Jump to content
Main menu
Main menu
move to sidebar
hide
Navigation
Main page
Recent changes
Random page
Help about MediaWiki
Special pages
Niidae Wiki
Search
Search
Appearance
Create account
Log in
Personal tools
Create account
Log in
Pages for logged out editors
learn more
Contributions
Talk
Editing
West Newbury, Massachusetts
(section)
Page
Discussion
English
Read
Edit
View history
Tools
Tools
move to sidebar
hide
Actions
Read
Edit
View history
General
What links here
Related changes
Page information
Appearance
move to sidebar
hide
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
== History == [[Image:Post Office Square, West Newbury, MA.jpg|thumb|left|Post Office Square, {{circa|1905}}]] Originally inhabited by [[Agawam people|Agawam]] or [[Naumkeag people|Naumkeag]] peoples, West Newbury was settled by English colonists in 1635 as part of neighboring [[Newbury, Massachusetts|Newbury]]. After 15 years of English colonization, a 30 acre section of land around Indian Hill in current day West Newbury was purchased from an indigenous man Great Tom for three pounds.<ref>{{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> On February 18, 1819, the [[General Court of Massachusetts]] passed an act "to incorporate the town of Parsons."<ref>{{harvnb|Currier|1902|p=301}}.</ref> The initial proposals had been made in the late 18th century, but determined resistance from the town of Newbury, which had already lost [[Newburyport, Massachusetts|Newburyport]], blocked the measure for decades. On June 14, 1820, the legislature passed another act to change the name to West Newbury. West Newbury has evolved from a rural farming town into a community<ref>{{cite book |last1=Merrimack Valley Planning Commission |last2=JM Goldson community preservation + planning |title=Town of West Newbury Housing Production Plan 2018-2022 |date=2018 |pages=9 |url=https://www.wnewbury.org/sites/westnewburyma/files/uploads/westnewbury_hpp_2018-final.pdf |access-date=August 18, 2019}}</ref> facing the issues of balancing development and need for affordable housing<ref>{{cite book |last1=Merrimack Valley Planning Commission |last2=JM Goldson community preservation + planning |title=Town of West Newbury Housing Production Plan 2018-2022 |date=2018 |pages=28 |url=https://www.wnewbury.org/sites/westnewburyma/files/uploads/westnewbury_hpp_2018-final.pdf |access-date=August 18, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Muldoon |first1=John P. |title=Affordable Housing by Community on the North Shore |url=http://thelocalne.ws/2018/08/23/affordable-housing-by-community-on-the-north-shore/ |access-date=August 18, 2019 |work=The Local Ne.ws |date=August 23, 2018}}</ref> against the townspeople's desire to maintain West Newbury's rural charm and character<ref>{{cite web |title=West Newbury |url=https://essexheritage.org/attractions-all-towns?field_location_locality=West%20Newbury |website=Essex Natural Heritage Area}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Town of West Newbury, West Newbury Open Space Committee |title=Open Space & Recreation Plan |date=2018 |pages=0/3, 4/8 |url=https://www.wnewbury.org/sites/westnewburyma/files/uploads/osrp18_final.pdf |access-date=August 18, 2019}}</ref> have been in play for at least fifty years. In 1969 local writer [[Margaret Coit]] called West Newbury a "hill-framed town that [[Lowell Thomas]] once described as 'the Garden of Eden of America,'" saying that as active farming faded away, West Newbury had become, "in its population and pattern of thinking ... virtually a suburb."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Coit |first1=Margaret L. |title=Looking Backward and Forward at 150 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1969/08/17/89367011.html?pageNumber=440 |access-date=August 13, 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=August 17, 1969 |pages=13/440}}</ref> Between 1820 and the early 1900s, an active Quaker community existed in West Newbury. The Quaker Meetinghouse stood at what is now 114 Turkey Hill Street<ref>{{cite web |last1=West Newbury Historical Commission |title=Quaker Meetinghouse |url=https://www.wnewbury.org/sites/westnewburyma/files/uploads/quakermeetinghousestory1.pdf |website=Historical Commission |publisher=Town of West Newbury |access-date=December 25, 2019 |date=November 2019}}</ref> and the Quaker Burial Ground, which was established in the 1850s, is located along the Artichoke Reservoir <ref>{{cite web |last1=West Newbury Historical Commission |title=Quaker Cemetery |url=https://www.wnewbury.org/sites/westnewburyma/files/uploads/quakercemeterystory.pdf |website=Historical Commission |publisher=Town of West Newbury |access-date=December 25, 2019 |date=December 2019}}</ref> During the 19th century, West Newbury was home to a vibrant industrial scene.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.wnewbury.org/sites/g/files/vyhlif1436/f/uploads/factorystory.pdf|title=Shoe and comb factories|access-date=March 21, 2023|website=wnewbury.org}}</ref> The town was renowned for its comb making industry. Beginning in the 1840s, small home-based comb shops gave way to large-scale factories that produced horn combs and hair adornments. S.C. Noyes, located at 320 Main Street, was the last remaining comb factory in town and shut its doors in 1904.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://archive.org/details/combmakinginamer00walt/page/42/mode/1up | title=Comb making in America, an account of the origin and development of the industry for which Leominster has become famous, to which are added pictures of many of the early comb makers and views of the old time comb shops | year=1925 | publisher=Boston }}</ref> In addition to comb making, a shoe factory operated where the West Newbury Pizza Company currently exists. The West Newbury Historical Society, a non-profit, maintains the Hills House Museum at the historic William Hills and Hannah Chase House. The home was built in 1780 and the property contains several outbuildings, one of which is a cobbler's shop. The museum boasts a collection of horn combs and adornments manufactured in West Newbury, along with cooper's tools original to the house. In 1952, [[Julian Steele|Julian D. Steele]] became the first African-American town Moderator in Massachusetts when he was elected to the position in West Newbury.<ref>{{cite news |title=West Newbury: Julian D. Steele Is New Town Moderator |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/?clipping_id=28997690&fcfToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJmcmVlLXZpZXctaWQiOjQzMzQ3MTU4NSwiaWF0IjoxNTY1NjUwMTMzLCJleHAiOjE1NjU3MzY1MzN9.a_VNPr3p9g-mUlOgq0lk7TDnI9f7zEzksgC36mdoHOg |access-date=August 12, 2019 |work=The Boston Globe |agency=AP |date=March 4, 1952 |pages=25}}</ref> The town's oldest continually-operating farm is Long Hill Orchard.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.longhillorchard.com/about-us.html|title = About Us}}</ref> The farm has been active since 1896, and has a long and intriguing history. Today, in addition to the apple orchard, the farm is home to a popular [[community-supported agriculture]] program and farm to table dining events.
Summary:
Please note that all contributions to Niidae Wiki may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here.
You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see
Encyclopedia:Copyrights
for details).
Do not submit copyrighted work without permission!
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)
Search
Search
Editing
West Newbury, Massachusetts
(section)
Add topic