The town was incorporated as Billerica in 1655, on the same day as neighboring Chelmsford and nearby Groton.
The settlers chose the name Billerica because some of the families originally came from the town of Billericay in Essex, England. Governor Thomas Dudley were granted land along the Concord River in the area, and roughly a dozen families from Cambridge and Charlestown Village had begun to occupy Shawshin by 1652. In 1638, Massachusetts Bay Governor John Winthrop and Lt. In the early 1630s, a Praying Indian village named Shawshin was at the current site of Billerica, commonly spelled Shawsheen today, as in the Shawsheen River. It takes its name from the town of Billericay in Essex, England. The population was 42,119 according to the 2020 census.
01821 (Billerica), 01862 (North Billerica)īillerica ( / b ɪ l ˈ r ɪ k ə/ ⓘ, also UK: / b ɪ l ə ˈ r ɪ k i/ ⓘ) is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States.
