Town of Mansfield
Incorporated August 23, 1775

Mansfield was originally part of the Taunton North Purchase in which the land was acquired by a land company for 100 pounds in 1668.

In the early days the three rivers running through the town were recognized as a great potential source of power.

In the late 1700's the first of seven cotton mills was built launching an industry that survived about 60 years. Fires were a constant hazard because the combination of lint and dust was easily ignited and this factor plagued the industry. Hours were long and the pay poor - between 1820 and 1830 the average worker earned 44¢ per day for a 14-hour day.

Basket making was an active cottage industry and one for which the town was noted. About a dozen families wove these baskets in their homes during the late 1700's and early 1800's.

In the early 1800's the tap and die industry was launched by Simon Card who originally used his wife's kitchen over to anneal the metal. A tack factory was built and run by the White family in the area or East Mansfield called Whiteville. Tack manufacturing developed into one of the town's major industries.

An innovative commercial bread factory opened in 1840 and continued until 1850. The factory also sold its own bread in surrounding towns using delivery wagons. The same era saw straw hats manufactured in Mansfield.

In the late 1800's jewelry factories made horn jewelry from animal horns. Later enameled jewelry was manufactured here.

Today Mansfield is the home of a major industrial park, carefully laid out with wide streets and pleasant landscaping.

Entertainment is a major factor in present-day Mansfield due to the Great Woods Center for the Performing Arts where a wide variety of performers, groups and orchestras perform in a large amphitheater.

www.mansfieldma.com


Historical Sites

Fisher- Richardson House (1704), Willow St. - on National Register of Historic Places.
Mansfield Soldiers' Memorial Library, a Civil War project dedicated in 1901 - on National Register of Historic Places.
Marker at former site of the mansion owned by Col. Ephraim Leonard (1739-1786). Leonard owned an iron works on the Canoe River and was the most affluent and influential man in the region.