Hopkinton, Massachusetts
town in Massachusetts, United States
Hopkinton is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, 25 miles (40 km) west of Boston. The town is notable as the starting point of the Boston Marathon, held annually on Patriots' Day each April, and as the headquarters for the Dell EMC corporation. As of the 2020 census, the town had a population of 18,758, a population growth rate faster than any other municipality in the commonwealth.
The U.S. Census recognizes the central village within the town as a census-designated place, with a population of 2,651 at the 2020 census. Hopkinton also includes the village of Woodville, which was established as a historic district in 2005.
History
The Town of Hopkinton was incorporated on December 13, 1715. Hopkinton was named for an early colonist of Connecticut, Edward Hopkins, who left a large sum of money to be invested in land in New England, the proceeds of which were to be used for the benefit of Harvard University. The trustees of Harvard purchased 12,500 acres of land from the Native American residents with money from the fund and incorporated the area, naming it in honor of its benefactor.
Grain was the first production crop grown in the area, while fruit and dairy industries were developed later. Agriculture predominated until 1840 when the boot and shoe industries were introduced into the town.
“Hopkinton, Massachusetts” enters the record as town in Massachusetts, United States. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Hopkinton, Massachusetts and town can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Hopkinton, Massachusetts” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Hopkinton, Massachusetts and town provides the most credible route into that argument.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1009192. VIAF identifies the subject as 126781301. The Library of Congress control number is n88282493. Authority coordinates are 42.229, -71.523. 5 of 6 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2020, 2005, 1715 and 1840.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
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Three-step research path
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Hopkinton, Massachusetts” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.