A hill town at the northwest corner of Middlesex County, made in 1767 mostly from Townsend land, where a turnpike once ran between two toll-gates, a family shop built church organs, and Willard Brook still runs down from Mount Watatic through South Village.

Middlesex County · Record checked October 12, 2026

3,193Population2020 census, the fewest in Middlesex County1
1767Became a townabout two-thirds of it from Townsend2
1,832 ftMount Wataticshared with Ashburnham3
1stSchool attendanceof 350 Massachusetts cities and towns in 18804
2Turnpike toll-gatesone at each border of the town5

Ashby on the map

Click the map to look closer.

Map of Ashby, Massachusetts in 2026, with the Ashby Reservoir, Willard Brook State Forest and Main Street

2026

Ashby today

By KNOWOL

Shaded hills from Mount Watatic and Blood Hill down to the Ashby Reservoir, the Fitchburg Reservoir and Damon Pond, with Willard Brook State Forest and roads like Main Street, West State Road and Townsend Road.6

See the 2026 printMore about this map

The story of Ashby

The organ shop and the melodeon

For years Ashby had an organ builder. Jonas Prescott Whitney made church organs here, and his son Josiah went to work in the shop at 16 or 17 and was a partner by 21. In 1844 he moved the business to Springfield with his two oldest sons, leaving young Andrew at home. Andrew had already made violins and a melodeon in his father's shop, and now he invented what he called a piano-style melodeon. He sold it to John W. Piper, the temperance lecturer, and in return Piper hauled the organ tools, the household furniture and seven children to the station in Fitchburg. Jonas came back to Ashby in old age, living with his eldest daughter, and he is buried in Glenwood Cemetery.789

Two toll-gates and a post office

Around 1800, a county history says, turnpike fever ran the way railroad fever would forty years later. In 1801 Ashby voted to measure a route from Stone's tavern in Townsend to Milliken's tavern in Jaffrey, and in 1803 it chose a committee to look after a turnpike. The road that came ran across town toward Ashburnham, near Watatic, with a toll-gate at each border of Ashby. The post office opened in 1812, soon after it was finished. But the turnpike never paid a dividend. After about fifteen years the towns took it over, and Ashby's well-off stockholders, Alexander T. Willard, Abraham Edwards and the Wymans and Kendalls among them, lost heavily. The same history says the old turnpikes still did good, showing everyone what a well-made road looked like.10511

Three towns without moving

John Fitch was one of the first settlers on this land, and in 1748 he was taken captive and held for six months. His farm shows how Ashby was put together. In 1763 Fitch and his neighbors lived in Lunenburg, in 1764 in the new town of Fitchburg, and in 1767 in Ashby, all without moving. About two-thirds of the new town came from Townsend, and the rest from Fitchburg and Ashburnham. Fitch died in 1795. In 1893 Ashby's selectmen let the city of Fitchburg, named for him, set up a granite monument where he had lived, and the town promised to look after it forever. Volunteers cleaned it up again in 2021, and it still stands at South and Richardson roads.122131

Through the years

25 moments from 1676 to today.

  1. 1676The state's record dates European settlement of the Ashby area to this year.14
  2. 1748John Fitch, an early settler, is taken captive and held for six months.1
  3. 1763Fitch and his neighbors live in Lunenburg; by 1767 they have lived in three towns without moving.12
  4. 1767Ashby is incorporated on March 5, after its petition sat before the General Court more than two years.15
  5. 1767The First Parish Burial Ground is laid out on the common.1
  6. 1775Twenty-four Ashby men join Captain Abijah Wyman's company.16
  7. 1778Selectman Asa Walker sends shoes, stockings and shirts for the army.17
  8. 1788Thomas Ditson, tarred and feathered in Boston in 1775, moves his family to Ashby.17
  9. 1792A section of Ashburnham is added to Ashby.15
  10. 1801Caught up in the turnpike craze, the town votes to measure a route toward Jaffrey, New Hampshire.10
  11. 1810About this year Joseph Kendall builds a mill to card wool and finish homemade cloth.18
  12. 1812Ashby gets its post office, soon after the turnpike is finished.11
  13. 1818About this year the Orthodox members leave the church at the center and meet in Jonathan Blood's house.19
  14. 1829A line change with Fitchburg adds 600 acres and 50 people.20
  15. 1836The Orthodox Congregational church is dedicated on New Year's Day.21
  16. 1842The town votes $135 for a library in each school district.4
  17. 1844Jonas P. Whitney moves his organ business from Ashby to Springfield.8
  18. 1874The Ashby Free Public Library is founded.1
  19. 1880Ashby ranks first of 350 Massachusetts cities and towns in school attendance.4
  20. 1893The selectmen let Fitchburg raise a granite monument to John Fitch where he lived.13
  21. 1900The Ashby Historical Society is formed.1
  22. 1902Edwin Chapman's new library building opens, and about this year electric lights come to the center.1
  23. 1933Civilian Conservation Corps crews begin work in Willard Brook State Forest, building Damon Pond by 1940.1
  24. 1984The ski area on Mount Watatic closes after about fifty years.1
  25. 2017Ashby celebrates its 250th year with a parade and a year of events.1

Places to see

Places worth a visit in Ashby today.

  • Town CommonCenter of town. Triangle common with its old gazebo.
  • First Parish Burial GroundOn the common. Laid out in 1767.
  • Ashby Free Public LibraryCenter of town. Founded 1874, building opened 1902.Visit their website
  • Ashby Historical SocietyOld engine house, center of town. Museum with hand-pumped fire engines.Visit their website
  • John Fitch MonumentSouth and Richardson roads. Fitchburg's 1890s granite tribute.
  • South VillageOutlet of the Ashby Reservoir. The old Mill Village, now Camp Middlesex.
  • Willard Brook State ForestEast of the center. Shared with Townsend, CCC-built trails.Visit their website
  • Damon PondWillard Brook State Forest. Swimming pond dammed by the CCC.
  • Trap FallsOff Route 119. A 10 to 12 foot waterfall.
  • Mount WataticAshburnham line. Old ski trails on its back side.

In their words

“Among the three hundred and fifty cities and towns in this Commonwealth, Ashby stood first in its average school attendance.”

History of Middlesex County, 1890, on the year 18804

“Old Father Time seems to delight to level and cover all things from sight.”

Selectman Horace S. Brooks, accepting the John Fitch monument for Ashby, in the Proceedings of the Fitchburg Historical Society, 189513

“With as little regret as is felt by a mother at the marriage of the eldest daughter of a family.”

A Townsend historian on how Townsend gave up two-thirds of Ashby, quoted before the Legislative Committee on Towns, 189022

Nearby towns

Sources

  1. Ashby, Massachusetts, Wikipedia
  2. History of the town of Townsend, Middlesex County, Massachusetts (1878), on the making of Ashby, Internet Archive
  3. Mount Watatic, Wikipedia
  4. History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts (1890), on Ashby's schools, Internet Archive
  5. History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts (1890), on the Ashby turnpike, Internet Archive
  6. Map of Ashby, Massachusetts in 2026, KNOWOL (USGS elevation, Census Bureau roads)
  7. Andrew Whitney, Ashfield, Springfield and Fitchburg, Massachusetts (1912), on Josiah D. Whitney, Internet Archive
  8. Andrew Whitney, Ashfield, Springfield and Fitchburg, Massachusetts (1912), on the move to Springfield, Internet Archive
  9. Andrew Whitney, Ashfield, Springfield and Fitchburg, Massachusetts (1912), on Jonas P. Whitney's last years, Internet Archive
  10. History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts (1890), on the turnpike mania, Internet Archive
  11. History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts (1890), on Ashby's post office, Internet Archive
  12. History of Ashburnham, Massachusetts (1887), on the forming of Ashby, Internet Archive
  13. Proceedings of the Fitchburg Historical Society (1895), on the John Fitch monument, Internet Archive
  14. City and Town Incorporation and Settlement Dates, Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (archived copy)
  15. Historic homes and places and genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of Middlesex County, Massachusetts (1908), Internet Archive
  16. History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts (1880), on Captain Wyman's company, Internet Archive
  17. History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts (1880), on Ashby in the Revolution, Internet Archive
  18. History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts (1890), on Ashby's mills, Internet Archive
  19. Andrew Whitney, Ashfield, Springfield and Fitchburg, Massachusetts (1912), on the Orthodox church, Internet Archive
  20. Middlesex County and its people; a history (1927), on Ashby's town lines, Internet Archive
  21. Middlesex County and its people; a history (1927), on Ashby's churches, Internet Archive
  22. Opening argument of Henry P. Moulton … before the Legislative Committee on Towns, on behalf of the town of Beverly (1890), Internet Archive