IndigenousNipmuc people near "Wacentug" or “Waentug” (river bend), deeded land to 17th-century settlers. Uxbridge reportedly granted rights to America's first colonial woman voter,Lydia Taft, and approved Massachusetts first women jurors. The first hospital formental illness in America was reportedly established here.[4][5]Deborah Sampson posed as an Uxbridge soldier, and fought in theAmerican Revolution. A 140-year legacy of manufacturingmilitary uniforms and clothing began with 1820power looms. Uxbridge became famous for woolencashmeres. "Uxbridge Blue", was the firstUS Air Force Dress Uniform.[6]BJ's Wholesale Club distribution warehouse is a major employer today.
John Eliot startedNipmucPraying Indian villages.[8][9][10] Several praying Indian towns included Waentug (or Wacentug) and “Rice City” (later settled as Mendon.) “Great John”, sold Squimshepauk plantation to settlers in September of 1663,[11] "for 24 pound Ster".[11][12][13]Mendon began in 1667, and burned inKing Phillips War. Nipmuck joined the native uprising, and many died. Western Mendon became Uxbridge in 1727, andFarnum House held the firsttown meeting.[14]John Adams' uncle,Nathan Webb, was the first called minister of the colony's first new Congregational church in theGreat Awakening.[15] The AmericanTaft family origins are intertwined with Uxbridge and Mendon.Lydia Taft reportedly voted in the 1756 town meeting, considered as a first for colonialwomen.[16]
A 1732 vote "set up a school for ye town of Uxbridge".[11] A grammar school was followed by 13 one-room district school houses, built for $2000 in 1797.Uxbridge Academy (1818) became a prestigious New England prep school.
Uxbridge voted against the smallpoxvaccine.[16]Samuel Willard treated smallpox victims,[42] was a forerunner of modern psychiatry, and ran the first hospital for mental illness in America.[4][5] Vital records recorded many infant deaths,[19] the smallpox death of SelectmanJoseph Richardson, "Quincy", "dysentary", and tuberculosis deaths.[19][25]Leonard White recorded amalaria outbreak here in 1896 that led to[43] firsts in the control of malaria as a mosquito-borne infection.[43] Uxbridge led Massachusetts in robberies for a quarter of the year in 1922, and the town voted to hire its first nighttime police patrolman.[44] Peter Emerick summarized the history of policing in Uxbridge.[45]
Bog iron and three iron forges marked the colonial era, with the inception of large-scale industries beginning around 1775.[46] Examples of this development can be seen in the work ofRichard Mowry, who built and marketed equipment to manufacture woolen, linen, or cotton cloth,[3][47] andgristmills,sawmills, distilleries, and large industries.[8]Daniel Day built the first woolen mill in 1809.[11][16] By 1855, 560 local workers made 2,500,000 yards (2,300,000 m) of cloth (14,204 miles (22,859 km)).[46][8] Uxbridge reached a peak of over twenty different industrial mills.[8][25] A small silver vein at Scadden, in southwest Uxbridge, led to unsuccessful commercial mining in the 1830s.[48]
Charles Capron House. The Capron family was prominent in the Industrial era at Uxbridge Center where Capron Mill is located.
John Sr.,Effingham andJohn W. Capron's mill pioneered USsatinets and woolen power looms.[8][11][46][53] Charles A. Root, Edward Bachman, andHarold Walter expandedBachman-Uxbridge, and exhibited leadership in women's fashion.[54] The company manufacturedUS Army uniforms for theCivil War,World War I,World War II, thenurse corps, and the firstAir Force dress uniforms, dubbed "Uxbridge Blue".[25][55]Time magazine covered Uxbridge Worsted's proposed buyout to be the top US woolen company.[6] The largest plant of one of the largest US yarn companies,Bernat Yarn, was located here from the 1960s to the 1980s. A historic company called Information Services operated from Uxbridge, and managed subscription services forThe New Republic, among other publications, in the later 20th century.
Five bands of the original indigenous Nipmuck people live in the Worcester County region today.
In 2017, a new $9.25 million fire station was completed on Main Street next to Town Hall.[66] Voters approved the 14,365 square-foot station in 2015.[67] The station has five bays to accommodate modern fire trucks, a radio and server room for computer and phone servers.[67] The second floor includes a fitness room, kitchen, and showers for staff.[66] The station is located in the historic district, and was built in consultation with the Uxbridge Historic District Commission.[66] The old post office and fire station were demolished to make room for the new station.[67] Context Architecture was the designer.[68]
The McCluskey School parking lot and former Bernat Mill site were used for Netflix film crews setup in 2021.[69]
The Uxbridge High Spartans won the 2023 Division 7 Superbowl at Gillette Stadium with an undefeated record[70] The 2024 Spartans won their second Division 7 Super Bowl championship against Mashpee.[71] The Uxbridge High Spartans Field Hockey Team clinched its fourth consecutive state championship in the 2024 Season.[72][73]
In 2025 the Arthur R. Taft Memorial Trust generously provided funding for historical preservation of the Farnum House.[74]
AUSDAhardiness zone 5continental climate prevails with snowfall extremes from November to April. The highest recorded temperature was 104 F, in July 1975, and the lowest, −25 F in January 1957.[75]
High tech, services, distribution, life sciences, hospitality, local government, education and tourism offer local jobs. A 618,000 square feet (57,400 m2) distribution center servesFortune 500BJ's Wholesale Club's, northern division. Unemployment was 3.9%, lower than the state average .[88]
Local government granted thefirst woman in America theright to vote,[16] nixed a smallpox vaccine in 1775,[16] and defied the MassachusettsSecretary of State by approving women jurors.[102] The 2009 Board of Health made Uxbridge the third community in the US to ban tobacco sales in pharmacies, but later reversed this.[103]
State agencies control county elected offices, and Uxbridge has a District Courthouse but no jail.
Local schools include the Earl D. Taft Early Learning Center (Pre-K–3), Whitin Intermediate School (4–7),Uxbridge High School (8–12), and Our Lady of the Valley Regional.
Uxbridge is also a member of one of the thirteen towns of the Blackstone Valley Regional Vocational School District. Uxbridge students in eighth grade have the opportunity to apply toBlackstone Valley Regional Vocational Technical High School, serving grades 9–12.
TheNew York Times called Uxbridge education reforms a "little revolution" to meet family needs.[104]
Tyler Burton was an NBA second round draft pick candidate in 2022 but withdraw to play forVillanova University. He was born in Uxbridge in 2000.
Effingham Capron,[41] led Uxbridge as a center for pre-Civil War anti-slavery activities, and was a state and national anti-slavery leader, and an industrialist[41]
^ab"DIGITAL TREASURES : Item Viewer". Archived fromthe original on December 3, 2013. RetrievedJanuary 4, 2015. Digital Treasures, Samuel Willard ran a "hospital for the insane", and trained young physicians, east side of Uxbridge Common (no longer standing)
^Buford, Mary Hunter (1895).Seth Read, Lieut.-Col.Continental Army; Pioneer at Geneva, New York, 1787, and at Erie, Penn., June, 1795. His Ancestors and Descendants. Boston, Mass. pp. 167 pages on CD in PDF Format.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Preble, George Henry (1879).Origin and History of the American Flag and of the Naval and Yacht Club Signals, Seals and Arms, and of the Principal National Songs of the United States; Volume II. Philadelphia: Brown. pp. 695–696.
^Langenbach, Randolph (August 15, 1971).The Crown and Eagle Mills, A remarkable Massachusetts Relic of the Industrial Revolution now in danger of destruction. Boston.{{cite book}}:|work= ignored (help)CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^"Uxbridge-A walking tour". Blackstone Daily.com. Archived from the original on September 28, 2007. RetrievedNovember 16, 2007.
^Leonard, Lewis recounted Alexander.The Life of Alphonso Taft.Leonard, Lewis Alexander.The Life of Alphonso Taft.Leonard, Lewis Alexander (1920).Life of Alphonso Taft. Hawke publishing Company (incorporated). p. 308. RetrievedNovember 25, 2007.
^"1950 Census of Population"(PDF). Bureau of the Census. 1952. Section 6, Pages 21-10 and 21-11, Massachusetts Table 6. Population of Counties by Minor Civil Divisions: 1930 to 1950. RetrievedJuly 12, 2011.
^"1920 Census of Population"(PDF). Bureau of the Census. Number of Inhabitants, by Counties and Minor Civil Divisions. Pages 21-5 through 21-7. Massachusetts Table 2. Population of Counties by Minor Civil Divisions: 1920, 1910, and 1920. RetrievedJuly 12, 2011.
^"1890 Census of the Population"(PDF). Department of the Interior, Census Office. Pages 179 through 182. Massachusetts Table 5. Population of States and Territories by Minor Civil Divisions: 1880 and 1890. RetrievedJuly 12, 2011.
^"1870 Census of the Population"(PDF). Department of the Interior, Census Office. 1872. Pages 217 through 220. Table IX. Population of Minor Civil Divisions, &c. Massachusetts. RetrievedJuly 12, 2011.
^"1860 Census"(PDF). Department of the Interior, Census Office. 1864. Pages 220 through 226. State of Massachusetts Table No. 3. Populations of Cities, Towns, &c. RetrievedJuly 12, 2011.
^"1850 Census"(PDF). Department of the Interior, Census Office. 1854. Pages 338 through 393. Populations of Cities, Towns, &c. RetrievedJuly 12, 2011.
^Bonnie Adams (October 12, 2008)."Town Honors 1936 Olympian".The Worcester Telegram and Gazette.Archived from the original on January 4, 2015. RetrievedOctober 12, 2008.
