Early in the morning of Jan. 13, 1894, several businesses on Central Street went up in flames. Three months later the other end of Market St. burned, and the town finally voted to build a water system.
Central Street in Ashes, January 13, 1894
Tag: town government
Old Toryism, Mock Federalism & the Essex Junto
Baptist minister "Citizen Pottle" gave a toast, "To the Venerable Town of Ipswich. May it be purged of all old Toryism and mock Federalism." As the other ministers were indeed Federalists, his toasts aroused suspicion that the whole celebration was a spirited demonstration of Baptist enthusiasm.
Ipswich in the Great Depression
In March 1934, Congress passed the Civilian Conservation bill, creating the Works Progress Administration and the Civil Conservation Corps which accomplished several projects in Ipswich.
Early Ipswich, “A Paradise for Politicians”
Due to the small scale of the settlement, the settlers of Ipswich reproduced an English form of government from a far earlier time. The first public officials were the clerk, lot-layers and "The Seven Men" (selectmen). By the end of the next century, every industry was supervised by some public functionary.
Illegal Currency: Ipswich and the Land Bank Scheme of 1740-41
In September 1740, two Massachusetts Land Banks organized and issued £50,000 of notes of varying amounts, without legal authorization of the Crown. An Act of Parliament declared all the transactions of the two Bank Schemes illegal and void.
A Revolutionary Guest: John Adams’ Letters From Ipswich
John Adams visited Ipswich many times during his tenure as the Boston representative to the colonial legislature from 1770 to 1774.
19th Century: Religion Divided the Town
Revivalist Rev. John N. Maffit held a "protracted meeting" which was undoubtedly the most extraordinary episode in the history of the churches of Ipswich since the days of George Whitefield and Gilbert Tennent, preaching sixty nights to congregations which occupied every inch of the meeting-house.
The Ipswich Jails
The second jail in the Colony was erected in Ipswich in 1656. Sixteen British prisoners were kept hostage in the cold and cruel stone jail during the War of 1812. A large brick House of Corrections was constructed in 1828 at the site of the present Town Hall on Green Street.
Killing Wolves
One of the first laws instituted by the Massachusetts Bay Colony was a bounty on wolves, and in early Ipswich, a rather disconcerting aspect of entering the Meeting House was the site of wolf heads nailed to the door. Even in 1723, wolves were so abundant and so near the meeting house, that parents would not suffer their children to go and come from worship without some grown person.
Police Open Fire at the Ipswich Mills Strike, June 10, 1913
On June 10, 1913, police fired into a crowd of protesting immigrant workers at the Ipswich hosiery mill. A young Greek woman named Nicholetta Paudelopoulou was shot in the head and killed by police.
A Short History of Ipswich Dog Laws
In 1644, the Town of Ipswich ordered, "If a man refuse to tye up his dogg's legg and hee bee found scrapeing up fish in a corne fielde, the owner thereof shall pay twelve pence damages, beside whatever damage the dogg doth. But if any fish their house lotts and receive damage by doggs the owners of those house lotts shall bear the damage themselves."
Ipswich Town Meeting
Town meeting has been a cardinal element of local government in New England for about four hundred years. In Massachusetts, they started in the early 1600s and were formally recognized until 1641. No doubt meetings were pretty rocky during the Puritan era. Things got so raucous that the Legislature finally had to impose rules governing all town meetings, some of which, with slight modifications, are still on the books.
Historic Ipswich 