TOWN OF LEICESTER, MASSACHUSETTS
A Brief History
In 1686 a group of businessmen from Roxbury, Massachusetts purchased the land of a town called Towtaid from the Nipmuc native band. It was rich agricultural land, on a height of ground between Boston harbor and the Connecticut River, fed by the French River and an abundance of other smaller waterways from the Blackstone and Quinneboag River Valleys. Wild strawberries grew everywhere, and later the town was called Strawberry Hill.
In 1713 the town was incorporated and officially named Leicester, after the English city where the father of the town’s first Selectman -- its chief executive officer -- Thomas Green, had emigrated from.
Leicester played a somewhat significant role during the American War of Independence. At a meeting of the Committee of Safety in 1774, Colonel William Henshaw of Leicester stated, “We must have companies of men ready to march upon a minute’s notice” – and in fact Leicester’s own standing militia company of “minutemen” marched to Lexington and Concord to aid in the defeat of the British.
Leicester is a community that epitomizes the gradual transition from agriculture to industry that occurred in the early part of the industrial revolution. With access to an abundance of water power, Leicester farms usually had a small mill or two, and as more mills were being built all over New England where water power was available, Leicester began to construct larger and better grist, fulling, and saw mills to replace the small pre-industrial mills that dotted the landscape.
Leicester Academy was founded in 1784. It’s a well funded, highly respected institution of learning with commodious buildings, and accommodates 100 students throughout the school year.
Around the same time, Leicester began to focus on manufacturing hand cards – tools used in the making of cloth. The story goes that when Samuel Slater was building his mill in Pawtucket, he struggled with getting his carding machine to operate. He called for help from Pliny Earle of Leicester, who was engaged in the production of hand cards and known locally as a mechanical “tinkerer.” Earle built Slater’s carding machine, and Slater’s Mill began production, signaling the beginning of America’s Industrial Revolution.
In 1837, the population of Leicester was 2,122. There were five woolen mills operating in town, as well as machines in factories manufacturing hand cards, machine cards, chairs, cabinet-ware, scythes, leather, boots and shoes. Total revenue for the town’s businesses that year: $531,939.
By the time the Civil War began in 1861, Leicester was an active, vibrant place. Carding and textile mills were operating in the villages of Leicester Center, Greenville, Cherry Valley, Rochdale, Mannville and Lakeside. When war broke out between the states, those who made a living from the mills did not want to see their livelihood destroyed. For this reason the community did not embrace the abolition of slavery movement that was sweeping the area. Wealthy mill owners did not want to see their textile supplies disappear, and thus did not support the movement.
When one of the town’s prominent citizens became deeply involved with the movement, a conflict divided the community. The Reverend Samuel May, pastor of the Unitarian Church, was asked to vacate his position when mill-owning parishioners felt he was devoting too much time to his position as Secretary of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society. Rev. May had worked with many prominent abolitionists such as Lucy Stone and Abby Kelly Foster; his home at the east end of town was a confirmed site on the Underground Railroad. After May’s death, Booker T. Washington, along with members of the Tuskegee Institute, delivered a speech on Rev. May’s work on the steps of the Unitarian Church that May had been asked to leave. It commemorated a sad chapter in the town’s history.
The 1880s witnessed the beginning of the decline of industry in Leicester. At the height of the industrial revolution, one-third of all hand and machine cards made in North America were produced in Leicester. Industrialists such as Elias Howe, Henry Graton and Joseph Knight got their start in Leicester’s carding industry. However, the cheap slave labor available in the south forced many companies to sell or close their businesses, since they couldn’t compete.
Some mills in Leicester flourished throughout the 1900s, but its textile industry ended in 1991 with the closing of Worcester Spinning & Finishing in Cherry Valley, but although the industry itself is gone, there are traces of mills remaining throughout the countryside. The legacy of the town of Leicester is one of transition from agricultural to light industrial. The Denny, Earle and Henshaw families have always been prominent and highly respected.
