Talk:Shrewsbury, Massachusetts

Rather normal, common history of development.

Nothing out of the ordinary in Shrewsbury's early history;

Shrewsbury is an unusual New England town in that it was neither a mill town nor a farming village. Rather, it grew as a suburb to neighboring Worcester from the start, with visitors to Lake Quinsigamond.

really doesn't seem supported. It had farms, then small factories. Only oddity is the late incorporation, but that doesn't jibe with my memory. Anmccaff (talk) 06:18, 28 April 2016 (UTC)

The mere existence of industry and farming (every New England town would have some form of either for livelihood) does not negate the fact that Shrewsbury is an anomaly - it was settled primarily as an outlying village of Worcester, for Summer residents (hence the large number of former summer residences in the town). New England history is old and filled with grey areas, but I believe what the sentence is trying to convey has been accomplished - of course Shrewsbury had industry (although, in all honesty, nothing compared to the surrounding towns) as well as farms (notably cow farms) - however the primary settlements were for Summer vacations on Lake Quinsigamond. I'm going to add a word or two to clarify the sentence in the lead, and I will also date the citation needed tag until a citation can be found. I'm going to remove the contradiction tag - the article does not contradict itself, you have simply found one sentence that adds a little ambiguity (which can be elaborated) to the article. Thank you for your concerns! Garchy (talk) 16:18, 28 April 2016 (UTC)

Same is true for Hull, Winthrop, parts of Revere, some of what became East Boston, most of Newton -I'd argue Newton as a whole, most of Milton (the mill population was dwarfed by the commuters), Roxbury, Belmont, and so forth. Shrewsbury might have transformed a little later than several of these examples, but it was a similar process: relatively low-density farming community with "summer places" becoming "streetcar suburb" or for Hull, "rail suburb." It may be seen locally as unique, or nearly so, but I don't think that it is. Anmccaff (talk) 16:32, 28 April 2016 (UTC)

Perhaps we should remove the sentence from the lead all-together if it rings untrue? I did some diving into Shrewsbury's historical records within the last 20 minutes and I don't see anything specific to it being a notable Summer community either (well, not more-so than many other towns in MA) - rather, it was most likely a small farming community until well after the Artemus Ward period, the 19th century is the first mentions of many Summer residences. Garchy (talk) 16:41, 28 April 2016 (UTC)

I think the best way would be to contrast it to some neighbors. "Unlike Milbury, Gardner &cet, Shrewbury never became a milltown..." Anmccaff (talk) 16:58, 28 April 2016 (UTC)

I made a few changes, take a look! Thanks- Garchy (talk) 18:11, 28 April 2016 (UTC)

Yeah, that'll work. I changed "early" ti "19th century," but I suspect that could be made more precise as time allows. I'm guessing/remembering that the upswing in summer places tracked pretty well with the upshoot in three deckers in Worcester itself. BTW: Wormtown townie? Anmccaff (talk) 18:33, 28 April 2016 (UTC)

Thanks, the lead looks much better. Close, I grew up in Northborough! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Garchy (talk • contribs) 19:08, 28 April 2016 (UTC)

Parent county?

So many Wiki articles fail to identify the parent county or counties! Where was Shrewsbury at the incorporation of Worcester County? 2602:304:CDA6:51B0:C912:D462:BAAC:4959 (talk) 07:08, 6 June 2016 (UTC)

This information is notated in the infobox, like most town Wiki articles - it links to this article --> Worcester County, Massachusetts. Thanks, Garchy (talk) 13:19, 6 June 2016 (UTC)

Modern Economy

I have deleted this sentence as it is clearly out of date. Shrewsbury's 'modern economy' (as of 2021) is not as this sentence describes:

"The economy of modern Shrewsbury has been described as depending on agriculture, the resort industry and the providing of recreation and food for the population of Worcester."

--IACOBVS (talk) 14:29, 29 June 2021 (UTC)

The citation is dead, but a working archive link is [1]. The quote is from the "Narrative" section which is described as "(Narrative supplied by community. Narrative based on information provided by the Massachusetts Historical Commission)". The information is from 2004 and I'm not sure it's really a reliable source, so I'm happy to exclude it. Gbear605 (talk) 14:58, 29 June 2021 (UTC)

References