About Us

A History of East Bridgewater

On the 23d of March 1649, the Indian chief Massasoit deeded to Miles Standish, Samuel Nash, and Constant Southworth, Commissioners appointed by the Colonial government at Plymouth, a tract of land which now includes the three Bridgewaters, Brockton (North Bridgewater), a part of Abington, and also of Hanson, for 7 coats, a yard and a half in a coat, 9 hatchets, 8 hoes, 20 knives, 4 moose-skins, and ten yards and a half of cotton. This contract was made and executed on a small hill (Sachem Rock) in East Bridgewater, a little distance south-east of where the E. Carver & Co’s Gin Works building now stands, and on the farm called "Sachem Rock Farm", now the East Bridgewater Community Center and Council on Aging. This territory was called Satucket.

The Town of East Bridgewater was an early industrial inland town located on the northern portion of the Taunton River system. Situated in Plymouth County, the town's European community had been heavily damaged in King Philip's war. Nine of the ten homes in the area were destroyed during the fighting. Its' early economy was based on agriculture but the community did have both grist and sawmills, iron forges, and tanneries.

The Keith brothers iron slitting mill is reportedly one of the earliest reported in southeastern Massachusetts. The first triphammer to make scythes, axes and other edged tools was established in the town in 1740, and cannons and muskets for the revolution were made in East Bridgewater. The late 19th and early 20th century saw residential development along the trolley lines in the community. The Bridgewater Branch Railroad from Whitman through East Bridgewater stimulated further industrial growth, and the town was the site of boot and shoe manufacturing and textile mills.

The real population expansion, however, followed the Second World War, and the town now has a heavily residential population.