Local city information for Peabody, MA

Peabody () is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2000 census, the population was 48,129. Peabody is located in Boston's North Shore suburban area.

First known as the Northfields, "the Farms", and Brooksby, the area was settled about 1626 within Salem, which had itself been founded in 1626 and incorporated in 1629. In 1752,the area was set off from Salem and incorporated as part of Danvers, and then usually referred to as "the South Parish", which was associated with the church located in the center (now Peabody Square). In 1855, the community broke away from Danvers to become the town of South Danvers, incorporated that May 18. The name was changed on April 30 1868 to Peabody after George Peabody, a noted philanthropist. It would be incorporated as a city in 1916.

Giles Corey, the only person pressed to death by stones in the Salem witch hysteria of 1692, had his farm and was buried here beside his wife next to Crystal Lake.

On the morning of Oct. 28, 1915, 21 young girls lost their lives in a tragic fire at the St. John's School on Chestnut Street in the Downtown area. The 21 girls who were trapped were later found, after the fire subsided, huddled together, burned beyond recognition, on the other side of the entrance - just steps away from survival. All the teachers escaped with their lives. The students' deaths were privately mourned in Peabody and rarely mentioned as many tried to forget the tragedy.

Beginning as a farming community, the town's streams attracted mills which operated by water power. In particular, Peabody was a major center of New England's leather industry, and tanneries remained a linchpin of the city's economy into the second half of the 20th century. The tanneries have since closed, but the city remains known locally as the Leather City or Tanner City, and its high school sports teams are nicknamed the Tanners.

The loss of the tanneries was a blow to Peabody's economy, but the city has made up for the erosion of its industrial base, at least in part, through other forms of economic development. Early in the 20th Century, it joined automobile revolution, hosting the pioneer brass era company, Corwin, maker of the oddly-named Gas-au-lec. The Northshore Mall, originally The Northshore Shopping Center, is one of the region's largest malls, opened in 1958, and is now the city's largest taxpayer. Centennial Park, an industrial park in the center of the city, has attracted several medical and technology companies.

Meanwhile, West Peabody, which was mostly farmland as recently as the 1950s, has been developed into a middle-to-upper class residential area.

Brooksby Farm , a historic farm managed by the City of Peabody, is a 275-acre working farm and conservation area that has been one of the city's most popular destinations for decades.

In the April 2009 edition of Forbes Magazine, Peabody was ranked the 14th most livable city in the United States.


Image:City Hall, Peabody, MA.jpg|City Hall in 1912
Image:Peabody Square, Peabody, MA.jpg|Peabody Square in c. 1906
Image:Peabody Institute, Peabody, MA.jpg|Peabody Institute Library in c. 1912


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