The Town of Hubbardston is in the hill country of central Worcester County.  The first European settlers were recorded in 1737, and the town's early economy was based on agriculture and small scale chair, boot and shoe manufacturing.  Hubbardston was sympathetic to Shays Rebellion and one of the leaders of the rebellion, Captain Adam Wheeler, was from Hubbardston.  Eighty men from the town marched to Worcester under Wheeler's command and took control of the courthouse to protest the widespread foreclosures and seizures of property by creditors that occurred during the cash poor 18th century.  

The community is described by historians as being a poor town, sparsely settled and almost wholly agricultural, but having sawmills, potash works and cottage industries such as the making of palm leaf hats.  By the 19th century, dairy and berry farming and market gardening were major pursuits in the town, and immigrants from Ireland, French Canada, England, Sweden and Russian Finland had moved into town to work with earlier settlers.  Even in 1940, Hubbardston had a rural population of 55.9%, the second highest in the county.