Sherborn, Massachusetts

Sherborn is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, with the zip code 01770. Primarily a farming community until the early part of the 20th century, Sherborn is now known as a bedroom community of Boston and the surrounding high-tech area.

By 1674 what is now Sherborn had grown sufficiently to be incorporated as a new town and appears to have been arbitrarily named Sherborne by the General Court. Throughout the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, Sherborn remained a small and relatively self-sufficient farming community. Apples grew well, so there were always small cider mills present. With the coming of both the railroad and steam power, one mill developed further, until by the 1890s it was advertised as the “largest refined cider mill in the world.” At that time, it pressed over 1.25 million gallons of cider per season and exported “Champagne” cider as far west as Nebraska and Texas and as far East as England and Belgium.

In the late 18th century and early 19th century, several small cottage industries developed. They produced guns, shoes, willow baskets, whips, pitchforks and edge tools. Cranberries became an important crop, as well as mixed farming and dairying. Crops and crafts were sold in the Boston markets via stagecoach and later railroad. In the late 1990s and the early 21st century, the downtown area underwent significant expansion, including the construction of a new fire department.