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is a census-designated place (CDP) on the Mumford River, a tributary of the Blackstone River, in the town of Northbridge in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 6,340 at the 2000 census. Whitinsville is pronounced as if it were spelled "White-ins-ville."
The Whitin Mill, owned by the Whitin family, for whom Whitinsville is named, is located in downtown Whitinsville as is the Whitin Machine Works, or "The Shop," an internationally renowned maker of textile machinery. The Shop” specialized in making machines for picking, carding and spinning cotton and wool. During its more than 100 year run, The Shop was the world's largest producer of textile spindles. Today you can still see much of the original village, including the housing for workers and their families, churches and the Community Center. The textile machine company and industrial village were written up as one of the Harvard studies of history in business.