Uxbridge, MA

Uxbridge, Massachusetts

Uxbridge was settled in 1662 and incorporated in 1727 at Suffolk, then Worcester Co., Mass. Named for an Earl, it claims America's first woman voter, first woman soldier, and early industrialization. Today it is the geographic center of the Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor. The estimated population in 2007 was 12,634.

Early history

A first nation Native American tribe, known as the Nipmuc, which translated means " small pond people”, settled at Wacentug("tribe that fished rich waters), and "Shockalog", (burned fox place}" Wacentug had about 50+ people living there by the mid 1600's. The Nipmuc were an Algonquian tribe who had a highly developed agriculture. The name Nipmuc is also translated as "people of the fresh waters". In this region of small lakes, and rivers, they grew corn(maize), beans and squash. They had a graphite mine, and had developed a written language. The tribe moved with the seasons, fishing and farming, in the gently rolling hills, woodlands, and streams of what would become the heart of southern New England. Nipmuc villages were typical of their Algonquian heritage. An example of this is a re-created Nipmuc village from Connecticut. The Nipmuc were also closely related to the Narragansett (tribe) from whom such words as pow wow and wigwam have worked their way into current language. 500 + Nipmuc today live in Central Massachusetts. John Eliot (missionary), helped start praying Indians villages, such as "Wacentug". The Massachusetts Bay Colony General Court granted early pioneers the rights to purchase land in the Nipmuck territory in 1659. In 1662, settlers from Braintree and Weymouth, signed a deed with the Nipmuc Chief, "Great John", and bought Native land, "8 miles²(13km)² W. of Medfield" “for 24 pound Ster”. Squinshepauke plantation became Mendon(1667), which burned in America's first war, the King Phillip's War (1675). and the first Massachussetts Bay colonists were killed. With resettlement in 1680, significant numbers of families had moved westward and settled at Wacentug, to cultivate fertile land in the intervales between the three rivers. The Taft family and Seagraves settled here in 1680 and a bridge was bulit across the river. The western settlers became increasingly anxious to have their own separate town. Uxbridge (W. Mendon) incorporated in June of 1727, and Farnum House

held the first town meeting. Reverend Nathan Webb's church, the first church in Uxbridge, was the Colony's first new Congregational church in the Great Awakening. Lowell Mason wrote the hymn tune Uxbridge The pioneer town's future as an industrial center was secure, with good quality bog iron ore, and renewable energy from the Mumford, West, and Blackstone Rivers.

Quakers

Shortly before the Revolution, circa 1769, Smithfield, Rhode Island Quaker abolitionists, with ties to Moses Brown, who founded Brown University, settled in the southern outskirts of Uxbridge and changed the character of the town. They settled at Quaker City, building mills, railroads, houses, tools and Conestoga wagon wheels. Southwick's store housed Uxbridge's "Social and Instructive Library". Friends Meetinghouse , built on Moses Farnum's farm, with bricks made from a local brickyard, claimed "fiery abolitionist" Abby Kelley Foster Abby Kelley became a national figure in the radical wing of the abolitionist movement, leading Lucy Stone, and Susan B. Anthony into the cause. The second Great Awakening touched Quakers, women's suffrage, human rights, and changed local mortuary practices for the poor. The "Uxbridge monthly meeting" later disowned Kelley because of her "radical views". Historic Quaker homes were underground railroad sites. Agriculture was prominent at south Uxbridge, with fertile land, scenic rivers, country roads and cranberry bogs. The influential American Aldrich family got its start here, and the village of Aldrich was in proximity to the Friends Meetinghouse. The family's original cemetery here, is here where the original immigrant ancestor, George Aldrich, is buried. Other Quaker familes, such as the Southwick's, built Conestoga wagon wheels, and manufactured Kentucky Blue Jeans in the mid 1800's.

Revolutionary period

Forefathers here fought in the French and Indian Wars. Captain Josiah Taft's widow, Lydia Chapin Taft, voted locally in October of 1756, to fund this war, in a first step for women's suffrage, legislated by the Uxbridge Town Meeting. Debt from this war led to heavy taxes on the American Colonies by the British, and this led to the American Revolution. Local brothers, Seth and Joseph Read joined Committees of Correspondence(1774). Dozens of local men fought at the Lexington alarm, and at Bunker Hill. General George Washington stopped at a tavern owned by Colonel Seth Read in June 1775 before assuming command of the Continental Army in Boston. Colonels Seth Read

, J. Read, Tyler, Chapin, Captains Green, Bezaleel Taft, Hall, Rawson, Lieutenants Wheelock, J. Taft, Farnum, and White, served with 46 local heros. Baxter Hall(Lexington drummer), served at Bunker Hill and at West Point when General Benedict Arnold escaped."

Deborah Sampson, America's first woman soldier, enlisted in the Continental Army at Bellingham as Robert Shurtlieff, of Uxbridge, by convincing the Uxbridge seargent that she was a teenage boy. She was wounded in a battle at Tarrytown, New York. George Washington gave her an honorable discharge, some money and some advice. Deborah went on to become a women's rights hero.

Shays Rebellion, an uprising of farmers related to currency disarray, had its opening salvos in Uxbridge. Governor John Hancock had to suppress local riots. Lt. Simenon Wheelock, whose family became local textile pioneers, died at Springfield near the Armory when he was killed by a horse. Shay's Rebellion so alarmed George Washington that he emerged from retirement in 1786 and 1787 to advocate a stronger National Government. Dr. Samuel Willard fought in Shay's Rebellion and represented Uxbridge in Massachusetts's ratification of the U.S. Constitution. In 1789, U.S. President, George Washington stopped overnight in Uxbridge on his inaugural tour. As a new, stronger, America began, Seth Read, whose father John had been an officer in the French and Indian War, was instrumental in adding E Pluribus Unum to U.S. coins, "from many, one".

Transportation

Transportation evolved at this crossroads village. The Middle Post Road, set down by Ben Franklin as the 9^th Massachusetts Turnpike, began locally around "Colonel Crown's land" and meandered past rocky Yankee farms and woods, as it carried French and Indian War troops, 1812 War supplies, and passed a Civil War camp near "Stage Coach Hill". Teamsters drove huge wagons on the "Great Road" to Worcester and Woonsocket. Erie Canal Irish laborers, built the Blackstone Canal which carried thousands of tons of goods yearly from Worcester to Providence (1828). The Providence and Worcester Railroad replaced the canal(1847). A second railroad ran here through Ironstone with connections to Hartford, Boston, and New York City. Route 146 provides freeway access to Worcester, I-290, I-190, the Massachusetts Turnpike, and I-95 in Providence. Route 16 connects with Connecticut via I-395 at Webster, and to Boston, and Cape Cod via I-495 at Milford .

Early Industrialization

The Blackstone Valley is the "birthplace" of the American Industrial Revolution. Richard Mowry, an Uxbridge farmer, built and marketed equipment to manufacture woolen, linen or cotton cloth, around the time of the Revolution. Uxbridge, an early mill town, had industries, forges, distilleries, and 20 local mills. In 1820, John Capron's first ever Power looms for woolens made "the first" cashmere satinets in America. Benjamin Taft's 1734 Ironstone forge let Caleb Handy make tools, scythes and guns. Wm. Arnold's 1815 mill worker housing remains. In 1855, 561 local workers made 2.5 million yards of cloth. "Hecla" had American Woolen, Daniel Day's 1810 Woolen Mill, and H. Lowell's shoe factory. Wheelockville's Waucantuck Mill, manufactured the first "wash and wear" fabrics. Calumet's (Central Woolen) ran 24/7 making Civil War cloth. Blanchard's quarry rebuilt Boston and provided NYC curbs. Linwood's cotton mill and Robert Rogerson' Crown and Eagle Cotton Mill were near N. Uxbridge's Rivulet Mill. Capron's original mill grew into a national textile complex, the Bachman Uxbridge Worsted Company, which was instrumental in the manufacture of military uniforms, clothing, and led the women's fashion industry. A 1953 Time Magazine said Harold Walter's mill led New England's textile industry by research into blended fabrics and wool-nylon "serge". Civil War, WW I, WW II Army and nurse corps uniforms, the first Air Force uniform, "Uxbridge 1683 Blue", and "latch hook kits" were made here. FDR personally wrote to thank management and workers for extraordinary efforts in the war effort. It was later known as America's third largest yarn mill. Today's industries include: high tech, services, hospitality, and a textile corporate base.

Public health

Smallpox killed the Nipmuc, early settlers, and men in physician and Colonel, Seth Reed's regiment. Uxbridge voted against smallpox vaccine(1775). Colonel Seth Read, (who was not "variolated"), became very ill in the Canadian campaign when his unit suffered from smallpox and starvation. Illness forced him to leave the Continental Army in 1776. Soon afterward, and with the advice of Benjamin Rush, General Washington ordered that the Continental Army receive the crude vaccination method of that time known as "variolation". Dr. Samuel Willard treated local smallpox victims. The Uxbridge Vital Records are a source of public health history. Local Selectman, Joseph Richardson, died of smallpox. Sen. Bezaleel Taft, Jr, and woolen mill pioneer Daniel Day, both died of Tuberculosis(1840's). Dr. Leonard White published some of the earliest reports of possible childhood vaccine related deaths (1885). State pathologist, Theobald Smith, warned health officer Dr. White about possible links between mosquitoes to an outbreak of malaria at Uxbridge, asking White to have citizens add screens and drain collections of water, while urging White's son to collect mosquito specimens for further analysis.(1896). This preceded confirmation of mosquito-malaria links by Ronald Ross, MD in India, in 1898. The Board of Health advised a clean water supply in 1905. Sen. Richard T. Moore of Uxbridge was a chief architect of the landmark Massachusetts health care reform legislation in 2006.

Recent history

Historic parks replaced a textile economy. Large mill fires signaled the end of local textiles. Mills closed, rivers were polluted, and renewal followed. The Great Gatsby('74) and Oliver's Story were filmed here. The New York Times called the local school district's reforms "a little revolution, ...started in this tiny town". The National Heritage Corridor has a Heritage State Park, of the River Bikeway, the Trunkline Trail, and West Hill Army Corps wildlife refuge. 60 Federalist homes add to 54 National, and 375 state sites including: Georgian Elmshade, and other styles. A 2007 fire destroyed the Bernat Mill, 500 jobs, and 65 businesses. This fire is considered the largest single fire disaster in Massachusetts. The local fire department, located one block away, responded immediately and effectively at 4:30 AM on July 21, 2007. The 10 alarm fire quickly overhwhelmed local resources, requiring a fire fighting response from two states and 66 local fire departments. The fire burned for days. The original historic mill of John Capron was preserved by extraordinary fire fighting, incident command and execution. The EPA monitored local air quality and declining local water supplies. The Uxbridge public works director, Larry Bombara, was asked to lead his national assocation that same year. It was the first test of disaster management for Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, the state's first and nation's second, African American Governor. The town's economy has suffered greatly from these losses. Senator John Kerry led efforts from the Small Business Administration and committee that he chairs to provide loans for the Uxbridge business losses. The state Fire Marshall traced the fire to a welding company and failed sprinklers. Added steps to protect historic structures are now being examined. Mill owners plan to rebuild.

Notable families and people

Immigrants, like Robert Taft I, who settled here in 1680, had descendents who became national leaders. Taft's grandson's widow, Lydia Chapin Taft, was "America's first woman voter"(1756). Samuel Taft hosted Washington's inaugural tour.

Ezra Taft Benson was a Mormon Apostle(1846) and Utah Legislator. His great grandson was the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture and Mormon Church President. Peter Rawson Taft I's son, United States Secretary of War Alphonso Taft(1874) delivered an impassioned speech in Uxbridge on his family's history at a famous 1874 family reunion at Elmshade. Young William Howard Taft, Alfonso's son, and William's brother Charles Phelps Taft, (who founded the Chicago Cubs), both likely heard it. Peter's grandson, U.S. President William Howard Taft, visited and stayed here(1910). A local immigrant boy, Arthur MacArthur, Sr. became Lt. Governor and Supreme Court Justice in Wisconsin, and Washington, D.C. Arthur's grandson, Douglas MacArthur, was a famous American General. Seth Read

added E Pluribus Unum to U.S. coins and founded Erie, PA. Seth's son was a Great Lakes ship captain, and grandson, a Whig Congressmen. Phineas Bruce and Benjamin Adams were Congressmen. Benedict Arnold's widow died here(1836).

The American Aldrich family started in Mendon and Uxbridge. "Great Uncle", Nelson Aldrich, started the Federal Reserve, and the U.S. Income Tax. Nelson's grandson, was Vice President Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller. Joshua Macomber and William Augustus Mowry, were educators. Ed. Sullivan won a Medal of Honor(1898). Tim Fortugno, pitched for the Angels, White Sox and Reds(1990's). Richard T. Moore was a FEMA executive (1994-1996), and is now in line to lead the National Association of State Legislators in 2009. Brian Skerry, is a photojournalist with National Geographic and a passionate advocate "sounding the alarm" for the preservation of global fisheries.

Government

The Representative town meeting government, has a Board of Selectmen: Kevin J. Kuros, Chairman, Michael Potaski, Vice Chairman, Carrie Kay Robertson, Clerk, Peter Baghdasarian and Bruce Desilets and a Town Manager. Local government made history by: 1) granting the first woman in America the right to vote in 1756, 2) ruling against Smallpox variolation for citizens in 1775, and 3) defying the Massachusetts Secretary of State's office by approving the right of women to serve on juries in 1922.

Geography

The town's total area is 30.4 square miles (78.7 km²) {with 0.8 square miles (2.1 km²) (2.73%) of water}, located SW of Boston, SE of Worcester, NE of New York City, and NW of Providence, (Greater Boston CSA).

Elevations are to . It borders Douglas, Mendon, Millville, Northbridge, Sutton, Burrillville, and North Smithfield.

Demographics

2000's census, showed 11,156 people, 3,988 households, and 3,034 families. 98.04% were White, 0.95% Hispanic, 0.15% African American, 0.13% Native American, 0.61% Asian, and 0.07% Pacific Islander. Density was 377.6 people/ mile² (145.8/km²). 9.5% of households had a 65 + person living alone, 29.2% were under 18, 5.8%, 40.9% from 18 to 44, 20.0% from 45 to 64. Median income was $61,855 and Per capita income was $24,540. 4.7% fell below the poverty line.