The American Cyclopædia (1879)/Fitchburg

FITCHBURG, a city and one of the county seats of Worcester co., Massachusetts, on a branch of the Nashua river, 40 m. N. W. of Boston; pop. in 1850, 5,120; in 1860, 7,805; in 1870, 11,260, of whom 2,517 were foreigners. It embraces the villages of Crockerville, Rockville, South Fitchburg, Traskville, and West Fitchburg. It is the terminus of four railroads: the Fitchburg, to Boston; the Fitchburg and Worcester, to Worcester; the Vermont and Massachusetts, to Brattleboro; and the Cheshire, to Keene and Bellows Falls. It is also connected with Boston via South Framingham by the Boston, Clinton, and Fitchburg railroad. The river furnishes abundant water power, and manufacturing is extensively carried on. The principal establishments are 14 machine shops, turning out steam engines, mowers and reapers, machinists' tools, and employing 1,000 men; several chair factories, employing 500 men; 3 paper mills, with 200 hands; 2 iron founderies, 1 brass foundery, 3 manufactories of edge tools, 1 of boots and shoes, 3 of sash, doors, and blinds, 1 of files, 1 of cotton duck, 2 of beaver cloths, 1 of cassimeres, 1 of shoddy, and 1 of carpet yarn. There are 2 national banks, with an aggregate capital of $500,000, 2 savings banks, with deposits amounting to over $2,500,000, and a fire insurance company. The city has a small police force, an efficient fire department, water works, and gas works. The public buildings include a masonic and an odd fellows' hall, a city hall, a jail, and a court house. A monument to the memory of the soldiers who fell in the civil war has recently been erected. There are 37 public schools, taught by 49 teachers, viz.: 1 high, 3 grammar, and 33 of inferior grades; a public library containing over volumes, and two weekly newspapers. There are ten churches.—Fitchburg, which at first formed part of Lunenburg, was incorporated as a separate town in 1764, and as a city in 1872.