This village was originally Nipmuc native lands, and was first settled as part of Mendon in 1662. From 1662 to 1727 it was part of Mendon, then later it became part of Uxbridge from 1727 to 1772. In 1772 Northbridge finally became a separate town. The village’s early name was “South Northbridge”, before the Whitin family’s rise to prominence. Col. John Spring led a militia training company from Uxbridge which fought in the American Revolution. Col. Spring was from the section that became South Northbridge.

Today a visitor can see much of the original village, including the housing for workers and their families, churches, and the Whitin Community Center. The textile machine company and industrial village were written up as one of the Harvard studies of history in business.

A 1936 Berlin Olympics champion backstroke swimmer, Alice Bridges, then of Uxbridge, trained in the local gym pool (Whitin Community Center) in Whitinsville. The Whitinsville Savings Bank was involved in a precedent-setting case in the U.S., involving tort and contract law, known as “Swinton vs. Whitinsville Savings Bank (1942)”. A real estate transaction two years earlier had failed to disclose termites in a building.

Whitinsville is located at 42°6′44″N 71°40′22″W / 42.11222°N 71.67278°W / 42.11222; -71.67278 (42.112208, -71.672890).

According to the 2010 United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 3.64 square miles with 1,840.2 persons per square mile. Whitinsville is a “village” within the incorporated town of Northbridge, Massachusetts. It is located in Worcester County.

As of the census of 2010, there were 6,704. The population density was 1,840.2/mi. Females comprise 52.1% of the population. The racial makeup of the CDP was 95.2% White, 0.8% African American, 0.2% Native American, 1.1% Asian, and 1.7% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.8% of the population. 4.6% of households speak a language other than English.

There were 2,613 housing units with 44.4% of these in multi-unit structures. Homeownership rate is 58.9% with 85.9% of persons residing in the same housing unit for 1 year or more. The median value of owner-occupied housing unit was $341,000.

There were 2,452 households. The average household size was 2.87. In the CDP, the population was spread out, with 7.4% under the age of 5, 28.1% under the age of 18, and 12.0% who were 65 years of age or older. 85.9% of persons over the age of 25 are high school graduates with 27.2% having a bachelor’s degree or higher. The average commute to work is 29.2 minutes.

The median income for a household in the CDP was $55,950. The median income for individuals was $27,531. 6.5% of the population were below the poverty line.

The 19th-century expansion of the Whitin mills attracted many Irish immigrant workers, and Irish currently make up 21.4% of the town’s population. Other nationalities represented in Whitinsville include Armenian, English, Italian, French-Canadian, and Dutch.

Whitinsville is a village within the town of Northbridge. New England towns, like Northbridge, administer the entire geography within their boundaries and function like a city and a county government rolled into one. The county government is weak or non-existent in the southern New England states. Worcester County exists today only as a historical area, with an elected County Sheriff, an elected county registrar of deeds, and a correctional and court system, which are now administered by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and its Office of Public Safety. County commissioners were last elected in 1999, and local roads are now administered either by the towns or the state.

The Northbridge Town Hall is located at 7 Main Street in Whitinsville, the largest village in the town. It was built in 1876, and from 1876-1913 it served as the public library. The Town Hall was extensively renovated in 2013.

The Northbridge Board of Selectmen functions like a city council. Local police, public works, board of health, fire, and schools are each administered as part of the government of the Town of Northbridge.