OLD TOWN NATICK

Photographs of Our Hometown from Days Gone By – History of Natick

Main Street Looking North from the Town Common

St. Patrick’s Church

Shopper’s World

To View a Natick Historic Slide Show, click on the link below

http://www.natickhistoricslideshow.com

NATICK’S

EXTRAORDINARY

HISTORY

Courtesy of Natick Historical Society

Natick was established in 1651 by the Puritan missionary John Eliot and his followers, a group of “Praying Indians”.

Natick is generally believed to mean “Place of Hills”. The Speen Family owned much of the land in the Natick area and they

deeded it to the Praying Indians taking house lots for themselves.

In the area now called South Natick, the Indians settled on both sides of the Charles River. Over the river they built a wooden bridge with a

stone foundation and laid out three streets, now called Eliot, Union and Pleasant Streets. The Indians then built a meetinghouse with the help of

an English carpenter. The two story building was used as church, school, and warehouse, and as a place for Eliot on his

fortnightly visits. The building, which stood about where the present Eliot Church stands, was palisaded with a circle of tall trees.

For more than twenty years Eliot instructed and preached to the Indians. A school was set up, a government established

and the Indians were encouraged to convert to Christianity. Eliot learned their language and with the help of the Indians,

who had no system of writing, transcribed the Bible into the Algonquin language. A copy of the 1685 edition is on display at the

Natick Historical Society Museum in South Natick.

The prosperity of the village was destroyed when King Philip, son of the chief,

Massasoit, attacked the white settlers. The attacks caused such fear among the settlers that in 1675 the Indians were first restricted to

their villages, and then in October, over Eliot’s protests, the General Court ordered the Natick Indians sent to Deer Island. Many

Indians did not survive the lack of food and the cold and those who returned seven months later found their homes destroyed.

The Praying Indians did not flourish after their return to Natick. Before Eliot died in 1690, he ordained the first Native American

minister, Daniel Takawampbait, who carried on until his death in 1716. Two other Indians preached before the New England Company

sent first Rev. Oliver Peabody and later Stephen Badger to fill the Indian Church pulpit.

Thomas Sawin was one of the first white men to own land in Natick. The Indians asked him to build a grist mill and he was

deeded land for this purpose. By 1725 the Indians had sold most of their land to pay their debts and many drifted away or

succumbed to disease. Other families stayed, intermarried and adopted English ways. Several of these families remain in Natick today.

As more settlers moved into the central part of Natick, an area called the Needham Leg, the Meetinghouse Dispute

erupted. Those in the more northern part of town wanted the church in the center rather than supporting the Indian church to the

south. This dispute continued over a period of almost sixty years. The people in the “Leg” requested the Court to restore this area of the

Natick Plantation to Needham. This was approved in 1761.

During the revolution Natick sent 174 men out of a population of 534 to fight. Eighteen Minute Men were raised under the

leadership of Capt. David Morse on April 19 1775. Even so, when the Town Meeting voted to reject the Constitution in 1778 Natick’s

loyalties were questioned. Town leaders pledged their support to the new government in spite of their dissatisfaction with the

output of the Continental Congress.

Attention turned once again to the Meeting house dispute. The church could not be relocated without the approval of the court

so the parish petitioned to become a town, and to change the name to Eliot. The name change was not granted, but Natick became a

town in February of 1781.

In 1796 it was voted to build the new meetinghouse in the center. The inhabitants of the southern part of town did not

want to support the new church and petitioned to be separated from the town. The court resolved the issue in 1797 by restoring

the “Leg” to Natick but the south and east sections remained in Needham. The Indian Church dissolved as the congregation dispersed to

other parishes and the building fell into disrepair. In 1828 the present Eliot Church was built, the fifth church on the site of Eliot’s

Meetinghouse. Originally a farming town, industries began to emerge in the late 18th century. Mills had developed along the Charles River with

gristmills first and later nail-making, papermaking and wood-turning.

The shoe industry which started as a cottage industry with piece work given out and picked up each day by runners gradually became mechanized.

By 1836 when the Boston and Albany Railroad came through Natick became one of the largest producers of boots and shoes and by 1880

had 23 shoe manufacturers. During the early part of the 20^th century the shoe industry suffered and the last shoe factory

in Natick, the Winchell Shoe Co. closed in 1971. H. Harwood and Sons developed the figure eight stitching for baseballs and was

the first such company in the country.

Natick developed as three distinct villages, each with its own stage route from Boston to Hartford. The original village in

South Natick, to the north Felchville and in the center Natick. In each village and along each coach route a tavern was built. Felchville

Tavern to the north, the Morse tavern in the center the Eliakim Morril Tavern in the south. These taverns were used as

meeting places and inns. The Peletiah Morse tavern on Eliot Street is the last remaining tavern from this era.

Two disastrous fires occurred in 1872 in South Natick and in 1874 in Natick Center. Businesses quickly rebuilt and the population

increased rapidly. After World War II there was another tremendous population increase, the Massachusetts Turnpike was

built through the northern section of the town and there was a spurt in commercial development and demand for housing.

Commercial development along Route 9 has been extensive.

While the causes were by no means universally supported, Natick was home to many abolitionists, women’s rights advocates, and

social reformers. The tunnel connecting the old Walcott Mansion to the railroad tracks was believed to have been part of the

Underground Railroad. After the raid on Harper’s Ferry, many leading citizens in Natick signed the “Natick Resolution”

protesting the execution of John Brown. Augusta Cheney never ceased in her efforts to get the vote for women in school committee

elections. She was rejected repeatedly until the state made it mandatory. And the Natick Woman’s Club, established in 1895,

offered a Community Kindergarten, education and English language classes for new immigrants, and a class in Mothercraft

which became a model for Home Economics classes in the public schools. In the 1950’s Natick became the first town to sponsor Fair Housing

legislation to eliminate discrimination against minorities in renting and purchasing property.

Natick has a remarkable sports legacy starting in 1891 when the fire department won a ladder-raising contest and earned us

the title “Home of Champions”. Natick is home to Harwood baseballs, record-breaking runners like Jack Snow in 1905, and sprinters

Pooch and Piper Donovan. Pooch went on to coach track and football at Harvard in the 1900’s and 1910’s. The “Dean of the American

League Umpires” Thomas H. Connolly, and, of course, Doug Flutie are all from Natick.

Natick also boasts several historic figures. Henry Wilson began life as an indentured servant. At 21 he relocated to Natick and

established himself in the shoe business. Wilson went into politics, serving as an abolitionist Senator during the Civil War. He was

elected Vice-President under Ulysses S. Grant. Harriet Beecher Stowe, the author of “Old Town Folks” and “Uncle Tom’s

Cabin”, and many other books, married preacher Calvin Stowe, a native of the town. Alexander Wheelock Thayer was

Consul to Trieste and the author of the definitive biography of Ludwig von Beethoven. Horatio Alger, Jr. minister and

author of children’s books with a “rags to riches” theme often visited his parents and sister in South Natick.

Families from all over the world have come to call Natick home. The Nipmuc were already here when the Praying Indians

settled. Settlers from England came next and with the growth of the shoe industry, Natick become home to Irish, Italian, Albanian,

German, Scots, French Canadian, Swede and other groups. A band of gypsies camped on Lake Cochituate every summer from the late

1800s into the 1930s. And new families continue to arrive each month seeking peace and opportunity.

Welcome to the Home of

Champions!

Compiled by Anne K. Shaller from material at

the Natick Historical Society and from Crawford’s

History of Natick, 1976, and with special thanks

to Dorothy Deslongchamps and Jennifer Hance.

Natick Historical Society

58 Eliot Street

Natick, MA 01760

Phone: (508)647-4841

info@natickhistoricalsociety.org

www.natickhistoricalsociety.org

Museum Hours:

Tuesday: 2:00pm - 8:30pm

Wednesday: 2:00pm - 4:30pm

Saturday 10:00am - 12:30pm

(closed Saturdays in summer)

Natick town common

Center School (former high school-subsequent town offices)

Harwood baseball factory

Carling Brewery 1954-1975

Wallace’s

Shoppers World  

Senator Jack Kenedy campaigns in Natick-1960

CASEY’S DINER (Photo courtesy of Rick Price)

COLONIAL THEATRE

Colonial Theatre interior

The former Colonial Theatre

Wonder Bread bakery

The six photos below courtesy of Rick Price

Charles River – South Natick