Natick, Massachusetts

Natick is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, in the United States, near the center of the MetroWest region and about ten miles west of Boston, within the Greater Boston area. Its name comes from the language of the Massachusett people and is commonly thought to mean place of hills, though a more accurate rendering may be place of searching, after the missionary John Eliot's search for a site for his settlement of Praying Indians. Eliot settled Natick in 1651, and it became the first of his network of praying towns and served as their center for a long time. The town was incorporated in 1781. Henry Wilson, a shoemaker and schoolteacher known as the Natick Cobbler who became the 18th Vice President of the United States, lived most of his life here. Lake Cochituate and Dug Pond lie within its bounds, the town has a total area of 16.0 square miles, and the 2020 census counted 37,006 residents. Natick was also the location of the population center of Massachusetts at the censuses of 2000 to 2020.