Editing Littleton, Massachusetts (section)

===18th century===

The few survivors of Nashobah Plantation had extreme difficulty in reviving the village. The few that returned intermarried with some of the English settlers who had bought land from them and quickly outnumbered the natives. The new community petitioned the legislature and incorporated as a town in 1714 with its limits (including modern [[Boxborough, Massachusetts|Boxborough]]) bounded by the existing towns of [[Groton, Massachusetts|The Plantation of Groton]] to the west, [[Chelmsford, Massachusetts|Chelmsford]] to the north, [[Stow, Massachusetts|Stow]] to the south and west, and [[Concord, Massachusetts|Concord]] to the south and east. The meetinghouse of the town moved from the area of Newtown to eastern triangle of the Town Common in 1717. Sarah Doublet, the last Praying Indian, passed on in 1736.

New neighboring towns formed from larger towns abutting Littleton. [[Westford, Massachusetts|West Chelmsford]] soon grew large enough to sustain its own governance, and was officially incorporated as Westford on September 23, 1729, A new town including parts of [[Lancaster, Massachusetts|Lancaster]], Groton, and Stow was incorporated in 1732 as [[Harvard, Massachusetts|Harvard]]. A large section of [[Concord, Massachusetts|West Concord]] won approval of the [[Massachusetts General Court|General Court]] and incorporated as [[Acton, Massachusetts|Acton]] on July 3, 1735.

Through the 1700s, new towns Littleton like most towns was served by several taverns, which were a fixture of small New England towns through to the early twentieth century:
* The Long Store which was on Great Road across from the new Littleton Police Station was built around 1700.
* The Fox Tavern, 35 Foster Street, was also built around 1700.
* The Lawrence Tavern, also known as the Hartwell Tavern, was built on Crane Rd off Liberty Square in 1768.

In 1742, the Meetinghouse was moved to a new building (the present site of the Unitarian Church) at a cost of £900. This would be the community's only house of worship for the remainder of the 1700s.

Construction of Warren's Grist Mill (abutting 495 at the junction of Grist Mill Rd and Warren St) began in 1750. This mill processed the crops produced by the town residents through the eighteenth century.

Residents of Littleton contributed men to the militia system that was set up by the Crown to serve as self-defense against hostile First Nations peoples as well as the French in Canada. Men from Littleton served in the primarily Provincial Army that captured [[Fortress of Louisbourg|Louisbourg]] in 1745. This militia system evolved into the organization that confronted the British Regulars on April 18, 1775.{{sfnp|Drake|1880|p=47}}

The [[minutemen]] and [[militia]] of Littleton marched and fought at Concord and the Battle Road on April 19, 1775. The militia company and the minutemen squads mustered at Liberty Square located on the southwest side of town on the Boxborough line (then part of Littleton). They marched from there through what is now Boxborough Depot and over Littleton Rd/Boxborough Rd to Newtown Road (Littleton), up over Fort Pond Hill (stopping briefly at the Choate Farm) and along Newtown Rd (Acton) to Acton Center. From there they marched the Isaac Davis Trail to [[Old North Bridge]]. Some writing suggests that the minutemen sped ahead to join the other minutemen at the bridge.

In 1782, the third request to incorporate as a separate town by the residents of present day [[Boxborough, Massachusetts|Boxborough]] was granted by the [[Massachusetts General Court|General Court]] and incorporated on February 25, 1783, taking away almost a quarter of Littleton's area on the south abutting Stow and Harvard.

In 1795, the town built its first public schools which served the children of Littleton until 1870:
* North School House, Old Great Road
* East Schoolhouse 540 Newtown Road
* South School House, 279 Foster Street
* West Schoolhouse, Sanderson Road

According to local lore, the town had a contingent of Loyalists who remained after the revolution and thwarted attempts to rename King Street as Main, Washington, or Adams streets. This has been the source of ribbing from neighboring towns, who call Littleton a Tory town.