Once the largest town in Massachusetts, Framingham grew as a ring of villages, from the mill falls at Saxonville to the old common at Framingham Center and the straw shops and rail yards of South Framingham.

Middlesex County · Record checked October 12, 2026

72,362Population2020 census1
1700Became a townthe year after Thomas Danforth died1
2018Became a cityafter years as the largest town in Massachusetts1
10,000Bicentennial fireworkspeople at the Saxonville Mill Pond in 19002
20National Registerplaces, all still standing3

Framingham on the map

Click the map to look closer.

Map of Framingham, Massachusetts in 2026, with Concord Street, Worcester Road, Farm Pond, Lake Cochituate and the Framingham reservoirs

2026

Framingham today

By KNOWOL

Shaded relief from Saxonville on the Sudbury River to Nobscot, with Concord Street, Hollis Street, Worcester Road, Pleasant Street and Waverly Street, Farm Pond, Lake Cochituate, the Bracket and Foss reservoirs, and Bare, Ballard and Banner hills.4

See the 2026 printMore about this map

The story of Framingham

The straw bonnet trade

Framingham's first big trade started at home. In 1799 or 1800 the wife of Joseph Bennett and her daughter Betsey began plaiting grass and rye straw into hats and bonnets. A note dated October 2, 1800 marks the day Mary Rice started on straw bonnets, and she kept at it for about fifty years, selling in Boston, Salem, Gloucester and Portland. Benjamin Wheeler's bonnet trade with the South reached $30,000 in some years. In South Framingham, Alexander Clark opened a straw shop in 1838, and before the village had a church of its own, the Bible was read aloud there on weekdays. By 1874 the village had three large straw-hat works with about 150 workers each, turning out as many as fifty styles of bonnets a season.5678

A field white with tents

Summer in South Framingham meant crowds by Farm Pond. Harmony Grove, on its eastern shore, was for years a favorite picnic ground for nearby towns and for Boston, and from 1854 to 1865 the antislavery rallies met there every Fourth of July. In 1871 a camp-meeting association bought forty-five acres at the north end of the pond, Mount Wayte included, and called it Lakeview. Methodist camp meetings came first, then the New England Chautauqua Sunday-school Assembly, which drew many thousands of visitors. In 1873 the Commonwealth bought about 115 acres for the State Muster-Field. Two brigade musters a year brought about 2,500 militia each time, and the 1890 county history says the field was then white with tents, with the street cars running right past it.911011

The Falls, the Centre and the South village

Framingham grew as a ring of villages. John Stone built the first corn mill at the falls of the Sudbury River in 1659, and the place was long called The Falls before it was Saxonville. Thomas Danforth gathered more than 15,000 acres here, and the town was incorporated in 1700, the year after he died. The Sherborn line took longer. Not until June 16, 1710 did the General Court put seventeen disputed families inside Framingham forever, giving Sherborn 4,000 acres west of Mendon instead. In 1800 the Centre was a few houses around the meetinghouse, and South Framingham had a tavern, a cider mill and a store. Straw works and the railroad built up the South village, and in 1888 a horse railway tied the three together, with Uncle Dexter Hemenway, the oldest man in town, on the first car.1211314

Through the years

25 moments from 1647 to today.

  1. 1647John Stone, the first English settler, builds a farm on the west bank of the Sudbury River.1
  2. 1654The great stone heap on the top of Nobscot is already named in the records.15
  3. 1659John Stone builds the first corn mill at the falls, the place later called Saxonville.12
  4. 1660Thomas Danforth receives the land grant that becomes Danforth's Farms.1
  5. 1700Framingham is incorporated as a town, the year after Danforth's death.1
  6. 1710The General Court ends a long border fight with Sherborn and puts seventeen families inside Framingham for good.13
  7. 1775About 130 Framingham men march to the battles of Lexington and Concord.1
  8. 1792Townsmen tax themselves to build the brick schoolhouse that becomes Framingham Academy.16
  9. 1800Mary Rice starts making straw bonnets, a trade she keeps up for about fifty years.5
  10. 1846The Framingham Savings Bank is chartered and opens at the Centre that May.17
  11. 1853The state normal school, the first in the country, moves to Framingham.4
  12. 1854The Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society holds the first of its Fourth of July rallies at Harmony Grove on Farm Pond.1
  13. 1858Michael H. Simpson and Nathaniel Francis buy the whole Saxonville mill plant.18
  14. 1871A camp-meeting association buys 45 acres at the north end of Farm Pond, the start of Lakeview.10
  15. 1873The Commonwealth buys about 115 acres for the State Muster-Field.11
  16. 1875South Framingham's three straw goods factories turn out $830,000 worth of goods.6
  17. 1884H. H. Richardson's new railroad station goes up in South Framingham.19
  18. 1888The Framingham Union Street Railway opens on May 29, tying the villages together.14
  19. 1897Dennison Manufacturing moves to South Framingham.20
  20. 1900At least 10,000 people watch the bicentennial fireworks at the Saxonville Mill Pond.2
  21. 1905The Minute Man statue by Henry H. Kitson and Theo Alice Ruggles Kitson is dedicated on June 17.21
  22. 1906The Amsden Building on Concord Street collapses, killing 12 people.1
  23. 1948The Framingham Heart Study begins with 5,209 adults from the town.4
  24. 1951Shoppers' World opens, the second open-air mall in the country.1
  25. 2018Framingham becomes a city, and Yvonne Spicer is sworn in as its first mayor.1

Places to see

Places worth a visit in Framingham today.

  • SaxonvilleOn the Sudbury River. Mill village at the old falls.
  • Framingham CenterAround the old common. The town's early center.
  • Nobscot HillNobscot. Summit view reaches Boston and Monadnock.
  • Farm PondNear downtown. The Nipmuc's Washakamaug, eel fishing place.
  • Lake CochituateEast, shared with Natick and Wayland. Boston's first major water supply.
  • Bracket ReservoirOff Winter Street. Reservoir No. 2, built 1877 to 1879.
  • Foss ReservoirOff Route 9. Largest of the three Framingham reservoirs.
  • Framingham State UniversityBare Hill. The first state normal school, here since 1853.Visit their website
  • Garden in the WoodsNorth Framingham. Wildflower garden founded in 1931.Visit their website
  • Callahan State ParkFramingham and Marlborough. 958 acres, mostly in Framingham.Visit their website

On the National Register

All 20 places in Framingham on the National Register of Historic Places that still stand today, oldest first, and why each one matters.3

  • Saxonville Historic District

    Listed 1992 · Roughly along Elm, Danforth, Central, Water and Concord Sts.

    The 19th century mill village at the heart of Saxonville, around the old mills at the junction of Water, Central, Elm and Concord Streets. The brick mill buildings went up after fires in the 1880s, and some of the workers' housing dates to the 1820s.22

  • First Baptist Church

    Built 1826 · Listed 1980 · 1013 Worcester Rd.

    Its cornerstone was laid in 1826 and the first service held on January 1, 1827. Apart from changes for access around 1998, the building stands much as it was built, and the original box pews survive in the balcony.23

  • Stone's Bridge

    Built 1858 · Listed 2017 · Old Stonebridge Rd. across [[Sudbury River]]

    A four-arch granite bridge over the Sudbury River, built in 1858 by William Simonds and named for a local resident, not its stone. After Hurricane Diane's flood in 1955 the road moved to a new bridge to the south.24

  • Paul Gibbs House

    Built 1860 · Listed 1983 · 1147 Edmands Rd.

    Built in 1860 for a member of a prominent local family, it is a good example of Italianate architecture, probably the work of noted local architect Alexander Rice Esty. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.25

  • Moses Ellis House

    Built about 1866 · Listed 1983 · 283 Pleasant St.

    Local architect Alexander Rice Esty designed this house for Moses Ellis, a well-to-do farmer, with a porte cochere jutting from its front gable. In the early 1900s it was home to a school for boys.26

  • Saint John's Episcopal Church

    Built 1871 · Listed 1990 · Maynard Rd. and Church St.

    Local architect Alexander Rice Esty, a member of the congregation, designed it and gave his services. Framingham State University bought the building in 1969, and it's now the Heineman Ecumenical Center.27

  • Sudbury Aqueduct Linear District

    Built 1875 · Listed 1990 · Along Sudbury Aqueduct from Farm Pond at Waverly St. (Framingham) to Chestnut Hill Reservoir (Newton)

    Built 1875 to 1878, it carried water 16 miles from Farm Pond in Framingham to the Chestnut Hill Reservoir, crossing the Charles River on the Echo Bridge, and was in use for almost 100 years.28

  • Framingham Reservoir No. 1 Dam and Gatehouse

    Built 1876 · Listed 1990 · Eastern end of Framingham Reservoir No. 1, off Winter St. north of Long Ave.

    Built 1876 to 1878 to expand Boston's water supply, at the end of the reservoir also called the Stearns Reservoir. Its granite gatehouse, designed by Boston city architect George A. Clough, controlled the flow from all three Framingham reservoirs into the Sudbury Aqueduct.29

  • Framingham Reservoir No. 3 Dam and Gatehouse

    Built 1876 · Listed 1990 · Southeastern end of Framingham Reservoir No. 3, off MA 9/30

    The dam and gatehouse at the southeastern end of Reservoir No. 3, the Foss Reservoir, off Route 9. They were built 1876 to 1878 as part of an expansion of the public water supply of the city of Boston.30

  • Framingham Reservoir No. 2 Dam and Gatehouse

    Built 1877 · Listed 1990 · Between Framingham Reservoirs Nos. 1 and 2, west of the junction of Winter and Fountain Sts.

    The dam and gatehouse are located west of the junction of Winter and Fountain Streets and impound a branch of the Sudbury River. The reservoir, also known as the Brackett Reservoir, was built between 1877 and 1879 as part of an expansion of the water supply for the city of Boston.31

  • Framingham Railroad Station

    Built 1884 · Listed 1975 · 417 Waverly St.

    Designed by H. H. Richardson and built in 1884 to 1885, it was one of the last stations he designed in the Northeast, a hub for branch lines to Milford, Mansfield, Fitchburg and Lowell. Restored in the 1980s, it's now a restaurant.19

  • Concord Square Historic District

    Listed 1983 · Park, Concord, and Kendall Sts., and Union Ave.

    Downtown business blocks from the corner of Concord and Union Streets south to the South Framingham Common and west along Park Street, mostly built between 1890 and 1920. The oldest is the Wallace Nutting Factory at 46 Park Street, from the early 1870s.32

  • Lake Cochituate Dam

    Built 1890 · Listed 1990 · Northwestern side of Lake Cochituate

    The 62-foot dam was built in 1890, replacing two wooden dams that went back to the 1846 building of the Cochituate Aqueduct. The lake left Boston's water supply in the 1930s and became Cochituate State Park.33

  • Sudbury Dam Historic District

    Built 1894 · Listed 1990 · Southeastern end of Sudbury Reservoir off MA 30

    The Sudbury Dam of 1894 holds back the Sudbury Reservoir, and the district below it keeps water works from three stages of Greater Boston's supply, including the 1903 head house of the Weston Aqueduct.34

  • Weston Aqueduct Linear District

    Built 1901 · Listed 1990 · Along the Weston Aqueduct from the Sudbury Reservoir to the Weston Reservoir

    Built 1901 to 1903 to carry water 13.5 miles from the Sudbury Dam to the Weston Reservoir, with buildings by Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge and an open channel landscaped by the Olmsted Brothers.35

  • Whit's Diner

    Built 1942 · Listed 2003 · 184A Fountain St.

    Built in 1942 by the Worcester Lunch Car Company as diner number 783, it ran as Whit's in Orange until about 1960. Richard and Joan Lloyd bought it in 1990 and moved it to Fountain Street, where it's Lloyd's Diner.36

  • Irving Square Historic District

    Listed 1982 · Irving Square, Waverly, South, Columbia, Irving, Gordon and Hollis Sts.

    It encompasses a portion of the town's central business district just south of the railroad tracks. It includes buildings on Hollis Street, extending south from Irving Street to Gordon Street, and buildings on Irving from Hollis to just beyond Columbia Street.37

  • Framingham Centre Common Historic District

    Listed 1990 · Roughly centered on Framingham Centre Common, between MA 9 and [[Interstate 90]]

    The historic early center of Framingham, around the old town common west of Edgell Road. Its 28 buildings include the Village Hall, the old Edgell Memorial Library, First Parish Church and the former Framingham Academy building.38

  • R. H. Long Company Factory

    Listed 2023 · 59 Fountain St.

    A factory building at 59 Fountain Street, added to the National Register in 2023.3

  • Nobscot Union Chapel

    Listed 2023 · 871 Edgell Road

    A chapel at 871 Edgell Road, added to the National Register in 2023.3

In their words

“The instance was typical of the generosity of Framingham people, who have always known how to do a good thing when they saw a good thing to be done.”

A former Framingham minister, remembering the Chicago fire relief, Memorial of the bi-centennial celebration, 190039

“The town is considered very healthful; and the people are industrious, intelligent, courteous, and progressive.”

A gazetteer of the state of Massachusetts, 187440

“Framingham Center, whose old common is one of the best in this country, having no obnoxious features in its circuit and without the intrusion of shops or ruinous buildings.”

Massachusetts beautiful, 192341

Nearby towns

Sources

  1. Framingham, Massachusetts, Wikipedia
  2. Memorial of the bi-centennial celebration of the incorporation of the town of Framingham (1900), on the fireworks at Saxonville, Internet Archive
  3. National Register of Historic Places list, Wikipedia
  4. Map of Framingham, Massachusetts in 2026, KNOWOL
  5. History of Framingham, Massachusetts, early known as Danforth's Farms (1887), on straw braid and bonnets, Internet Archive
  6. History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts (1880), on the straw bonnet industry of South Framingham, Internet Archive
  7. History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts (1890), on the Baptist church of South Framingham, Internet Archive
  8. Gazetteer of the state of Massachusetts (1874), on Saxonville and the straw-hat works, Internet Archive
  9. Gazetteer of the state of Massachusetts (1874), on Farm Pond and Harmony Grove, Internet Archive
  10. History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts (1890), on Lakeview and the Chautauqua assembly, Internet Archive
  11. History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts (1890), on the State Muster-Field, Internet Archive
  12. Middlesex County and its people; a history (1927), on Framingham's villages in 1800, Internet Archive
  13. History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts (1890), on the Sherborn boundary, Internet Archive
  14. History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts (1890), on the Framingham Union Street Railway, Internet Archive
  15. History of Framingham, Massachusetts (1887), on the cairn on Nobscot, Internet Archive
  16. A gazetteer of Massachusetts (1847), on Framingham Academy, Internet Archive
  17. Inland Massachusetts illustrated (1891), on the Framingham Savings Bank, Internet Archive
  18. History of Framingham, Massachusetts (1887), on Michael H. Simpson and the Saxonville mills, Internet Archive
  19. Framingham Railroad Station, Wikipedia
  20. Town of Framingham, Massachusetts, past and present, progress and prosperity; souvenir (1906), on Dennison Manufacturing, Internet Archive
  21. History of the Massachusetts Daughters of the American Revolution (1905), on the Minute Man statue, Internet Archive
  22. Saxonville Historic District, Wikipedia
  23. First Baptist Church, Wikipedia
  24. Stone's Bridge, Wikipedia
  25. Paul Gibbs House, Wikipedia
  26. Moses Ellis House, Wikipedia
  27. Saint John's Episcopal Church, Wikipedia
  28. Sudbury Aqueduct Linear District, Wikipedia
  29. Framingham Reservoir No. 1 Dam and Gatehouse, Wikipedia
  30. Framingham Reservoir No. 3 Dam and Gatehouse, Wikipedia
  31. Framingham Reservoir No. 2 Dam and Gatehouse, Wikipedia
  32. Concord Square Historic District, Wikipedia
  33. Lake Cochituate Dam, Wikipedia
  34. Sudbury Dam Historic District, Wikipedia
  35. Weston Aqueduct Linear District, Wikipedia
  36. Whit's Diner, Wikipedia
  37. Irving Square Historic District, Wikipedia
  38. Framingham Centre Common Historic District, Wikipedia
  39. Memorial of the bi-centennial celebration of the incorporation of the town of Framingham (1900), on the Chicago fire relief, Internet Archive
  40. Gazetteer of the state of Massachusetts (1874), on the town and its people, Internet Archive
  41. Massachusetts beautiful (1923), on Framingham Center, Internet Archive