ATHOL, a town of Worcester county, in northern Massa chusetts, U.S.A. It lies in the valley of Miller's river at an alti tude of 5 7o ft., and is served by the Boston and Albany and the Boston and Maine railways. The area is 35 sq.m. The population in 193o Federal census was Io,677. The varied manufactures in clude fine tools, shoes and leather goods, toys, mill machinery, tables, cribs, cradles, towel racks, combs, pumps, sashes, doors, window panes, blinds, gears, vises, drills, tents, celluloid goods, straw hats, silk thread, meat choppers, and popcorn products. An annual fair draws an attendance of 20,000. A municipal Memorial building with auditorium was completed in Athol was settled in 1735 and incorporated as a township in 17 62. It was named by its largest landowner, Col. James Murray, after the ancestral home of the Murrays, dukes of Atholl.