Sudbury
278 Old Sudbury Road, Sudbury, MA 01776
978-443-8891 Fax: 978-443-0756
Email: n/a
Web: www.town.sudbury.ma.us
Population: 18,107
Sq. Miles: 24.7
Type of Government: Town Manager/Selectmen
Town Manager: Maureen Valente
Congressional District: 5th, Honorable Martin T. Meehan (D)
State Senator: Susan Fargo (D), Pamela P. Resor (D)
State Representative: Susan W. Pope (R)
School District: Sudbury Public Schools (K-8), 978-443-1058,
Lincoln-Sudbury Regional (9-12), 978-443-9961
Public Library: Goodnow Library, 978-443-1035
Cable: Comcast, 888-633-4266
Gas: NSTAR, 800-592-2000
Electric: NSTAR Electric, 800-592-2000
Water: Sudbury Water District, 978-443-6602
Waste Removal: Transfer Station, Landfill & Recycling Center
(yearly fee), 978-443-2209, or Private Carrier
Sudbury has deep roots in American history. Long before the first European settlers came into the valley of the Musketaquid, generations of men lived and died in this place, and each generation left its mark. For a thousand years, the American Indian lived here. We are still uncovering their villages and wondering at their pottery, arrowheads and other artifacts their civilization left behind.
In 1638, the first white settlers came to Sudbury, some directly from England. This was the second settlement above the tidal streams, and it was incorporated in 1639. The original Sudbury Plantation straddled the river; land grants were from the colonial legislature and payment was made to Indian owners such as Karte (Goodman).
As in all colonial villages, the meeting house was of great importance, and the first such structure was soon built east of the river in what is now Wayland. This was the first town center; development west of the river began after the building of a bridge in 1643.
As the settlement grew, Sudbury townsmen developed not merely a new community, but a new concept; government with the consent of the governed. Sudbury’s role in the development of the town meeting form of government, and its insistence upon the direct right of a citizen to choose his governors and make himself heard upon any issue in open forum, did much to lay the foundation of American democracy.
