Leominster ( LEM-ən-stər) is a city in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the second-largest city in Worcester County, with a population of 43,782 at the 2020 census. Leominster is located north of Worcester and northwest of Boston. Both Route 2 and Route 12 pass through Leominster. Interstate 190, Route 13, and Route 117 all have starting/ending points in Leominster. Leominster is bounded by Fitchburg and Lunenburg to the north, Lancaster to the east, Sterling and Princeton to the south, and Westminster to the west.

History

The region was originally inhabited by various divisions of the Pennacook or Nipmuc Native Americans, who lived along the Nashua River. The river provided fertile soil for the cultivation of corn, beans, squash and tobacco.
European settlers began arriving in the mid-17th century and in 1653, the area of Leominster—which takes it name from the Herefordshire town of Leominster in England, was first founded as part of the town of Lancaster.

The European settlers and native people lived peacefully for a number of years, until the start of King Philip’s War in 1675. The violent war between the native Indians and early settlers killed hundreds of people and drove off the inhabitants from the area. After the war, Lancaster remained virtually deserted until a new land grant was offered to residents in 1701. To prevent further conflict with the native Indians, the settlers negotiated with Chief Sholan of the Nashaway tribe for the land. It would be the only parcel of land to be legally purchased in Central Massachusetts.

By 1737, the area of Leominster had gained enough residents to be incorporated as a separate town. The town of Leominster was officially incorporated on June 23, 1740.

Around the time of the Civil War, Leominster was a major contributor in the Underground Railroad. The Emory Stearn Schoolhouse and the John Drake home, led anti-slavery campaigns and helped house fugitive slaves.

In Leominster’s early existence, the town was primarily a small farming community, but towards the beginning of the 19th century, the economy quickly shifted into manufacturing. The town became a regional transportation hub around 1800, with the opening of the Fifth Massachusetts Turnpike and the connections of the Union Turnpike and Cambridge and Concord Turnpikes in 1808. However, manufacturing in Leominster was truly made possible by the opening of the Fitchburg Railroad that ran through North Leominster and into Boston, and the Fitchburg and Worcester Railroad that ran through the center of town. By the 1850s, paper mills, piano makers, and comb manufacturers had established factories along the Monoosnoc Brook and Nashua River. While the earliest settlers in Leominster were primarily of British ancestry, many immigrants soon gathered to work in Leominster’s expanding factories. The first group of immigrants was primarily Irish, followed by the French Canadians and the Italians into the early 20th century. These new waves of immigrants caused the population to surge from just 2,069 in 1840 to 19,744 by 1920. On November 2, 1915, Leominster was officially chartered as a city.

While many different industries established themselves in Leominster, it was the comb industry that particularly flourished. Construction of combs was a time-consuming and painstaking process, involving preparation of the natural materials such as animal horn, roughing out of a basic form, and finally, individual cutting of the teeth. By 1853, there were already 146 employees working in 24 different comb factories across the town. By the mid-1800s, however, availability of the natural materials used to make combs, such as animal horns and hooves, was diminishing rapidly, and an alternative material was needed.

The solution would come in a new material called celluloid invented in 1868. The new plastic would revolutionize the comb industry and give Leominster the nickname the “Comb City”. The versatility of celluloid would also give manufactures the opportunity to expand to many different products outside of combs. The largest plastic manufacturer in the city was the Viscoloid Company founded by Bernard Wendell Doyle in 1901. In 1914, the Viscoloid Company pioneered making toys out of pyroxylin plastic, and by 1923 the company was the largest employer in Leominster. Viscoloid would be sold to The DuPont Company in 1925, and renamed the Dupont Viscoloid Company.

The second invention to revolutionize plastic production in Leominster was the development of modern injection molding.Samuel Foster, a Leominster resident of German ancestry, first worked for the Viscoloid Company, then established his own business, Foster Grant. In 1931, Foster visited Jack Goodman’s New York factory and learned about an injection molding machine, invented in Germany in the early 1920s. Foster ordered several of the new machines, and had them secretly shipped via Worcester to his Foster Grant manufacturing factory in Leominster, where his mechanics focused on getting them to work and modifying them. Molding technology made it possible for Foster Grant to make not only combs, but a wide variety of other articles, including plastic sunglasses, selling 20 million pair in 1937. The new technology would pay great dividends for the plastic industry in the city and the country. Soon the city would be coined the “Pioneer Plastics City” for its important history in the plastics industry.

Leominster was also the home of Tupperware, founded in 1938 by Earl Tupper. His “wonderbowl,” with its airtight “burping” seal became popular after Brownie Wise convinced him to demonstrate and sell Tupperware at home parties.

Leominster also boasted large manufactures Standard Tool Company, Selig Manufacturing Co. Inc, C.E. Buckley, Inc. (manufacturer of religious articles) and the Whitney Carriage Company, which was once the largest manufacturer of baby carriages in the world.

In 1956, the plastic pink flamingo lawn-ornament was invented in Leominster for Union Products. The famous lawn-ornament was designed by Don Featherstone, and was modelled after pictures of flamingos in National Geographic.

Although the Great Depression slowed the plastic industry in Leominster, it was not until the late 20th century that there was a full-scale decline in plastic manufacturing. Following the national trend, manufactures were moving out of the cities to cheaper alternatives across the country and overseas. Despite the changing landscape, the population of Leominster would continually rise into the 21st century, surpassing her twin city of Fitchburg in 2000 as the second largest city in Worcester County. The Latino communities of Leominster also saw huge growth towards the later half of the 20th century.

In recent decades, Route 2 and the building of I-190 have further transformed the city into a more commercial and suburban landscape. The construction of the Twin City Plaza, Mall at Whitney Field and other shopping centers have all contributed to significant commercial growth in the city and have made Leominster one of Central Massachusetts’ largest retail destination. Inexpensive land cost has also made the city an attractive living destination for commuters to both Worcester and Boston. Nevertheless, Leominster still preserves some of its manufacturing heritage and many plastic manufactures retain establishment in the city.

On September 11, 2023, heavy rains caused significant floods, leading to major damage to the city, and a state of emergency was declared.

Education

Public education in the city is operated by the Leominster Public School District. Leominster has four neighborhood elementary schools that serve students in grades K–5 (Fall Brook, Johnny Appleseed, Northwest, Frances Drake), two middle schools (Samoset and Skyview) for grades 6–8, and Leominster High School for grades 9–12. Leominster High school is composed of an academic unit and a vocational unit called the Center for Technical Education. The district also operates three preschool programs: the Bennett School, Lincoln Preschool at Samoset and Priest Street School.

Leominster is also home to two private schools, St. Leo Catholic School and St. Anna Catholic School. St. Leo’s School is part of Leominster’s St. Leo Parish, while St. Anna’s School is part of St. Anna Parish; both are affiliated with the Diocese of Worcester.

Post-secondary education opportunities include the Leominster campus of Mount Wachusett Community College and Fitchburg State University in neighboring Fitchburg.

The Leominster Public library is the city’s main public library. Established in 1856, the public library moved from different locations until a permanent structure opened in 1910. In order to secure finances for the new structure, a library trustee applied for aid from philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. Carnegie donated $27,500, citing only if the town would appropriate 10 percent of that amount annually for the support of the library. In fiscal year 2008, the city of Leominster spent 1.39% ($1,183,076) of its budget on its public library—approximately $28 per person, per year ($34.29 adjusted for inflation in 2021). In 2018, the school district controversially paid $10,000 in ransom money to hackers in order to recover its computer systems after they were infected with the WannaCry ransomware and adequate backups were not available.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 41,303 people, 16,491 households, and 10,900 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,430.3 inhabitants per square mile (552.2/km²). There were 16,976 housing units at an average density of 587.9 per square mile (227.0/km). The racial makeup of the city was 81.50% White, 3.70% African American, 0.15% Native American, 2.44% Asian, 0.06% Pacific Islander, 4.32% from other races, and 2.21% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 11.00% of the population (7.9% Puerto Rican, 2.0% Uruguayan, 1.1% Dominican, 0.7% Mexican, 0.3% Guatemalan, 0.3% Colombian).

There were 16,491 households, out of which 32.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.5% were married couples living together, 12.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.9% were non-families. Of all households 27.9% were made up of individuals, and 10.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.48 and the average family size was 3.05.

In the city, the population was spread out, with 25.5% under the age of 18, 7.2% from 18 to 24, 32.4% from 25 to 44, 21.3% from 45 to 64, and 13.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 92.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.1 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $44,893, and the median income for a family was $54,660. Males had a median income of $41,013 versus $30,201 for females. The per capita income for the city was $21,769. About 7.2% of families and 9.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 12.0% of those under age 18 and 9.4% of those age 65 or over.