Rutland Map
Rutland is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 7,973 at the 2010 census. Worcester County's only buffalo herd is located in Rutland, at Alta Vista Farm. Rutland is the geographic center of Massachusetts; a tree, the Central Tree, located on Central Tree Road, marks the general spot.
For geographic and demographic information on the census-designated place Rutland, please see the article Rutland (CDP), Massachusetts.
The town of Rutland is a residential hill town. Rutland's original lands of about 12 square miles (31 km2) were purchased from natives in Natick's Indian Praying Town in 1686. Frontier hostilities delayed settlement, and the land was not divided into lots until 1714 when 62 lots of 30 acres (120,000 m2) each were finally distributed. Settlers in Rutland came from older eastern towns, like Boston, Lexington, Concord and Sudbury. First settled in 1719, the town suffered repeated Indian attacks during Dummer's War, with the last death from Indian warfare recorded in 1724. During Dummer's War, on August 13, 1723, Gray Lock raided Northfield, Massachusetts, and four warriors killed two citizens near Northfield. The next day they attacked Joseph Stevens and his four sons in Rutland. Stevens escaped, two boys were killed, and the other two sons were captured.
Nearby cities include North Brookfield, East Brookfield, Worcester, Brookfield, West Brookfield.