FITCHBURG, a city of Massachusetts, U.S.A., 48m. W.N.W. of Boston, on the north branch of the Nashua river; one of the county seats of Worcester county. It is served by the Boston and Maine and the New York, New Haven and Hartford railways. The population was 41,029 in 1920 (32% foreign-born white) and was 40,692 in 1930 by the Federal census. The city has an area of 28.4 sq.m., varying from 43o to 55oft. in altitude, and including much picturesque scenery. It is the seat of a State normal school (established 1895). Fitchburg has been an important industrial centre for more than a century, and has over r oo manufacturing establishments, many of them large and of national reputation. The factory output in 1927 was valued at $46,710,242. Paper is the leading product (400 tons daily), and is followed by foundry and machine products, woollen and worsted goods and a great variety of articles produced in smaller quantities. The assessed valuation of property in 1926 was $62,572,050. Fitchburg was in corporated as a town in 1764, and was named after John Fitch, a citizen who did much to secure incorporation. It was chartered as a city in 1872.