Editing Merrimac, Massachusetts (section)

==History==
[[Image:Merrimac Street, Merrimacport, MA.jpg|thumb|left|Merrimac Street in 1911]]
Settled by the English in 1638 as a part of [[Salisbury, Massachusetts|Salisbury]] and later as a part of [[Amesbury, Massachusetts|Amesbury]] around the village of [[Merrimacport, Massachusetts|Merrimacport]], it was known throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries as an agricultural and fishing community, with a small amount of shipbuilding. When Amesbury separated from Salisbury in 1666, Merrimac was referred to as the West Parish of Amesbury, or simply West Amesbury, although it was unincorporated. When a border dispute between the Massachusetts and New Hampshire colonies was settled in 1741, the new border sliced off the parts of Amesbury that were further from the Merrimack River, with the area then associated with West Amesbury becoming the "new town" of [[Newton, New Hampshire]].

In 1771, the West Parish of Amesbury (present-day Merrimac) had a population of at least four enslaved Africans. They were held in bondage by town residents Isaac Merrill, Benjamin Morse, and Wells Chase.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Merrill |first1=Joseph |title=History of Amesbury: Including the First Seventeen Years of Salisbury, to the Separation in 1654; and Merrimac, from Its Incorporation in 1876 |date=1880 |publisher=Press of F. P. Stiles |page=246 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6-eW00EwnWcC&q=forte&pg=PA438 |language=en}}</ref> At least one former enslaved African, "Forte," who was sold by an unknown West Newbury slaver to Christopher Sargent, became locally famous for his fiddling after the abolition of slavery in Massachusetts.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Merrill |first1=Joseph |title=History of Amesbury: Including the First Seventeen Years of Salisbury, to the Separation in 1654; and Merrimac, from Its Incorporation in 1876 |date=1880 |publisher=Press of F. P. Stiles |page=344 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6-eW00EwnWcC&q=forte&pg=PA438 |language=en}}</ref>

In the nineteenth century, benefiting from a manufacturing boom following the establishment of some of the first planned industrial cities in the United States, nearby [[Lawrence, Massachusetts|Lawrence]] and [[Lowell, Massachusetts|Lowell]], Merrimac came to be known worldwide for its horse-drawn carriage industry. During this period, the town proper of Merrimac, centered around [[Merrimac Square]], expanded separately from the village of Merrimacport. In 1876, Merrimac, including Merrimacport, separated from Amesbury and officially incorporated itself as a town. It is believed that the town, as well as the river that runs along its southern border, are both named for the [[Native Americans in the United States|American Indian]] tribe that occupied the region. "Merrimac" (or ''Merrimack'') means "swift water place" in the language of this tribe. This town center consists of the typical brick buildings and [[Victorian architecture]] of the late nineteenth century, and it is surrounded by much of the town's population. [[Interstate 495 (Massachusetts)|Interstate 495]] now divides Merrimacport from Merrimac. At the beginning of the twentieth century, as with the rest of the [[New England]], it went through a period of deindustrialization as the region's industry relocated to the [[Midwest]]. The communities of the Merrimack Valley, including Merrimac, were particularly affected by this long period of economic decline and have never fully recovered.

Today, Merrimac is a typical small New England community. It went through numerous growth spurts throughout the 1990s and the beginning of the twenty-first century as it was absorbed into the [[Lawrence, Massachusetts|Lawrence]] metropolitan area.
[[Image:Main Street East from Square, Merrimac, MA.jpg|thumb|left|Merrimac Square in 1911]]