Until 1735 North Upton was part of Sutton and Hopkinton. Sons and daughters of Westborough families settled this area while people migrating from Rowley settled other areas of Upton. In June of 1735, parts of Mendon, Sutton, Hopkinton and Uxbridge were joined together and incorporated into the town of Upton. Because of the distance to the Upton meeting house and their ties to the Westborough minister, Reverend Ebenezer Parkman, families in North Upton did not establish close ties to the rest of town.
Some of these early North Upton families objected to paying taxes while seeing little benefit in return. They banded together attempting to secede from the Commonwealth and forming a new state. According to the late Carl Anderson this earned the area the nickname of “New State.” As Mr. Anderson told it, one day someone went to visit a family in “New State” and found the homes empty and everyone gone with no explanation. It is conjectured that they may have moved on to the Western Territories where they would have more freedom and a smaller tax burden. In the past this story has only been known through verbal history. Deed research in 2005 discovered the words “New State” as a point of reference in a local deed.