Ipswich is a coastal

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

in Essex County,

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

, United States. The population was 13,785 at the 2020 census. Home to Willowdale State Forest and

Sandy Point State Reservation Sandy Point State Reservation is a coastal Massachusetts state park located in the town of Ipswich at the southern tip of Plum Island. The reservation is managed by the Department of Conservation and Recreation and is an important nesting area fo ...

, Ipswich includes the southern part of Plum Island. A residential community with a vibrant

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...

industry, the town is famous for its

clams Clam is a common name for several kinds of bivalve molluscs. The word is often applied only to those that are edible and live as infauna, spending most of their lives halfway buried in the sand of the seafloor or riverbeds. Clams have two ...

, celebrated annually at the Ipswich

Chowder Chowder is a thick soup prepared with milk or cream, a roux, and seafood or vegetables. Oyster crackers or saltines may accompany chowders as a side item, and cracker pieces may be dropped atop the dish. New England clam chowder is typically ...

fest, and for

Crane Beach Crane Beach is a conservation and recreation property located in Ipswich, Massachusetts, immediately north of Cape Ann. It consists of a four-mile-long (6 km) sandy beachfront, dunes, and a maritime pitch pine forest. Five and a half miles ...

, a

barrier beach Barrier islands are coastal landforms and a type of dune system that are exceptionally flat or lumpy areas of sand that form by wave and tidal action parallel to the mainland coast. They usually occur in chains, consisting of anything from a ...

near the Crane estate. Ipswich was incorporated as a town in 1634.

History

Ipswich was founded by

John Winthrop the Younger John Winthrop the Younger (February 12, 1606 – April 6, 1676) was an early governor of the Connecticut Colony, and he played a large role in the merger of several separate settlements into the unified colony. Early life Winthrop was born ...

, son of

John Winthrop John Winthrop (January 12, 1587/88 – March 26, 1649) was an English Puritan lawyer and one of the leading figures in founding the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the second major settlement in New England following Plymouth Colony. Winthrop led t ...

, one of the founders of the

Massachusetts Bay Colony The Massachusetts Bay Colony (1630–1691), more formally the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, was an English settlement on the east coast of North America around the Massachusetts Bay, the northernmost of the several colonies later reorganized as the ...

in 1630 and its first governor, elected in England in 1629. Several hundred colonists sailed from England in 1630 in a fleet of 11 ships, including Winthrop's flagship, the ''

Arbella ''Arbella'' or ''Arabella'' was the flagship of the Winthrop Fleet on which Governor John Winthrop, other members of the Company (including William Gager), and Puritan emigrants transported themselves and the Charter of the Massachusetts Bay Co ...

''. Investigating the region of Salem and

Cape Ann Cape Ann is a rocky peninsula in northeastern Massachusetts, United States on the Atlantic Ocean. It is about northeast of Boston and marks the northern limit of Massachusetts Bay. Cape Ann includes the city of Gloucester and the towns of ...

, they entertained aboard the ''Arbella'' for a day, June 12, 1630, a native chief of the lands to the north,

Chief Masconomet Masconomet, (died 1658) spelled many different ways in colonial deeds, was '' sagamore'' of the Agawam tribe among the Algonquian peoples during the time of the English colonization of the Americas. He is known for his quitclaim deed ceding all t ...

. The event was recorded in Winthrop's journal on the 13th, but Winthrop did not say how they overcame the language barrier. The name they heard from Masconomet concerning the country over which he ruled has been reconstructed as ''Wonnesquamsauke'', which the English rendered as "Agawam". The colonists, however, sailed to the south where some buildings had already been prepared for them at a place newly named Charlestown. That winter they lost a few hundred colonists to malnutrition and disease. They also experienced their first

nor'easter A nor'easter (also northeaster; see below), or an East Coast low is a synoptic-scale extratropical cyclone in the western North Atlantic Ocean. The name derives from the direction of the winds that blow from the northeast. The original use o ...

, which cost them some fingers and toes, as well as houses destroyed by the fires they kept burning day and night. Just as Winthrop was handing out the last handful of grain, the supply ship ''Lyon'' entered Boston Harbor. John sent for his family in England, but his then wife, Margaret, her children, and his eldest son, John, whose mother was the elder John's first wife, Mary Forth, did not arrive until November, on the ''Lyon''. John the Younger resided with his father and stepmother until 1633, when he resolved to settle in Agawam, with the permission of the

General Court of Massachusetts The Massachusetts General Court (formally styled the General Court of Massachusetts) is the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The name "General Court" is a hold-over from the earliest days of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, ...

. Captain John Smith had written about the Angoam or Aggawom region in 1614, calling it "an excellent habitation, being a good and safe harbour." Ipswich Public Library

John the Younger and 12 men aboard a

shallop Shallop is a name used for several types of boats and small ships (French ''chaloupe'') used for coastal navigation from the seventeenth century. Originally smaller boats based on the chalupa, the watercraft named this ranged from small boats a l ...

sailed into Ipswich harbor and took up residence there. The first settlers with Winthrop were William Clerk, Robert Coles, Thomas Howlet, John Biggs, John Gage, Thomas Hardy, William Perkins, John Thorndike, William Sergeant, and three others whose names are uncertain. Two men continued up the river (now River Road) to a large meadow, which they called New Meadows, now Topsfield. Agawam was incorporated on August 5, 1634, as Ipswich, after

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...

in the county of

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The name "Ipswich" was taken "in acknowledgment of the great honor and kindness done to our people which took shipping there."

Nathaniel Ward Nathaniel Ward (1578 – October 1652) was a Puritan clergyman and pamphleteer in England and Massachusetts. Biography A son of John Ward, a noted Puritan minister, he was born in Haverhill, Suffolk, England. He studied law and graduated fr ...

, an assistant pastor in town from 1634 to 1636, wrote the first code of laws for Massachusetts and later published the religious/political work ''The Simple Cobbler of Aggawam in America'' in England. In 1638, Masconomet entered into a contract with John Winthrop the Younger for the purchase of Ipswich for "wampampeage, & other things: and ... also for the sume icof twenty pounds." There is no record of any Native resistance to the colonization either at Charlestown or at Agawam, though there is documentation of devastating virgin soil epidemics among indigenous people in the area around 1617 and again in 1633, and contemporary reports attest to

ghost towns Ghost Town(s) or Ghosttown may refer to: * Ghost town, a town that has been abandoned Film and television * ''Ghost Town'' (1936 film), an American Western film by Harry L. Fraser * ''Ghost Town'' (1956 film), an American Western film by Alle ...

encountered by early English settlers. Pioneers became

farmers A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer mi ...

fishermen A fisher or fisherman is someone who captures fish and other animals from a body of water, or gathers shellfish. Worldwide, there are about 38 million commercial and subsistence fishers and fish farmers. Fishers may be professional or recreat ...

, shipbuilders or traders. The tidal

Ipswich River Ipswich River is a small river in northeastern Massachusetts, United States. It held significant importance in early colonial migrations inland from the ocean port of Ipswich. The river provided safe harborage at offshore Plum Island Sound to ear ...

provided

water power Hydropower (from el, ὕδωρ, "water"), also known as water power, is the use of falling or fast-running water to produce electricity or to power machines. This is achieved by converting the gravitational potential or kinetic energy of a wa ...

for mills, and

salt marsh A salt marsh or saltmarsh, also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides. It is dominated ...

es supplied hay for

livestock Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to animals ...

. A

cottage industry The putting-out system is a means of subcontracting work. Historically, it was also known as the workshop system and the domestic system. In putting-out, work is contracted by a central agent to subcontractors who complete the project via remote ...

lace Lace is a delicate fabric made of yarn or thread in an open weblike pattern, made by machine or by hand. Generally, lace is divided into two main categories, needlelace and bobbin lace, although there are other types of lace, such as knitted o ...

-making developed.

Ipswich Lace Ipswich lace is a historical fashion accessory, the only known American hand-made bobbin lace to be commercially produced. Centered in the coastal town of Ipswich, Massachusetts north of Boston, a community of lacemaking arose in the 18th century. ...

is a unique style, and the only known hand-made bobbin lace produced commercially in the U.S. But in 1687, Ipswich residents, led by the Reverend John Wise, protested a tax imposed by the governor, Sir

Edmund Andros Sir Edmund Andros (6 December 1637 – 24 February 1714) was an English colonial administrator in British America. He was the governor of the Dominion of New England during most of its three-year existence. At other times, Andros served ...

. As Englishmen, they argued,

taxation without representation "No taxation without representation" is a political slogan that originated in the American Revolution, and which expressed one of the primary grievances of the American colonists for Great Britain. In short, many colonists believed that as they ...

was unacceptable. Citizens were jailed, but then Andros was recalled to England in 1689, and the new British sovereigns, William III and

Mary II Mary II (30 April 166228 December 1694) was Queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland, co-reigning with her husband, William III & II, from 1689 until her death in 1694. Mary was the eldest daughter of James, Duke of York, and his first wife ...

, issued colonists another charter. The rebellion is the reason the town calls itself the "Birthplace of American Independence". Great

clipper A clipper was a type of mid-19th-century merchant sailing vessel, designed for speed. Clippers were generally narrow for their length, small by later 19th century standards, could carry limited bulk freight, and had a large total sail area. "C ...

ships of the 19th century bypassed Ipswich in favor of the deep-water seaports at Salem,

Newburyport 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 mo ...

, Quincy, and

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

. The town remained primarily a fishing and farming community, its residents living in older homes they could not afford to replace—leaving Ipswich with a considerable inventory of early architecture. In 1822, a

stocking Stockings (also known as hose, especially in a historical context) are close-fitting, variously elastic garments covering the leg from the foot up to the knee or possibly part or all of the thigh. Stockings vary in color, design, and transparen ...

manufacturing machine that had been smuggled out of England arrived at Ipswich, violating a British ban on exporting such technology, and the community developed as a

mill town A mill town, also known as factory town or mill village, is typically a settlement that developed around one or more mills or factories, usually cotton mills or factories producing textiles. Europe Italy * ''Crespi d'Adda'', UNESCO World Her ...

. In 1828, the Ipswich Female Seminary was founded. In 1868, Amos A. Lawrence established the Ipswich Hosiery Mills beside the river. It became the nation's largest stocking mill by the turn of the 20th century. What may be the last witchcraft trial in North America was held in Ipswich in 1878. In the

Ipswich witchcraft trial The Salem witchcraft trial of 1878, also known as the Ipswich witchcraft trial and the second Salem witch trial, was an American civil case held in May 1878 in Salem, Massachusetts, in which Lucretia L. S. Brown, an adherent of the Christian Sci ...

, a member of the

Christian Science Christian Science is a set of beliefs and practices associated with members of the Church of Christ, Scientist. Adherents are commonly known as Christian Scientists or students of Christian Science, and the church is sometimes informally know ...

religion was accused of using his mental powers to harm others, including a spinster living in the town. A view from Castle Hill, Ipswich MA

In 1910, Richard T. Crane Jr. of Chicago, the

business magnate A business magnate, also known as a tycoon, is a person who has achieved immense wealth through the ownership of multiple lines of enterprise. The term characteristically refers to a powerful entrepreneur or investor who controls, through perso ...

owner of Crane Plumbing, bought Castle Hill, a

drumlin A drumlin, from the Irish word ''droimnín'' ("littlest ridge"), first recorded in 1833, in the classical sense is an elongated hill in the shape of an inverted spoon or half-buried egg formed by glacial ice acting on underlying unconsolidated ...

on Ipswich Bay. He hired

Olmsted Brothers The Olmsted Brothers company was a landscape architectural firm in the United States, established in 1898 by brothers John Charles Olmsted (1852–1920) and Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. (1870–1957), sons of the landscape architect Frederick Law ...

, successors to

Frederick Law Olmsted Frederick Law Olmsted (April 26, 1822August 28, 1903) was an American landscape architect, journalist, social critic, and public administrator. He is considered to be the father of landscape architecture in the USA. Olmsted was famous for co- ...

, to landscape his estate, and engaged the Boston architectural firm of

Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge was a successful architecture firm based in Boston, Massachusetts, operating between 1886 and 1915, with extensive commissions in monumental civic, religious, and collegiate architecture in the spirit and style of Henry ...

to design an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

-Revival style

villa A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became s ...

on the summit. A grande

allée In landscaping, an avenue (from the French), alameda (from the Portuguese and Spanish), or allée (from the French), is traditionally a straight path or road with a line of trees or large shrubs running along each side, which is used, as its L ...

, wide and lined with statuary, would run the half mile from house to sea. But his wife, Florence, loathed the building. Crane promised that if she still disliked it in 10 years, he would replace it. In 1928, a new 59-room mansion designed by Chicago architect David Adler in the English Stuart style stood in its place, called the Great House. At Mrs. Crane's death in 1949, the entire property was bequeathed to The Trustees of Reservations, which uses it as a venue for concerts and weddings. The town government was reformed in 1950 with the acceptance of the Town Manager Charter. This charter was rescinded by the voters, regained, and lost again. Voters adopted the present Town Manager-Selectmen Charter in 1967. In 2012 Ipswich hired its first female Town Manager, Robin Crosbie, who served until her retirement in 2018.

Geography

Ipswich is drained by the

and Plum Island Sound, which join at their mouths and empty through a narrow but navigable channel at the foot of Castle Hill around Sandy Point into Ipswich Bay adjoining the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

. The crane estate has a long lawn that overlooks the bay and often has castle hill concerts. The southern part of Plum Island falls within the area allotted to the town, making up the town's ocean shore along with Castle Neck, south of the Sound. The northeastern part of town is marshy, where the Rowley River, Roger Island River, and Eagle Hill River drain into Plum Island Sound. South of Castle Neck, the Castle Neck River separates the town from neighboring

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

. Much of the western end of town is dominated by Willowdale State Forest, and other parts of the town are also protected land, including

Crane Wildlife Refuge The Crane Wildlife Refuge, located in Ipswich and Essex, Massachusetts, is a property managed by The Trustees of Reservations. Located nearby are the Trustees of Reservations managed Castle Hill and Crane Beach Crane Beach is a conservation ...

on Castle Neck, the

Parker River National Wildlife Refuge Parker River National Wildlife Refuge is a wildlife sanctuary encompassing the majority of Plum Island in northeastern Essex County, Massachusetts, 5 miles southeast of Newburyport. It was established in 1942 primarily to provide feeding, rest ...

and

on Plum Island, as well as Hamlin Reservation, Heartbreak Hill Reservation, Bull Brook Reservoir, Greenwood Farm and a portion of

Appleton Farms Appleton Farms is a park in Ipswich, Massachusetts, owned and maintained by The Trustees of Reservations. The property was deeded to the Trustees in 1998. The land was granted to Samuel Appleton, an immigrant from Little Waldingfield, England, ...

Sanctuary, which extends into

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

. Ipswich is in central Essex County and is south of

, northwest of

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...

, north of Salem, east of

Lawrence Lawrence may refer to: Education Colleges and universities * Lawrence Technological University, a university in Southfield, Michigan, United States * Lawrence University, a liberal arts university in Appleton, Wisconsin, United States Preparator ...

, and northeast of

. It is bordered by Rowley to the north, Boxford to the west, and Topsfield,

and Gloucester to the south. (The border with Gloucester lies across Essex Bay, and as such there is no land connection between the two.)

Transportation

There is no interstate highway through Ipswich;

Interstate 95 Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from U.S. Route 1, US Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Miami, Florida, to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between M ...

passes through neighboring Boxford and Topsfield.

U.S. Route 1 U.S. Route 1 or U.S. Highway 1 (US 1) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway that serves the East Coast of the United States. It runs from Key West, Florida, north to Fort Kent, Maine, at the Canadian border, making i ...

, known as the Newburyport Turnpike, passes through the western end of town.

Massachusetts Route 1A Route 1A is a north–south state highway in Massachusetts. It is an alternate route to U.S. 1 with three signed sections and two unsigned sections where the highway is concurrent with its parent. Due to the reconfiguration of tunnel interchan ...

and Route 133 pass through the town, entering concurrently from Rowley and passing through the center of town before splitting south of the town center; Route 1A heads towards Hamilton and Beverly, while Route 133 leads to Essex and Gloucester. Ipswich has a station along the

Newburyport/Rockport Line The Newburyport/Rockport Line is a branch of the MBTA Commuter Rail system, running northeast from downtown Boston, Massachusetts towards Cape Ann and the Merrimack Valley, serving the North Shore. The first leg, operating via the Eastern Rou ...

of the

MBTA Commuter Rail The MBTA Commuter Rail system serves as the commuter rail arm of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's transportation coverage of Greater Boston in the United States. Trains run over of track to 141 different stations, with 58 statio ...

, providing service between Newburyport and Boston's

North Station North Station is a commuter rail and intercity rail terminal station in Boston, Massachusetts. It is served by four MBTA Commuter Rail lines – the Fitchburg Line, Haverhill Line, Lowell Line, and Newburyport/Rockport Line – and the Amtrak ...

. There is no air service in town; the nearest small airports are in Newbury and Beverly, and the nearest national service is Boston's

Logan International Airport General Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport , also known as Boston Logan International Airport and commonly as Boston Logan, Logan Airport or simply Logan, is an international airport that is located mostly in East Boston and partially ...

. The Ipswich Essex Explorer provides summertime weekend shuttle service connecting Ipswich MBTA train station with

and

Demographics

''This article describes the town of Ipswich as a whole. Additional demographic detail is available which describes only the more densely populated central settlement or village within the town, although that detail is included in the aggregate values reported here. See:

Ipswich (CDP), Massachusetts Ipswich is a census-designated place (CDP) located in the town of Ipswich in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 4,222 at the 2010 census. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total a ...

.'' As of the

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...

of 2000, there were 12,987 people, 5,290 households, and 3,459 families residing in the town. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopul ...

was 398.6 people per square mile (153.9/km²). There were 5,601 housing units at an average density of 66.4 persons/km² (171.9 persons/sq mi). The racial makeup of the town was 97.60% White, 0.39%

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

, 0.08% Native American, 0.80%

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

n, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.33% from other races, and 0.79% from two or more races. 1.04% of the population were

Hispanic or Latino ''Hispanic'' and '' Latino'' are ethnonyms used to refer collectively to the inhabitants of the United States who are of Spanish or Latin American ancestry (). While the terms are sometimes used interchangeably, for example, by the United States ...

of any race. There were 5,290 households, out of which 30.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.0% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between t ...

living together, 8.4% have a woman whose husband does not live with her, and 34.6% were non-families. 28.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.42 and the average family size was 3.00. In the town, the population was spread out, with 23.0% under the age of 18, 5.1% from 18 to 24, 28.3% from 25 to 44, 28.1% from 45 to 64, and 15.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females, there were 89.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.2 males. The median income for a household in the town was $57,284, and the median income for a family was $74,931. Males had a median income of $51,408 versus $38,476 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population. Per capita i ...

for the town was $32,516. 7.1% of the population and 4.1% of families were below the poverty line. Out of the total people living in poverty, 7.8% are under the age of 18 and 13.0% are 65 or older.

Education

The first Ipswich Grammar School began around 1636.

Elementary schools

Paul F. Doyon Memorial and Winthrop are the town's two elementary schools. Paul F. Doyon is on Linebrook Road and was originally named the Linebrook School until it was renamed in 1967 after its namesake died in the Vietnam War. Grade levels end in 5th grade, after which students move to Ipswich Middle School.

Middle and high schools

The middle school and high school are in the same building and share the library, the cafeteria, performing arts facilities and athletic resources (tennis courts, a baseball diamond, a football field, and a running track). Ipswich Middle School (IMS) covers grades 6–8, with each grade assigned to a "pod", a common area with a projector with lockers and classrooms for the grade branching off of the pod. Ipswich High School (IHS) has been considered one of the best public high schools in the Boston area. The Ipswich Public Schools also have what is considered one of the best performing arts programs. In 2005, the high school was named a "Blue Ribbon" school. The

Blue Ribbon The blue ribbon is a symbol of high quality. The association comes from The Blue Riband, a prize awarded for the fastest crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by passenger liners and, prior to that from Cordon Bleu, which referred to the blue ribbon w ...

is an award for national excellence in education under the

No Child Left Behind The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) was a U.S. Act of Congress that reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act; it included Title I provisions applying to disadvantaged students. It supported standards-based education ...

legislation. The school also received a Vanguard award for similar academic prowess. IHS offers college-prep, honors, and AP-level classes. It has one of Massachusetts's highest graduation rates. Ipswich Middle/High School is considered to have one of the state's best music programs. It offers dance, choruses, bands (including jazz, pep and concert bands), orchestra and symphony orchestra. The high school mascot is the Tiger, and the school colors are orange and black. Ipswich competes in the

Cape Ann League The Cape Ann League (CAL) is a high school athletic conference in District A of the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association. The league is based mainly on or around Cape Ann, a small cape on the North Shore of Massachusetts Member s ...

. The high school football team won the Division 3A Super Bowl Championship in 2006. It was the school's first title since 1992, and the fifth in school history. (Previous titles were achieved in 1974, 1977, 1991, and 1992.) Ipswich's traditional rival is

Hamilton-Wenham Regional High School Hamilton-Wenham Regional High School (HWRHS) is a public high school in South Hamilton, Massachusetts, United States. It is the only high school in the Hamilton-Wenham Regional School District, which has its administrative offices in Wenham, Mass ...

Points of interest

(1638) *

Brown Stocking Mill Historic District The Brown Stocking Mill Historic District in Ipswich, Massachusetts encompasses the (now demolished) mill building of Harry S. Brown's stocking-making factory, and associated mill worker housing Brown had built. Brown, a supervisor at the Ip ...

* Castle Hill (1928) *

Choate Bridge Choate Bridge (1764) is a historic stone arch bridge carrying Route 1A/ Route 133 (South Main Street) over the Ipswich River in Ipswich, Massachusetts. It is one of the oldest surviving bridges in North America, and is probably the oldest in ...

(1764) *

* John Heard House/Ipswich Historical Society () *

John Whipple House The John Whipple House is a historic colonial house at 1 South Green in Ipswich, Massachusetts. Built in the seventeenth century, the house has been open to the public as a museum since 1899 and was the subject of some of the earliest attempts ...

(1642/1677) * South Green Historic District

Notable people

James Appleton Brigadier General James Appleton (February 14, 1785 – August 25, 1862) was an American abolitionist, early supporter of temperance, and politician from Maine. Early life Appleton was born on February 14, 1785 in Ipswich, Massachusetts on a f ...

, 19th century politician and activist *

Dick Berggren Richard Berggren (born May 27, 1942) is a motorsports announcer and magazine editor from Manchester, Connecticut in the United States. He is commonly seen wearing a trademark flat cap. Academia Berggren described himself as "the worst student" ...

, motorsports announcer and magazine editor *

Charles E. Bohlen Charles "Chip" Eustis Bohlen (August 30, 1904 – January 1, 1974) was an American diplomat, ambassador, and expert on the Soviet Union. He helped shape US foreign policy during World War II and the Cold War and helped develop the Marshall Pla ...

, U.S. diplomat *

Anne Bradstreet Anne Bradstreet ( née Dudley; March 8, 1612 – September 16, 1672) was the most prominent of early English poets of North America and first writer in England's North American colonies to be published. She is the first Puritan figure in ...

, poet *

Simon Bradstreet Simon Bradstreet (baptized March 18, 1603/4In the Julian calendar, then in use in England, the year began on March 25. To avoid confusion with dates in the Gregorian calendar, then in use in other parts of Europe, dates between January and Ma ...

, governor * Michael Burns, actor, historian, professor emeritus at

Mount Holyoke College Mount Holyoke College is a private liberal arts women's college in South Hadley, Massachusetts. It is the oldest member of the historic Seven Sisters colleges, a group of elite historically women's colleges in the Northeastern United States. ...

, former resident of Ipswich *

Rufus Choate Rufus Choate (October 1, 1799July 13, 1859) was an American lawyer, orator, and Senator who represented Massachusetts as a member of the Whig Party. He is regarded as one of the greatest American lawyers of the 19th century, arguing over a th ...

, lawyer, orator and politician *

Eunice Caldwell Cowles Eunice Caldwell Cowles (February 4, 1811 – September 10, 1903) was an American educator who influenced hundreds of women in the U.S. and abroad. She was the first associate of Mary Lyon in the opening of Mount Holyoke Seminary (now Mount Holyo ...

, educator *

Nathan Dane Nathan Dane (December 29, 1752 – February 15, 1835) was an American lawyer and statesman who represented Massachusetts in the Continental Congress from 1785 through 1788. Dane helped formulate the Northwest Ordinance while in Congress, and ...

, lawyer *

Arthur Wesley Dow Arthur Wesley Dow (1857 – December 13, 1922) was an American painter, printmaker, photographer and an arts educator. Early life Arthur Wesley Dow was born in Ipswich, Massachusetts, in 1857. Dow received his first art training in 1880 from An ...

, artist * John F. Dolan, legislator and conservation advocate *

Thomas Dudley Thomas Dudley (12 October 157631 July 1653) was a New England colonial magistrate who served several terms as governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Dudley was the chief founder of Newtowne, later Cambridge, Massachusetts, and built the tow ...

, governor *

Dennis Eckersley Dennis Lee Eckersley (born October 3, 1954), nicknamed "Eck", is an American professional baseball pitcher and former color commentator. Between 1975 and 1998, he pitched in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Cleveland Indians, Boston Red Sox, ...

, baseball Hall-of-Fame pitcher * Ed Emberley, artist of children's drawing books *

Melissa Ferrick Melissa Ferrick (born September 21, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter. Her song "Drive" (2000) is considered a lesbian anthem. She is a music professor at Northeastern University and at Berklee College of Music. Early life Ferrick was ra ...

, musician * David Giddings, Wisconsin Territorial legislator, engineer, and businessman * Sarah Whipple Goodhue, 17th-century writer * Mark Harris, Maine politician *

Elizabeth Topham Kennan Elizabeth Topham Kennan (born February 25, 1938) is an American academic who served as the 16th president of Mount Holyoke College from 1978 to 1995. She also served as president of the Five Colleges consortium from 1985 to 1994. Education Ken ...

, former president of Mount Holyoke College and wife of actor-historian Michael Burns, former resident of Ipswich *

Stuffy McInnis John Phalen "Stuffy" McInnis (September 19, 1890 – February 16, 1960) was a first baseman and manager in Major League Baseball. McInnis gained his nickname as a youngster in the Boston suburban leagues, where his spectacular playing brought ...

, baseball player and manager *

Jimmy McLane James Price McLane Jr. (September 13, 1930 – December 13, 2020) was an American competition swimmer, three-time Olympic champion, and a world record-holder. Biography Representing the United States at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, Engla ...

, swimmer, Olympic champion * John Norton, author, minister at Ipswich 1636 * John Proctor, victim of the

Salem witch trials The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. More than 200 people were accused. Thirty people were found guilty, 19 of whom w ...

* Richard S. Rust, abolitionist and educator *

Jenny Slew Jenny Slew (1719 – after 1765) was one of the first black Americans to sue for her freedom, and the first person to succeed through trial by jury.Sara Kakazu, "Slew, Jenny, 1719–?)," in ''African American National Biography'online/ref> Biogra ...

, one of the first black Americans to sue for her freedom, and the first person to succeed through trial by jury *

John Updike John Hoyer Updike (March 18, 1932 – January 27, 2009) was an American novelist, poet, short-story writer, art critic, and literary critic. One of only four writers to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction more than once (the others being Booth ...

, author *

, clergyman and jurist

References

External links

Town of Ipswich official website

Ipswich Historical Commission and Visitor Center website, HistoricIpswich.orgIpswich Public LibraryWillowdale State ForestIpswich Arts and Cultural Council

History of Ipswich, Essex, and Hamilton
by Joseph Barlow Felt published 1834. Online at books.google.com
Ipswich in the Massachusetts Bay Colony Vol.2 1700–1917
by Thomas Franklin Waters, Sarah Goodhue, John Wise. Published 1917.
Memorial of Samuel Appleton of Ipswich, Massachusetts
by Isaac Appleton Jewett, published 1850.
1795 Map of Ipswich, Massachusetts
Click on the screen size maps to get a much larger image.
1832 Map of Ipswich, Massachusetts
by Philander Anderson.
1872 Map of Ipswich
plate 66–67 in the 1872 Atlas of Essex County, Massachusetts.
1872 Map of Ipswich Center
plate 69 in the 1872 Atlas of Essex County, Massachusetts.

The Birthplace of American Independence, 1687
How Ipswich, Massachusetts, Won This Inscription for Its Town Seal, National Historical Society {{Authority control Populated coastal places in Massachusetts Populated places established in 1633 1633 establishments in Massachusetts