Pepperell began with settlements from Groton on scattered farms and at river crossings on the Nashua and Nissitissit Rivers in the 1720s and 1730s. The community was given separate identity as Groton West Parish in 1742. It became a town in 1775.
The building of the Worcester and Nashua Railroad in 1848 led to the expansion of the town in 1857. A paper mill was established at Main Street and the Nashua River in1834 or 1835. Primarily a residential community, the town is home to the Pepperell Paper Company – one of the oldest such companies in Massachusetts.
The volunteer fire department hosts a firemen’s muster annually in August. A day-long Fourth of July celebration, a 300-team soccer tournament that brings in more than 50,000 people in October, homemade ice-cream and one of the cleanest, best trout fishing rivers in the state, all provide pleasure to Pepperell residents and visitors.