Education

In the early years, since children had to walk to school, one room district schoolhouses were built in various sections of town. A Winchendon Academy, at least partly a boarding school, was established on the site of the present Colonial Bank around 1835. A brick "New Academy" was built at the north end of Academy Street in the 1850s. With the growth of the village, graded schools were introduced though the district schools were continued in the outlying parts of town. Multi room schools were located in Waterville, halfway between Winchendon Springs and Glenallan and in the village in the 1860s and 1870s. Through the bequest of Ephraim Murdock, Jr. the Murdock School was opened as a public high school in 1887. In time the district schools were closed and the children transported to the larger buildings. Other schools built were the Marvin (1904); Poland (about 1924); and Streeter (1939.) In 1961 a new Murdock High School (now Toy Town Elementary) was opened because of overcrowding in the older Murdock building. Again overcrowding persuaded the town to build an elementary school, Memorial School. When it opened in 1975, four older buildings were closed. The present Murdock Middle High School (opened 1995) was built to accommodate the increasing student population.

Churches

As mentioned the first church was in Old Center. The next was the New Boston Baptist Church which was established in the southwest part of town around 1800. That section of town had been settled largely by people of that persuasion. This area is now included in the Birch Hill flood control area and only the cemetery remains. The next was the North Congregational Church in 1843, consisting substantially of members of the older church who now lived in or nearer the village. To accommodate citizens of different religious persuasions, the First Methodist church and the First Baptist churches were established in the village. The Methodist Churches were successively on School Square and the corner of Oak Street and Lincoln Avenue. The First Baptist Church was on Central Street, now the location of the Community Action Committee's operation. These two congregations joined with the Congregationalists to form the United Parish of Winchendon in the 1970s. The first Roman Catholic masses were held in a railroad shed in the late 1840s. Later they started a building and held masses in the basement area until they were able to complete the building in 1908. The Unitarian Universalist Church was built in 1866-67 though Unitarian services had been held intermittently since the early 1850s in other locations. There was a Protestant Episcopal church on Oak Street. It appears never to have been strong, shared a minister with the Methodists for some time and was closed and torn down when the Methodists joined the United Parish. In recent years several evangelical Christian congregations have been organized. The Bethany Bible Chapel has built a building on Spring Street; the Cornerstone Church of the Assemblies of God has built on Gardner Road; and the Church of God has acquired a building on Beech Street. There are also a couple storefront Christian churches in the town.

The People

The early settlers in Winchendon were mostly of English and Scottish ancestry. With the railroad came a number of Irish people. Later the town saw a substantial number of immigrants from French Canada, Italy, and Poland. Smaller numbers came from  Finland, Sweden, Syria, Lebanon and other foreign countries. There were few African Americans in Winchendon until the last twenty years. More recently we have seen immigrants from Puerto Rico, the Latin American, and Asian countries.

As industry declined, many residents found work in other communities, mostly to the east. This portion of people working out of town has increased as most of the newer residents are also employed elsewhere. With people living longer, the proportion of the elderly has increased.

Winchendon's population grew fairly steadily from its early beginnings through its industrialization until some people dreamed of it becoming a city. By 1930 Winchendon had about 6000 residents. However the decline of manufacturing and the great depression of the 1930s brought growth to a halt. Winchendon grew barely at all from the 1930s to the 1970s. The population was still under 7000. Then the availability of relatively cheap undeveloped land in Winchendon began to attract people who worked further east but sought affordable housing and a little elbow room. Developers built several subdivisions and many houses along the existing roads. Growth since the 1970s has been much more rapid. The official population of Winchendon according to the 2000 census is 9611. Many people feel that it now stands above 10,000. ...more