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126-464: Manchester-by-the-Sea (also known simply as Manchester , its name prior to 1990) is a coastal town on Cape Ann , in Essex County, Massachusetts , United States. The town is known for scenic beaches and vista points. According to the 2020 population census , the population is 5,395. The town lies on the southern side of Cape Ann, at the point where the peninsula meets the mainland. The North Shore

252-407: A Beverly-Salem collaboration to address climate change. Whether it involves vehicle electrification or the greening of city buildings, the coastal city of Beverly has made climate work a central focus to protect its future. Beverly is home to The Cabot, one of only approximately 250 similar movie palaces left out of an estimated 20,000 theaters built in the 1920s. For its first 40 years, it served as

378-712: A CDP which is coextensive with the entire town. CDPs are only recognized within towns, not cities. Because the primary role of CDPs is to establish "place" data for communities located in unincorporated areas, a CDP cannot be within an incorporated place. Since the Census Bureau recognizes New England cities as incorporated places, a CDP cannot be within a city. Data users from outside New England should be aware that New Englanders usually think in terms of entire towns (i.e., MCD data), making CDP data of marginal local interest. Since virtually all territory in New England outside of Maine

504-455: A borough or city can span more than one town. In practice, though, most cities in Connecticut today do not function any differently from their counterparts elsewhere in New England. See the section below on boroughs and villages for more background on this topic. There are far fewer cities in New England than there are towns, although cities are more common in heavily built-up areas, and most of

630-479: A borough, a city can cover only a portion of a town rather than being coextensive with the town. This is rare today—only one or two examples remain—but it was more common in the past. At least one borough historically spanned more than one town: the borough of Danielsonville originally laid over parts of Killingly and Brooklyn , until the Brooklyn portion petitioned to be reorganized as a fire district and concurrently

756-458: A center of community life for downtown Beverly. In 1944, the venue was leased to movie chain giant E.M. Loew’s, which eventually purchased it in 1962, and renamed it the Cabot Cinema. In 1976 it was purchased by Le Grand David and His Own Spectacular Magic Company . For 37 years, The Cabot hosted Le Grand David’s long-running magic show that made seven White House appearances and won recognition in

882-521: A city, it is coextensive and consolidated with the Town of Hartford; governed by a single governmental entity with the powers and responsibilities of the Town being carried out by the entity referred to as the City of Hartford. In legal theory though not in current practice Connecticut cities and boroughs could be coextensive (covering the same geography as the town) without being consolidated (a single government); also

1008-489: A close town meeting vote that year; the decision was extremely close and passed only by a vote of 97 to 95. This was ratified by an act of the state legislature passed on September 25, 1989. "Manchester by the Sea" was a familiar alternative town name since it was first used in 1877 by Boston publisher James T. Fields while attending an annual summer picnic of the "Manchester Elder Brethren" that still takes place today. The name change

1134-420: A fair number of unincorporated, named communities that lie within the incorporated territory of a municipality. Connecticut is one of two New England states to have any type of incorporated general-purpose municipality below the town level, namely incorporated boroughs (Vermont has incorporated villages). There are nine remaining in the state, with one, Naugatuck , having consolidated with the town. Additionally,

1260-452: A few cases in Maine where a township or gore does not border any other unorganized land, it is treated as its own MCD rather than being folded into a larger UT. In theory, a CDP could probably be defined within an MCD representing an unorganized area. Due to the extremely sparse population in most such areas, however, there are few if any cases in which the Census Bureau has actually done so. For

1386-404: A firearm from the police station and sold it to a pawn shop for $ 650. Manchester-by-the-Sea Police Department Sergeant John "Jay" Swallow was sentenced to jail for the vicious beating of his wife and weapons charges. He engaged in a physical altercation while pointing a handgun at both his wife and the family dog. [1] One mile (1.6 km) from the town center is Singing Beach, so named because

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1512-591: A fishing community for more than 200 years. Beginning in 1845, it started to attract summer residents from the Boston area after poet Richard Dana built a house in the town. Over the next fifty years, development of summer houses along the coastline established the community as Boston society's community of choice for summer residency. The trend continued with designs of houses by architects, such as "Sunnywaters", designed by John Hubbard Sturgis for his older brother, Russell, in 1863. The best known of these "summer cottages"

1638-490: A historical example in New Hampshire, see Plantation number four . Most areas of New England never developed municipal forms based on the compact populated place concept. This contrasts with states with civil townships, which typically have extensive networks of villages or boroughs that carve out or overlay the townships. Two of the New England states do have general-purpose municipalities of this type, however, to at least

1764-625: A house for the summer White House from Mrs. Maria Evans in Beverly. In the summers of 1909 and 1910, he lived in a house located at what is now the site of the Italian Garden in Lynch Park, the city's principal public park, and in 1911 and 1912 he rented a different house a mile (1600 m) away, "Parramatta", from Mrs. Robert Peabody. Beverly Hills, California , was named in 1907 after Beverly Farms in Beverly because Taft vacationed there. In 1984,

1890-470: A limited extent. Connecticut has incorporated boroughs , and Vermont has incorporated villages . Such areas remain a part of their parent town, but assume some responsibilities for municipal services within their boundaries. In both states, they are typically regarded as less important than towns, and both seem to be in decline as institutions. In recent decades, many boroughs and villages have disincorporated, reverting to full town control. The term "village"

2016-474: A list of all New England towns and other town-level municipalities, see the following articles: Note: All population statistics are from the 2020 United States census . Connecticut contains 169 incorporated towns. Put into terms that are equivalent to the other New England states, 20 are cities/boroughs and 149 are towns. (As discussed in the Cities section of Other types of municipalities in New England above,

2142-524: A middle and high school. Constructed in 1923, the historic building lies near downtown Beverly. Its use for high school students from 1923 to 1964 came to an end when it was transformed to the towns Junior High School, serving grades 6–8. There, it lasted until 2017 when the newly built Beverly Middle School took in the students. Beverly is home to several K–12 private schools, including New England Academy , Landmark School , Harborlight-Stoneridge Montessori School, Kindercare Learning Center, Beverly School for

2268-420: A multi-year, multi-million dollar renovation to not only restore parts of the theater to its original 1920s grandeur and upgrade and modernize all current systems to better enhance the live experience, including replacement of all theater seating, opera box restoration, new sound and stage lighting systems, new heating and air conditioning, and most recently, the completion of the lobby renovation and restoration of

2394-461: A normal-sized town, these areas were known by a variety of names, including gores , grants, locations, purchases, surpluses, and strips. Sometimes these areas were not included in any town due to survey errors (which is the technical meaning of the term "gore"). Sometimes they represent small areas that were left over when a particular region was carved into towns, not large enough to be a town on their own. Some appear to have simply been granted outside

2520-550: A part of a town — within Barnstable, the seven villages correspond to districts for fire, water, sewer and elementary schooling, for instance. (In Maine and New Hampshire, the term "village corporation" is used for a type of special-purpose district.) Many villages also are recognized as places by the United States Postal Service (some villages have their own post offices , with their names used in mailing addresses) or

2646-520: A particular municipality. All municipalities titled as cities are classified as incorporated places, even if their population-distribution pattern is no different from that of a typical town; towns are never classified as incorporated places, even if they are thoroughly built up. The ambiguity over whether certain municipalities in Massachusetts should be classified as cities or towns, and the Census Bureau's inconsistent handling of these municipalities (see

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2772-551: A regional newspaper, the Gloucester Daily Times . The community lies within the Manchester Essex Regional School District . The Manchester-by-the-Sea Police Department have been subject to controversy, including sexual harassment by sworn officers, with allegations "that officials had permitted a sexually hostile environment, and that Christopher Locke, an officer in the police department, made

2898-413: A result, Maine has developed more of an infrastructure for administration of unincorporated and unorganized areas than the other New England states. The existence of this fallback probably explains why Maine has had significantly more towns disincorporated over the years than any other New England state. There have been numerous instances of towns in Maine disincorporating despite populations that numbered in

3024-494: A secret recording of [a young woman], violating the state's wiretap law." Howard Lewis, who had been appointed as a reserve officer in 2008 and a full-time officer in 2010, had been assigned to the 12 to 8 a.m. shift and served as the department's primary firearms instructor, when he was placed on administrative leave amid an internal affairs investigation on December 15, according to Manchester-by-the-Sea Police Chief Edward Conley. An internal affairs investigation determined he stole

3150-513: A similar purpose to MCDs in other states in terms of governmental function or civic-identity importance. New England towns are classified as MCDs not because they are not "incorporated" but rather the data that the census gathers on places is analyzed based on different models (those of compact settled places and open rural places) that is not well represented by the New England Town system of organization. In order to better fit their own purposes,

3276-412: A single compact populated place. Plantations in Maine are similarly classified as MCDs. That New England towns serve, in essence, the same function as incorporated places in other states, but are not treated as incorporated places by the Census Bureau, can be a source of confusion. The Census classifications should not be understood to imply that New England towns are not incorporated, or necessarily serve

3402-600: A small portion crossing through the corner of Essex. Route 127 also passes from west to east through town, traveling through the center of town. There is no bus service directly into town, with service passing east via the Cape Ann Transportation Authority in Gloucester, and an MBTA bus route providing service to Beverly. The town is served by a stop along the Newburyport/Rockport Line of

3528-423: A town and a city have become blurred. Since the early 20th century, towns have been allowed to modify the town meeting form of government in various ways (e.g., representative town meeting , adding a town manager ). In recent decades, some towns have adopted what effectively amount to city forms of government, although they still refer to themselves as towns. As a practical matter, one municipality that calls itself

3654-719: A town and another that calls itself a city may have exactly the same governmental structure. With these changes in town government, a reluctance to adopt the title of city seems to have developed, and few towns have officially done so since the early 20th century. In Massachusetts, nine municipalities ( Agawam , Barnstable , Braintree , Franklin , Palmer , Randolph , Southbridge , West Springfield and Weymouth ) have adopted Mayor-Council or Council-Manager forms of government in their home rule charters, and are therefore considered to be legally cities, but nevertheless continue to call themselves "towns". They are sometimes referred to in legislation and other legal documents as "the city known as

3780-426: A town disincorporated or a plantation surrendered its organization). The remaining eight counties contain significant amounts of unincorporated/unorganized territory. Most of these areas are in very sparsely populated regions, however. Only about 1.3% of the state's population lives in areas not part of a town, city, or plantation. (Since the 2000 Census, two towns, Madrid and Centerville, have disincorporated. Thus, at

3906-551: A town government. A typical town in the northern three states was laid out in a 6-by-6-mile (9.7 by 9.7 km) square. Each contained 36 sections, 1 mile (1.6 km) squares or 640 acres (260 ha). One section was reserved for the support of public schools. This was copied when the Continental Congress laid out Ohio in 1785–87. Many early towns covered very large amounts of land. Once areas had become settled, new towns were sometimes formed by breaking areas away from

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4032-557: A town meeting as its legislative body; instead, a city's legislative body is an elected representative body, typically called the city council or town council or board of aldermen . City governments are typically administered by a mayor (and/or city manager ). In common speech, people often generically refer to communities of either type as "towns", drawing no distinction between the two. The presence of incorporated boroughs in Connecticut and incorporated villages in Vermont has influenced

4158-460: A unique type of entity called a plantation . Beneath the town level, Connecticut has incorporated boroughs , and Vermont has incorporated villages . In addition to towns, every New England state has incorporated cities. However, cities are treated in the same manner as towns under state law, differing from towns only in their form of government. Most cities are former towns that changed to a city form of government because they grew too large to have

4284-475: A very rudimentary organization that does not rise to the level of an organized general-purpose municipal government (e.g., a town clerk 's office exists for the purpose of conducting elections for state or federal offices). In general, unorganized areas fall into one of the three categories below. During the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, as town boundaries were being drawn up, small areas would sometimes be left over, not included in any town. Typically smaller than

4410-524: Is 14 miles (23 km) west-southwest of Gloucester and 17 miles (27 km) northeast of Boston. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Beverly has a warm-summer humid continental climate , abbreviated "Dfb" on climate maps. Accordingly, the city experiences generally cold and snowy winters (though temperature and precipitation can vary greatly) along with warm to hot and humid summers. A sea breeze will often keep much of

4536-450: Is Beverly Middle School, which finished construction in 2018. Beverly Middle School serves residents in grades 5–8. Beverly High School is a grade 9–12 public high school located in Beverly. It was founded in 1858, and currently enrolls over 1300 students. In September 2011, construction was completed on a new academic building, which is now in use by students and faculty. Prior to the current state of Beverly's schools, Briscoe served as

4662-494: Is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts , United States, and a suburb of Boston . The population was 42,670 at the time of the 2020 United States Census . A resort, residential, and manufacturing community on the Massachusetts North Shore , Beverly includes Ryal Side, North Beverly, Centerville, Cove, Montserrat, Beverly Farms and Prides Crossing . Beverly is a rival of Marblehead for the title of "birthplace of

4788-439: Is bordered by Beverly and Wenham to the west, Hamilton to the northwest, Essex to the north, and Gloucester to the east. The town is located 9 miles (14 km) northeast of Salem and 24 miles (39 km) northeast of Boston . Manchester-by-the-Sea lies along Massachusetts Route 128 , the inner of two beltways around Greater Boston . Route 128 has two exits within town as it passes from Beverly to Gloucester, with

4914-730: Is home to Beverly Municipal Airport , though parts of the airfield itself lie within Danvers, as well as a very small portion of the north runway in Wenham. Logan International Airport provides the nearest national and international regularly scheduled air service. The Hall-Whitaker Bridge which spans the Bass River on Bridge Street was closed to vehicular traffic by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation in June of 2023. A permanent replacement

5040-462: Is home to Endicott College , which offers 23 bachelor programs, 27 concentrations, and 27 minors. Master programs are offered in business, education, nursing, computer science, and political science. Beverly is also home of Montserrat College of Art , a private four-year visual arts college. Route 128 , the chief circumferential highway of the Boston area, crosses Beverly from east to west and connects

5166-411: Is incorporated, CDPs do not really serve the same purpose as they do elsewhere; CDPs in New England invariably represent territory that is not "unincorporated", but part of a larger incorporated town. The extent to which such an area has its own distinct identity can vary, but is not usually as strong as identification with the town as a whole. There are numerous instances where the Census Bureau recognizes

Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts - Misplaced Pages Continue

5292-433: Is no area that is outside the bounds of a municipality. Using usual American terminology, there is no "unincorporated" land in Massachusetts. Of the 351 municipalities, the number that are cities and the number that are towns is a matter of some ambiguity. Depending on which source is consulted, anywhere from 39 to 53 are cities. The ambiguity is the result of questions around the legal status of municipalities that have since

5418-499: Is one of the few states in the region that is an exception to this rule; the Massachusetts Constitution requires a town to have a population of at least 10,000 people before it can switch its government from a town meeting form to a city form. Nevertheless, even without a hard and fast population limit for city status, the practical threshold to become a city seems to be higher in the three southern New England states than in

5544-481: Is sometimes used in New England to describe a distinct, built-up place within a town or city. This may be a town center , which bears the same name as the town or city (almost every town has such a place), or a name related to that of the town, or a completely unrelated name. The town of Barnstable, Massachusetts , for example, includes the villages of Barnstable Village , West Barnstable , Centerville , Marstons Mills , Osterville , Cotuit , and Hyannis . Except for

5670-460: Is sufficiently populated to be covered by a town or a city. In colonial times, Massachusetts also used the term "plantation" for a community in a pre-town stage of development (Maine originally got the term from Massachusetts, as Maine was part of Massachusetts until 1820, when it became a state via the Missouri Compromise ). The term "plantation" had not been much used in Massachusetts since

5796-621: Is the site of the split between the separate lines of the Newburyport/Rockport Line of the MBTA Commuter Rail , which provides service to Boston's North Station . South of the junction lies Beverly Depot near downtown, which is accessible along both lines. Along the Newburyport portion of the line is the North Beverly stop, just south of the Wenham town line. Along the Rockport portion of

5922-558: The Dominion of New England in 1684, Beverly joined a number of Massachusetts municipalities in seeking out heirs to local sachems and paying them ex post facto in order to establish a right to the land. So it was that in 1686, the town selectmen agreed to pay six pounds, six shillings, and eight pence to three grandchildren of Chief Masconomet , last sachem of the Agawam. They did not pay this sum until 1700. The first ship commissioned for

6048-590: The MBTA Commuter Rail , providing service from Rockport along the North Shore to Boston's North Station . The nearest airport is the Beverly Municipal Airport , with the nearest national and international service at Boston's Logan International Airport . As of the census of 2010, there were 5,136 people, 2,147 households, and 1,444 families residing in the town. The population density was 562.7 inhabitants per square mile (217.3/km). The racial makeup of

6174-594: The Marblehead Regiment . However, official US Navy history and the naval history of Rhode Island contradict this. Hannah can be found on the patch of the city's police department. Beverly has also been called the "birthplace of the American Industrial Revolution ," as it was the site of the first cotton mill in America (1787) and largest cotton mill of its time. The town is the home of one of

6300-450: The U.S. Navy ". Native Americans inhabited what would become northeastern Massachusetts for thousands of years before European colonization of the Americas . At the time of contact in the early 1600s, the area that would become Beverly was between an important Naumkeag settlement in present-day Salem and Agawam settlements on Cape Ann , with probable indigenous settlement sites at

6426-627: The US military , by the US Army (the US Navy had yet to exist), was the armed schooner USS Hannah , under the command of Captain Nicholson Broughton . It was outfitted at Glover's Wharf and first sailed from Beverly Harbor on September 5, 1775. For this reason, Beverly calls itself the "Birthplace of America's Navy." Marblehead makes a similar claim, in part, because Broughton was from there and belonged to

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6552-497: The United States Census Bureau (which recognizes some villages as census-designated places and tabulates census data for them). Towns with an example of the former, such as Richmond, Rhode Island , do not have a post office themselves, but instead use villages in town or villages in nearby towns as a mailing address. This leads to a weaker town identification in such towns, with residents more strongly identifying with

6678-549: The United States Census Bureau does not classify New England towns as "incorporated places". They are instead classified as " minor civil divisions " (MCDs), the same category into which civil townships fall. The Census Bureau classifies New England towns in this manner because they are conceptually similar to civil townships from a geographic standpoint, typically exhibiting similar population-distribution patterns. Like civil townships, but unlike most incorporated municipalities in other states, New England towns do not usually represent

6804-463: The deadliest arson fire in Massachusetts history occurred at the Elliott Chambers, a rooming house located on the corner of Rantoul and Elliott Streets in downtown Beverly. 15 people died as a result of the fire. Beverly has a former Nike missile site on L. P. Henderson Road, immediately east of the Beverly Municipal Airport . This site was in operation from March 1957 until August 1959, when

6930-452: The poverty line , including 3.9% of those under age 18 and 3.7% of those age 65 or over. The local newspaper, The Manchester Cricket , has published weekly since 1888. The newspaper has been owned by just three families since it began. Within the Cricket, there is a special section dedicated to the neighboring town, Essex. This section is called The Essex Echo . The town is also served by

7056-446: The 1840s, and for many years prior to the 1860s Vermont had just one city. Even Massachusetts, historically New England's most populous state, did not have any cities until 1822, when Boston was granted a city form of government by the state legislature. In most of New England, population is not a determining factor for what makes a city or town, and there are many examples of towns with larger populations than nearby cities. Massachusetts

7182-717: The 18th and 19th centuries as what might be termed "future towns", but never saw enough settlement to actually commence operation of a formal town government. All three of the northern New England states also include at least one unorganized township that was once a town but has disincorporated and reverted to unorganized territory, generally due to population loss. Maine also has some unorganized townships that were once organized as plantations. Maine has significantly more unorganized territory than Vermont or New Hampshire. Fewer than 100 Vermont residents and fewer than 250 New Hampshire residents live in unorganized areas. In Maine, by contrast, about 10,000 residents live in unorganized areas. As

7308-489: The 18th century. Massachusetts also once had "districts", which served much the same purpose. They were considered to be incorporated, but lacked the full privileges of a town. On August 23, 1775, in order for more representation for the Revolutionary War, 36 towns in Massachusetts and 6 in Maine were incorporated, effectively eliminating the district meaning. Maine and Rhode Island are also known to have made limited use of

7434-457: The 1970s, through home-rule petition, adopted corporate charters approved by the state legislature with forms of government that resemble city government and do not include elements traditionally associated with town government (especially, a board of selectmen and a town meeting). Of the fourteen communities that have done so, all but three call themselves a "town" in their municipal operations, and are usually referred to by residents as "towns", but

7560-450: The 20th century, however. One late instance was the separation of Sugar Hill, New Hampshire , from the town of Lisbon in 1962. It has not taken place anywhere in New England in the last fifty years; boundary changes of any type are fairly rare. Towns are the basic building block of the New England municipality system, although several other types of municipalities also exist. Every New England state has cities . In addition, Maine also has

7686-547: The 42 municipalities that title themselves as cities are recognized as cities. This includes the 39 cities that adopted city forms of government through pre-home rule procedures. The other 309 municipalities in the state are treated as towns below. The same classification is used for identifying Massachusetts cities on the list of New England towns and its attendant pages with historical census population statistics. For further information, see this section of Massachusetts government . Beverly, Massachusetts Beverly

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7812-596: The Army handed it over to the National Guard . It is now used by Beverly as a storage site and is under the scrutiny of many environmental organizations, due to concerns about polluted groundwater , which could be potentially hazardous to the nearby Wenham Lake water supply. In April 2013, Bill Scanlon, Beverly's longest-serving mayor, announced that he would not be running for re-election in November. Scanlon first won election to

7938-475: The CDP. At the same time, not all built-up places with significant populations are recognized as CDPs. The Census Bureau has historically recognized relatively few CDPs within urbanized areas in particular. Many towns located in such areas do not contain any recognized CDPs and will thus be completely absent from Census materials presenting the population of "places". Greenwich, Connecticut, is one prominent example. While

8064-410: The Census Bureau, can be another source of confusion. The Census classifications should not be understood to imply that cities are incorporated but towns are not, or that cities and towns represent two fundamentally different types of entities. The Census classifies New England municipalities strictly based on whether they are towns or cities, with no regard to the actual population-distribution pattern in

8190-448: The Census only counts cities and certain fully urbanized towns as "places" in its categorization. In other towns, those with small built-up central villages, the Census designates one or more census-designated places (CDPs) and considers all other land to be parts of "minor civil divisions". This classification is done only for the Census's own data analysis, and otherwise has no connection to

8316-598: The Deaf, Saints Academy, the Bright Horizons School, The Waring School, Glen Urquhart School, Shore Country Day, Mrs. Alexander's School, and several others. In addition, Northshore Academy offers K–12 alternative public education services. Many schools exist on campus, including schools for those struggling with learning disabilities, substance addiction, and a school for people with more severe mental and physical disabilities such as Down syndrome and paralysis The city

8442-558: The Great and Little Misery Islands, which are part of the city. From Woodbury Point westward lies Beverly Harbor, which lies at the mouth of the Danvers River. The Bass River empties into the Danvers River from within the city. Several other small streams lie within the city as well. A large portion of Wenham Lake, as well as several other lakes and ponds lie within the city. The city has its own city forest and reservation land as well. Much of

8568-632: The Guinness Book of Records and TIME, Smithsonian and National Geographic World magazines. When the Magic Company wound down and they placed the theater up for sale, thanks to the efforts of the five “founders”: Henry Bertolon, Bill Howard, Rich Marino, Thad Siemasko, and Paul Van Ness, the theater was saved and became a non-profit. In October 2015, the new Cabot board welcomed its first Executive Director, J. Casey Soward. The Cabot has welcomed thousands through its hallowed halls. In 2016, The Cabot embarked on

8694-514: The Killingly portion was renamed Danielson by the General Assembly. There are no legal restrictions in Connecticut that would prevent a city or borough today from similarly overlaying the territory of more than one town, provided it is not consolidated with one of the underlying towns. Cities actually developed earlier in Connecticut than in the other New England states, and were originally based on

8820-620: The Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth's Office considers all fourteen to be legally cities. Other sources within state government often refer to all fourteen municipalities as towns, however. The U.S. Census Bureau listed all as towns through the 1990 Census. For the 2000 Census, some were listed by the Federal government as towns and some as cities, a situation that continues in Census materials since 2000. Massachusetts appears to be

8946-466: The Statistics and Superlatives section below), further blurs matters. To fill in some of the "place" data, the Census Bureau sometimes recognizes census-designated places (CDPs) within New England towns. These often correspond to town centers or other villages, although not all such areas are recognized as CDPs. In cases where a town is entirely or almost entirely built-up, the Census sometimes recognizes

9072-512: The Town of ..." Greenfield, in December 2017, dropped the "town" designation, which some called "embarrassing" and which legislators said made paperwork more difficult. Common parlance labeling a community a "city" or a "town" may have more to do with its current size, whether its current size or its historical size and reputation. In addition to towns and cities, Maine has a third type of town-like municipality not found in any other New England state,

9198-524: The Town of Greenwich appears in MCD materials, the Census Bureau does not recognize Greenwich as a "place". In New Hampshire and Vermont, the Census Bureau treats each individual unorganized entity (township, gore, grant, etc.) as an MCD. In Maine, it seems, due to the extent of unorganized area, the Census Bureau typically lumps contiguous townships, gores, and the like together into larger units called "unorganized territories" (UTs), which are then treated as MCDs. In

9324-611: The U.S., except that it uses the town as its basic unit rather than the county. Even though the Census Bureau does not treat New England towns as "incorporated places", it does classify cities in New England as such. The rationale behind this is that cities are likely to be more thoroughly built-up and therefore more readily comparable to cities in other states than towns are. Boroughs in Connecticut and incorporated villages in Vermont are also treated as incorporated places. That New England states, in general, regard cities and towns on equal footing, yet they are handled in two different ways by

9450-556: The US Census Bureau treats Groton Long Point as a borough, as an act of the state legislature gives it the same powers as a borough, although it has never formally organized as one. They were once more numerous. Many of those that remain are very small. Connecticut also has at least one remaining city ( Groton ) that is within, but not coextensive with, its parent town . A second non-coextensive city, Winsted , still exists on paper, but its government has been consolidated with that of

9576-470: The actual organization or legal status of New England towns. The census bureau does uniquely recognize towns, however, in that it classifies metropolitan areas in New England on the basis of town boundaries rather than county boundaries as it does in other parts of the U.S. Unique to New England is the New England city and town area , which is analogous to Metropolitan Statistical Areas in other parts of

9702-501: The backdrop for these films: It was also featured in a season of the TV series This Old House , and was featured in a "Main Streets and Back Roads" episode of Chronicle , a newsmagazine program in New England. New England town Towns date back to the time of the earliest English colonial settlement , which predominated in New England, and they pre-date the development of counties in

9828-505: The borough concept. At one time, all cities were non-coextensive; the practice of making cities coextensive with their towns was a later adaptation intended to mimic the city concept that had emerged in the other New England states. Over time, many non-coextensive cities have expanded to become coextensive with their parent town. As with boroughs, many have also disincorporated and reverted to full town control. These two trends have combined to make non-coextensive cities very rare in recent times;

9954-625: The boundary with New York State , housing the Stratford Shoal Light , is not part of any town and is administered directly by the United States Coast Guard . In general, inhabited minor off-shore islands are administered as part of a nearby town and in some cases, are their own independent towns, such as the town of Gosnold , Massachusetts, which encompasses the Elizabeth Islands . Unlike municipalities in most other states,

10080-415: The built-up area around a town center as a CDP, resulting in a CDP that bears the same name as the town. In these cases, data for the CDP is, in general, meaningless to local residents, who seldom draw any particular distinction between the built-up area around the town center and outlying areas of the town. A local source citing data for such a community will almost always use the data for the entire town, not

10206-499: The city to Interstate 95 and U.S. Route 1 in Peabody. Route 1A passes through Beverly from south to north, along main streets in downtown Beverly. The city is also the terminus of four different state routes: Route 22 , which heads northeast from Route 1A; Route 62 , which heads west from Route 127; Route 97 , which parts with Route 1A northwest of downtown before heading north; and Route 127 which heads east from Route 22. Beverly

10332-513: The city. The average household size was 2.39 and the average family size was 3.02. 19.0% of residents were under the age of 18, and 81.0% were over the age of 18. 17.7% were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40.6 years. For every 100 females, there were 88.4 males. The median household income was $ 84,354. The per capita income for the city was $ 47,494. The city has five K–4 elementary schools: Ayers Ryal Side, Centerville, Cove, Hannah, and North Beverly. The city's sole middle school

10458-525: The coast, and several small islands dot the coast, the largest being Kettle Island and House Island . Several small coves edge the coast, the largest being Manchester Harbor, which is fed by Sawmill Brook and other small bodies of water. There are several protected areas within town, including Cedar Swamp Conservation Area, Cheever Commons Conservation Area, Coolidge Reservation, Dexter Pond, Owl's Nest Nature Preservation Land, Powder House Hill Reservation, and Wyman Hill Conservation Area. Manchester-by-the-Sea

10584-442: The coldest temperature recorded was −13 °F (−25.0 °C) on February 4, 2023. As of the census of 2020, there were 42,670 people and 16,568 households in the city. The racial makeup of the city was 82.3% White , 4.0% African American , 0.1% Native American , 9.3% Asian , 0.0% Pacific Islander , and 3.1% from two or more races. 5.4% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. There were 16,158 households in

10710-499: The complex was bought by Cummings Properties in 1996, and developed into a campus of hi-tech companies, salons, restaurants, medical offices, and more. Parker Brothers , makers of Monopoly and other games, was headquartered in Beverly, acquired by Hasbro , and eventually ceased operations in Beverly. In 2012, the Dunham Road property was acquired by Cummings Properties and named Dunham Ridge. President William Howard Taft rented

10836-486: The country's first Sunday schools , which was built in 1810. Beverly was incorporated as a city in 1894. In 1902, the United Shoe Machinery Corporation built a quarter-mile (400 m) stretch of factory buildings in Beverly. The stretch was an early landmark example of reinforced concrete construction, devised by concrete pioneer Ernest L. Ransome . In 1906 it went into production. Closed in 1987,

10962-434: The district concept. Districts have not been at all common since the first half of the 19th century, and there have not been any districts anywhere in New England in over a century. Maine is the only New England state that currently has a significant amount of territory that is not sufficiently populated to support town governments; thus, it is the only New England state that still needs the plantation type of municipality. For

11088-571: The east, Wenham to the north, Danvers to the west and Salem to the south. Beverly and Salem are separated by the Danvers River and Beverly Harbor, with three bridges, the Veterans Memorial Bridge (former location of the historic Essex Bridge), the MBTA railroad bridge, and the Kernwood Bridge, connecting the two cities. Beverly's city center lies 2 miles (3 km) north of Salem's, and

11214-471: The eponymous 2016 film Manchester by the Sea . Native Americans inhabited what would become northeastern Massachusetts for thousands of years prior to European colonization of the Americas . The area that would become Manchester was inhabited by Agawam people at the time of contact in the early 1600s, who were decimated by virgin soil epidemics especially in 1617–1619, after which fewer than 50 indigenous individuals are estimated to have survived within

11340-400: The evolution of cities in those states. In Connecticut in particular, the historical development of cities was quite different from in the other New England states, and at least technically, the relationship between towns and cities is today different from elsewhere in New England. Just as boroughs in Connecticut overlay towns, so do cities; for example, while Hartford is commonly thought of as

11466-484: The exception rather than the rule in the New England system, and the number of New England residents who live in them is extremely small in comparison to those who live in towns and cities, even in Maine. Most such areas are located in very sparsely populated regions. Much of the barely inhabited interior of Maine is unorganized, for example. The majority of the unincorporated areas in New Hampshire are in Coos County , and

11592-797: The hundreds. While these were not large communities, they were large enough to realistically operate a town government if they wanted to, but simply elected not to. In Vermont and New Hampshire, disincorporation has, in general, not been brought up for discussion unless a town's population has approached single digits. In general, coastal waters in the New England states are administered directly by either state or federal agencies and are not part of any town. Several towns, however, have chosen to include all or part of their corresponding coastal waters in their territory. Coastal waters include human-made structures built within them. In Connecticut, for example, an artificial, uninhabited island in Long Island Sound at

11718-490: The incorporated villages in Vermont, these "villages" are not incorporated municipalities and should not be understood as such. Towns do sometimes grant a certain measure of recognition to such areas, using highway signs that identify them as "villages", for example. These informal "villages" also sometimes correspond to underlying special-purpose districts such as fire or water districts, which are separately incorporated quasi-municipal entities that provide specific services within

11844-464: The largest municipalities in the region are titled as cities. Across New England as a whole, only about 5% of all incorporated municipalities are cities. Cities are more common in the three southern New England states, which are much more densely populated, than they are in the three northern New England states. In early colonial times, all incorporated municipalities in New England were towns; there were no cities. Springfield, Massachusetts , for instance,

11970-479: The late 18th century, and Massachusetts was almost completely covered early in the 19th century. By 1850, the only New England state that still had large unincorporated areas was Maine ; by the end of the 19th century, most areas in Maine that could realistically be settled had been organized into towns. Early town organization in Vermont and much of New Hampshire proceeded in a somewhat different manner from that of

12096-623: The line are two working stops, Montserrat and Beverly Farms , as well as the Prides Crossing station to which service is indefinitely suspended. Additionally, MBTA bus Route 451 serves the city, with service to downtown Beverly and Salem from the North Beverly station. A local bus route called the Beverly Shoppers Shuttle serves downtown and western Beverly, and is contracted through the Cape Ann Transportation Authority . Beverly

12222-558: The majority of the unincorporated areas in Vermont are in Essex County . Two additional counties in New Hampshire and three additional counties in Vermont contain smaller amounts of unincorporated territory. In Maine, eight of the state's sixteen counties contain significant amounts of unorganized territory (in essence, those counties in the northern and interior parts of the state). Four other counties contain smaller amounts. Most of these areas have no local government at all; indeed, some have no permanent population whatsoever. Some areas have

12348-700: The mayor’s seat in 1993 and held the office through 2013 (with the exception of a single term by Tom Crean from 2002–2003). In 2013, Michael Cahill beat Wes Slate to become Beverly's 34th mayor. In December 2021, Mayor Cahill received one of two top honors from the Mayors Climate Protection Awards recognizing mayors for their climate work. The award focused on two Beverly efforts: the conversion of its vehicle fleet to electric and its Green Schools Program, which involves making buildings more energy efficient. Salem Mayor Kimberley Driscoll also received an honorable mention for her work on Resilient Together,

12474-421: The modern bounds of Manchester. Manchester was first settled by English colonists in 1629 and was officially incorporated in 1645. It was formed from territory taken from Salem (that portion since given to Beverly) and Gloucester. In 1700, Manchester selectmen paid three grandchildren of Agawam sachem Masconomet three pounds and nineteen shillings for the rights to the land. The community thrived primarily as

12600-543: The mouth of the Bass River. During the early contact period, virgin soil epidemics ravaged native populations, reducing the indigenous population within the present boundaries of Beverly from an estimated 200 to less than 50 if there were any survivors. Europeans, under Roger Conant 's leadership, first colonized the area in 1626 as part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony . Initially part of Salem, Beverly would be set off and officially incorporated in 1668, when it

12726-453: The official establishment of new towns. Towns were typically governed by a town meeting form of government, as many still are today. Towns originally were the only form of incorporated municipality in New England. The city form of government was not introduced until much later. Boston , for instance, was a town for the first two centuries of its existence. The entire land areas of Connecticut and Rhode Island had been divided into towns by

12852-443: The only New England state where this issue has arisen, though other New England states also have municipalities that have adopted what amounts to city forms of government but continue to call themselves "towns". In the other New England states, it does not appear that any need to officially label such municipalities as "cities" has been identified. For purposes of determining the "largest town" and "smallest city", in this article, only

12978-530: The only one currently incorporated is the city of Groton , located in the southwestern part of the town of Groton, Connecticut . In Vermont, if a village becomes a city, it does not continue to overlay its parent town, but breaks away and becomes a completely separate municipality. Most cities in Vermont today are actually former villages rather than former towns, and are much smaller than a typical town in terms of land area. The above process has created several instances where there are adjacent towns and cities with

13104-411: The original existing towns. This was an especially common practice during the 18th and early 19th centuries. More heavily populated areas were often subdivided on multiple occasions. As a result, towns and cities in urbanized areas are often smaller in terms of land area than an average town in a rural area. Formation of new towns in this manner slowed in the later part of the 19th century and early part of

13230-564: The original rose window. In 2024, the successful non-profit welcomes comedian Jay Leno to its Big Night fundraiser. According to the United States Census Bureau , the city has a total area of 22.6 square miles (58.5 km ), of which 15.1 square miles (39.1 km ) is land and 7.5 square miles (19.4 km ), or 33.19%, is water. Beverly is located on the North Shore , the name given to communities north of Boston along Massachusetts Bay . There are many smaller coves, as well as two islands,

13356-419: The other New England states. In these areas, towns were often "chartered" long before any settlers moved into a particular area. This was very common in the mid to late 18th century—although there were towns which predated that period and were not part of this process in southeastern New Hampshire, such as Exeter . Once there were enough residents in a town to formally organize a town government, no further action

13482-524: The plantation. A plantation is, in essence, a town-like community that does not have enough population to require full town government or services. Plantations are organized at the county level and typically found in sparsely populated areas. There is no bright-line population divider between a town and a plantation, but no plantation currently has any more than about 300 residents. Plantations are considered to be "organized" but not "incorporated." Not all counties have them; in some southern counties, all territory

13608-461: The region. Areas were organized as towns as they were settled, throughout the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. Town boundaries were not usually laid out on any kind of regular grid, but were drawn to reflect local settlement and transportation patterns, often affected by natural features. In early colonial times, recognition of towns was very informal, generally connected to local church divisions. By 1700, colonial governments had become more involved in

13734-421: The relationship between towns and cities in Connecticut is different from the other New England states, at least on paper; thus, in the technical sense, all 169 of the above municipalities are really towns, with 20 overlaid by a coextensive city or borough of the same name.) Together, these 169 municipalities cover the entire state. There is no unincorporated territory, but, as in all New England states, there are

13860-439: The remaining 32 are organized as plantations. These 485 organized municipalities together cover much of, but not all of, the state's territory. Of Maine's sixteen counties, only four are entirely incorporated. Four other counties are almost entirely incorporated, but include small amounts of unincorporated/unorganized territory (three of these four counties were entirely incorporated or organized at one time, but lost that status when

13986-506: The same name. In all cases, the city was originally the "town center" of the town, but later incorporated as a city and became a separate municipality. All three of the northern New England states ( Vermont , New Hampshire , and Maine ) contain some areas that are unincorporated and unorganized, not part of any town, city or plantation. Maine has significantly more such area than the other two states. While these areas do exist, their importance should not be overstated. They are certainly

14112-507: The sand comprising the beach squeaks when walked upon . The sand is an iridescent color when the sun sets. This beach is quite popular during summer months in particular, because it is easily accessible from Boston by a one-half-mile (800 m) walk from the MBTA train station . Also located on this beach is the tourist attraction "Eaglehead", a rock composite that is the focal point of rock climbing and other recreation activities. The town provided

14238-451: The southern part of the city cooler in the summer. Beverly is prone to thunderstorms and tropical rainstorms in the summer and nor'easters that can bring heavy rain and/or in the winter, fall, and spring. Generally, however, precipitation is relatively even throughout the year, with a slight increase around the spring and the fall. The hottest temperature recorded in Beverly was 98 °F (36.7 °C) on July 4, 2002 and July 25, 2022, while

14364-452: The three northern New England states. In Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island, almost every city has at least 10,000 people, and all but a few have at least 20,000. In Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, however, there are a number of cities with fewer than 10,000 people, and there are five (three in Maine and two in Vermont) with fewer than 5,000. Over time, some of the distinctions between

14490-399: The time of the 2000 Census, Maine had 22 cities, 434 towns, and 34 plantations, for a total of 490 organized municipalities. Also since the 2010 Census, Sanford adopted a new charter that included designation as a city.) Massachusetts contains 351 municipal corporations, consisting of cities and towns. These 351 municipalities together encompass the entire territory of Massachusetts; there

14616-444: The town of Winchester for many years, making it more of a special-purpose district than a true municipality. Winsted is no longer recognized by the Census Bureau as an incorporated place, although data is tabulated for a Census Designated Place that is coextensive with that of the original city. As of the 2020 census, Maine contains 485 organized municipalities, of which 23 are incorporated as cities, 430 are incorporated as towns, and

14742-412: The town was 97.6% White , (5,012); 0.9% Asian , (46); 0.2% Native American , (10); 0.1% African American , (5); 0.1% from other races , and 1.1% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.5% (77) of the population. The median income for a household in the town was $ 95,243, and the median income for a family was $ 109,760. About 4.5% of families and 5.1% of the population were below

14868-621: The usual town structure, sometimes in areas where it was probably not contemplated that towns would ever develop. Over time, those located in more populated areas were, in general, annexed to neighboring towns or incorporated as towns in their own right. No such areas exist today in Massachusetts, Connecticut or Rhode Island, but some remain in New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine. All three of the northern New England states contain some town-sized unorganized entities, referred to as "unorganized townships" (sometimes, just "townships") or "unorganized towns". Most of these are areas that were drawn up on maps in

14994-451: The village they live in. However, villages or CDPs have no existence as general-purpose municipalities separate from the town (if they even have any legal existence at all), and are usually regarded by local residents as a part of the town in which they are located, less important than the whole. It is possible for a Connecticut borough or Vermont village to become a city. In Connecticut, cities overlay towns just as boroughs do, and, just like

15120-543: The western half of the city is relatively urbanized, while the eastern part of the city (roughly from Woodbury Point east) is more rural. Beverly is home to several parks, five beaches, the Beverly Golf & Tennis Club (est. 1910) and two yacht clubs, Jubilee Yacht Club in Beverly Harbor and Bass Haven Yacht Club along the Bass River. Besides Massachusetts Bay to the south, Beverly is bordered by Manchester-by-the-Sea to

15246-551: Was Kragsyde , completed in 1885. Commissioned by George Nixon Black, the Peabody and Stearns -designed residence has been hailed as the zenith of the Shingle style substyle of the Queen Anne style of architecture. It was demolished in 1929. To prevent confusion with the nearby and much larger city of Manchester, New Hampshire , the name of the town was officially changed in 1989 following

15372-478: Was driven by Edward Corley, a longtime resident of Manchester. According to the United States Census Bureau , the town has a total area of 18.3 square miles (47.3 km), of which 9.2 square miles (23.9 km) is land and 9.0 square miles (23.4 km), or 49.47%, is water. The town lies along the North Shore of Massachusetts Bay , which in turn leads to the Atlantic Ocean. There are seven beaches lining

15498-520: Was named after Beverley , the county town of the East Riding of Yorkshire , England . Surviving from the settlement's early history is the Balch House , built, according to dendrochronological testing performed in 2006, about 1679. English colonists did not initially seek permission from indigenous inhabitants to settle in Beverly; however, when Charles II revoked colonial charters to establish

15624-513: Was necessary to incorporate. This practice can lead to inconsistencies in the dates of incorporation for towns in this region. Dates given in reference sources sometimes reflect the date when the town was chartered, which may have been long before it was settled, and not the date when its town government became active. In other parts of New England, some "future towns" were laid out along these lines, but such areas would not be formally incorporated as towns until they were sufficiently settled to organize

15750-477: Was populated by the Agawam people prior to European settlement, which began in 1629, about a decade after an epidemic killed much of the native people. Fishing was the major industry in the town almost from its incorporation in 1645, but in the mid-19th century it began to grow as a popular seaside resort community. The town has appeared, either by name or as a filming location, in a number of films and TV shows, notably

15876-442: Was settled as a "plantation" (in colonial Massachusetts, the term was synonymous with town) as early as 1636, but the city of Springfield was not established until 1852. The oldest cities in New England date to the last few decades of the 18th century, (e.g. New Haven, Connecticut , was chartered as a city in 1784). In New England, cities were not widespread until well into the 19th century. New Hampshire did not have any cities until

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