Middleton was first settled in 1651. The town derives its name from its location midway between Danvers and Andover, on a road well traveled in early times. It was once known as Will's Hill, an outlying part of Salem Village. In 1692, Middleton lost one of its residents to a witch hunt. The town grew as a farming community, yet it also had an important ironworks industry in the 1700s. Though a largely bucolic and agrarian community, two railroad lines...