Newburyport History
History of Newburyport, MA
The first known residents of Newburyport, Massachusetts were the Pawtucket Indians. In the early 1600's they were joined by groups of English settlers, who earned a living by fishing off of the Newburyport coastline, farming the rich soils, tanning leather hides, and shipbuilding. When the area was first settled in 1635, it was a section of "Newberry Plantation," now known as Newbury, Massachusetts.
According to the book History of Newburyport, Mass by John James Currier, in 1764, the Governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay approved a piece of legislation which made Newburyport its own city. The Act became known as the "Act for Erecting Part of the Town of Newbury into a New Town by the Name of Newburyport." The Act stated:
"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..."
In the years following, Newburyport became a popular port within the Triangle Trade, bringing West Indies molasses to be made into rum in the local distilleries. By 1851, Newburyport had grown into a city with a strong fishing industry, a formidable whaling fleet, and a very active shipyard. This continued through the early 1900s.
During the 1950s and 60s, with the shipping industry relocating to larger ports up and down the coast, and the fishing industry becoming smaller, Newburyport lost much of its prosperity that had lasted for decades. Downtown Newburyport, which has some of the best examples of Federalist architecture in the United States, fell into disrepair and was scheduled to be completely demolished at one point.
In the early 1970s, after recognizing the significance of the buildings and the city of Newburyport's heritage, the federal government stepped in and provided financial assistance for a redevelopment and revitalization of Downtown Newburyport. The city would be able to keep its noted architecture.
Today shipbuilding in Newburyport is a thing of the past. But if you wander around Market Square near the waterfront on a quiet summer evening near sundown, you can almost hear the clink of raised tankards of Caldwell's Old Newburyport rum and the lusty sounds of robust voices joined in a rousing nautical ditty or two.
The bustling antique shops and art galleries offer wonder relics from the past, and the local restaurants and shops offer visitors the best of today.