The Town of Randolph is a suburban city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States.

[3] Randolph adopted a charter effective January 2010 providing for a council-manager form of government instead of the traditional town meeting.

Randolph is one of thirteen Massachusetts municipalities that have applied for, and been granted, city forms of government but wish to retain "The town of" in their official names.

[4] Before European colonization the area that is now Randolph was occupied by the Massachusett, Wampanoag, and Pokanoket tribes.

According to the centennial address delivered by John V. Beal, the town was named after Peyton Randolph, first president of the Continental Congress.

At the time of Randolph's incorporation in 1793, local farmers were making shoes and boots to augment household incomes from subsistence farming.

The decline of the shoe industry at the beginning of the twentieth century led to Randolph's evolution as a suburban residential community.

The town's proximity to major transportation networks has resulted in an influx of families from Boston and other localities who live in Randolph but work throughout the metropolitan area.

Starting in the 1950s, Randolph saw significant growth in its Jewish community with the exodus of Jews from Boston's Dorchester and Mattapan neighborhoods.

[7][8] The inspiration for the nationally observed Great American Smokeout came from a Randolph High School guidance councilor, who observed in a 1969 discussion with students that he could send all of them to college if he had a nickel for every cigarette butt he found on the ground.

Randolph is located in eastern Massachusetts, bordered by Milton and Quincy on the north, Braintree and Holbrook on the east, Canton on the west, and Avon and Stoughton on the south and southwest.

Randolph is situated in the Greater Boston Area, which has rail, air, and highway facilities.

Locally, Norwood Memorial Airport is easily accessible; it has two runways, each approximately 4,000 feet (1,200 m) in length.