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NOW FOR YOUR VIEWING PLEASURE…

VINTAGE ESTATE JEWELRY

THIS PENDANT CELEBRATES

THE PROGRESSION OF

FITCHBURG, MASSACHUSETTS (MA)

A TOWN, FEB. 3 1764

A CITY, MAR. 8 1872

 THE GOLD TONE CHARM IS

ABOUT 33mm

MANUFACTURED BY CHARLES SHERMAN

CENTRAL FALLS, R.I.

THE GREAT SEAL DEPICTS

THE ROLLSTONE

THE FITCHBURG RAILROAD

AGRICULTURE FARMING

MANUFACTURING MILLS

RARE EXONUMIA

HISTORIC AMERICANA

2014 WAS THE TOWNS 250TH ANNIVERSARY

AWARDED BY THE 

MASSACHUSETTS STATE FIREMEN'S ASSOCIATION

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FYI 

Fitchburg is the third largest city in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 40,318 at the 2010 census. Fitchburg is home to Fitchburg State University as well as 17 public and private elementary and high schools.

History
Fitchburg was first settled in 1730 as part of Lunenburg, and was officially set apart from that township and incorporated in 1764. It is named for John Fitch, one of the committee that procured the act of incorporation. In July 1748 Fitch and his family, living in this isolated spot, were abducted to Canada by Native Americans, but returned the next year.

Fitchburg is situated on both the Nashua River and a railroad line. The original Fitchburg Railroad ran through the Hoosac Tunnel, linking Boston and Albany, New York. The tunnel was built using the Burleigh Rock Drill, designed and built in Fitchburg. Fitchburg was a 19th-century industrial center. Originally operated by water power, large mills produced machines, tools, clothing, paper, and firearms. The city is noted for its architecture, particularly in the Victorian style, built at the height of its mill town prosperity. A few examples of these 19th century buildings are the Fay Club, the old North Worcester County Courthouse and the Bullock house.

As the city is one of two shire towns, the Northern Worcester County Registry of Deeds, established in 1903, and the county jail on Water Street were two county facilities located in Fitchburg.

The 1961 film Return to Peyton Place was filmed in Fitchburg.

Neighborhoods
Fitchburg is divided into multiple different neighborhoods/villages, including:
Cleghorn
Crockerville
East Fitchburg
Rollstone Hill
South Fitchburg
Tar Hill
The Patch
Wachusett Station
Waite's Corner
West Fitchburg

Note: only some of these names show up as neighborhoods on old maps. For example: Rollstone Hill certainly exists, but it is a geographical feature, Wachusett Station was simply a train station. Some of the names, like Crockerville and Tar Hill have fallen into disuse. Other neighborhoods have not been included on this list like Greektown.

Points of interest
Fitchburg Art Museum
North Central Massachusetts' most treasured cultural institution is a world-class family-friendly museum with a permanent collection spanning 5,000 years. The museum was founded in 1925 through the bequest of artist, collector and Fitchburg native Eleanor Norcross (1854–1923). Her extraordinary talents and educational vision highlights her as an important pioneer in American social history. The museum's four building complex features over 20,000 square feet of gallery and educational workshop space and includes the historic "Cross Barn" built in 1883, and the impressive Simond's building completed in 1989. Visitors can experience masterpieces in 12 beautifully designed galleries that feature American, European, African, Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Asian, and Pre-Columbian art.

Rollstone Boulder
Fitchburg is noted for the "Rollstone Boulder", a 110-ton specimen of porphyritic granite, which is in a small triangular park adjacent to the city green. The boulder was a feature of the summit of Rollstone Hill; it was exploded and reassembled on the green in 1929 and 1930. A plaque attached to the boulder today reads, in part:

“ This boulder, carried by the last glacier from Mt. Monadnock, New Hampshire to the summit of the hill whose name commemorates it, was for centuries a land mark to Indian and Settler. Threatened with destruction by quarrying operations, it was saved by popular subscription... ”

Crocker Field
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, this athletic facility was a gift of Alva Crocker, in 1918, to the City Of Fitchburg’s school children. Alvah Crocker hired the famous Olmsted Brothers Landscaping and Design Firm of Brookline, MA to design his “field of dreams.” Babe Ruth once visited Crocker field and asked Clarence Amiott, then the Fitchburg High School Athletic Director, “What professional team plays here?” to which Mr. Amiott answered “The Fitchburg High School teams.” Crocker Field website

Top Fun Aviation Museum
This is the first—and only—toy museum in the world that’s completely devoted to aviation-related toys. Included in the museum’s collection of over 2000 toys are tin toys from Japan, Hungary, Germany, and the United States. Top Fun Aviation Museum.

Fitchburg Historical Society
The Society houses more than 200,000 items related to the history of Fitchburg. Included in the archives are original Sentinel newspapers from 1838 to 1976, city directories, photographs, scrapbooks, manuscripts, family genealogies, postcards, files on industries in the City, and books and pamphlets on Fitchburg’s history from the 1700s to the present. In addition there is an extensive Civil War collection and a collection on the railroad. The Research Library is open to the public. The Society also has a remarkable collection of artifacts which tell the story of Fitchburg—early iron hearth cooking tools, the first printing press of the Fitchburg Sentinel, machines illustrating the strong industrial heritage of the City, a stellar collection of early paintings, and clothing representing many decades in Fitchburg.

Coggshall Park
Situated in the small North Central Massachusetts city of Fitchburg, MA. sits a Victorian park with miles of wooded trails branching out from around Mirror Lake. Additionally a pleasant and easy walking path circles the lake. Stone steps built into a hillside face a gazebo on the water, making this a popular spot for weddings and photos. A classic stone house on the property overlooks "Mirror Lake". The tables and benches scattered around the park draw picnickers as well as those simply seeking a place to relax. For the children there's a playground that sits adjacent from the pond and a frisbee golf course.

Coggshall Park was a gift to the City from Mr. Henry Coggshall, an executive of The Fitchburg Gas Company, and his wife in 1894. The initial donation included 86 acres, but the couple subsequently purchased and donated additional parcels to create the 212-acre park that exists today. Coggshall Park also abuts a large parcel of conservation land and a bird sanctuary, providing a total of approximately 300 acres for visitors to enjoy.

The Friends of Coggshall Park, an organization that was founded in 1992 when approximately $1 million in state and federal funds were used to renovate the park. The Friends' mission is to support Coggshall Park, with all funds raised by the organization used exclusively for the Park's preservation. Since the group's founding, the Friends have contributed significantly to the upkeep and beautification of Coggshall Park. Annual spring clean-up projects, to which the Friends contribute both volunteer labor and supplies (including more than 60 yards of mulch each year), ensure the park's landcaping remains well-kept. Other investments made by the Friends have been even more significant, such as the purchase of a new fountain for Mirror Lake and a specialized off-road firefighting vehicle for use in Coggshall or elsewhere around the city as needed.Friends of Coggshall Park

Library
The Fitchburg public library was established in 1859 after citizens of Fitchburg approve an article on the warrant requesting $1851 and quarters in the Town Hall for the first Fitchburg Public Library.

In 1885 Rodney Wallace builds and furnishes the Wallace Library and Art Gallery at the corner of Main Street and Newton Place as a gift to the people of Fitchburg. Then in 1899 library service for children begins in one of the first Children's rooms in the country. It wasn't unit 1950 that a new separate Fitchburg Youth Library was opened. Service of the library was increased with the purchase of a bookmobile which extended service to outlying areas of the city.

Fitchburg Public Library becomes the first regional library in the Massachusetts Regional Library System in 1962.

The existing Wallace Library is dedicated in 1967. Named for George R. Wallace, Jr. and his wife Alice G. Wallace, who gave a magnificent gift for the library building. The federal Library Services and Construction Act and money from the City of Fitchburg also funded the project. And Helen E. Vickery Fund provided for a new bookmobile.

In fiscal year 2008, the city of Fitchburg spent 1.34% ($1,111,412) of its budget on its public library—some $27 per person.[32] In fiscal year 2009, the city of Fitchburg spent .48% ($388,977) of its budget on its public library -- $9.23 per person. This represented a year over year drop in municipal funding of 65% between FY2008 and FY2009. As a result, the Fitchburg Public Library did not meet Massachusetts minimum standards of public library services and was not certified by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners for FY2009. It returned to certification in FY2012.

Furthermore, on going support comes from the Friends of the Fitchburg Public Library. The Friends of FPL establish closer relations between the library and the people it serves, promotes support of services, and funds several important services such purchasing books for the library and the fees for the museum passes. The Friends work with area museums to bring you Museum Passes you can use to visit exhibits for reduced fees.

In 2014 the Fitchburg Law Library opened at the Fitchburg Public Library in response to the closure of the office on Elm Street in Fitchburg. The new library location is fully accessible and open to the public.

In popular culture
In the fictional Harry Potter universe, Fitchburg is the hometown of the professional Quidditch team the Fitchburg Finches.

The opening scene in the popular 1961 movie, By Love Possessed, starring Lana Turner, Ephram Zimbalist Jr., Jason Robards, and George Hamilton, features Fitchburg's Court House and Monument Park.

In the Fringe episode "The Human Kind", Olivia goes to Fitchburg to retrieve an electromagnet.

In 2012, Dark Horse Comics began releasing an eight-issue limited comic book series entitled Falling Skies: The Battle of Fitchburg, with Paul Tobin writing and Juan Ferreyra as artist. The story takes place chronologically between seasons one and two of the Falling Skies television show, and details a costly engagement occurring between the skitters and the 2nd Massachusetts Militia Regiment when the aliens surround the human forces at Fitchburg, Massachusetts.