Natick, Massachusetts is locatedin Eastern Massachusetts, bordered by Framingham on the west, Wayland and Weston on
the north, Wellesley and Dover on the east, and Dover and Sherborn on the south.
Natick is 18 miles southwest of Boston; 25 miles east of Worcester; 35 miles
north of Providence, Rhode Island; and about 201 miles from New York City. Principal highways are the Massachusetts Turnpike (Interstate Route 90),
and State Routes 9 (the Worcester Turnpike), 16, 27, and 135. Commuter service to Back Bay Station and South Station, Boston, is
available from Natick (travel time to BBS:33-36 min; no MBTA parking) and
West Natick (travel time 38-41 min.; 163 MBTA spaces). Conrail services a
freight rail line through Natick. Contact number: (617) 783-6222
The Town of Natick is a suburban industrial center located on the upper
basin of the Charles and Concord Rivers with an extensive complex of ponds.
The town was from earliest Colonial days a prime target for development,
possessing as it did good agricultural land, fish runs and water power.
Established in 1650 on the Charles River, Natick had the first and the
largest Indian praying town in the colonies, one that became a model for
all other attempts to inculcate European standards into Indians. John
Eliot, the great missionary, secured a charter of 6,000 acres for the
Indians and converted them to Christianity. Unfortunately, Natick's Indian
population was forcibly resettled on Deer Island during the King Philip's
war and essentially never returned.
In Colonial days, Natick was an agricultural community with some orchards
and some lumbering. Grist and sawmills were established and Indian
ownership and control gave way to white dominance between 1676 and 1776.
Local tradition claims that several loads of Natick men shipped out to the
California gold rush in 1849 and 1850, returning with enough capital to
start independent businesses in the town. The shoe industry dominated the
community by the early 19th century, with the first shoe sole manufacturer
established in 1827 and shoes shipped to the southern and western markets
by 1830. The town's products, including baseballs manufactured in Natick,
were shipped to Boston on the Boston and Worcester Railroad. The town saw
rapid growth including an Irish, English, Nova Scotian, Italian and
Armenian immigrant population which came to take jobs in the shoe plants
and by the 1880's, Natick was the third largest shoe production community
in the country.
In modern times, Natick has become an industrial Boston-oriented suburban
community with heavy strip development on Route 9.
(Narrative supplied by community)
