Place:Newburyport, Essex, Massachusetts, United States

Watchers
NameNewburyport
TypeCity
Coordinates42.813°N 70.877°W
Located inEssex, Massachusetts, United States
Also located inNewbury, Essex, Massachusetts, United States     ( - 1764)
source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
source: Family History Library Catalog


the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Newburyport is a coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, northeast of Boston. The population was 18,289 at the 2020 census. A historic seaport with vibrant tourism industry, Newburyport includes part of Plum Island. The mooring, winter storage, and maintenance of recreational boats, motor and sail, still contribute a large part of the city's income. A Coast Guard station oversees boating activity, especially in the sometimes dangerous tidal currents of the Merrimack River.

At the edge of the Newbury Marshes, delineating Newburyport to the south, an industrial park provides a wide range of jobs. Newburyport is on a major north-south highway, Interstate 95. The outer circumferential highway of Boston, Interstate 495, passes nearby in Amesbury. The Newburyport Turnpike (U.S. Route 1) still traverses Newburyport on its way north. The Newburyport/Rockport MBTA commuter rail from Boston's North Station terminates in Newburyport. The earlier Boston and Maine Railroad leading farther north was discontinued, but a portion of it has been converted into a recreation trail.

Contents

Historic Preservaton

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia


History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia
On January 28, 1764, the General Court of Massachusetts passed "An act for erecting part of the town of Newbury into a new town by the name of Newburyport." The act begins:
Whereas the town of Newbury is very large, and the inhabitants of that part of it who dwell by the water-side there, as it is commonly called, are mostly merchants, traders and artificers, and the inhabitants of the other parts of the town are chiefly husbandmen; by means whereof many difficulties and disputes have arisen in managing their public affairs – Be it enacted ... That that part of the said town of Newbury ... be and hereby are constituted and made a separate and distinct town ....

The act was approved by Governor Francis Bernard on February 4, 1764. The new town was the smallest in Massachusetts, covering an area of , and had a population of 2,800 living in 357 homes. There were three shipyards, no bridges, and several ferries, one of which at the foot of Greenleaf Lane, now State Street, carried the Portsmouth Flying Stage Coach, running between Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and Boston.

The town prospered and became a city in 1851. Situated near the mouth of the Merrimack River, it was once a fishing, shipbuilding and shipping center, with an industry in silverware manufacture. In 1792, a bridge was built two miles above the town where the river contained an island. Merrimack Arms and Brown Manufacturing Company made Southerner Derringer pistols in their Newburyport factory from 1867 to 1873. The sea captains of old Newburyport (as elsewhere in Massachusetts) had participated vigorously in the triangular trade, importing West Indian molasses and exporting rum made from it. The distilleries were located around Market Square near the waterfront. Caldwell's Old Newburyport rum was manufactured locally until 1961.

Newburyport once had a fishing fleet that operated from Georges Bank to the mouth of the Merrimack River. It was a center for privateering during the Revolutionary War and War of 1812. Beginning about 1832, it added numerous ships to the whaling fleet. Later, clipper ships were built there. Today, the city gives little hint of its former maritime importance. Notably missing are the docks, which are shown on earlier maps extending into the channel of the Merrimack River, and the shipyards, where the waterfront parking lot is currently located.

George Whitefield, the well-known and influential English preacher who helped inspire the First Great Awakening in America, arrived in Newburyport in September 1740. The revival that followed his labors, brought into existence Old South Church, where he was buried after his death in 1770.

The city's historical highlights include:

Historic events:

  • First of many clipper ships built here
  • First "Tea Party" rebellion to oppose British Tea Tax
  • First state mint and treasury building
  • Newburyport Superior Courthouse, the oldest continuously active courthouse in Massachusetts

The Newburyport Five Cents Savings Bank on State Street was founded in 1854, and is one of the oldest banks in the United States still in operation.

Historic houses and museums:

  • Cushing House Museum & Garden
  • Newburyport Custom House Museum (1835), designed by Robert Mills

Literary interests:

  • Was referred to in the H. P. Lovecraft story, "The Shadow Over Innsmouth", as being located near Innsmouth. Lovecraft in fact based his depiction of Innsmouth largely on Newburyport.
  • Subject of the most ambitious community study ever undertaken, the Yankee City project conducted by anthropologist W. Lloyd Warner and his associates

Timeline

  • 1635: Newbury incorporated.
  • 1761: Belleville Congregational Church founded.
  • 1764: Newburyport incorporated (formerly part of Newbury).
  • 1772: Marine Society of Newburyport established.
  • 1773
    • Isaiah Thomas opens "a printing house in King Street."
    • Essex Journal newspaper begins publication.[1]
  • 1790: Population: 4,837.
  • 1793: Impartial Herald newspaper begins publication.[2][1]
  • 1794
    • Morning Star newspaper begins publication.[1]
    • Newburyport Woolen Manufacturing Co. established.
  • 1795
    • Political Gazette newspaper begins publication.[2][1]
    • Merrimack Bank incorporated.
  • 1797: Newburyport Herald newspaper begins publication.[1]
  • 1799: Newburyport Marine Insurance Co. incorporated.
  • 1801: American Intelligencer newspaper published.
  • 1802: Merrimac Humane Society established.
  • 1803
    • Merrimack Gazette and New England Repertory newspapers begin publication.[1]
    • Newburyport Female Charitable Society organized.
    • Merrimack Fire and Marine Insurance Co. incorporated.
  • 1804: Political Calendar newspaper begins publication.[1]
  • 1805: Merrimack Magazine begins publication.[1]
  • 1807: Newburyport Gazette newspaper begins publication.[1]
  • 1808: Statesman newspaper begins publication.[1]
  • 1810
    • Newburyport Mechanick Association and Newburyport Athenaeum incorporated.
    • Independent Whig newspaper begins publication.[1]
    • Merrimack Bible Society organized.
  • 1812: Washington Benevolent Society organized.
  • 1818: Howard Benevolent Society instituted "for the relief of the sick and destitute."
  • 1825: Newburyport Hosiery Co. established.
  • 1829: Newburyport Lyceum organized.
  • 1835
  • 1836
    • Newburyport Linnean Society and Newburyport Steam Cotton Co. incorporated.
    • Newburyport Silk Co. and Newburyport Ladies' Bethel Society established.
  • 1837: Bartlet Steam Mills incorporated.
  • 1840: Pleasant Street Christian Church organized.
  • 1841: Essex North District Medical Society organized.
  • 1842: James Steam Mills incorporated.
  • 1844: Essex Steam Mills incorporated.
  • 1845: Globe Steam Mills and Ocean Steam Mills incorporated.
  • 1850
    • Ladies' General Charitable Society instituted.
    • Newburyport Gas Co. incorporated.
  • 1851: June 18: Essex North Musical convention held.
  • 1852: Merrimack Library Association organized.
  • 1854
  • 1855: Newburyport Library Association organized.
  • 1857: Mechanic Library Association incorporated.
  • 1865: Washington Street Methodist Episcopal Church organized.
  • 1869: Merrimack Marine Railway Co. incorporated.
  • 1874: Newburyport Mutual Benefit Association organized.
  • 1877: Antiquarian and Historical Society of Old Newbury established.
  • 1878: Newburyport Athenaeum organized.
  • 1884: Newburyport YMCA incorporated.
  • 1886: Newburyport Society for the Relief of Aged Men incorporated.
  • 1887: Newburyport Electric Light & Power Co. incorporated.
  • 1888: Daily News established.
  • 1890
    • YWCA of Newburyport incorporated.
    • City Improvement society organized.
  • 1896: Newburyport Choral Union organized.
  • 1904: South End Reading Room Association formed.
  • 1906: Newburyport Homeoepathic Hospital opens.
  • 1917: Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church of Newburyport founded.
  • 1968: Newburyport Maritime Society established.
  • 1971: Market Square Historic District added to National Register of Historic Places.
  • 1971-1979: Downtown undergoes major renewal and historic preservation effort.
  • 1991: Actors Studio of Newburyport founded.
  • 1994: Sister city relationship established with Bura, Taita-Taveta District, Kenya.

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This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Newburyport, Massachusetts. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WeRelate, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.