Clinton

History

Clinton was first settled in 1654 as a part of Lancaster after the land was deeded by Sachem Sholan of the Nashaway in 1643. It was officially incorporated as a separate town on March 14, 1850, and named after the DeWitt Clinton Hotel in New York, a favorite place of the town's founders, Erastus Brigham Bigelow and his brother Horatio. Part of the Central Massachusetts Railroad line abandoned in 1958 includes a tunnel near Clamshell Road. Railroads came to the town to serve this industry, including the Boston, Clinton, Fitchburg and New Bedford Railroad (Fitchburg Branch of the Old Colony Railroad), the Central Massachusetts Railroad, and the Worcester, Nashua and Rochester Railroad (the last two later merged into the Boston and Maine Railroad). By 1890, Clinton was noted for its manufacturing of carpets and woven wire. Clinton claims to have the oldest continuously-used baseball field in the world, Fuller Field, created in 1878. This challenges the claim by London, Ontario, which argues for Labatt Memorial Park, established as Tecumseh Park in 1877. This is disputed by Clinton because the London field has been flooded and rebuilt twice, including a reorientation of the bases, and there is doubt Tecumseh Field was in continuous use after the 1883 flood.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which is land and , or 21.78%, is water. The Nashua River runs through the town, and the large Wachusett Reservoir lies to the south of the town center. Clinton is bordered by Lancaster to the north, Bolton to the northeast, Berlin to the east, Boylston to the south, and Sterling to the west.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Black-capped Chickadee

  Poecile atricapillus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  42,525
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  41,420
• Tufted Titmouse

  Baeolophus bicolor (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  37,285
• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  36,149
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  35,120
• American Goldfinch

  Spinus tristis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  31,427
• Downy Woodpecker

  Dryobates pubescens (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  30,349
• Song Sparrow

  Melospiza melodia (A.Wilson, 1810) · Aves
  29,468

Most recent

• M 2.7 — 2023-12-23
  5 km SW of Chichester, New Hampshire
• M 2.7 — 2018-02-15
  0 km SE of East Kingston, New Hampshire
• M 2.8 — 2016-03-21
  4 km ESE of Warner, New Hampshire
• M 2.6 — 2015-01-13
  2 km E of Wauregan, Connecticut
• M 3.3 — 2015-01-12
  0 km NE of Wauregan, Connecticut
• M 2.61 — 2013-10-11
  New Hampshire