{{Infobox Settlement
|official_name            = Natick, Massachusetts
|nickname                 = Home of Champions
|motto                    = 
|image_skyline            = natick-common.jpg
|imagesize                = 250px
|image_caption            = Natick Common, Halloween 2004
|image_seal               = 
|image_flag               = 
|image_map                = Natick_ma_highlight.png
|mapsize                  = 250px
|map_caption              = Location in Middlesex County in Massachusetts
|image_map1               = 
|mapsize1                 = 
|map_caption1             = 
|subdivision_type         = Country
|subdivision_name         = United States
|subdivision_type1        = State
|subdivision_name1        = Massachusetts
|subdivision_type2        = County
|subdivision_name2        = Middlesex
|established_title        = Settled
|established_date         = 1651
|established_title2       = Incorporated
|established_date2        = 1781
|established_title3       = 
|established_date3        = 
|government_type          = Representative town meeting
|leader_title             = <!--Town<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Administrator-->
|leader_name              = 
|leader_title1            = <!--Board of <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Selectmen-->
|leader_name1             = 
|area_magnitude           = 
|area_total_km2           = 41.6
|area_total_sq_mi         = 16.1
|area_land_km2            = 39.1
|area_land_sq_mi          = 15.1
|area_water_km2           = 2.5
|area_water_sq_mi         = 1.0
|population_as_of         = 2000
|settlement_type          = Town
|population_total         = 32170
|population_density_km2   = 823.5
|population_density_sq_mi = 2132.9
|elevation_m              = 55
|elevation_ft             = 180
|timezone                 = Eastern
|utc_offset               = -5
|timezone_DST             = Eastern
|utc_offset_DST           = -4
|latd = 42 |latm = 17 |lats = 00 |latNS = N
|longd = 71 |longm = 21 |longs = 00 |longEW = W
|website                  = [http://www.natickma.gov/ www.natickma.gov]
|postal_code_type         = ZIP code
|postal_code              = 01760
|area_code                = 508 / 774
|blank_name               = FIPS code
|blank_info               = 25-43895
|blank1_name              = GNIS feature ID
|blank1_info              = 0619407
|footnotes                = 
}}
'''Natick''' (Pronunciation ) is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. Natick is located near the center of the MetroWest region of Massachusetts, with a population of 32,170 at the 2000 census. Only 15 miles west of Boston, Natick is considered part of the Greater Boston area. The center of population of Massachusetts in 2000 was located in Natick [http://www.census.gov/geo/www/cenpop/statecenters.txt]. 
==Origin of the name==
The name ''Natick'' comes from the language of the Native American tribe and means ''place of hills.'' The original settlement, on the southern side of Natick (known to residents, but not officially recognized by the State, as "South Natick"), is a hilly area. Located in West Natick, is Captain Tom's Hill, which was the site of a small Indian encampment during King Philips War.

==History==
Natick was first settled in 1651 by John Eliot, a Puritan missionary born in Widford, Hertfordshire, England who received a commission and funds from England's Long Parliament to settle the Wampanoag Indians on both sides of the Charles river. They were called Praying Indians - Eliot was best known for attempting to preserve
the culture (minus the religion) of the Native Americans by putting them in thirteen planned towns where they could continue by their own rule, with Natick as the political and spiritual center. Eliot and Praying Indian translators printed America's first written Bible in the Algonquian language. <ref>John Eliot Bible, 1st Ed. 1663, From Natick Historical Society Collection</ref>  

The colonial government placed such settlements in a ring of villages around Boston as a defensive strategy. Natick was the first and best documented of such settlements. The land was granted by the General Court, part of the Dedham Grant.  

A school was set up, a government established, and the Indians were encouraged to convert to Deer Island. Many died of disease and cold, and the Indians who survived found their homes destroyed. The Indian village did not fully recover, and the land held in common by the Indian community was slowly sold off to white settlers to cover debts, and, by 1785, most of the Natick Indians had drifted away.

In 1775, both English and Praying Indian citizens of Natick participated in the Battles of Lexington and Bunker Hill, as well as serving in the Continental Army.  The names of the Praying Indian soldiers from Natick are memorialized on a stone marker, along with all of Natick's Revolutionary War veterans, on a stone marker on Pond St near downtown Natick.<ref>Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War</ref>

The town was officially incorporated in 1781. Henry Wilson, born in 1812 and eighteenth Vice President of the United States, lived most of his life in Natick as a shoemaker and schoolteacher, and is buried there. He is the namesake of one of Natick's middle schools.

Though Natick was primarily a farming town, the invention of the sewing machine in 1858 led to the growth of several shoe factories. The business flourished and peaked by 1880, when Natick, with twenty-three operating factories, was third in the nation in the quantity of shoes produced. The shoes made in Natick were primarily heavy work shoes with only one or two companies adding lighter dress shoes to their line. Natick was famous for its brogan, a heavy ankle-high boot worn by soldiers in the American Civil War. The wound core for a more resilient ball was developed by John W. Walcott and combined with the figure-eight stitching devised by Col. William A. Cutler. It was manufactured by the firm of H. Harwood & Sons in their factory built in 1858 - the first plant in the world for the manufacture of baseballs. 

In 1874, a great fire in downtown Natick demolished 18 business blocks, two shoe factories, the Town Hall, Natick's only fire engine house and the Congregational Church, as well as many private homes. Though no lives were lost, the loss of property was greater in proportion to the town's wealth than the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. In 1875, Natick's new Central Fire Station was completed on Summer Street and opened with grand ceremony on the same city block where the great fire was first discovered. The Central Fire Station is now the home of a private non-profit community performing arts center called The Center for Arts in Natick (TCAN). 

Natick is home of the 2005 Division 2 Super Bowl champion high school football team. The Natick Redmen finished the season 13-0 with a win over Foxboro High School, and finished the year ranked #2 in Massachusetts. 

Natick has a long history of playing host to a portion of the Route 135.

== Geography ==
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 16.0&nbsp;square miles (41.6&nbsp;km²), of which, 15.1&nbsp;square miles (39.1&nbsp;km²) of it is land and 1.0&nbsp;square miles (2.5&nbsp;km²) of it is water.  The total area is 6.04% water, including bodies of water Lake Cochituate and Dug Pond.

==Demographics==
As of the White, 1.63% African American, 0.11% Native American, 3.86% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 0.77% from other races, and 1.56% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.97% of the population.

There were 13,080 households out of which 30.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.5% were married couples living together, 8.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.8% were non-families. 28.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.42 and the average family size was 3.02.

In the town the population was spread out with 23.0% under the age of 18, 5.1% from 18 to 24, 34.3% from 25 to 44, 23.3% from 45 to 64, and 14.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 89.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 85.3 males.

{{infobox plaats VS|
|naam=Natick
|type= town
|staat=Massachusetts
|county=Middlesex County
|bevolking=32170
|datum=2000
|oppervlak=39.1
|water=2.5
|lat_deg=42
|lat_min=17
|lat_sec=00
|lon_deg=71
|lon_min=21
|lon_sec=0
|detailkaart=
|web=
}}
'''Natick''' is een plaats (town) in Massachusetts in de Verenigde Staten. Het is een westelijke voorstad van Boston die ongeveer 30 km van de stad ligt. Bij de volkstelling van 2000 had het een bevolking van 32.170 personen.

De naam van de plaats betekent "plaats met heuvels" in de inheemse taal Massachusett. De oorspronkelijke nederzetting, nu bekend als ''South Natick'', ligt in een heuvelachtig gebied aan de oevers van de Charles River. De naam van de plaats wordt uitgesproken als "nee-tick", en niet "nat-ick" (IPA: neItIk}

== Geschiedenis ==
Natick werd gesticht in Charles River vestigde. Het land was geschonken door het Massachusetts General Court, de volksvertegenwoordiging van de toenmalige Massachusetts Bay Colony. 

Een schooltje werd gesticht, een plaatselijk bestuur ingesteld, en alle indianen werden aangemoedigd om zich te bekeren. Tijdens King Philip's War werden de indianen uit Natick naar ''Deer Island'' voor de kust van Boston gestuurd. Velen kwamen door de kou en ziekten om het leven. De overlevenden die naar Natick terugkeerden, ontdekten dat hun huizen verwoest waren. Het indiaanse dorp herstelde zich niet meer, en om schulden af te betalen werd het gemeenschappelijke land stukje voor stukje aan blanke kolonisten verkocht. Tegen 1725 waren alle indianen verdwenen.

In Henry Wilson, Vicepresident van de Verenigde Staten van 1873 tot 1875, woonde het grootse deel van zijn leven in Natick en is er begraven. Een replica van het kleine schoenmakerswinkeltje waar Henry Wilson in zijn jeugd werkte staat in west-Natick.