Editing Leicester, Massachusetts (section)

==History==
What is now Leicester was originally settled by the [[Nipmuc]] people and was known by them as ''Towtaid''. On January 27, 1686,<ref>Due to the 1752 transition between [[Old Style and New Style dates]], which formally changed the start of the year from March 25 to January 1, and the simultaneous transition from the [[Julian calendar]] to the [[Gregorian calendar]], this date in the Gregorian calendar as commonly used today would be February 6, 1687</ref> the territory of eight square miles was purchased for 15 pounds by a company of nine proprietors engaged in land speculation: Joshua Lamb of [[Roxbury, Boston|Roxbury]], Nathaniel Page of [[Bedford, Massachusetts|Bedford]], Andrew Gardner of Roxbury, Benjamin Gamblin of Roxbury, Benjamin Tucker of Roxbury, John Curtice of Roxbury, Richard Draper of [[Boston]], Samuel Ruggles of Roxbury, and Ralph Bradhurst of Roxbury. The proprietors called this land '''Strawberry Hill''' but did not make an effort to settle it for nearly 30 years due to its isolated location and the disruption of [[King Philip's War]] (1675–1678), [[King William's War]] (1688–1697), and [[Queen Anne's War]] (1702–1713).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rF5oj7Rtnr0C&q=leicester+towtaid&pg=PA7|title=Historical Sketches of the Town of Leicester, Massachusetts, During the First Century from It Settlement|year=1860}}</ref>

Leicester was incorporated by a vote of the [[Massachusetts General Court]] on February 15, 1713,<ref>Due to the 1752 transition between [[Old Style and New Style dates]], which formally changed the start of the year from March 25 to January 1, and the simultaneous transition from the [[Julian calendar]] to the [[Gregorian calendar]], this date in the Gregorian calendar as commonly used today would be February 26, 1714</ref> on the condition that the land be settled by 50 families within seven years.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.leicesterma.org/home/pages/about-leicester|title=About Leicester &#124; Leicester MA|website=www.leicesterma.org}}</ref> Upon the grant of the General Court, the proprietors immediately set about meeting the condition of the town's incorporation. Leicester was divided into two halves, the eastern half to be distributed among settlers and the western half retained and divided among the proprietors, who had grown in number to total 22. A combined 50 parcels (so-called "house-lots") of land with 30, 40, or 50 acres each was allotted to settlers for the eastern half of Leicester for one shilling per acre, with land also set aside for schools, churches, and mills. The purchaser of each parcel was required to settle a family on their house-lot and each received 100 additional acres in another part of town for every 10 acres in their house-lot.

The town was named after [[Leicester|Leicester, England]]. First selectman Samuel Green suggested the use of the name as it was where his father had originated. One of the early settlers in town was Dr. Samuel Green, who lived in a house at 2 Charlton St. in Greenville. Dr. Green trained many other doctors in the early 1700s. This constituted the first medical school in Massachusetts. The Green family was involved in the creation of both Worcester's Green Hill Park and New York City's Central Park.

First (Congregational) Church was organized in 1718 and a Baptist church in Greenville was organized in 1737.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BhH_GDjKhyUC&q=leicester+february+15%2C+1713&pg=PA58|title = Early Massachusetts Marriages Prior to 1800|isbn = 9780806300085|last1 = Bailey|first1 = Frederic W.|year = 1968| publisher=Genealogical Publishing Com }}</ref>

By 1744, the western part of the town, which had been a district, distinct from the eastern half from the beginning, was established as the western parish. That part of Leicester was then incorporated as the separate town of [[Spencer, Massachusetts|Spencer]] in 1753. In 1765, the northernmost part of Leicester was taken to form half of the newly incorporated district of [[Paxton, Massachusetts|Paxton]]. These districts had most of the powers of a town except that they shared a representative in the General Court with Leicester until the outbreak of the [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]] in 1775. Three years after that, the southeastern part of town was taken to form the northwestern quarter of the newly incorporated town of Ward, later renamed [[Auburn, Massachusetts|Auburn]].

Although no significant battles of the [[American Revolution]] were fought in the area, Leicester citizens played a large role in the conflict's start. At a [[Committee of Safety (American Revolution)|Committee of Safety]] meeting in 1774, Leicester's Colonel [[William Henshaw]] declared that "we must have companies of men ready to march upon a minute's notice"—coining the term "[[minutemen]]", a nickname for the rapid-response [[militia]] members who fought in the revolution's first battles. Henshaw would later become an [[adjutant general]] to [[Artemas Ward]], who was second in command to [[George Washington]] in the [[Continental Army]].

Before the British troops marched to Lexington and Concord, looking for the ammunition and equipment held by the Americans, that ammunition and equipment was moved further West to four locations in the town of Leicester, including the house Dr. Green built at 2 Charlton Street. This information can be found in books held on reserve in the Leicester Public Library{{citation needed|date=August 2018}}. When they heard that the British had attacked, Leicester's own Minutemen gathered on Leicester Common. They marched quickly to join with other Minutemen on April 19, 1775, to fight at the first conflict between [[Massachusetts]] residents and British troops, the [[Battles of Lexington and Concord]]. A few months later on June 17, 1775, a freed slave and Leicester resident named [[Peter Salem]] fought at the [[Battle of Bunker Hill]], where he killed British Major [[John Pitcairn]]. Both men are memorialized in Leicester street names (Peter Salem Road, Pitcairn Avenue), as is Colonel Henshaw (Henshaw Street).

General Knox brought cannons from New York through the town of Leicester, delivering them to General Washington at Dorchester Heights. There is a monument near the Leicester Library to mark that route. These cannons caused the British to evacuate their troops from Boston, after they woke up one morning to find cannons facing them from above them.

Leicester also held a leading role in Massachusetts' second great revolution, the coming of [[Industrial Revolution|industrialization]]. As early as the 1780s, Leicester's mills churned out one-third of American [[carding|hand cards]], which were tools for straightening fibers before spinning thread and weaving cloth. By the 1890s when Leicester industry began to fade, the town was producing one-third of all hand and machine cards in North America.

[[Ruth Henshaw Bascom]] (1772–1848), the wife of Reverend Ezekial Lysander Bascom and daughter of Colonel William Henshaw and Phebe Swan, became America's premier portrait folk artist and [[pastel]]ist, producing over one thousand portraits from 1789 to 1846.

[[Eli Whitney]], the man who invented the [[cotton gin]] and devised the idea of [[interchangeable parts]], went to school at [[Leicester Academy]], which eventually became Leicester High School. [[Ebenezer Adams]], who would later be the first mathematics and natural philosophy professor at the [[Phillips Exeter Academy]] in New Hampshire, was the academic [[preceptor]] in Leicester in 1792.<ref name="Marquis 1607-1896">{{cite book| title = Who Was Who in America, Historical Volume, 1607-1896| publisher = Marquis Who's Who| location = Chicago| year = 1963}}</ref> Leicester's [[Pliny Earle I|Pliny Earle]] helped [[Samuel Slater]] build the first American mill in [[Pawtucket, Rhode Island|Pawtucket]], [[Rhode Island]], by building the first carding machine. This began the American [[Industrial Revolution]]. Leicester today is one of the northernmost communities within the Blackstone River Valley, National Heritage Corridor. Its early role with carding machines, and the role that Pliny Earle played with the first water-powered mill at Pawtucket, complete the case for inclusion on Leicester in this Federal NPS historic designation.

Other social leaders who came from Leicester include [[Charles Adams (Colorado Indian agent)|Charles Adams]], military officer and foreign minister, born in town;<ref name="Marquis 1607-1896"/> [[Emory Washburn]], Harvard Law professor and governor of Massachusetts from 1854 to 1855; and Samuel May, a pastor and active [[Abolitionism in the United States|abolitionist]] in the 1860s, whose house was a stop on the [[Underground Railroad]]. He also served as secretary of the Massachusetts Anti-Slave Society. His house has become a part of the [[Becker College]] campus.

In 2005, the Worcester ''[[Telegram & Gazette]]'' named Leicester one of Central Massachusetts' top ten sports towns.