Gloucester, Massachusetts
Encyclopedia
Gloucester is a city on Cape Ann
in Essex County, Massachusetts
, in the United States. It is part of Massachusetts' North Shore
. The population was 28,789 at the 2010 U.S. Census. An important center of the fishing industry
and a popular summer destination, Gloucester consists of an urban core on the north side of the harbor and the outlying neighborhoods of Annisquam, Bay View, Lanesville, Folly Cove, Magnolia
, Riverdale, East Gloucester and West Gloucester.
, in an area dubbed "Sandy Bay." That village separated formally on February 27, 1840. In 1873, Gloucester was reincorporated as a city.
by an expedition called the "Dorchester Company" of men from Dorchester (in the county of Dorset
, England) chartered by James I
in 1623. It was one of the first English settlements
in what would become the Massachusetts Bay Colony
, and predates both Salem
in 1626 and Boston
in 1630. The first company of pioneers
made landing at Half Moon Beach, and settled nearby, setting up fishing stages in a field in what is now Stage Fort Park
. This settlement's existence is proclaimed today by a memorial tablet, affixed to a 50' boulder in that park.
Life in this first settlement was harsh and it was short-lived. Around 1626 the place was abandoned, and the people removed themselves to Naumkeag (what is now called Salem, Massachusetts
), where more fertile soil for planting was to be found. The meetinghouse was even disassembled and relocated to the new place of settlement. At some point in the following years - though no record exists - the area was slowly resettled. The town was formally incorporated in 1642. It is at this time that the name "Gloucester" first appears on tax rolls, although in various spellings. The town took its name from the city of Gloucester
in South-West England, where it is assumed many of its new occupants originated.
This new permanent settlement focused on the Town Green area, an inlet in the marshes at a bend in the Annisquam River
. This area is now the site of Grant Circle, a large traffic-rotary at which MA Route 128 mingles with a major city street (Washington Street/ Rt 127). Here the first permanent settlers built a meeting house and therefore focused the nexus of their settlement on the 'Island' for nearly 100 years. Unlike other early coastal towns in New England
, development in Gloucester was not focused around the harbor as it is today, rather it was inland that people settled first. This is evidenced by the placement of the Town Green nearly two miles from the harbor-front.
The Town Green is also where the settlers built the first school. By Massachusetts Bay Colony
Law, any town boasting 100 families or more had to provide a public schoolhouse. This requirement was met in 1698, with Thomas Riggs standing as the town's first School-Master.
Early industry included subsistence farming and logging. Because of the poor soil and rocky hills, Cape Ann was not well suited for farming on a large scale. Small family farms and livestock provided the bulk of the sustenance to the population. Fishing, for which the town is known today, was limited to close-to-shore, with families subsisting on small catches as opposed to the great bounties yielded in later years. The fisherman of Gloucester did not yet command the Grand Banks
until the mid-18th century.
Early Gloucestermen cleared great swaths of the forest of Cape Ann for farm and pasture land, using the timber to build structures as far away as Boston. The rocky moors of Gloucester remained clear for two centuries until the forest reclaimed the land in the 20th century. The inland part of the island became known as the 'Commons' the 'Common Village' or "Dogtown
". Here small dwellings lay scattered amongst the boulders and swamps, along roads that meandered through the hills. These dwellings were at times little more than shanties, only one was even two-stories tall. Despite their size, several generations of families were raised in such houses. One feature of the construction of these houses was that under one side of the floor was dug a cellar hole (for the keeping of food), supported by a foundation of laid-stone (without mortar). These cellar holes are still visible today along the trails throughout the inland part of Gloucester; they, and some walls, are all that remain of the village there.
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The town grew, and eventually colonists lived on the opposite side of the Annisquam River. This, in a time of legally mandated church attendance, was a long way to walk - or row - on a Sunday morning. In 1718 the settlers on the opposite shore of the river split off from the First Parish community at the Green and formed 'Second Parish.' While still part of the Town of Gloucester, the people of Second, or 'West', Parish now constructed their own Meetinghouse and designated their own place of burial, both of which were in the hills near the marshes behind Wingaersheek Beach. The Meeting house is gone now, but deep in the woods on the Second Parish Road trail one can still find the scattered stones of the abandoned Burial Ground.
Other parts of town later followed suit. Third Parish, in Northern Gloucester, was founded in 1728. Fourth Parish split off from First Parish in 1742. Finally, in 1754, the people of Sandy Bay (what would later be called Rockport) split off from First Parish to found Fifth Parish. The Sandy Bay church founding was the last religious re-ordering of the Colonial Period. All of these congregations still exist in some form with the exception of Fourth Parish, the site of whose meeting house is now a highway.
At one time, there was a thriving granite industry in Gloucester.
, the city has a total area of 41.5 square miles (107.5 km²), of which, 26 square miles (67.3 km²) of it is land and 15.5 square miles (40.1 km²) of it (37.42%) is water.
Gloucester occupies most of the eastern end of Cape Ann, except for the far tip, which is the town of Rockport. The city is split in half by the Annisquam River
, which flows southward from Ipswich Bay through the middle of the city, connected to Gloucester Harbor by the Blynman Canal. The land along the northwestern shore of the river is marshy, creating several small islands. Gloucester Harbor is divided into several smaller coves, as well as the Western Harbor (site of the Fisherman's Memorial) and the Inner Harbor (home to the Gloucester fishing fleet). The eastern side of Gloucester Harbor is divided from the rest of Massachusetts Bay
by Eastern Point, extending some two miles outward from the mainland. There are several parks in the city, the largest of which are Ravenswood Park, Stage Fort Park and Mount Ann Park.
Gloucester lies between Ipswich Bay to the north and Massachusetts Bay to the south. The city is bordered on the east by Rockport
, and on the west by Ipswich
, Essex
and Manchester-by-the-Sea
to the west. (The town line with Ipswich is located across Essex Harbor, and as such there is no land connection between the towns.) Gloucester lies 16 miles east-northeast of Salem
, and 31 miles northeast of Boston
. Gloucester lies at the eastern terminus of Route 128, which ends at Route 127A. Route 127A begins at Route 127 just east of the Route 128 terminus, heading into Rockport before terminating there. Route 127 enters from Manchester-by-the-Sea before crossing the Blynman Canal and passing through downtown towards Rockport. It then re-enters Gloucester near Folly Cove, running opposite of its usual north-south orientation towards its terminus at Route 128. Route 133
also terminates within the city, entering from Essex and terminating just west of the Blynman Canal at Route 127. Besides the bridge over the Blynman Canal, there are only two other connections between the eastern and western halves of town, the A. Piatt Andrew Memorial Bridge, carrying Route 128, and the Boston & Maine Railroad Bridge, just north of the Blynman Canal.
Gloucester is home to the Cape Ann Transportation Authority
, which serves the city and surrounding towns. Two stops, in West Gloucester
and in downtown Gloucester
, provide access to the Newburyport/Rockport Line
of the MBTA Commuter Rail
, which extends from Rockport along the North Shore
to Boston's North Station. The nearest airport is the Beverly Municipal Airport
, with the nearest national and international air service being at Boston's Logan International Airport
.
was 1,166.0 people per square mile (450.2/km²). There were 13,958 housing units at an average density of 537.6 per square mile (207.6/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 91.99% White, 6.61% African American, 0.72% Asian, 0.12% Native American, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.50% from other races
, and 1.03% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 15.48% of the population. 22.6% were of Italian, 16.2% Irish
, 11.1% English
, 8.5% Portuguese
and 7.1% American
ancestry according to Census 2000.
There were 12,592 households out of which 27.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.8% were married couples living together, 10.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.3% were non-families. 30.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.38 and the average family size was 3.00.
In the city the population was spread out with 22.0% under the age of 18, 6.5% from 18 to 24, 29.9% from 25 to 44, 26.1% from 45 to 64, and 15.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 92.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.8 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $58,568, and the median income for a family was $80,970 from a 2007 estimate. Males had a median income of $41,465 versus $30,566 for females. The per capita income
for the city was $25,595. About 7.1% of families and 8.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 11.8% of those under age 18 and 11.2% of those age 65 or over.
is also reserved a seat on the School Committee. City offices are elected every two years (those ending with odd numbers). In 2007 over 40 people ran for the 15 elected seats in the city's government.
The city is divided into five Wards, each split into two precincts:
As late as the mid 20th Century Gloucester had as many as eight wards, but they have been since reorganized into current number.
On November 7, 2005, incumbent Mayor John Bell was re-elected to a third term in office. He stated his intention not to run for reelection and stepped down in January 2008.
On November 6, 2007 Carolyn Kirk was elected as the Mayor of Gloucester.
and Varian Semiconductor
are among the companies based in Gloucester.
center, and the first schooner
was reputedly built there in 1713. The community developed into an important fishing port
, largely due to its proximity to Georges Bank
and other fishing banks off the east coast of Nova Scotia
and Newfoundland
. Gloucester's most famous (and nationally recognized) seafood business was founded in 1849 -- John Pew & Sons. It became Gorton-Pew Fisheries in 1906, and in 1957 changed its name to Gorton's of Gloucester
. The iconic image of the "Gorton's Fisherman
", and the products he represents, are known throughout the country and beyond. Besides catching and processing seafood, Gloucester is also a center for fish research.
In the late 19th century Gloucester, Massachusetts saw an influx of Portuguese and Italian immigrants seeking work in the towns flourishing fishing industry and a better life in America. Some present day fishermen of Gloucester are descendents of these early immigrants. The strong Portuguese and Italian influence is evident in the many festivals celebrated throughout the year. During the Catholic celebration, St Peter's Fiesta, relatives of fishermen past and present carry oars representing many of the fishing vessels who call Gloucester their home. Saint Peter is the Patron Saint of the fishermen.
Seafaring and fishing have been, and still are, very dangerous undertakings. In its over 350-year history, Gloucester has lost over 10,000 men to the Atlantic Ocean. The names of all the lost that are known are painted on a huge mural in the main staircase at City Hall, and also on a new memorial cenotaph on Stacy Boulevard. The list has continued to lengthen despite increased safety requirements.
Gloucester's scenic beauty, active fishing industry, and renowned arts community have attracted and inspired painters since the early 19th century, as they do today. The first Gloucester painter of note was native-born Fitz Henry Lane, whose home still exists on the waterfront. The premier collection of his works is in the Cape Ann Historical Museum, which holds 40 of his paintings and 100 of his drawings. Other painters subsequently attracted to Gloucester include Edward Hopper
, William Morris Hunt
, Winslow Homer
, Childe Hassam
, John Twachtman, Frederick Mulhaupt, Frank Duveneck
, Cecilia Beaux
, Jane Peterson
, Gordon Grant, Harry DeMaine, Emile Gruppe
, Stuart Davis
, Joseph Solman
, Mark Rothko
, Milton Avery
, Barnett Newman
, William Meyerowitz, Joan Lockhart, Theresa Bernstein, and Marsden Hartley
and artists from the Ashcan School
such as Edward Hopper
, John Sloan
, Robert Henri
, William Glackens
, and Maurice Prendergast
.
Smith Cove is home to the Rocky Neck Art Colony, the oldest art colony in the country. Folly Cove was the home of the Folly Cove Designers
, influential to this day in print design and technique.
, Charles Grafly
, Paul Manship
and his daughter-in-law Margaret Cassidy Manship, Walker Hancock
, and George Demetrios. In addition, Aristides Demetrios
grew up in Folly Cove.
. Perhaps the most famous story based in Gloucester is Captains Courageous
by Rudyard Kipling
, written in 1897, and made into a movie starring Spencer Tracy
in 1937.
Charles Olson
(1910–1970), a poet and teacher at Black Mountain College
, composed a 635 page poem known as "The Maximus Poems" which centered on the city of Gloucester.
Gloucester is often referred to in the works of horror writer H. P. Lovecraft
. It is believed that the fictional town of Innsmouth
in Lovecraft's famous The Shadow Over Innsmouth
is partially based on Cape Ann as a whole and Gloucester in particular.
Gloucester and its Coast Guard station are the center of the land actions in Michael J. Tougias' 2005 book Ten Hours Until Dawn, recounting the loss of the pilot boat Can Do and its crew during the Blizzard of 1978
.
.
Gloucester's most noted landmark is the harborside "Man at the Wheel
" statue (also known as the "Gloucester Fisherman's Memorial
Cenotaph
"), dedicated to "They that go down to the sea in ships", which is a quote from .
Gloucester has a professional theatre company known as Gloucester Stage Company, which stages five to eight plays each season, primarily in the summer months. Located in East Gloucester, the theatre sits at water's edge overlooking Smith's Cove. It was founded in 1979 by local arts and business leaders to encourage playwright
s and their new works. Israel Horovitz
is the GSC's artistic director, and has been since he helped found it, though he is retiring after the 2006 season. Over the years, plays developed at Gloucester Stage Company have gone on to critical acclaim and popular success, on and off Broadway, nationally and internationally. The group draws theatre-goers from Gloucester, neighboring North Shore
districts, greater Boston area, as well as seasonal residents and tourists.
Gloucester's largest annual event is St. Peter's Fiesta, sponsored by the local Italian-American community. It is held the weekend closest to the saint's feast day. Highlights include the blessing
of the fleet
, and the greasy
pole contest.
The city has much significant architecture
, from pre-revolutionary houses to the hilltop 1870 City Hall, which dominates the town and harbor. It also has exotic waterfront homes now converted to museums, including Beauport
, built 1907–1934 by designer Henry Davis Sleeper in collaboration with local architect Halfdan Hanson, said to raise eclecticism
to the level of genius. In addition, it has Hammond Castle
, built 1926–1929 by inventor John Hays Hammond, Jr.
as a setting for his collection of Roman
, Medieval and Renaissance
artifacts
. Gloucester was also the home of feminist writer Judith Sargent Murray
and John Murray
, the founder of the first Universalist Church in America. Their house still exists as the Sargent House Museum. Many museums are located in the main downtown area, such as the Cape Ann Historical Association, and the Gloucester Maritime Heritage Center.
Cape Ann
Cape Ann is a rocky cape in northeastern Massachusetts on the Atlantic Ocean. The cape is located approximately 30 miles northeast of Boston and forms the northern edge of Massachusetts Bay. Cape Ann includes the city of Gloucester, and the towns of Essex, Manchester-by-the-Sea, and...
in Essex County, Massachusetts
Essex County, Massachusetts
-National protected areas:* Parker River National Wildlife Refuge* Salem Maritime National Historic Site* Saugus Iron Works National Historic Site* Thacher Island National Wildlife Refuge-Demographics:...
, in the United States. It is part of Massachusetts' North Shore
North Shore (Massachusetts)
The North Shore is a region in the U.S. state of Massachusetts, loosely defined as the coastal area between Boston and New Hampshire. The region is made up both of a rocky coastline, dotted with marshes and wetlands, as well as several beaches and natural harbors. The North Shore is an important...
. The population was 28,789 at the 2010 U.S. Census. An important center of the fishing industry
Fishing industry
The fishing industry includes any industry or activity concerned with taking, culturing, processing, preserving, storing, transporting, marketing or selling fish or fish products....
and a popular summer destination, Gloucester consists of an urban core on the north side of the harbor and the outlying neighborhoods of Annisquam, Bay View, Lanesville, Folly Cove, Magnolia
Magnolia (Village), Massachusetts
Magnolia is a small village in Gloucester, Massachusetts. It is located on the Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts town line in the southwestern part of the city. Straddling the town line between the two communities is Surf Park, a two-acre swath of land that has scenic views of Kettle Cove....
, Riverdale, East Gloucester and West Gloucester.
History
The boundaries of Gloucester originally included the town of RockportRockport, Massachusetts
Rockport is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 6,952 at the 2010 census. Rockport is located approximately 25 miles northeast of Boston at the tip of the Cape Ann peninsula...
, in an area dubbed "Sandy Bay." That village separated formally on February 27, 1840. In 1873, Gloucester was reincorporated as a city.
Early Gloucester
Gloucester was founded at Cape AnnCape Ann
Cape Ann is a rocky cape in northeastern Massachusetts on the Atlantic Ocean. The cape is located approximately 30 miles northeast of Boston and forms the northern edge of Massachusetts Bay. Cape Ann includes the city of Gloucester, and the towns of Essex, Manchester-by-the-Sea, and...
by an expedition called the "Dorchester Company" of men from Dorchester (in the county of Dorset
Dorset
Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...
, England) chartered by James I
James I of England
James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...
in 1623. It was one of the first English settlements
English colonial empire
The English colonial empire consisted of a variety of overseas territories colonized, conquered, or otherwise acquired by the former Kingdom of England between the late 16th and early 18th centuries....
in what would become the Massachusetts Bay Colony
Massachusetts Bay Colony
The Massachusetts Bay Colony was an English settlement on the east coast of North America in the 17th century, in New England, situated around the present-day cities of Salem and Boston. The territory administered by the colony included much of present-day central New England, including portions...
, and predates both Salem
Salem, Massachusetts
Salem is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 40,407 at the 2000 census. It and Lawrence are the county seats of Essex County...
in 1626 and Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
in 1630. The first company of pioneers
Settler
A settler is a person who has migrated to an area and established permanent residence there, often to colonize the area. Settlers are generally people who take up residence on land and cultivate it, as opposed to nomads...
made landing at Half Moon Beach, and settled nearby, setting up fishing stages in a field in what is now Stage Fort Park
Stage Fort Park
Stage Fort Park is a park in Gloucester, Massachusetts.The most prominent geological feature is a large rock, some sixty feet high and two hundred wide. It was an ancient ritual stone used by Native Americans....
. This settlement's existence is proclaimed today by a memorial tablet, affixed to a 50' boulder in that park.
Life in this first settlement was harsh and it was short-lived. Around 1626 the place was abandoned, and the people removed themselves to Naumkeag (what is now called Salem, Massachusetts
Salem, Massachusetts
Salem is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 40,407 at the 2000 census. It and Lawrence are the county seats of Essex County...
), where more fertile soil for planting was to be found. The meetinghouse was even disassembled and relocated to the new place of settlement. At some point in the following years - though no record exists - the area was slowly resettled. The town was formally incorporated in 1642. It is at this time that the name "Gloucester" first appears on tax rolls, although in various spellings. The town took its name from the city of Gloucester
Gloucester
Gloucester is a city, district and county town of Gloucestershire in the South West region of England. Gloucester lies close to the Welsh border, and on the River Severn, approximately north-east of Bristol, and south-southwest of Birmingham....
in South-West England, where it is assumed many of its new occupants originated.
This new permanent settlement focused on the Town Green area, an inlet in the marshes at a bend in the Annisquam River
Annisquam River
The Annisquam River is a tidal, salt-water estuary in Annisquam and Gloucester, Massachusetts, connecting Annisquam Harbor on the north to Gloucester Harbor on the south. The segment between Gloucester Harbor and the Boston and Maine railroad bridge is also known as the Blynman Canal.The estuary is...
. This area is now the site of Grant Circle, a large traffic-rotary at which MA Route 128 mingles with a major city street (Washington Street/ Rt 127). Here the first permanent settlers built a meeting house and therefore focused the nexus of their settlement on the 'Island' for nearly 100 years. Unlike other early coastal towns in New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
, development in Gloucester was not focused around the harbor as it is today, rather it was inland that people settled first. This is evidenced by the placement of the Town Green nearly two miles from the harbor-front.
The Town Green is also where the settlers built the first school. By Massachusetts Bay Colony
Massachusetts Bay Colony
The Massachusetts Bay Colony was an English settlement on the east coast of North America in the 17th century, in New England, situated around the present-day cities of Salem and Boston. The territory administered by the colony included much of present-day central New England, including portions...
Law, any town boasting 100 families or more had to provide a public schoolhouse. This requirement was met in 1698, with Thomas Riggs standing as the town's first School-Master.
Early industry included subsistence farming and logging. Because of the poor soil and rocky hills, Cape Ann was not well suited for farming on a large scale. Small family farms and livestock provided the bulk of the sustenance to the population. Fishing, for which the town is known today, was limited to close-to-shore, with families subsisting on small catches as opposed to the great bounties yielded in later years. The fisherman of Gloucester did not yet command the Grand Banks
Grand Banks
The Grand Banks of Newfoundland are a group of underwater plateaus southeast of Newfoundland on the North American continental shelf. These areas are relatively shallow, ranging from in depth. The cold Labrador Current mixes with the warm waters of the Gulf Stream here.The mixing of these waters...
until the mid-18th century.
Early Gloucestermen cleared great swaths of the forest of Cape Ann for farm and pasture land, using the timber to build structures as far away as Boston. The rocky moors of Gloucester remained clear for two centuries until the forest reclaimed the land in the 20th century. The inland part of the island became known as the 'Commons' the 'Common Village' or "Dogtown
Dogtown, Massachusetts
Dogtown is an abandoned inland settlement on Cape Ann in Massachusetts. Once known as the Common Settlement and populated by respectable citizens, the area later known as Dogtown is divided between the city of Gloucester and the town of Rockport...
". Here small dwellings lay scattered amongst the boulders and swamps, along roads that meandered through the hills. These dwellings were at times little more than shanties, only one was even two-stories tall. Despite their size, several generations of families were raised in such houses. One feature of the construction of these houses was that under one side of the floor was dug a cellar hole (for the keeping of food), supported by a foundation of laid-stone (without mortar). These cellar holes are still visible today along the trails throughout the inland part of Gloucester; they, and some walls, are all that remain of the village there.
Growth
Other parts of town later followed suit. Third Parish, in Northern Gloucester, was founded in 1728. Fourth Parish split off from First Parish in 1742. Finally, in 1754, the people of Sandy Bay (what would later be called Rockport) split off from First Parish to found Fifth Parish. The Sandy Bay church founding was the last religious re-ordering of the Colonial Period. All of these congregations still exist in some form with the exception of Fourth Parish, the site of whose meeting house is now a highway.
At one time, there was a thriving granite industry in Gloucester.
Geography and transportation
Gloucester is located at 42°37′26"N 70°40′32"W (42.624015, -70.675521). According to the United States Census BureauUnited States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...
, the city has a total area of 41.5 square miles (107.5 km²), of which, 26 square miles (67.3 km²) of it is land and 15.5 square miles (40.1 km²) of it (37.42%) is water.
Gloucester occupies most of the eastern end of Cape Ann, except for the far tip, which is the town of Rockport. The city is split in half by the Annisquam River
Annisquam River
The Annisquam River is a tidal, salt-water estuary in Annisquam and Gloucester, Massachusetts, connecting Annisquam Harbor on the north to Gloucester Harbor on the south. The segment between Gloucester Harbor and the Boston and Maine railroad bridge is also known as the Blynman Canal.The estuary is...
, which flows southward from Ipswich Bay through the middle of the city, connected to Gloucester Harbor by the Blynman Canal. The land along the northwestern shore of the river is marshy, creating several small islands. Gloucester Harbor is divided into several smaller coves, as well as the Western Harbor (site of the Fisherman's Memorial) and the Inner Harbor (home to the Gloucester fishing fleet). The eastern side of Gloucester Harbor is divided from the rest of Massachusetts Bay
Massachusetts Bay
The Massachusetts Bay, also called Mass Bay, is one of the largest bays of the Atlantic Ocean which forms the distinctive shape of the coastline of the U.S. state of Massachusetts. Its waters extend 65 miles into the Atlantic Ocean. Massachusetts Bay includes the Boston Harbor, Dorchester Bay,...
by Eastern Point, extending some two miles outward from the mainland. There are several parks in the city, the largest of which are Ravenswood Park, Stage Fort Park and Mount Ann Park.
Gloucester lies between Ipswich Bay to the north and Massachusetts Bay to the south. The city is bordered on the east by Rockport
Rockport, Massachusetts
Rockport is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 6,952 at the 2010 census. Rockport is located approximately 25 miles northeast of Boston at the tip of the Cape Ann peninsula...
, and on the west by Ipswich
Ipswich, Massachusetts
Ipswich is a coastal town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 12,987 at the 2000 census. Home to Willowdale State Forest and Sandy Point State Reservation, Ipswich includes the southern part of Plum Island...
, Essex
Essex, Massachusetts
Essex is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, north of Boston. The population was 3,504 at the 2010 census.Part of the town comprises the census-designated place of Essex.- History :...
and Manchester-by-the-Sea
Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts
Manchester-by-the-Sea is a town on Cape Ann, in Essex County, Massachusetts, in the United States. As of the 2000 census, the town population was 5,228.-History:...
to the west. (The town line with Ipswich is located across Essex Harbor, and as such there is no land connection between the towns.) Gloucester lies 16 miles east-northeast of Salem
Salem, Massachusetts
Salem is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 40,407 at the 2000 census. It and Lawrence are the county seats of Essex County...
, and 31 miles northeast of Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
. Gloucester lies at the eastern terminus of Route 128, which ends at Route 127A. Route 127A begins at Route 127 just east of the Route 128 terminus, heading into Rockport before terminating there. Route 127 enters from Manchester-by-the-Sea before crossing the Blynman Canal and passing through downtown towards Rockport. It then re-enters Gloucester near Folly Cove, running opposite of its usual north-south orientation towards its terminus at Route 128. Route 133
Massachusetts Route 133
Route 133 is an east–west Massachusetts state route that runs from Lowell to Gloucester.-Route description:Route 133 begins at the junction of Route 38 and Route 110 in Lowell, where Route 110 begins a concurrency with Route 38 northbound. Route 133 heads east from this point, heading...
also terminates within the city, entering from Essex and terminating just west of the Blynman Canal at Route 127. Besides the bridge over the Blynman Canal, there are only two other connections between the eastern and western halves of town, the A. Piatt Andrew Memorial Bridge, carrying Route 128, and the Boston & Maine Railroad Bridge, just north of the Blynman Canal.
Gloucester is home to the Cape Ann Transportation Authority
Cape Ann Transportation Authority
The Cape Ann Transportation Authority is a public, non-profit organization in Massachusetts, charged with providing public transportation to the Cape Ann area, consisting of the city of Gloucester and the adjoining towns of Essex, Ipswich and Rockport....
, which serves the city and surrounding towns. Two stops, in West Gloucester
West Gloucester (MBTA station)
West Gloucester is a passenger rail station on MBTA's Newburyport/Rockport Line. located on Essex Avenue in West Gloucester, Massachusetts. The station meets the ADA Guidelines for Handicap Accessibility. It also contains a 24-car lot for parking. The station has a long outbound platform, and a...
and in downtown Gloucester
Gloucester (MBTA station)
Gloucester is a passenger rail station on MBTA's Newburyport/Rockport Line. The station connects with the Cape Ann Regional Transportation Authority's Bus Services such as the Gloucester Business Express and Gloucester/Rockport VIA Lansville...
, provide access to the Newburyport/Rockport Line
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 serves Chelsea, Lynn, Swampscott, Salem, and Beverly. From there, a northern branch of...
of the MBTA Commuter Rail
MBTA Commuter Rail
The MBTA Commuter Rail serves as the regional rail arm of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, in the United States. It is operated under contract by the Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad Company a joint partnership of Veolia Transportation, Bombardier Transportation and Alternate...
, which extends from Rockport along the North Shore
North Shore (Massachusetts)
The North Shore is a region in the U.S. state of Massachusetts, loosely defined as the coastal area between Boston and New Hampshire. The region is made up both of a rocky coastline, dotted with marshes and wetlands, as well as several beaches and natural harbors. The North Shore is an important...
to Boston's North Station. The nearest airport is the Beverly Municipal Airport
Beverly Municipal Airport
Beverly Municipal Airport is a public-use airport located three miles northwest of the central business district of Beverly, a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States...
, with the nearest national and international air service being at Boston's Logan International Airport
Logan International Airport
General Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport is located in the East Boston neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts . It covers , has six runways, and employs an estimated 16,000 people. It is the 19th busiest airport in the United States.Boston serves as a focus city for JetBlue Airways...
.
Demographics
As of the 2000 census, there were 30,273 people, 12,592 households, and 7,895 families residing in the city. The population densityPopulation density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
was 1,166.0 people per square mile (450.2/km²). There were 13,958 housing units at an average density of 537.6 per square mile (207.6/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 91.99% White, 6.61% African American, 0.72% Asian, 0.12% Native American, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.50% from other races
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, and 1.03% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 15.48% of the population. 22.6% were of Italian, 16.2% Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
, 11.1% English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
, 8.5% Portuguese
Portuguese people
The Portuguese are a nation and ethnic group native to the country of Portugal, in the west of the Iberian peninsula of south-west Europe. Their language is Portuguese, and Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion....
and 7.1% American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
ancestry according to Census 2000.
There were 12,592 households out of which 27.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.8% were married couples living together, 10.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.3% were non-families. 30.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.38 and the average family size was 3.00.
In the city the population was spread out with 22.0% under the age of 18, 6.5% from 18 to 24, 29.9% from 25 to 44, 26.1% from 45 to 64, and 15.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 92.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.8 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $58,568, and the median income for a family was $80,970 from a 2007 estimate. Males had a median income of $41,465 versus $30,566 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...
for the city was $25,595. About 7.1% of families and 8.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 11.8% of those under age 18 and 11.2% of those age 65 or over.
Politics
Gloucester is a city, with a Strong-Mayor-Council System. The current mayor of Gloucester is Carolyn Kirk as of July 1, 2008. The MayorMayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
is also reserved a seat on the School Committee. City offices are elected every two years (those ending with odd numbers). In 2007 over 40 people ran for the 15 elected seats in the city's government.
The city is divided into five Wards, each split into two precincts:
- Ward 1 - East Gloucester - includes Eastern Point and Rocky Neck
- Ward 2 - Downtown and the Harbor area
- Ward 3 - The Western edge of the 'island' from Stacy Boulevard to Wheeler's Point - includes the Heights at Cape Ann and Pond View Village.
- Ward 4 - North Gloucester - includes Riverdale, Annisquam, Bay View, and Lanesville.
- Ward 5 - The entirety of West Gloucester west of the Annisquam River and Blynman Canal to Manchester-by-the-Sea and Essex - includes the Wingaersheek area and Village of Magnolia.
As late as the mid 20th Century Gloucester had as many as eight wards, but they have been since reorganized into current number.
On November 7, 2005, incumbent Mayor John Bell was re-elected to a third term in office. He stated his intention not to run for reelection and stepped down in January 2008.
On November 6, 2007 Carolyn Kirk was elected as the Mayor of Gloucester.
| Voter registration and party enrollment as of October 15, 2008 | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Number of voters | Percentage |
Democratic Democratic Party (United States) The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous... |
6,056 | 28.87% |
Republican Republican Party (United States) The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S... |
2,208 | 10.53% |
Unaffiliated | 12,563 | 59.89% |
Minor parties | 149 | 0.71% | |
| Total | 20,976 | 100% | |||||||||||||
Education
The following schools are located within the Gloucester Public Schools District:- Gloucester High SchoolGloucester High School (Massachusetts)Gloucester High School is a public four-year comprehensive secondary school with 1,351 students and 150 faculty and staff. It is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges and is a member of the Northeast Alliance of High Schools....
(9-12) - Ralph B. O'Maley Middle School (6-8)
- Gloucester Community Arts Charter School (K-8)
- East Gloucester Elementary School (K-5)
- Plum Cove Elementary School (K-5)
- Beeman Elementary School (K-5)
- Veteran's Memorial School (K-5)
- West Parish Elementary School (K-5)
Economy
Gorton's of GloucesterGorton's of Gloucester
Gorton’s of Gloucester is a subsidiary of the Japanese seafood conglomerate Nippon Suisan Kaisha, Ltd., producing fishsticks and other frozen seafood for the retail market in the United States. Gorton’s also has a North American foodservice business which sells to fast-food restaurants such as...
and Varian Semiconductor
Varian Semiconductor
Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates, Inc. is a supplier of ion implantation equipment used in the fabrication of semiconductor chips. Varian Semiconductor was founded in 1971 as Extrion Corporation in Peabody, Massachusetts. Extrion later moved to nearby Gloucester and was bought by Varian...
are among the companies based in Gloucester.
Gloucester and the sea
The town was an important shipbuildingShipbuilding
Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to before recorded history.Shipbuilding and ship repairs, both...
center, and the first schooner
Schooner
A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....
was reputedly built there in 1713. The community developed into an important fishing port
Port
A port is a location on a coast or shore containing one or more harbors where ships can dock and transfer people or cargo to or from land....
, largely due to its proximity to Georges Bank
Georges Bank
Georges Bank is a large elevated area of the sea floor which separates the Gulf of Maine from the Atlantic Ocean and is situated between Cape Cod, Massachusetts and Cape Sable Island, Nova Scotia ....
and other fishing banks off the east coast of Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
and Newfoundland
Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada. Situated in the country's Atlantic region, it incorporates the island of Newfoundland and mainland Labrador with a combined area of . As of April 2011, the province's estimated population is 508,400...
. Gloucester's most famous (and nationally recognized) seafood business was founded in 1849 -- John Pew & Sons. It became Gorton-Pew Fisheries in 1906, and in 1957 changed its name to Gorton's of Gloucester
Gorton's of Gloucester
Gorton’s of Gloucester is a subsidiary of the Japanese seafood conglomerate Nippon Suisan Kaisha, Ltd., producing fishsticks and other frozen seafood for the retail market in the United States. Gorton’s also has a North American foodservice business which sells to fast-food restaurants such as...
. The iconic image of the "Gorton's Fisherman
Gorton's of Gloucester
Gorton’s of Gloucester is a subsidiary of the Japanese seafood conglomerate Nippon Suisan Kaisha, Ltd., producing fishsticks and other frozen seafood for the retail market in the United States. Gorton’s also has a North American foodservice business which sells to fast-food restaurants such as...
", and the products he represents, are known throughout the country and beyond. Besides catching and processing seafood, Gloucester is also a center for fish research.
In the late 19th century Gloucester, Massachusetts saw an influx of Portuguese and Italian immigrants seeking work in the towns flourishing fishing industry and a better life in America. Some present day fishermen of Gloucester are descendents of these early immigrants. The strong Portuguese and Italian influence is evident in the many festivals celebrated throughout the year. During the Catholic celebration, St Peter's Fiesta, relatives of fishermen past and present carry oars representing many of the fishing vessels who call Gloucester their home. Saint Peter is the Patron Saint of the fishermen.
Seafaring and fishing have been, and still are, very dangerous undertakings. In its over 350-year history, Gloucester has lost over 10,000 men to the Atlantic Ocean. The names of all the lost that are known are painted on a huge mural in the main staircase at City Hall, and also on a new memorial cenotaph on Stacy Boulevard. The list has continued to lengthen despite increased safety requirements.
Painting and printmaking
Edward Hopper
Edward Hopper was a prominent American realist painter and printmaker. While most popularly known for his oil paintings, he was equally proficient as a watercolorist and printmaker in etching...
, William Morris Hunt
William Morris Hunt
William Morris Hunt , American painter, was born at Brattleboro, Vermont to Jane Maria Hunt and Hon. Jonathan Hunt, who raised one of the preeminent families in American art...
, Winslow Homer
Winslow Homer
Winslow Homer was an American landscape painter and printmaker, best known for his marine subjects. He is considered one of the foremost painters in 19th century America and a preeminent figure in American art....
, Childe Hassam
Childe Hassam
Frederick Childe Hassam was a prolific American Impressionist painter, noted for his urban and coastal scenes. Along with Mary Cassatt and John Henry Twachtman, Hassam was instrumental in promulgating Impressionism to American collectors, dealers, and museums...
, John Twachtman, Frederick Mulhaupt, Frank Duveneck
Frank Duveneck
Frank Duveneck was an American figure and portrait painter.-Youth:Duveneck was born in Covington, Kentucky, the son of German immigrant Bernard Decker. Decker died when Frank was only a year old and his widow remarried Joseph Duveneck...
, Cecilia Beaux
Cecilia Beaux
Cecilia Beaux was an American society portraitist, in the manner of John Singer Sargent. She was a near contemporary of better-known American artist Mary Cassatt and also received her training in Philadelphia and France...
, Jane Peterson
Jane Peterson
Jane Peterson was an American artist. Two of her works are held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art: . and...
, Gordon Grant, Harry DeMaine, Emile Gruppe
Emil Gruppe
Emile Albert Gruppé was an American painter born in Rochester, New York to Helen and Charles P. Gruppe. He lived the early years of his life in the Netherlands as his father Charles Paul Gruppe, painted with the Hague school of art and acted as a dealer for the Dutch painters in the US...
, Stuart Davis
Stuart Davis (painter)
Stuart Davis , was an early American modernist painter. He was well known for his jazz influenced, proto pop art paintings of the 1940s and 1950s, bold, brash, and colorful as well as his ashcan pictures in the early years of the 20th century.-Biography:He was born in Philadelphia to Edward Wyatt...
, Joseph Solman
Joseph Solman
Joseph Solman was a Jewish American painter, a founder of The Ten, a group of New York City Expressionist painters in the 1930s...
, Mark Rothko
Mark Rothko
Mark Rothko, born Marcus Rothkowitz , was a Russian-born American painter. He is classified as an abstract expressionist, although he himself rejected this label, and even resisted classification as an "abstract painter".- Childhood :Mark Rothko was born in Dvinsk, Vitebsk Province, Russian...
, Milton Avery
Milton Avery
Milton Avery was an American modern painter. Born in Altmar, New York, he moved to Connecticut in 1898 and later to New York City.-Biography:...
, Barnett Newman
Barnett Newman
Barnett Newman was an American artist. He is seen as one of the major figures in abstract expressionism and one of the foremost of the color field painters.-Early life:...
, William Meyerowitz, Joan Lockhart, Theresa Bernstein, and Marsden Hartley
Marsden Hartley
Marsden Hartley was an American Modernist painter, poet, and essayist.-Early life and education:Hartley was born in Lewiston, Maine, where his English parents had settled. He was the youngest of nine children. His mother died when he was eight, and his father remarried four years later to Martha...
and artists from the Ashcan School
Ashcan School
The Ashcan School, also called the Ash Can School, is defined as a realist artistic movement that came into prominence in the United States during the early twentieth century, best known for works portraying scenes of daily life in New York's poorer neighborhoods. The movement grew out of a group...
such as Edward Hopper
Edward Hopper
Edward Hopper was a prominent American realist painter and printmaker. While most popularly known for his oil paintings, he was equally proficient as a watercolorist and printmaker in etching...
, John Sloan
John French Sloan
John French Sloan was an American artist. As a member of The Eight, he became a leading figure in the Ashcan School of realist artists. He was known for his urban genre painting and ability to capture the essence of neighborhood life in New York City, often through his window...
, Robert Henri
Robert Henri
Robert Henri was an American painter and teacher. He was a leading figure of the Ashcan School in art.- Early life :...
, William Glackens
William Glackens
William James Glackens was an American realist painter.Glackens studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and later moved to New York City, where he co-founded what came to be called the Ashcan School art movement...
, and Maurice Prendergast
Maurice Prendergast
Maurice Brazil Prendergast was an American Post-Impressionist artist who worked in oil, watercolor, and monotype...
.
Smith Cove is home to the Rocky Neck Art Colony, the oldest art colony in the country. Folly Cove was the home of the Folly Cove Designers
Folly Cove Designers
The Folly Cove Designers were a mid-20th-century group of American artists block printing in Gloucester, Massachusetts, on Cape Ann. Their blocks were made of linoleum, and they primarily printed on fabric.-History of the Folly Cove Designers:...
, influential to this day in print design and technique.
Sculpture
Several important sculptors have lived and worked in East Gloucester, Annisquam, Lanesville and Folly Cove. They include George Aarons, Anna Hyatt HuntingtonAnna Hyatt Huntington
Anna Vaughn Hyatt Huntington was an American sculptor.-Life and career:Huntington was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Her father, Alpheus Hyatt, was a professor of paleontology and zoology at Harvard University and MIT, and served as a contributing factor to her early interest in animals and...
, Charles Grafly
Charles Grafly
Charles Allan Grafly, Jr. was an American sculptor and educator. He taught at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts for 37 years.-Life and career:...
, Paul Manship
Paul Manship
Paul Howard Manship was an American sculptor.-Life:Manship began his art studies at the St. Paul School of Art in Minnesota. From there he moved to Philadelphia and continued his education at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts...
and his daughter-in-law Margaret Cassidy Manship, Walker Hancock
Walker Hancock
Walker Kirtland Hancock was a 20th-century American sculptor and teacher. He created notable monumental sculptures, including the Pennsylvania Railroad World War II Memorial at 30th Street Station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania...
, and George Demetrios. In addition, Aristides Demetrios
Aristides Demetrios
Aristides Burton Demetrios was born and raised in Massachusetts. His father, George Demetrios, was a classical sculptor, trained by Bourdelle, a student of Rodin...
grew up in Folly Cove.
Literature
The city was appropriately used as the on-location setting for the adaptation of the book The Perfect StormThe Perfect Storm (film)
The Perfect Storm is a 2000 dramatic disaster film directed by Wolfgang Petersen. It is an adaptation of the 1997 non-fiction book of the same title by Sebastian Junger about the crew of the Andrea Gail that got caught in the Perfect Storm of 1991. The film stars George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg,...
. Perhaps the most famous story based in Gloucester is Captains Courageous
Captains Courageous
Captains Courageous is an 1897 novel, by Rudyard Kipling, that follows the adventures of fifteen-year-old Harvey Cheyne Jr., the arrogant and spoiled son of a railroad tycoon...
by Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English poet, short-story writer, and novelist chiefly remembered for his celebration of British imperialism, tales and poems of British soldiers in India, and his tales for children. Kipling received the 1907 Nobel Prize for Literature...
, written in 1897, and made into a movie starring Spencer Tracy
Spencer Tracy
Spencer Bonaventure Tracy was an American theatrical and film actor, who appeared in 75 films from 1930 to 1967. Tracy was one of the major stars of Hollywood's Golden Age, ranking among the top ten box office draws for almost every year from 1938 to 1951...
in 1937.
Charles Olson
Charles Olson
Charles Olson , was a second generation American modernist poet who was a link between earlier figures such as Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams and the New American poets, which includes the New York School, the Black Mountain School, the Beat poets, and the San Francisco Renaissance...
(1910–1970), a poet and teacher at Black Mountain College
Black Mountain College
Black Mountain College, a school founded in 1933 in Black Mountain, North Carolina, was a new kind of college in the United States in which the study of art was seen to be central to a liberal arts education, and in which John Dewey's principles of education played a major role...
, composed a 635 page poem known as "The Maximus Poems" which centered on the city of Gloucester.
Gloucester is often referred to in the works of horror writer H. P. Lovecraft
H. P. Lovecraft
Howard Phillips Lovecraft --often credited as H.P. Lovecraft — was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction, especially the subgenre known as weird fiction....
. It is believed that the fictional town of Innsmouth
Innsmouth
Innsmouth is a fictional town in the writings of H. P. Lovecraft, part of the Lovecraft Country setting of the Cthulhu Mythos.Lovecraft first used the name "Innsmouth" in his 1920 short story "Celephaïs" , where it refers to a fictional town in New England...
in Lovecraft's famous The Shadow Over Innsmouth
The Shadow Over Innsmouth
The Shadow Over Innsmouth is a novella by H. P. Lovecraft. Written in November-December 1931, the story was first published in April 1936; this was the only fiction of Lovecraft's published during his lifetime that did not appear in a periodical....
is partially based on Cape Ann as a whole and Gloucester in particular.
Gloucester and its Coast Guard station are the center of the land actions in Michael J. Tougias' 2005 book Ten Hours Until Dawn, recounting the loss of the pilot boat Can Do and its crew during the Blizzard of 1978
Northeastern United States Blizzard of 1978
The Northeastern United States blizzard of 1978 was a catastrophic and historic nor'easter that brought blizzard conditions to the New England region of the United States and the New York metropolitan area. The "Blizzard of '78" formed on February 5, 1978 and broke up on February 7, 1978...
.
Comics
Gloucester is the birthplace of Marvel character Dane Whitman whose superhero alter ego is the Black KnightBlack Knight (Dane Whitman)
Dane Whitman is a fictional comic book superhero in the Marvel Comics universe, the company's third person to bear the name Black Knight. Created by writer Roy Thomas and artist John Buscema, he first appeared in The Avengers #47 Dane Whitman is a fictional comic book superhero in the Marvel Comics...
.
Film
- The BostoniansThe Bostonians (film)The Bostonians is a 1984 Merchant Ivory film based on Henry James's novel of the same name. The film stars Vanessa Redgrave, Christopher Reeve, Madeleine Potter and Jessica Tandy. The movie received respectable reviews and showings at arthouse theaters in New York, London and other cities...
– ocean front scenes were filmed on rocks at Rafes Chasm Park, off Herperus Avenue. - Eastern Point Yacht Club in Gloucester was the starting line of the Amazing Race 17.
- Captains CourageousCaptains CourageousCaptains Courageous is an 1897 novel, by Rudyard Kipling, that follows the adventures of fifteen-year-old Harvey Cheyne Jr., the arrogant and spoiled son of a railroad tycoon...
was set in Gloucester. - The Perfect StormThe Perfect Storm (film)The Perfect Storm is a 2000 dramatic disaster film directed by Wolfgang Petersen. It is an adaptation of the 1997 non-fiction book of the same title by Sebastian Junger about the crew of the Andrea Gail that got caught in the Perfect Storm of 1991. The film stars George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg,...
was filmed and set in Gloucester. - Moonlight Mile was filmed almost entirely in Gloucester, with some shots in MarbleheadMarblehead, MassachusettsMarblehead is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 19,808 at the 2010 census. It is home to the Marblehead Neck Wildlife Sanctuary and Devereux Beach...
. - Portions of Stuck on YouStuck On You (2003 film)Stuck On You is a 2003 comedy film directed by the Farrelly brothers and starring Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear as conjoined twins, whose conflicting aspirations provide both conflict and humorous situations, in particular when one of them wishes to move to Hollywood, California to pursue a career as...
were filmed in Gloucester and in neighboring Rockport. (The rink scenes were filmed at the O'Maley School.) - The Good Son was filmed in Gloucester and other Cape AnnCape AnnCape Ann is a rocky cape in northeastern Massachusetts on the Atlantic Ocean. The cape is located approximately 30 miles northeast of Boston and forms the northern edge of Massachusetts Bay. Cape Ann includes the city of Gloucester, and the towns of Essex, Manchester-by-the-Sea, and...
communities. - The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are ComingThe Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are ComingThe Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming is an American comedy film. Based on the Nathaniel Benchley novel The Off-Islanders, the film was directed by Norman Jewison and adapted for the screen by William Rose....
takes place on a fictional Gloucester island and was filmed in Mendocino, CaliforniaMendocino, CaliforniaMendocino is a census-designated place in Mendocino County, California, United States. Mendocino is located south of Fort Bragg, at an elevation of 154 feet...
. - MermaidsMermaids (film)Mermaids is a 1990 comedy-drama film directed by Richard Benjamin and starring Cher, Bob Hoskins, Winona Ryder , and Christina Ricci in her first film role...
had scenes shot in the Magnolia area of Gloucester. - Author! Author!Author! Author! (film)Author! Author! is a 1982 film directed by Arthur Hiller, written by Israel Horovitz and is loosely autobiographical. It stars Al Pacino, Dyan Cannon and Tuesday Weld....
had scenes shot on Good Harbor Beach in Gloucester. - Polis is This: Charles Olson and the Persistence of PlacePolis is This: Charles Olson and the Persistence of PlacePolis is This: Charles Olson and the Persistence of Place is a documentary about the life of the poet Charles Olson produced and directed by independent film-maker, Henry Ferrini. It was called “the best film about an American poet ever made” by William Corbett of the Boston Phoenix. The film...
is a one hour documentary about the poet Charles OlsonCharles OlsonCharles Olson , was a second generation American modernist poet who was a link between earlier figures such as Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams and the New American poets, which includes the New York School, the Black Mountain School, the Beat poets, and the San Francisco Renaissance...
which the Boston Phoenix called the best film about an American poet ever made. - The Gloucester 18 is a documentary film that investigates the Gloucester pregnancy pact, and was filmed entirely in Gloucester.
- The WomenThe Women (2008 film)The Women is a 2008 American comedy film written, produced and directed by Diane English. The screenplay is an updated version of the George Cukor-directed 1939 film of the same name based on a 1936 play by Clare Boothe Luce....
was partly filmed in Annisquam - Grown UpsGrown Ups (2010 film)Grown Ups is a 2010 American buddy-comedy film directed by Dennis Dugan and starring Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Chris Rock, David Spade, and Rob Schneider. Sandler and Fred Wolf wrote the script. The film was produced by Sandler's production company Happy Madison and was distributed by Columbia...
Points of interest
- Dogtown CommonDogtown, MassachusettsDogtown is an abandoned inland settlement on Cape Ann in Massachusetts. Once known as the Common Settlement and populated by respectable citizens, the area later known as Dogtown is divided between the city of Gloucester and the town of Rockport...
- Ravenswood ParkRavenswood ParkRavenswood Park is a nature reserve in the western section of Gloucester, Massachusetts owned and managed by the Trustees of Reservations. It can be accessed from Western Avenue, the road to Manchester through the Magnolia area. Ravenswood Park is frequented by cross-country skiers during the...
- AnnisquamAnnisquam, MassachusettsAnnisquam is a small waterfront neighborhood located in the City of Gloucester located on the North Shore of Massachusetts.-History:The name "Annisquam" comes from an Algonquian term meaning "top of the rock, containing , "on top of", and , "rock". The first European settlement in Annisquam was...
- Norman's WoeNorman's WoeNorman's Woe is a rock reef on Cape Ann in Gloucester, Massachusetts. It has been the site of a number of ship wrecks. In fiction, it is the site of The Wreck of the Hesperus, a narrative poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow...
, known for several shipwrecks, including the The Wreck of the HesperusThe Wreck of the Hesperus"The Wreck of the Hesperus" is a dramatic poem by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, first published in Ballads and Other Poems in 1842.-Overview:... - The schooner AdventureAdventure (schooner)The 1926 schooner Adventure is one of the last of the famous Grand Banks fishing schooners of Gloucester, Massachusetts. She is one of only two "knockabout" fishing schooners surviving.Adventure was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1994....
- Rocky Neck Art Colony, America's oldest working art colony
Gloucester's most noted landmark is the harborside "Man at the Wheel
Gloucester Fisherman's Memorial
Gloucester Fisherman's Memorial is a historic memorial cenotaph sculpture on South Stacy Boulevard, near entrance of Stacy Esplanade in Gloucester, Massachusetts, built in 1925....
" statue (also known as the "Gloucester Fisherman's Memorial
Gloucester Fisherman's Memorial
Gloucester Fisherman's Memorial is a historic memorial cenotaph sculpture on South Stacy Boulevard, near entrance of Stacy Esplanade in Gloucester, Massachusetts, built in 1925....
Cenotaph
Cenotaph
A cenotaph is an "empty tomb" or a monument erected in honour of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been interred elsewhere. The word derives from the Greek κενοτάφιον = kenotaphion...
"), dedicated to "They that go down to the sea in ships", which is a quote from .
Gloucester has a professional theatre company known as Gloucester Stage Company, which stages five to eight plays each season, primarily in the summer months. Located in East Gloucester, the theatre sits at water's edge overlooking Smith's Cove. It was founded in 1979 by local arts and business leaders to encourage playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
s and their new works. Israel Horovitz
Israel Horovitz
Israel Horovitz is an American playwright and screenwriter.-Theatre career:An American dramatist, Horovitz has written more than 70 produced plays, many of which have been translated and performed in more than 30 languages worldwide . The 70/70 Horovitz Project was created by NYC Barefoot Theatre...
is the GSC's artistic director, and has been since he helped found it, though he is retiring after the 2006 season. Over the years, plays developed at Gloucester Stage Company have gone on to critical acclaim and popular success, on and off Broadway, nationally and internationally. The group draws theatre-goers from Gloucester, neighboring North Shore
North Shore (Massachusetts)
The North Shore is a region in the U.S. state of Massachusetts, loosely defined as the coastal area between Boston and New Hampshire. The region is made up both of a rocky coastline, dotted with marshes and wetlands, as well as several beaches and natural harbors. The North Shore is an important...
districts, greater Boston area, as well as seasonal residents and tourists.
Gloucester's largest annual event is St. Peter's Fiesta, sponsored by the local Italian-American community. It is held the weekend closest to the saint's feast day. Highlights include the blessing
Blessing
A blessing, is the infusion of something with holiness, spiritual redemption, divine will, or one's hope or approval.- Etymology and Germanic paganism :...
of the fleet
Fishing fleet
A fishing fleet is an aggregate of commercial fishing vessels. The term may be used of all vessels operating out of a particular port, all vessels engaged in a particular type of fishing , or all fishing vessels of a country or region.Although fishing vessels are not formally organized as if they...
, and the greasy
Greasy pole
Greasy pole or grease pole refers to a pole that has been made slippery and thus difficult to grip. More specifically, it is the name of several events that involve staying on, climbing up, walking over or otherwise traversing such a pole...
pole contest.
The city has much significant architecture
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
, from pre-revolutionary houses to the hilltop 1870 City Hall, which dominates the town and harbor. It also has exotic waterfront homes now converted to museums, including Beauport
Beauport, Sleeper-McCann House
Beauport, also known as Sleeper-McCann House, Little Beauport, or Henry Davis Sleeper House, is a historic house in Gloucester, Massachusetts. It was built starting in 1907 as the summer home of interior decorator and antique collector Henry Davis Sleeper...
, built 1907–1934 by designer Henry Davis Sleeper in collaboration with local architect Halfdan Hanson, said to raise eclecticism
Eclecticism in art
Eclecticism is a kind of mixed style in the fine arts: "the borrowing of a variety of styles from different sources and combining them" . Significantly, Eclecticism hardly ever constituted a specific style in art: it is characterized by the fact that it was not a particular style...
to the level of genius. In addition, it has Hammond Castle
Hammond Castle
Hammond Castle is located on the coast of Gloucester, Massachusetts. The castle, which was constructed between 1926 and 1929, was the home and laboratory of John Hays Hammond, Jr. Mr. Hammond was an inventor who was a pioneer in remote control and held over four hundred patents...
, built 1926–1929 by inventor John Hays Hammond, Jr.
John Hays Hammond, Jr.
John Hays Hammond, Jr. was an American inventor known as "The Father of Radio Control" and son of mining engineer John Hays Hammond, Sr..-Biography:...
as a setting for his collection of Roman
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
, Medieval and Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
artifacts
Artifact (archaeology)
An artifact or artefact is "something made or given shape by man, such as a tool or a work of art, esp an object of archaeological interest"...
. Gloucester was also the home of feminist writer Judith Sargent Murray
Judith Sargent Murray
Judith Sargent Murray was an early American advocate for women's rights, an essayist, playwright, poet, and letter writer. She was one of the first American proponents of the idea of the equality of the sexes—that women, like men, had the capability of intellectual accomplishment and should be...
and John Murray
John Murray (minister)
John Murray though sometimes recalled as founder of the Universalist denomination in the United States, might more fairly be described as a pioneer minister and an inspirational figure, as his theological legacy to the later Universalist denomination was minimal.-Early life:He was born in Alton,...
, the founder of the first Universalist Church in America. Their house still exists as the Sargent House Museum. Many museums are located in the main downtown area, such as the Cape Ann Historical Association, and the Gloucester Maritime Heritage Center.
Notable residents
This is an incomplete list of one-time residents of Gloucester, Massachusetts- A. Piatt Andrew, congressman, Assistant Treasury Secretary, and Harvard professor
- The Ashcan SchoolAshcan SchoolThe Ashcan School, also called the Ash Can School, is defined as a realist artistic movement that came into prominence in the United States during the early twentieth century, best known for works portraying scenes of daily life in New York's poorer neighborhoods. The movement grew out of a group...
artists such as Robert HenriRobert HenriRobert Henri was an American painter and teacher. He was a leading figure of the Ashcan School in art.- Early life :...
, John SloanJohn French SloanJohn French Sloan was an American artist. As a member of The Eight, he became a leading figure in the Ashcan School of realist artists. He was known for his urban genre painting and ability to capture the essence of neighborhood life in New York City, often through his window...
, Edward HopperEdward HopperEdward Hopper was a prominent American realist painter and printmaker. While most popularly known for his oil paintings, he was equally proficient as a watercolorist and printmaker in etching...
, and William GlackensWilliam GlackensWilliam James Glackens was an American realist painter.Glackens studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and later moved to New York City, where he co-founded what came to be called the Ashcan School art movement...
spent their summers painting in Gloucester - Roger BabsonRoger BabsonRoger Ward Babson , remembered today largely for founding Babson College in Massachusetts, was an entrepreneur and business theorist in the first half of the 20th century...
, founder of Babson CollegeBabson CollegeBabson College is a private business school located in Wellesley, Massachusetts near Boston.- History :Babson College was founded by Roger Babson on September 3, 1919, as the Babson Institute. It was renamed "Babson College" in 1969...
and presidential candidate for the Prohibition PartyProhibition PartyThe Prohibition Party is a political party in the United States best known for its historic opposition to the sale or consumption of alcoholic beverages. It is the oldest existing third party in the US. The party was an integral part of the temperance movement...
in 1940 - Cecilia BeauxCecilia BeauxCecilia Beaux was an American society portraitist, in the manner of John Singer Sargent. She was a near contemporary of better-known American artist Mary Cassatt and also received her training in Philadelphia and France...
, painter and society portraitist - Howard BlackburnHoward BlackburnHoward Blackburn was a Gloucester, Massachusetts fisherman, born in Nova Scotia. Despite losing his fingers at sea in 1883, he prospered as a Gloucester businessman...
, fisherman and adventurer - Hugo BurnhamHugo BurnhamHugo Burnham was the drummer for the English rock group Gang of Four. Creem magazine's Dave DiMartino said in 1980 "Witness Hugo Burnham, a close-cropped, thickset out-and-out scary drummer who looks like his idea of fun might be pushing young American faces into old American brick walls." He...
, drummer and founding member of British post-punk band Gang of FourGang of Four (band)Gang of Four are an English post-punk group from Leeds. Original personnel were singer Jon King, guitarist Andy Gill, bass guitarist Dave Allen and drummer Hugo Burnham. They were fully active from 1977 to 1984, and then re-emerged twice in the 1990s with King and Gill... - Clarence BirdseyeClarence BirdseyeClarence Frank Birdseye II was an American inventor who is considered the founder of the modern method of freezing food.- Early work :...
, founder of the modern frozen foodFrozen foodFreezing food preserves it from the time it is prepared to the time it is eaten. Since early times, farmers, fishermen, and trappers have preserved their game and produce in unheated buildings during the winter season. Freezing food slows down decomposition by turning water to ice, making it...
industry - Phil BolgerPhil BolgerPhilip C. Bolger , prolific boat designer, was born and lived in Gloucester, Massachusetts. He began work full time as a draftsman for boat designers Lindsay Lord and then John Hacker in the early 1950s. Bolger also cites being influenced by mentors L.F...
, Prolific 20th century boat designer with 668 designs to his credit, designed the Canadian-built tall ship HMS Rose later renamed for use in Master and Commander: The Far Side of the WorldMaster and Commander: The Far Side of the WorldMaster and Commander: The Far Side of the World is a 2003 film directed by Peter Weir, starring Russell Crowe as Jack Aubrey, with Paul Bettany as Stephen Maturin and released by 20th Century Fox, Miramax Films and Universal Studios... - Virginia Lee BurtonVirginia Lee BurtonVirginia Lee Burton was an American illustrator and children's book author. Burton wrote and illustrated seven self-illustrated children's books, including the Caldecott Medal winning The Little House. Also known by her married name Virginia Demetrios. She died in 1968 of lung cancer...
(1909–1968) children's book author and illustrator (The Little HouseThe Little HouseThe Little House is the title of a 1942 book written and illustrated by Virginia Lee Burton.-Inspiration:Author Virginia Lee Burton has stated that "The Little House was based on our own little house which we moved from the street into "a field of daisies with apple trees growing around." Burton...
and Mike Mulligan and His Steam ShovelMike Mulligan and His Steam ShovelMike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel is a classic children's book by Virginia Lee Burton, the author and illustrator of the Caldecott Medal-winning The Little House...
), founder of the Folly Cove DesignersFolly Cove DesignersThe Folly Cove Designers were a mid-20th-century group of American artists block printing in Gloucester, Massachusetts, on Cape Ann. Their blocks were made of linoleum, and they primarily printed on fabric.-History of the Folly Cove Designers:...
group. - Bo BurnhamBo BurnhamRobert "Bo" Burnham is an American comedian, singer-songwriter, musician, actor, and Internet celebrity. Writing comedic and satirical songs with a politically incorrect slant, he achieved fame when his YouTube videos took off; they have received more than 70 million views...
– Actor,Comedian, Grew up in Gloucester - Roger CresseyRoger CresseyRoger W. Cressey is a former member of the United States National Security Council staff, where he held the position of Director for Transnational Threats from November 1999 through November 2001. He was until recently the president of the Good Harbor consulting group, and an adjunct Professor of ...
, former member of the United States National Security CouncilUnited States National Security CouncilThe White House National Security Council in the United States is the principal forum used by the President of the United States for considering national security and foreign policy matters with his senior national security advisors and Cabinet officials and is part of the Executive Office of the...
, terrorism analyst for NBC NewsNBC NewsNBC News is the news division of American television network NBC. It first started broadcasting in February 21, 1940. NBC Nightly News has aired from Studio 3B, located on floors 3 of the NBC Studios is the headquarters of the GE Building forms the centerpiece of 30th Rockefeller Center it is...
, president of Good Harbor Consulting, and adjunct professor at Georgetown UniversityGeorgetown UniversityGeorgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States... - Vincent FerriniVincent FerriniVincent Ferrini , age 94, was an American writer and poet from Gloucester, Massachusetts.-Early life:Vincent Ferrini was born in Saugus, Massachusetts on June 24, 1913. Vincent's parents emigrated from Riano and Bella, Italy in the province of Abruzzi to work in the shoe factories of Lynn,...
, poet, first Poet Laureate of Gloucester - Henry FerriniHenry FerriniHenry Ferrini is an American non-fiction filmmaker best known for his portraits of Jack Kerouac and Charles Olson.Ferrini attended Bard College at Simon's Rock in Great Barrington, MA where he studied music...
, critically acclaimed independent filmmaker, nephew of Vincent FerriniVincent FerriniVincent Ferrini , age 94, was an American writer and poet from Gloucester, Massachusetts.-Early life:Vincent Ferrini was born in Saugus, Massachusetts on June 24, 1913. Vincent's parents emigrated from Riano and Bella, Italy in the province of Abruzzi to work in the shoe factories of Lynn,... - Gregory GibsonGregory GibsonGregory Gibson is an American author.Gibson is the author of Gone Boy , Demon of the Waters , and Hubert's Freaks .-Biography:...
, author of Goneboy: a Walkabout, Demon of the Waters and Hubert's Freaks - Whoopi GoldbergWhoopi GoldbergWhoopi Goldberg is an American comedian, actress, singer-songwriter, political activist, author and talk show host.Goldberg made her film debut in The Color Purple playing Celie, a mistreated black woman in the Deep South. She received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress and won...
, actress and comedian, summers in Gloucester - Emil GruppeEmil GruppeEmile Albert Gruppé was an American painter born in Rochester, New York to Helen and Charles P. Gruppe. He lived the early years of his life in the Netherlands as his father Charles Paul Gruppe, painted with the Hague school of art and acted as a dealer for the Dutch painters in the US...
, painter - John Hays Hammond, Jr.John Hays Hammond, Jr.John Hays Hammond, Jr. was an American inventor known as "The Father of Radio Control" and son of mining engineer John Hays Hammond, Sr..-Biography:...
, inventor known as "The Father of Radio Control", built Hammond CastleHammond CastleHammond Castle is located on the coast of Gloucester, Massachusetts. The castle, which was constructed between 1926 and 1929, was the home and laboratory of John Hays Hammond, Jr. Mr. Hammond was an inventor who was a pioneer in remote control and held over four hundred patents...
as his home and laboratory - Walker HancockWalker HancockWalker Kirtland Hancock was a 20th-century American sculptor and teacher. He created notable monumental sculptures, including the Pennsylvania Railroad World War II Memorial at 30th Street Station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania...
, sculptor - Israel HorovitzIsrael HorovitzIsrael Horovitz is an American playwright and screenwriter.-Theatre career:An American dramatist, Horovitz has written more than 70 produced plays, many of which have been translated and performed in more than 30 languages worldwide . The 70/70 Horovitz Project was created by NYC Barefoot Theatre...
playwright - Alpheus HyattAlpheus HyattAlpheus Hyatt was an American zoologist and palaeontologist.- Biography :Alpheus Hyatt II was born in Washington, D.C. to Alpheus Hyatt and Harriet Randolph Hyatt...
, American naturalist and paleontologist - Alfred "Centennial" Johnson, first recorded single-handed crossing of the Atlantic Ocean
- Fitz Henry Lane, LuministLuminism (American art style)Luminism is an American landscape painting style of the 1850s – 1870s, characterized by effects of light in landscapes, through using aerial perspective, and concealing visible brushstrokes...
painter, was born and lived in Gloucester - Tony MillionaireTony MillionaireTony Millionaire is an American cartoonist, illustrator and author known for his syndicated comic strip Maakies and the Sock Monkey series of comics and picture books.-Early life:...
, artist and animator best known for his comic strip MaakiesMaakiesMaakies is a syndicated weekly comic strip by Tony Millionaire. It began publication in February 1994 in the New York Press. It currently runs in many American alternative newsweeklies including The Stranger, LA Weekly and Only...
and Cartoon NetworkCartoon NetworkCartoon Network is a name of television channels worldwide created by Turner Broadcasting which used to primarily show animated programming. The channel began broadcasting on October 1, 1992 in the United States....
's Drinky Crow Show, grew up in Gloucester. http://thephoenix.com/article_ektid8861.aspx - William MonahanWilliam MonahanWilliam J. Monahan is an American screenwriter and novelist. His second produced screenplay was The Departed, a film which earned him a WGA award and an Academy award for Best Adapted Screenplay.-Writer and editor:...
, Academy Award–winning American screenwriter. - The Rev. Sun Myung Moon, leader of the Unification ChurchUnification ChurchThe Unification Church is a new religious movement founded by Korean religious leader Sun Myung Moon. In 1954, the Unification Church was formally and legally established in Seoul, South Korea, as The Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity . In 1994, Moon gave the church...
, spent a great deal of time in Gloucester and the Unification Church at one time held a large amount of waterfront property. http://theologytoday.ptsem.edu/jan1981/v37-4-article5.htm - John MurrayJohn Murray (minister)John Murray though sometimes recalled as founder of the Universalist denomination in the United States, might more fairly be described as a pioneer minister and an inspirational figure, as his theological legacy to the later Universalist denomination was minimal.-Early life:He was born in Alton,...
, founder of the Universalist denomination in the United States - Judith Sargent MurrayJudith Sargent MurrayJudith Sargent Murray was an early American advocate for women's rights, an essayist, playwright, poet, and letter writer. She was one of the first American proponents of the idea of the equality of the sexes—that women, like men, had the capability of intellectual accomplishment and should be...
, feminist, essayist, playwright, and poet - Charles OlsonCharles OlsonCharles Olson , was a second generation American modernist poet who was a link between earlier figures such as Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams and the New American poets, which includes the New York School, the Black Mountain School, the Beat poets, and the San Francisco Renaissance...
, Black Mountain CollegeBlack Mountain CollegeBlack Mountain College, a school founded in 1933 in Black Mountain, North Carolina, was a new kind of college in the United States in which the study of art was seen to be central to a liberal arts education, and in which John Dewey's principles of education played a major role...
poet - Herb PomeroyHerb PomeroyIrving Herbert "Herb" Pomeroy, III was an influential swing and bebop jazz trumpeter and educator...
, influential jazzJazzJazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
musician, was born in Gloucester - Marc RandazzaMarc RandazzaMarc J. Randazza is a First Amendment attorney and the editor of the law blog The Legal Satyricon.-Early life and education:Marc John Randazza was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts on November 26, 1969 and graduated from Gloucester High School in 1987. Randazza attended the University of...
, First Amendment lawyer, legal commentator, and legal author was born in Gloucester. He maintains a portion of his law practice in Gloucester. - Benjamin A. Smith IIBenjamin A. Smith IIBenjamin Atwood Smith II was a United States Senator from the state of Massachusetts from December 1960 until November 1962.-Family and education:...
, former U.S. Senator from Massachusetts (1960–1962), Mayor of Gloucester (1954–1955), was born in Gloucester - Ben Smith, Olympic ice hockey coach, son of Benjamin A. Smith II, was born in Gloucester.
- William StacyWilliam StacyWilliam Stacy was an officer of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, and a pioneer to the Ohio Country...
(1734–1802) American Revolutionary War officer, and pioneer to the Ohio Country, was born in Gloucester. - Capt. Marty WelchCapt. Marty WelchMartin Leander Welch was a fishing schooner captain out of Gloucester, Massachusetts. He was captain of the Schooner Esperanto in 1920 when it defeated the Canadian Schooner Delawana in the first International Fishing Schooner Championship Races in Halifax, Nova Scotia.Born in Digby, Nova Scotia,...
, schooner captain, winner of first International Fishing Schooner Championship Races. - Jacques-Yves Cousteau, Invented and tested the "Aqua Lung" SCUBA regulator in Lanesville village on the Northern part of Gloucester's Cape Ann
External links
- City of Gloucester website
- 1872 Map of Gloucester plate 80-81 Atlas of Essex County published 1872.
- 1872 Map of Gloucester Center - Inner Harbor plate 83 Atlas of Essex County published 1872.
