LEOMINSTER  , a township of

Worcester county, Massachusetts, U.S.A., about 45 M . N.W. of Boston and about 20 M . N. by E. of Worcester . Pop . (1890) 7269; (1900) 12,392, of whom 2827 were foreign-born; (1910 census) 17,580 . It is a broken, hilly district, 26.48 sq. m. in area, traversed by the Nashua river, crossed by the Northern Division of the New York, New Haven & Hartford railroad, and by the Fitchburg Division of the Boston & Maine, and connected with Boston, Worcester and other cities by interurban electric lines . Along the N.E. border and mostly in the township of Lunenburg are Whalom Lake and Whalom Park, popular pleasure resorts . The principal villages are Leominster, 5 M . S.E. of Fitchburg, and North Leominster; the two adjoin and are virtually one . According to the Special U.S . Census of Manufactures of 1905 the township had in that year a greater diversity of important manufacturing industries than any place of its size in the state, or, probably, in the United States; its 65 manufactories, with a capital of $4,572,726 and with a product for the year valued at $7,501,720 (39%o more than in 1900), produced celluloid and horn work (the manufacture of which is a more important industry here than elsewhere in the United States), celluloid combs, furniture, paper, buttons, pianos and piano-cases, children's carriages and sleds, stationery, leatherboard, worsted, woollen and cotton goods, shirts, paper boxes, &c . Leominster owns and operates its water-works .

The township was formed from a

part of Lancaster township in 1740 .