History of Gardner, Massachusetts/Incorporation of the Town
Incorporation of the Town.
In the month of May, 1785, Mr. John Glazier, of Westminster, drew a petition to which he obtained about thirty signatures, and presented it to the Massachusetts Legislature, praying that honorable body to set off from the northwesterly part of Westminster, the west part of Ashburnham, the south portion of Winchendon, and the east part of Templeton, all in the County of Worcester, land enough for a Town. And in duty bound will your petitioners ever pray. Accordingly the Legislature granted their request and incorporated a Town by the name of Gardner, in honor of Col. Thomas Gardner, a noble patriot, who fell in battle fighting for the liberty of his country.
Gardner was incorporated June 15th, 1785. The number of inhabitants then in town were about three hundred and seventy-five, and sixty families; they were poor (with few exceptions) and lived in small ordinary houses; like new settlers hr other places, they were obliged to labor hard to subdue the land and bring it into a state of cultivation. There were but few mechanics in town at this time;—three blacksmiths, four carpenters, and three shoe-makers.