First settled in 1760, the town was once part of Hancock, Dublin, Roxbury, Nelson, and Marlborough. It became a mill center when the Harris family built of one of the first woolen mills in New England. The town was known as Twitchellville, after Abel Twitchell, whose daughter had married into the Harris family. When the business name was changed to Cheshire Mills, the town incorporated as Harrisville.
