Upton Center Historic District - Upton MA - U.S. National Register of Historic Places on Waymarking.com

The Upton Center Historic District encompasses the historic center of the town of Upton, Massachusetts. Its main focus is Central Square, located near a complex series of junctions involving Main, North Main, Milford, Grove, Church, and Warren Streets. This area, the site of the town green, was where its first meetinghouse was built, and is still the center of civic and religious life in the community. Notable buildings include the 1884 Town Hall, and three churches (Congregational, Roman Catholic, and Methodist), all dating to the mid-19th century. The district also includes a residential area to the south of Central Square.

The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014

Source: (visit link)

Upton was first settled in the early 18th century. Incorporated in 1735, Upton was made up of small segments of surrounding towns––Hopkinton to the east, Mendon to the south, Sutton to the west, and Uxbridge to the north. The town’s first meetinghouse (1736) was located one mile south of the present center and was replaced by a second meetinghouse in 1770, when Upton Center became firmly established as the civic and religious center of the community. Upton’s economic development followed that of many New England communities that relied on the agricultural base in the 18th and early 19th centuries, subsidized by cottage industries. Here in Upton, these included shoemaking and hat making (straw braiding). In the mid to late18th century, the town had two to three tanning operations, leather cutters, several harness makers, and coopers who made the barrels in which shoes and boots were shipped to the Caribbean. Many properties had small shops (ten-footers) where shoemakers produced significant quantities of footwear. Besides the shoe manufacturing of the 19th century, Upton became a center for hat making. Straw braiding had been another cottage industry performed at home by women. William Knowlton (1809-1902) started by buying up the braid for a local store, and in the 1830s built his shop/hat factory as well as a boardinghouse for women workers in West Upton.

Source: (visit link)

Street address: Church, Main, Milford, Nelson, N. Main, Plain, Pleasant, School & Warren Sts., Upton, MA County / Borough / Parish: Worcester Year listed: 2018 Historic (Areas of) Significance: Architecture, Community Planning Periods of significance: 1742 - 1964 Historic function: Domestic, Government, Education, Religion Current function: Domestic, Government, Education, Religion Privately owned?: no Primary Web Site: [Web Link] Secondary Website 1: [Web Link] Secondary Website 2: [Web Link] Season start / Season finish: Not listed Hours of operation: Not listed National Historic Landmark Link: Not listed

Visit Instructions:
Please give the date and brief account of your visit. Include any additional observations or information that you may have, particularly about the current condition of the site. Additional photos are highly encouraged, but not mandatory.

Recent Visits/Logs:

There are no logs for this waymark yet.