Originally a part of Lancaster, Leominster's first house was built in 1725 by Gershom Houghton. By the mid-1800s Leominster had become an industrial center. The comb-making industry, begun in Obadiah Hills' kitchen in 1775, dominated 18th-century work life. By the time Leominster became a city in 1915, visionaries like Bernard Doyle and Samuel Foster were developing tools and techniques that would revolutionize the plastics industry, which commanded the 20th century. Leominster is known today as the Pioneer Plastic City, and the plastic industry still provides the foundation of the city's...