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Stow, Massachusetts
Town
Town center of Stow
Seal
Motto:  “A place for growing up in and a place for coming back to”
Location of Stow in Middlesex County, Massachusetts
Coordinates: 42°26′13″N 71°30′22″W / 42.43694°N 71.50611°W / 42.43694; -71.50611
Country	United States
State	Massachusetts
County	Middlesex
Settled	c. 1660
Established	1669
Incorporated	May 16, 1683
Government
• Type	Open town meeting
• Town    Administrator	Denise Dembkowski
Area
• Total	18.1 sq mi (46.9 km)
• Land	17.6 sq mi (45.6 km)
• Water	0.46 sq mi (1.2 km)
Elevation	230 ft (70 m)
Population  (2020)
• Total	7,174
• Density	407.6/sq mi (157.4/km)
Time zone	UTC−5 (Eastern)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−4 (Eastern)
ZIP Code	01775
Area code	351/978
FIPS code	25-68050
GNIS feature ID	0618236
Website	www.stow-ma.gov

Stow is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The town is located 21 miles (34 km) west of Boston, in the MetroWest region of Massachusetts. The population was 7,174 at the 2020 census. Stow was officially incorporated in 1683 with an area of approximately 40 square miles (100 km).

Over centuries it gave up land as newer, smaller towns were created, ceding land to Harvard (1732), Shirley (1765), Boxborough (1783), Hudson (1866) and Maynard (1871). Stow now has an area of 18.1 square miles (47 km). With the exception of factories at Assabet Village and Rock Bottom (later Maynard and Gleasondale), Stow was primarily sparsely settled farm and orchard land until the 1950s.

Previous to its incorporation in 1683, Stow was called Pompositticut Plantation. Stow was officially incorporated in 1683. The earliest Colonial settlers, c. 1660, were Matthew Boon and John Kettell, who settled the land of Tantamous (Jethro), a Native American, whose land was called “Pompocitticut.” Boon settled by a pond (later bearing his name: Lake Boon) with a vast tract of land surrounding him. It is said that he traded all this for a single jackknife. A monument bearing his name is located on the plot of land where he formerly resided. John Kettell took up residence in a portion of land in the southwestern corner of Stow where another monument marks the alleged site of his farm. Both families were affected by King Philip’s War, an attempt by Native Americans to drive out colonists. Boon and Kettell were killed. Their families had been moved to other locations, and survived. The area that was to become Stow was not resettled by colonists for several years.

The original development of Stow—a mile east of the current center, became known as Lower Village after a meeting hall, and later, churches, were built to the west. The old cemetery on Route 117/62 is officially Lower Village Cemetery. On October 28, 1774, Henry Gardner, a Stow resident, was elected Receiver-General of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress, the government of Massachusetts during the American Revolution. After the war, Gardner served as state treasurer. Gardner’s grandson, also Henry Gardner, was the governor of Massachusetts from 1855 to 1857.

As with many colonial era Massachusetts towns, Stow started with a large area and gave up land as newer, smaller towns were created. Stow ceded land to Harvard (1732), Shirley (1765), Boxborough (1783), Hudson (1866) and Maynard (1871). Stow lost 1300 acres (5.3 km) and close to half its population to the creation of Maynard. Prior to that, what became Maynard was known as “Assabet Village” but was legally still part of the towns of Stow and Sudbury. There were some exploratory town-founding efforts in 1870, followed by a petition to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, filed January 26, 1871. Both parent towns opposed this effort, but state approval was granted April 19, 1871. The population of the newly formed town—at 1,820—was larger than either of its parent towns. In return, the new town paid Sudbury and Stow about $23,600 and $8,000 respectively. Sudbury received more money because it owned shares in the railroad, the wool and paper mills were in Sudbury, and more land came from Sudbury.

In 1942 the U.S. Army seized about one-tenth of the town’s land area, from the south side, to create a munitions storage facility. Land owners were evicted. The land remained military property for years. In 2005 it became part of the Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge.

The modern butternut squash was developed by Charles Leggett in Stow in 1944; the Leggett Woodlands in the town are named after his family, after his wife donated the land. The squash was developed in a field across from the woodland.

On New Year’s Day, 1984, Kevin Walsh took off from Minute Man Air Field with 57 helium balloons tied to a lawn chair, later descending by parachute. He was cited with four violations of FAA regulations and fined $4,000 ($10,922.66 adjusted for inflation to 2022). He reached an altitude of 9,000 feet (2,700 m).

From 2022 until 2025, Stow was one of the only municipalities in Massachusetts to not have a Dunkin’ Donuts, after the two in town closed down that year, for which the town received attention on social media. On July 24, 2025, a new Dunkin’ Donuts opened in Great Road. On the same day, the town was temporarily renamed to Dunkin’ in commemoration of the event, following a unanimous vote from the Stow Select Board.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 18.1 square miles (47 km), of which 17.6 square miles (46 km) is land and 0.5 square miles (1.3 km) (2.60%) is water. It is located in eastern/central Massachusetts.

Major bodies of water are Assabet River, Elizabeth Brook, Lake Boon, White’s Pond and Delaney Flood Control Project, in the northwest corner. The Assabet River flows through Stow from west to east, spanned by three bridges. Average flow in the river is 200 cubic feet per second. However, in summer months the average drops to under 100 cfs. The flood of March 2010 reached 2,500 cfs. Recent, monthly and annual riverflow data—measured in Maynard—is available from the U.S. Geological Service.