National Register reference number.99000185- the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.
The territory constitutiog the town of Upton was occupied before the migration of the white men from the sea-coast to the interior by the Nipmuck tribe of Indians. Before the incorporation of the town, in 1735, it belonged to the towns of Sutton, Uxbridge, Mendon and Hopkinton. Among the first setilera on this territory were John Hazeltine, David Batcheler, J )nathan Wood, Israel Tait, John Sadler, William Johnson, John Bromly, William Green, Benjamin Perham, Samuel Nelson, Stephen Denny, Samuel Watkius, Marshal Baker, Samuel Work, Samuel ReeTcs, John Warfield, VVillson Rawsou, Robert Tyler, Matthias Taft, Peter Holbrook, Stephen Tenney and Thomas Palmer. Of these, Matthew Taft was a settler as early as 1728, having bought his land of Harvard College. This territory included thirteen thousand and ninety-four acres. A portion of it, including about three thousand acres, formed a part of the tract of land belonging to the Hopkins P^und, which, during nearly a hundred years, was a source of trouble and vexation to the inhabitants. Edward Hopkins came from England in 1637, and settling in Connecticut, became its Governor. He returned to l^ngland and died in 16ri7, giving the sum of five hundred pounds out of his estate in New England to trustees, after die death of his wife, to be invested in houses and lands in New England, the income from which sbould be devoted to the support of students in the grammar and divinity schools at Cambridge, and to the purchase of books to be given to meritorious students at Harvard College. Anne Hopkins, his wife, died in 1G98, and after a suit in Chancery the trustees obtained, in 1715, in satisfaction of the legacy, a verdict and payment of five hundred pounds, with interest, amounting to three hundred more. This money wa-i invested in the purchase of Maguncog from the Natick Indians, which, with other lands, finally became the town of Hopkinton, one of the contributors to the township of Upton.
The territory of Upton is not specially attractive in soil or scenery. Its surface abounds in rocky hills, with here and there a plain of better land, like those on which the pleasant villages of. Centre and West Upton are situated, while West River, the chief stream of the locality, finds its way through the richer meadows of the valley towards its outlet in the Blackstone River, at Uxbridge.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The
federal wildfire occurrence database
lists 117 fires within 5 miles of Upton Town Hall
between 2003 and 2020, burning about 197 acres in total. None started naturally. 39 were recorded as arson.
Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted
here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
Reported cause
Fires
Arson/incendiarism
39
Missing data/not specified/undetermined
23
Debris and open burning
22
Recreation and ceremony
14
Smoking
10
Equipment and vehicle use
3
Railroad operations and maintenance
2
Misuse of fire by a minor
2
Power generation/transmission/distribution
2
The most recent of
them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service
that recorded it.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. Museums hold 602 specimens
collected within 10 miles of Upton Town Hall between 1844 and 1975: 243 Plantae, 237 Animalia, 108 Fungi, 9 Protozoa, 3 Unrecorded, 2 Chromista.
12 distinct Species records are shown.
Collected by A. B. Seymour, A. P. D. Piguet, A. R. Hodgdon; F. L. Steele and others. Each is a
physical object with a catalogue
number, and each entry opens the museum's record. This is what was
collected and kept, not a survey of what lives here - nothing can be
concluded from a species being absent.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists
7 workings within 5 miles of Upton Town Hall: 5 past producers, 2 producers.
2 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Granite. Distance is straight-line from the
map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring
settlement's page as well.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The National Weather Service names
Upton, the town this property stands in, in 11 storm reports between 1997 and 2021: 7 thunderstorm wind, 2 lightning, 1 hail, 1 tornado.
The reports record 1 injury. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office
filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date
opens the federal record of that event.
New England Cable News reported that a 44 year old man was injured when lightning struck a lamppost at the end of his driveway and travelled under the driveway to where he was standing.
At 1:41 AM EST, the parent thunderstorm of the Douglas tornado generated a second tornado that touched down in western Upton. The tornado touched down on Hartford Avenue South, crossed state route 140, and and produced most of its damage in the neighborhood of Ephram's Way. The tornado then moved northeast, lifting in Upton State Forest. Winds were estimated at 100 mph on Ephram's Way. The path length was about 1 mile, with a maximum width of 100 yards. The tornado was rated an EF-1.
At 1142 AM EST, a tree was knocked down on Warren Street in Upton. At 1150 AM EST, multiple trees and wires were brought down on Fowler Street in Upton.
United States Geological Survey topographic
sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the coordinate the National Park Service records for this property, then
testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.
When this property was proposed for the
National Register, someone wrote the case for it: what the building is,
and why it matters. That document is a federal record in the public domain.
It is quoted below word for word, never summarised. The text was read off the scanned case file by machine, so the
occasional stray character is the recogniser's and the 1970s
typewriter's.
Statement of significance
Applicable National Register Criteria (Mark "x" in one or more boxes for the criteria qualifying the property for National Register listing.) XA Property is associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history. Property is associated with the lives of persons significant in our past. xC Property embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type,period, or method of construction or represents the work of a master, or possesses high artistic values, or represents a significant and distinguishable entity whose components lack individual distinction. _ D Property has yielded, or is likely to yield information important in prehistory or history.
Criteria Considerations (Mark "x" in all the boxes that apply.) Property is: _A owned by religious institution or used for religious purposes. _B removed from its original location. _ C a birthplace or grave. _ D a cemetery. _ E a reconstructed building, object, or structure. - F a commemorative property. _G less than 50 years of age or achieved significance within the past 50 years.
Narrative Statement of Significance (Explain the significance of the property on one or more continuation sheets.) Worcester, MA County and State Areas of Significance (Enter categories from instructions) Architecture Community Planning and Development Period of Significance 1884-1949 Significant Dates n/a Significant Person (Complete if Criterion B is marked above) n/a Cultural Affiliation n/a Architect/Builder 9.
Quoted from the National Register nomination
for reference 99000185, 26 pages, held by the National Archives in Record
Group 79. See the
catalogue record.
Listed places nearby
6 within 8 miles
Other National Register properties close
enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both
positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties
to their map sheets.
Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Specimens. Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), https://www.gbif.org/. Only records licensed CC0 or CC BY are used. Records licensed CC BY-NC are excluded because this site carries advertising. Images are checked individually and any whose licence is non-commercial, no-derivatives or unreadable is refused.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.
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