Editing Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts (section)

==History==
[[Image:Singing Beach, Manchester-by-the-Sea, MA.jpg|thumb|left|Singing Beach in 1914]]
The area that would become Manchester was inhabited by [[Agawam people]] at the time of contact in the early 1600s,<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Perley|first=Sidney|url=http://archive.org/details/indianlandtitles00perl|title=The Indian land titles of Essex County, Massachusetts|date=1912|publisher=Salem, Mass. : Essex Book and Print Club|others=The Library of Congress}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Smith|first=John|url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100693021|title=A description of New England; or, The observations, and discoveries of Captain Iohn Smith (admirall of that country) in the north of America, in the year of our Lord 1614; with the successe of sixe ships, that went the next yeare 1615; and the accidents befell him among the French men of warre: with the proofe of the present benefit this countrey affoords; whither this present yeare, 1616, eight voluntary ships are gone to make further tryall.|date=1837|publisher=P. Force|location=Washington}}</ref> who were decimated by [[virgin soil epidemic]]s especially in 1617–1619, after which fewer than 50 indigenous individuals are estimated to have survived within the modern bounds of Manchester.<ref>{{Cite report |date=1985 |title=MHC Reconnaissance Survey Town Report: Manchester-By-The-Sea |work=Massachusetts Historical Commission |publisher=Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts |url=https://www.sec.state.ma.us/mhc/mhcpdf/townreports/Essex/man.pdf}}</ref>

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]] [[Chief Masconomet|Masconomet]] three pounds and nineteen shillings for the rights to the land.<ref name=":0" />

The community thrived primarily as a fishing community for more than 200 years. Beginning in 1845, it started to attract summer residents from the [[Boston]] area after poet [[Richard Henry Dana Sr.|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.<ref name="Lamson1895">{{cite book |last1=Lamson |first1=Darius Francis |title=History of the town of Manchester, Essex County, Massachusetts, 1645-1895 |date=1895 |publisher=Town of Manchester |location=Manchester, Mass. |pages=192–194 |url=https://archive.org/details/historyoftownofm00lams/page/192/mode/2up?q=1845&view=theater |access-date=January 24, 2024}}</ref> The trend continued with designs of houses by architects, such as "Sunnywaters", designed by [[John Hubbard Sturgis]] for his older brother, Russell, in 1863.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Floyd |first1=Margaret Henderson |last2=Barlow |first2=Margaret |editor1-last=Marter |editor1-first=Joan M. |title=The Grove Encyclopedia of American Art, Volume 1 |date=2011 |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=603 |isbn=978-0-19-533579-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sPGdBxzaWj0C&dq=john+hubbard+sturgis+%22sunnywaters%22&pg=RA2-PA603 |access-date=January 24, 2024}}</ref>

The best known of these "summer cottages" 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 architecture in the United States|Queen Anne style]] of architecture. It was demolished in 1929.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Goodrich |first1=Jane |url=http://www.woodlawnmuseum.com/Summer2006_web.pdf |title=Curious George: Woodlawn's Enigmatic Benefactor |website=WoodlawnMuseum.com |publisher=Woodlawn Museum |access-date=January 24, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160215160956/http://www.woodlawnmuseum.com/Summer2006_web.pdf |archive-date=February 15, 2016 |pages=4–5}}</ref>

===Name===

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 a close town meeting vote that year; the decision was extremely close and passed only by a vote of 97 to 95.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://manchestercricket.advantage-preservation.com/|access-date=May 17, 2021|website=manchestercricket.advantage-preservation.com|title=Digital Archives of the Manchester Cricket ::}}</ref> This was ratified by an act of the state legislature passed on September 25, 1989.<ref>[http://www.manchestermainfo.com Manchester-by-the-Sea official website]; accessed August 10, 2015.</ref> "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.<ref>{{Cite web|date=April 28, 2021|title=N.H. city hopes to make big splash with whitewater park, new name|url=http://realestate.boston.com/new-developments/2021/04/28/nh-city-whitewater-park-renamed-downtown/|access-date=May 17, 2021|website=Boston.com Real Estate}}</ref> The name change was driven by Edward Corley, a longtime resident of Manchester.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20150924200239/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-7643094.html "Edward F. Corley, 68, Leader in Manchester-by-the-Sea"]. ''[[The Boston Globe]]'', January 13, 1991. Retrieved February 28, 2017.</ref>