[1] Mendon is part of the Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor, an early center of the industrial revolution in the United States.

Native Americans inhabited the Mendon area for thousands of years prior to European colonization of the Americas.

[2] The Nipmuc name does not refer to a specific village or tribe, but to natives that inhabited almost all of central Massachusetts.

The Nipmuc had a written language, tools, a graphite mine at Sturbridge, and well-developed agriculture, including maize (a variant of corn), beans and squash.

These were two of the 14 Praying Indian villages established by Reverend John Eliot, from Natick and Roxbury, who translated the Bible into the Nipmuc language.

[3] In September 1662, after the deed was signed with a Native American chief, "Great John" and another Sachem, Quashaamit, the pioneers entered this part of what is now southern Worcester County.

The land for the settlement was 8 miles (13 km) square of Native American land in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and was purchased from the Nipmuc Indians, "for divers good and vallewable considerations them there unto Moovinge and especiall for an in consideration of the summe of twenty fower pound Ster.

The settlers were ambitious and set about clearing the roads that would mark settlement patterns throughout the town's history.

[6] On July 14, 1675, early violence in King Philip's War took place in Mendon, with the deaths of multiple residents and the destruction of Albee's mill.

[7] During King Philip's War, many Nipmuc from around Marlboro and Natick were interned Deer Island, and many died from the harsh winter in 1675.

Ezra T. Benson was born here and became a famous Mormon Missionary and Utah Territory legislator.

The Taft family became an American political dynasty, especially in Ohio, but also in Iowa, Rhode Island, Vermont, and other states.

Mendon would eventually rebuild and find itself along Boston's Middle Post Road (Route 16 today).

In 1789, it is purported that President George Washington, during his inaugural journey, was denied a room in Mendon by an innkeeper's wife.

[9] Lake Nipmuc Park was a popular resort in the early 20th century, featuring leading musical and vaudeville talent.

In modern times, Mendon serves primarily as a bedroom community but has seen some significant commercial development along Route 16 in recent years.