Grafton, MA

Grafton is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 19,664 at the 2020 census. The town consists of the North Grafton, Grafton, and South Grafton geographic areas, each with a separate ZIP Code. Incorporated in 1735, the town is home to a Nipmuc village known as Hassanamisco Reservation, the Willard House and Clock Museum, the Community Harvest Project, and the Tufts University Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine. Grafton operates the state’s largest on-call fire department, with 74 members.

Bands of the Nipmuc tribe are the indigenous inhabitants and maintain a state-recognized reservation known as Hassanamesit, or Hassanamisco, formerly a Praying Indian village from 1647 when the Reverend John Eliot came and converted the Hassanamiscos to Christianity. in 1727, the Hassanamesit reservation of 8,000 acres was divided into 7,500 acres to 40 English proprietors and 500 acres to 7 Nipmuc proprietors. This became Grafton, officially incorporated in 1735.

Grafton stands tall in the industrialization of the Blackstone Valley. Its Northeast Village was once known as “New England Village.” The following is an excerpt from the Blackstone Daily about the history of the town: