LEICESTER MA

The Town Of Leicester is a community that epitomizes the farm to factory movement which occurred in the early part of the industrial revolution. As mills were being built all over New England where water power was available, Leicester began to construct larger and better mills to replace the small pre-industrial mills that dotted the landscape... Purchased in 1686 by a group of businessmen from Roxbury, Leicester was incorporated in February of 1713. The town was first called Towtaid, which was the name given to this place by the Nipmuc group that had sold the land, and later Strawberry Hill since wild strawberries grew in great quantities. The name Leicester was finally settled upon, after Leicester, England where the father of the first selectman, Thomas Green, had originated... This past, along with the existence of the old mills, and the mill houses, and village constructs is why Leicester is part of the Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor.

Primary location: Leicester United States