The Town of Merrimac was first settled by Europeans in the late 1650's, and the colonists' main crop was corn. As the town grew, Merrimac residents also pursued maritime trades, fishing for salmon and sturgeon and shipbuilding as well as acting as the distribution point for sugar and molasses from the West Indian trade.
By the 19th century, the principal manufacturing activity was carriage making with thirty-one different carriage factories in town. The town's eventual growth, however, was residential and by the Second World War, Merrimac was principally a residential community. In 1955 there were 308 people employed in Merrimac, 39% in manufacturing, 24% in transportation, 16% in retail and wholesale and 12% in construction. The bulk of the town's 5,100 population worked elsewhere.
