Living in Leominster, MA

About Leominster

Leominster grew out of Lancaster. Permanent settlement began around 1725, the town was established in 1740, and it became a city in 1915. Its factories gave it a distinct story: comb shops lined Exchange Street in Morse Hollow, and after celluloid was invented in 1868 Leominster became known as the Comb City. Plastics followed, and the plastic pink flamingo lawn ornament was invented here in 1956. John Chapman, the orchard planter known as Johnny Appleseed, was born here in 1774; a marker stands on Johnny Appleseed Lane.

Monument Square has been the civic and commercial center since the 1800s, and the railroad has run through North Leominster since 1841, where the commuter rail station now sits on Nashua Street. Open land is close. Leominster State Forest offers swimming at Crow Hill Pond, the Crow Hill Ledges and a stretch of the Midstate Trail. Sholan Farms, bought with the city's help, grows apples, berries and pumpkins on Pleasant Street. Phase One of the Twin Cities Rail Trail now links the business districts of Leominster and Fitchburg.

Recent change in Leominster has come as much through infrastructure as through housing. Phase One of the Twin Cities Rail Trail, from Carter Park to First Street in Fitchburg, was completed by a bicycle and pedestrian bridge over Route 2, celebrated on August 3, 2024, and a $25 million second phase is planned to link downtown Leominster with Fitchburg's intermodal center. Heavy rain on September 11, 2023 caused significant flooding and a state of emergency. The state lists Leominster as compliant with the MBTA Communities law as of October 21, 2026. The city's ten-year tax rate history lists one rate per year, and that rate has fallen each year since FY2021, from $18.13 to $13.67 per $1,000 in FY2026.

Homes in Leominster

Single-family houses make up most of Leominster's residential parcels: for FY2026 the city's assessors counted 8,317 single-family parcels, 1,933 condominiums, 832 two-family and 334 three-family houses, and 327 apartment properties. The 2020 Census counted 18,732 housing units. The Massachusetts Historical Commission's 1984 survey records gable-end duplexes and double houses from the mid-1800s, a worker cottage and multifamily zone extending east from Whitney Street along Water, Spruce and Mechanic Streets, worker housing in Lincoln Terrace east of Central Street, and Queen Anne duplexes and three-deckers built in the early 1900s. The West Side, west of Main Street and north of West Street, and a hillside area around Merriam, Walnut, Winter and Grove Streets grew as residential districts in the 19th century.