Sutton Town

Worcester County, Massachusetts

Nipmuc Indians inhabited the Su􏰀on area and perhaps their first official alliance with the English was with surveyors, William Stoughton and Joseph Dudley. In 1681 a deed was signed between the Indians and the two surveyors that conveyed 2,000 acres in 1685. In 1712 this acreage became known as the “Manchaug Farms” and in 1722 parcels were sold to Richard Waters and Samuel Rich that included the en􏰁re village of West Su􏰀on, the Town Farm, most of the Whi􏰂er Farm and a large area further south. However, the land was not located in an incorporated township. In 1723 both the Waters and Rich farms were annexed to Oxford un􏰁l Waters Farm in 1726 and the Rich Farm in 1728 were annexed to Su􏰀on. On May 15, 1704 Governor Joseph Dudley granted an eight square mile tract to ten proprietors in Boston to form the Town of Su􏰀on. This tract was part of much larger holdings that were transferred by the Na􏰁ve American, Wampus, to English owners in 1679. In 1716 three families se􏰀led here. By the following year, thirty families had se􏰀led in the new town. A spot at the intersec􏰁on of two exis􏰁ng Na􏰁ve trails, now Boston Road and Singletary Avenue, was selected by proprietors as the site for a future town mee􏰁ng house, training field, and burial ground. In 1719 the first mee􏰁ng‐house was built. The area at the intersec􏰁on of Boston and Uxbridge Roads that is the present Town Common was first known as a “training field”. Between 1714 and 1719 the Su􏰀on Proprietors laid out thirty‐acre home lots for proprietors and forty‐acre lots for se􏰀lers. A􏰃er 1714, town boundaries changed several 􏰁mes. Parts of Su􏰀on were annexed to the towns of Westborough, Upton, Gra􏰃on, Ward (Auburn), Uxbridge and Northbridge. The largest change came in 1813 when Su􏰀on’s north parish was incorporated as a separate town of Millbury. The present town boundaries were established in 1907. Su􏰀on proprietors originally set aside 200 acres located immediately east of the training field for the benefit of the town’s schools. Town records show that in 1725 the town voted to sell some of the school land to raise money for school expenses. The earliest schools were kept in private homes and in 1730 it was voted to keep school in four districts of the town. Several school buildings were built in Su􏰀on between 1775 and 1830. In 1831 thirteen districts were established with schools built in each one.