[10] They lived in settlements established alongside the Washakamaug ("eel fishing place") or what is today called Farm Pond.

The Nipmuc people used game management techniques through the hunting of deer and beaver, fishing in ponds and streams, as well as established growing areas for the Three Sisters (squash, corn, beans) in the nearby hills.

Between 1675 and 1676, King Philip's War created great tensions between English settlers and the Nipmuc people in the area.

[15] In January 1676, a group of Nipmuc men went to the Eames family homestead to demand that they return a stolen corn harvest.

On February 22, 1775, the British general Thomas Gage sent two officers and an enlisted man out of Boston to survey the route to Worcester, Massachusetts.

Each Independence Day from 1854 to 1865, the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society held a rally in a picnic area called Harmony Grove on Farm Pond near what is now downtown Framingham.

At the 1854 rally, William Lloyd Garrison burned copies of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, judicial decisions enforcing it, and the United States Constitution.

Other prominent abolitionists present that day included William Cooper Nell, Sojourner Truth, Wendell Phillips, Lucy Stone, and Henry David Thoreau.

[19] During the post-World War II baby boom, Framingham, like many other suburban areas, experienced a large increase in population and housing.

Hispanic or Latino of any race were 13.4% of the population (4.7% Puerto Rican, 1.8% Guatemalan, 1.5% Salvadoran, 1.1% Dominican, 0.9% Mexican, 0.6% Colombian, 0.3% Peruvian).

[42] The Framingham School Department can trace its roots back to 1706, when the town hired its first schoolmaster, Deacon Joshua Hemenway.

Framingham is approximately halfway between Worcester, the commercial center of Central Massachusetts, and Boston, New England's leading port and metropolitan area.

Worcester Regional Airport, about 27 miles (43 km) away, began scheduled flights to Fort Lauderdale and Orlando in November 2013.

There are scatterings of small manufacturing facilities and commercial services such as plumbing, mechanical and electrical expected to be found in communities of its size.

In 1993, the area began to expand beyond the borders of the triangle with construction of a BJ's Wholesale Club and a Super Stop & Shop just north of Route 30.

Because of the size and complexity of this area, Framingham and Natick cooperatively operate it as a single distinct district with similar zoning.

It eventually came to house Dennison Manufacturing and the former General Motors Framingham Assembly plant, but the area underwent a financial downturn after the closure of these facilities during the late 1980s.

Along with Brazilian and Spanish oriented retail shops, there are restaurants, legal and financial services, the city offices and library, police headquarters, a performing arts center, and the local branch of the Social Security Administration.

Bose, Staples and Applause have their world headquarters in these parks,[84] as does convenience store chain Cumberland Farms; in addition, Netezza, Genzyme, Capital One, CA Technologies, ITT Tech and the local paper, The MetroWest Daily News, all have major facilities there.

The large tracts of multi-story apartment and condominium complexes line both sides of Route 9 from Temple St. to the industrial parks.

These buildings represent the majority of Framingham's multi-family dwellings, and along with the business complexes, helped create a large network of support services on the West Side: a supermarket,[85] dozens of restaurants and pubs, hotels and a large day-care facility all are in the two-mile (3 km) section of Route 9 from Temple St. to Ashland.

[87] In the late 1960s, MassHighway replaced the intersection with an overpass, depressing Route 9 below the local roads, and destroying the south half of the old Center retail district.

near Nobscot Hill, and the Pinefield/Saxonville villages, located where Concord St., Water St., and Central St. intersect,[92][93] are home to several small office buildings, strip malls and gas stations.

in 2016, the town moved its satellite branch of the public library named for Christa McAuliffe from Saxonville to a new facility across from the Hemenway School in Nobscot.

Saxonville is the home of the former Roxbury Carpet Company mill complex buildings (originally powered by the adjoining Sudbury River), now an industrial park, and is one of the city's historical districts.

Some of the programming provided, keeps residents abreast of road closings, construction updates, recycling efforts, public safety information, and special events in the community.

In the spring of 2016, the town of Framingham was one of the settings for the film Patriots Day about the Boston Marathon bombing, starring Mark Wahlberg, John Goodman, Kevin Bacon, J.K. Simmons, Michelle Monaghan, Alex Wolff, Melissa Benoist and a cameo appearance by former athlete David Ortiz.

[109] In spring 2009, Framingham was also used for the film The Company Men, starring Ben Affleck, Chris Cooper, Kevin Costner, and Tommy Lee Jones.

[110] Large parts of the film Don't Look Up, directed by Worcester, Massachusetts native Adam McKay and starring Academy Award winners Jennifer Lawrence, Leonardo DiCaprio and Meryl Streep, were shot in Framingham.

Framingham features dozens of athletic fields and civic facilities spread throughout the city in schools and public parks.