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Auburn's Early History

This information was obtained from the AUBURN Cultural Resources Survey by John Belding and Merideth Weiss-Belding — 30 March 1981

Lying immediately to the southwest of Worcester, Auburn was not originally settled as a single community, but rather came together when parts of four neighboring towns were merged in 1773 to form the South Parish of Worcester. Thus, there is no single area from which the growing town evolved. Instead, the history of Auburn's development is a rather fragmented one.

The earliest inhabitants of Auburn were Native Americans of the Late Archaic Period (about 1500 to 800 B.C.) who camped along the local streams. They never settled permanently since they obtained their food by hunting, fishing and gathering wild plants which required movement according to the seasonal availability of various food sources.
As their ability to grow their own crops developed, more permanent settlements were established. A Nipmuk village on Pakachoag Hill was developed out of this horticultural tradition.

The village on Pakachoag Hill was one of the larger Nipmuk settlements. By 1675, this was one of seven "praying villages" who had been converted to Christianity. However, they were amongst the tribes who fought and lost against the English during King Phillip's War.

The lands on Pakachoag Hill and much of southern Worcester County were eventually included in land grants and families began to settle in the area. By the 1770's, the population of Auburn had increased sufficiently for recognition as a separate political entity. As a result, on June 19, 1773, the General Court ordered that 25 families from Worcester, 12 from northwestern Sutton, 9 from northeastern Oxford and 7 from southeastern Leicester together with their estates be erected into a precinct known as the South Parish of Worcester. The limits of the new precinct were designated as being three miles along the existing roads to Worcester, Leicester and Oxford from the site where the new meetinghouse was to be built and a mile and a half toward Sutton.

Less than four years later, on March 29, 1777, the parish meeting voted, "to petition the General Cort to be Sett off as a Town". The petition was granted and the town was incorporated on April 10, 1778 under the name of Ward, in honor of Artemas Ward of Shrewsbury, the first commander of the Continental Army.

In 1837, the town again petitioned the General Court for permission to change its name to Auburn. Confusion with the town of Ware had created problems with the ever increasing volume of mail delivery.

This first map has no corresponding interactive map.The original can be found in the Massachusetts Archives Building. It was drawn by William Young in 1743. It is a " plan of Oxford and adjoining towns and two gores with a petition of Daniel Boyden, et al that a certain portion might be incorporated as a new township, which later became probable".

To the viewer, let the maps tell the rest of Auburn's history.