"The climax of petty officialdom might well have been reached in 1797 when the list of officers chosen at the Town meeting included Selectmen, Overseers, Town Clerk and Treasurer, Tithing-men, Road Surveyors, Fish Committee, Clerk of the Market, Fence Viewers, Haywards, Surveyors of Lumber, Cullers of Fish, Sealers of Leather, Hog-reeves, Gangers of Cask, Sealers of Weights, Measurers of Grain, Corders of Wood, Firewards, Packer of Pork, and Cullers of Brick.”
Year: 2024
1854: Anti-immigrant Know Nothing Party Sweeps Massachusetts Elections
Prejudice disguised as patriotism repeats itself in American politics. In 1854, the "Know Nothing" American Party formed in opposition to Irish immigration and carried local elections in New England communities. They swept the state of Massachusetts in the fall 1854 elections but were defeated two years later.
The Ghost of Harry Maine
Harry Maine — you have heard the tale; He lived there in Ipswich Town; He blasphemed God, so they put him down with an iron shovel, at Ipswich Bar; They chained him there for a thousand years, As the sea rolls up to shovel it back; So when the sea cries, the goodwives say "Harry Maine growls at his work today."
The Ipswich Lighthouse
In 1881, a 45-foot cast iron lighthouse was erected at Crane Beach, replacing an earlier structure. By 1913, the sand had shifted so much that the lighthouse was 1,090 feet from the high water mark. Use of the light was discontinued in 1932 and in 1939 the Coast Guard floated the entire lighthouse to Edgartown on Martha's Vineyard.
Drunkards, Liars, a Hog, a Dog, a Witch, Disorderly Persons and the Innkeeper
As the young boys who arrived with the first settlers of Ipswich approached adulthood, they developed a fondness for hard liquor and rowdiness, which frequently landed them in court.
Remembering Mary Ellen Lepionka
We received the sad news today of the death of Mary Ellen Lepionka on October 7, 2024. Mary Ellen wrote prolifically about the Native Americans who lived in our area before European colonization and their descendants. In her professional career, Mary Ellen Lepionka taught social sciences at the college and high school levels, after which… Continue reading Remembering Mary Ellen Lepionka
Col. Doctor Thomas Berry, “Last of the Ipswich Aristocracy”
In the first half of the Eighteenth Century, Col. Thomas Berry was the most conspicuous citizen of the Town, "Autocrat of his time, Magistrate, Military leader, Physician and Statesman."
Crossing the Tracks on High Street
High Street originally continued straight until the first bridge over the railroad tracks was constructed in 1906. From 1900 when the first trolleys came to town until the bridge was built, passengers had to unload here to switch from the trolley from Newburyport to continue through Ipswich.
The Fox Creek Canal and Robinson’s Boatyard
The Fox Creek Canal is the oldest man-made tidewater canal in the United States, dug in 1820. In 1938 it was dredged to accommodate ship-building at Robinson's Boatyard, where small minesweepers were constructed for World War II.
The Ross Tavern
A small dwelling was moved in 1735 to the southeast side of the Choate Bridge where it was greatly expanded and became known as the Ross Tavern. The building was moved again in 1940 to the former Wendel Estate on Jeffreys Neck Road.
The Chasm
The 1893 Birdseye map shows a serious washout just to the east of the Old North Burying Ground, forming a deep gully. A late 19th Century photo taken by Arthur Wesley Dow shows rocks and soil pushed up against a barn and sheds that once stood below.
Joseph Stockwell Manning, a Civil War Hero from Ipswich
Private Joseph Stockwell Manning grew up in Ipswich, and was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor on December 1, 1864, a year and two days after an incredible act of bravery at Fort Sanders, Tennessee. in November, 1863.
To Secure a Competence
Remarks by Ipswich Historical Commission chairman John Fiske, on accepting the 2014 Community Service Award from the Ipswich Democratic Town Committee to the Historical Commission on January 31, 2015
Newburyport Turnpike Opens, February 11, 1805: “Over Every Hill and Missing Every Town”
In 1803, a group of Newburyport investors incorporated as the Newburyport Turnpike Corporation in a commercial venture to build a straight toll road from Boston to Newburyport (the highway we call Rt. 1).
Choate-Caldwell House, Formerly at the Corner of Elm and County Streets, Now at the Smithsonian
In 1963 this house was slated for destruction, but through the efforts of local preservationists was relocated to the Smithsonian where it resides as the Museum’s largest artifact on permanent display.
Christopher and Sarah Bidlake
Christopher and Sarah Bidlake, who married in Ipswich, Massachusetts, were the common ancestors of the Bidlack family of Windham County, Connecticut. The above sketch of Windham Center in the 1830s is by John Warner Barber. Sarah Bidlake was the daughter of John Fuller and Elizabeth (Emerson) Perrin, and a granddaughter of Thomas Emerson who was born… Continue reading Christopher and Sarah Bidlake
Historic Ipswich 