton's history page