Fitchburg, industrial city, Worcester County, northern Massachusetts, on the North Branch of the Nashua River; incorporated as a city 1872. Manufactures include paper, fabricated metal, machinery, engines, electrical instruments, and plastic products. Fitchburg State College (1894) and the Fitchburg Art Museum are here. The community was settled in 1720 and became a paper manufacturing center in the early 19th century. It is named for the American inventor John Fitch, an early resident. Population 39,580 (1980); 41,194 (1990); 39,102 (2000).
