Fitchburg was first settled in by Europeans in 1730 as part of Lunenburg, and was officially set apart from that town and incorporated in 1764.

[4] In July 1748 Fitch and his family, living in this isolated spot, were abducted to Canada by Native Americans, but returned the next year.

The original Fitchburg Railroad ran through the Hoosac Tunnel, linking Boston and Albany, New York.

Originally operated by water power, large mills produced machines, tools, clothing, paper, and firearms.

The city is noted for its architecture, particularly in the Victorian style, built at the height of its mill town prosperity.

A few examples of these 19th century buildings are the Fay Club, the old North Worcester County Courthouse[6] and the Bullock house.

[7] In 1922, it was affected by the 1922 New England Textile Strike, shutting down the mills in the city over an attempted wage cut.

The highest point in Fitchburg is the summit of Brown Hill near the northwestern corner of the city, at 1,210 feet (370 m) above sea level.

[12] Fitchburg is bordered by Ashby to the north, Lunenburg to the east, Leominster to the south, Westminster to the west, and a small portion of Ashburnham to the northwest.

Spring and fall are usually mild, but conditions vary widely and depend on wind direction and jet stream positioning.

Hispanic or Latino of any race were 21.6% of the population (14.6% Puerto Rican, 1.8% Dominican, 1.6% Uruguayan, 1.4% Mexican, 0.3% Ecuadorian, 0.2% Colombian, 0.2% Honduran, 0.1% Guatemalan, 0.1% Salvadoran, 0.1% Spanish, 0.1% Peruvian).

Throughout the early twentieth century, Fitchburg was known for its paper industry, which occupied the banks of the Nashua River and employed a large segment of the European immigrant population.

The EPA provided the City of Fitchburg $50,500 in grant money[35] to help clean up hazardous substances on the site.

The Fitchburg Art Museum was founded in 1925 and includes over 20,000 square feet (1,900 m2) of gallery and educational space which features a "cross barn" built in 1883, the Simond's building completed in 1989, and 12 galleries feature American, African, Egyptian, Greek, and Roman art.

[37] The Rollstone Boulder is a 110-ton specimen of porphyritic granite located in a small triangular public park.