Town of Freetown
Established - June 1785
Incorporated 1683
Settled 1659

Freetown came into existence with the Freeman's Purchase in 1659. This area later annexed the Pocasset Purchase in 1747 and together encompassed the area including the present Fall River and Tiverton. Fall River was set apart in 1803.

The first settlers were subsistence farmers but the several rivers and streams in the town lent themselved to damming for mill power. There were at least 3 mills in East Freetown and 6 on the Assonet River.

The first mill known was built in 1700 followed by an ironworks in 1705 and a grist mill in 1710. A major industry was the Rounseville Foundry in East Freetown on Fall Brook. Established in the mid-1700's, the foundry produced until the mid-1800's

There was textile mills, a gun factory, and a bleachery started up in the mid-1800's. The early 1900's saw a screw factory, rubber factory and quilted goods factory operating.

Shipbuilding was an early industry and Freetown had its share of coastal trading schooners which took local products such as boards to southern ports and returned with rice, cotton, or coal.

Two well-known local men earned merit in the Civil War. Major John M. Deene, born in 1840, served with the Assonet Light Infantry. In the battlee of Fort Stedman in 1865 he was elevated to the rank of Major and earned the Congressional Medal of Honor. General Ebenezer Pierce, born in 1822, lost an arm in the Civil War in 1862, and returned weeks later to continue serving for another two and a half years. He was a Colonel at the conclusion of the war and became a Brigadier General in the Guard. Numerous history books were authored by him including a history of Bristol County written in 1883.

www.town.freetown.ma.us



Historical Sites

Freetown Historical Society Museum complex, Slab Bridge Rd., Assonet

Lawrence House (ca 1844), E. Freetown (private) - Designated an historical place by the Massachusetts Historical Commission

Profile Rock State Park, Assonet (Joshua's Mountain) - Site of meeting between King Philip and his sub-chief Annawan during the King Philip War. There is a legend that claims King Philip spent the last night of his life here.

Many houses throughout the town were built in the 1700's although there are no designated historic districts nor plaques marking the buildings.