Originally, in 1653, the community was part of the Wamiset Praying Town, one of the preserves set aside by the colonists for Christianized Indians. The town has several large ponds, bogs and swamps and numerous brooks. Its early economy relied on fishing, lumbering and the milling of lumber, which led in turn to the 19th century industries of paper making and cotton textile manufacturing. These mills attracted Irish and French Canadian immigrants. There has been intense modern development in Dracut, with suburban residential pressures from Lowell.
Some rural landscapes survive intact along the state boundary as do some handsome historic houses.
The building, dating from about 1700, has served as the site of annual crafts fairs in Dracut. It includes both subsidized affordable units and market rate units in certain eligible subsidized developments. The development of transportation resources in the Merrimack River Valley, where Dracut is situated, was shaped by the history of the region as a major site of American industrial development in the nineteenth century. The area has exceptionally good highway and rail facilities linking the major cities and towns to each other and to the port, airport, and intermodal facilities of Boston. Major Highways Principal highways are State Routes 110 and 113 and Interstate Routes 95 and 495, the outer belt around Boston.