DUDLEY

A short history of Dudley

Dudley was first carved out of Nipmuc land purchased by Colonial administrators, Joseph Dudley and William Stoughton in 1681. The new town was first settled in 1714 and was officially incorporated in 1732. The town was named for proprietors William and Paul Dudley.

Before the town was settled, the area of Dudley Hill was a precontact Nipmuc village, centered around Lake Chaubunagungamaug, which was overlooked by Reverend John Eliot. The French River that runs along the town line between Webster and Dudley, was named after a local Huguenot settlement led by Gabriel Bernon.

In April 1776, on his way to New York City from Boston after his victory in the Siege of Boston, General George Washington camped in the town of Dudley with the Continental Army along what is now a portion of Route 31 near the Connecticut border. During the trip, it is rumored that a "large cache" of captured and recovered British weaponry and supplies was ordered "concealed in the grounds" in the rural area along the route. The cache, hidden to resupply reinforcements from Massachusetts or to cover a retreat from the south, was never used or recorded as having been recovered.

In 1816, Amasa Nichols (1773–1849) established Nichols Academy in the town center as a Universalist Church institution. The academy would later be known as Nichols College. Industrialist Samuel Slater was an early benefactor of the new academy.

Union soldiers from Dudley, the 15th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, suffered heavy casualties inflicted by the Confederacy during the Battle of Gettysburg. Dudley was the primary manufacturer of "Brogan boots" worn by the Union Army and produced the majority of the standard issue Union uniforms worn during the Civil War.

On July 5, 1909, the Dudley Soldiers War Memorial was erected in front of the First Congregational Church by the Sons and Citizens of Dudley. The memorial honors the veterans from Dudley who served in the Revolutionary War, the American Civil War and the Spanish-American War. The monument was made by John A. Wilson.

A proposal to create a Muslim cemetery by the Islamic Society of Greater Worcester on 55 acres (22 ha) of farmland elicited intense community opposition when discussed at a public hearing in February 2016. After a complicated process, with much back and forth between the Islamic Society and town officials, the necessary permit was issued over a year later.

Adapted (trimmed) from the Wikipedia article Dudley, Massachusetts, revision 1377182467 by its contributors, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.