Upton, MA Historical Society

- Announcements -

Join Cathy Taylor for her presentation about ceremonial stone landscapes here in Upton. This program has been rescheduled to November 11th at 6:30 PM in the VFW hall.
The museum is now open to visitors who have been vaccinated or wear a mask. Days and hours given below.

Russ Wood and Ed Phillips conducted another very interesting tour of Maplewood Cemetery. It included the history of the cemetery and was also a great lesson about the many families that preceded us in this town.

Upton Heritage Day on September 24th was also a great success! The weather was beautiful, there was entertainment on the Common and at the Library and of course lots of socializing. The Grange fair, the craft fair, library book sale, United Parish yard sale and the Fire/EMS open house all had a great turnout. We hope for a great event next year. The last Saturday in September. Hope you can attend next year.

Heritage Day 2022

Welcome to the Upton Museum and Historical Society web site. Our goal is to provide you with beneficial information about the history of Upton and the resources available to anyone with an interested. The museum is operated and staffed by volunteers from the Upton Historical Society. The Museum is open to the public and Society staff are always willing to answer questions and assist with your research. We strive to foster and encourage the interest of residents, their families and the general public in the accumulation of all historic data as it relates to Upton.

A brief history of Upton – Families were settling in this area in the 1600’s and early 1700’s which at that time consisted of portions of Mendon, Uxbridge, Sutton and Hopkinton. In each case it was a long distance for the settlers to travel to their respective town centers to attend church each week as was expected. By the early 1700’s there were enough settlers in this area to begin consideration of establishing a new township. The Great and General Court in Boston had to be petitioned and each of the four towns had to approve. At the 1733/34 session the Great and General Court ordered the new township to be surveyed. Followed by an inspection by a committee appointed by the Court during which adjustments were made which resulting in 12,943 acres to be set off for the township. Finally on June 13th 1735 the town charter was approved by the General Court and on June 14th approved by the Governor. There are two books available in our store which provide a more complete history of Upton: Upton’s Heritage by Donald Blake Johnson and Upton Massachusetts, 1735 – 1935 by a committee for the bi-centennial.