Travel Back in Time (VIDE0)

The history of Medfield begins in Dedham, which originally included the territory that is now Medfield as well as several other towns. 

Dedham was incorporated in 1636 and by 1640 Dedham men started harvesting the grass lands that grew in the meadows along what is now the Charles River area of Medfield. These grasses became important for the feeding of the cattle and live stock back on the Dedham farms. The area was first known as Dedham Village.

Eventually, 13 families wanted to stay in this area rather than travel back and forth between Dedham and the Charles River grasslands. Medfield became the 43rd town in the then Massachusetts Bay Colony and the first to break from the originally Dedham Grant.

“On Jan. 11, 1651 the power, right or privilege of town government was granted to the township of Medfield in general and the selectmen thereof and their successors forever” by the Town of Dedham. 

The town quickly established itself, being located on both sides of the Charles River, including lands now belonging to Medway and Millis. The building of the first mill was begun, located on Mill Brook off today’s Elm Street.

The burying-place was set out in 1651; its location is today called the old section of the cemetery off West Main Street. Six births were recorded for the year 1651 but several probably occurred in other towns and were put on the records after the parents removed to Medfield. There were no recorded deaths or marriages for the year 1651.

During the year 1651, 17 additional families came to Medfield, including 10 from Weymouth and Braintree. The town’s first minister was Rev. John Wilson, a member of the first class to graduate from Harvard College.

In 1653 the meetinghouse was built and a town meeting form of government established with men “selected” by the people to run the town. By 1660 the town was laid out and new families admitted, thus increasing the population to 234 in 43 families.

The first school teacher and “The Founder of Medfield,” was Ralph Wheelock. Education was very important to these early Puritans and in 1666 the first schoolhouse was built. During the King Philip War in 1675, Medfield became a frontier town when Mendon was attacked and abandoned. On Feb. 21, 1676 somewhere between 300 and 1,000 Native-Americans attacked the town under the command of Monaco, burning nearly half the town. Thirty-two houses, two mills and many barns were destroyed. Thirteen town residents were killed during the devastating raid along with Jonathan Wood of Sherborn, two soldiers sent here from Boston and one soldier from Cambridge.

An unknown number of Native-Americans were also killed. This was by far the greatest economic and emotional disaster to ever befall Medfield. It took years for the town to recover from the effects of the war. 

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