MIDDLEBORO, a township of Plymouth county, Massachusetts, U.S.A., in the S.E. part of the state, bounded on the N.W. by the Taunton river. Pop. (1890), 6065; (1900), 6885-of whom 920 were foreign-born; (1910 census) 8214. Area, about 70 sq. m. The principal village also is named Middleboro; it is 35 m. S. of Boston, is served by the New York, New Haven & Hartford railroad and by electric lines connecting with Taunton, Boston, New Bedford and Cape Cod, and has a townhouse, a soldiers’ monument, and a public library housed in a building erected from a fund (part of which is used as a permanent endowment) bequeathed by Thomas Sprout Peirce (1823–1901), a merchant of the township, who, in addition, bequeathed about $500,000 as a special trust-fund for the use and benefit of the town of Middleboro; the income has been spent largely in the construction of macadam roads, the erection of an almshouse and the installation of special courses in the high school. The village, a place of considerable natural beauty, is a summer resort, and has various manufactures. Other villages in the township are North, East and South Middleboro, and Rock. The township had important herring fisheries in early times and manufactured straw hats (from 1828) and ladies’ dress goods. Middleboro was settled about 1662 under the Indian name Nemasket; became a part of the township of Plymouth in 1663; and in 1669 was incorporated as a separate township, taking its name probably from Middlesbrough, North Riding, York.
See Thomas Weston, History of the Town of Middleboro, Massachusetts (Boston, 1906).