Accordingly they commenced a movement for a division of the town of Lunenburg; and the first petition to have the westerly part of that town set off was presented in town meeting in 1759.  At various other town meetings a like petition was presented and always rejected, until January, 1764, when it was granted, and a committee appointed to obtain an act of incorporation from the Legislature; and at last, on the third of February, 1764, the Governor of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay signed the Act, which made Fitchburg an incorporated town, with all the rights and privileges usually granted, except that the two towns of Lunenburg and Fitchburg were to have but one representative to the General Court.

A portion of the territory of Fitchburg was set off a few years later to form a part of the new town of Ashby.

The first town meeting in Fitchburg was held in the tavern of Captain Samuel Hunt, on the fifth of March, 1764, when selectmen were chosen, and other business necessary to the organization of a town government transacted.  The next business after the necessary civil affairs were put in order was to provide for “Sabbath days’ preaching,” and the Rev. Peter Whitney was hired to preach in the house of Thomas Cowdin for a time.  It was also voted to build a meeting-house, which was completed sufficiently for occupancy in the autumn of 1766, and was located between Blossom and Mount Vernon Streets, near Crescent Street.  The land was presented to the town by Thomas Cowdin, a new resident, who had purchased the tavern of Captain Samuel Hunt.

In those days the tavern keeper was a man of great importance by virtue of his calling, but Thomas Cowdin was in himself a remarkable man.  Energetic and commanding by nature, his varied experience had been of a kind to call out his peculiar characteristics.  A soldier in the Provincial army, he served actively in the French and Indian wars, and rose from the ranks to the office of captain.  During the war of 1755 he was employed in returning convalescent soldiers to the army and in arresting deserters.  At one time he was set on the track of a deserter, whom he found was making his way to New York.  He followed him with characteristic celerity and promptness, and at length found him one Sabbath morning attending divine service in a Dutch meeting-house.  Cowdin did not hesitate, but entered and seized the culprit at once, much to the surprise and consternation of the congregation.  A severe struggle ensued, in which he barely escaped with his life, but he finally overpowered and secured his prisoner.  He then took him to Boston, where he received orders to deliver him at Crown Point.  So alone through the woods for that long distance he journeyed with his prisoner, who well knew the fate which awaited him; threading each day the lonely forest, and lying down each night to sleep by the side of the doomed man.  He delivered his prisoner safely at Crown Point, from whence he was taken to Montreal, and shot.  For many years Cowdin was one of the most influential and prominent men in Fitchburg, and enjoyed to a great degree the confidence of his fellow citizens.  He was the first Representative to the General Court under the new State Constitution, and held many town offices.  A handsome monument has recently been erected to his memory by his grandson, Honorable John Cowdin, of Boston.