Topsfield is a
townThe New England town is the basic unit of local government in each of the six New England states. An institution that does not have a direct counterpart in most other U.S. states, New England towns are conceptually similar to civil townships in that they were originally set up so that all...
in
Essex CountyEssex County is a county located in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Massachusetts. As of 2000, the population was 723,419. It has two county seats: Salem and Lawrence...
,
MassachusettsThe Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. Most of its population of...
,
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The population was 6,141 at the 2000 census.
Part of the town comprises the
census-designated placeA census-designated place is a type of place identified by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes. CDPs are delineated for each decennial census as the statistical counterparts of incorporated places such as cities, towns and villages...
of
TopsfieldTopsfield is a census-designated place in the town of Topsfield in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 2,826 at the 2000 census.-Geography:...
.
Colonial Period: Native Americans, Colonists, Witchcraft Hysteria and Religion
A tribe of Native Americans called the Agawam inhabited Topsfield during the English colonization of the Americas in the early seventeenth century. The English had settled within the bounds of modern-day Topsfield by 1643. They originally named their settlement New Meadows. Tradition has long held that the Agawam called the place "Shenewemedy," meaning "the pleasant place by the flowing waters" - a description of the countryside as accurate as it is poetic. More recent historians believe that "Shenewemedy" was how the Agawan pronounced New Meadows, rather than a word in their own language. In any event, the governing court renamed the place Topsfield in 1648, undoubtedly after
ToppesfieldToppesfield is a small village, historically associated with arable farming, in North-west Essex, England.-Inhabitants:Toppesfield has approximately three-hundred inhabitants...
, England, a small parish in the County of Essex north of London. Topsfield was incorporated as a town in 1650.
The
AgawamAgawam may refer to:*Agawam, Massachusetts, USA*Agawam, Kentucky, USA*Agawam, Montana, USA*Agawam, Oklahoma, USA*Agawam , a hybrid grape variety*Camp Agawam, a boys summer camp in Raymond, Maine...
was a Native American tribe of
Algonquian peoplesThe Algonquian are one of the most populous and widespread North American Native language groups, with tribes originally numbering in the hundreds. Today hundreds of thousands of individuals identify with various Algonquian peoples...
. At the time the English arrived, the tribe numbered less than one hundred. The first European explorers brought small pox to New England, decimating all the shore tribes from the Penobscot River to Narragansett Bay in 1616.
Chief MasconometMasconomet was "sagamore" or chief of the Agawam tribe among the Algonquian peoples during the time of the English colonization of the Americas. He died in 1658. Masconomet Regional High School, serving Topsfield, Boxford and Middleton, Massachusetts is named after him. Masconomet was a peaceful...
, for whom
Masconomet Regional High SchoolMasconomet Regional High School is located in Boxford, Massachusetts, and serves the towns of Boxford, Middleton and Topsfield.Masconomet Regional Middle School serves grades 7 and 8 while the Masconomet Regional High School serves grades 9 through 12...
is named, was the “sagamore” or chief of the Agawam at this time. The Agawam tribe claimed the land north of the Danvers River, the whole of Cape Ann and from there to the Merrimac River. Masconomet was a peaceful leader and welcomed
Massachusetts Bay ColonyThe Massachusetts Bay Colony was an English settlement on the east coast of North America in the 17th century, in New England, centered around the present-day cities of Salem and Boston...
Governor
John WinthropJohn Winthrop led a group of English Puritans to the New World in 1630, and joined the Massachusetts Bay Company later that year, and then was elected their governor in October 1639. Between 1639 and 1648 he was voted out of governorship and re-elected a total of 12 times...
on his arrival in Salem Harbor in 1630. Masconomet deeded all the Agawam’s land to Winthrop in 1638 in exchange for a mere twenty pounds sterling. Masconomet died in 1658 and was buried on Sagamore Hill, now in Hamilton. Nine years later, two young men were punished for digging up the grave of the sagamore and carrying his skull on a pole. Native Americans like the Agawam were held in low regard and poorly treated by the colonists. There is no record of hostilities between the colonists and Native Americans in Topsfield, even during the
French and Indian WarsThe French and Indian Wars is a name used in the United States for a series of conflicts in North America that represented the actions there that accompanied the European dynastic wars. In Quebec, the wars are generally referred to as the Intercolonial Wars...
, which covered the period 1689-97. The Topsfield town records last mention Native American residents in 1750.
The
Salem witch trialsThe Salem witch trials were a series of hearings before local magistrates followed by county court trials to prosecute people accused of witchcraft in Essex, Suffolk and Middlesex counties of colonial Massachusetts, between February 1692 and May 1693...
of 1692 touched Topsfield directly. Belief in witches was normal in the seventeenth century. People were accused of witchcraft in Europe and the colonies during this time, but executions were relatively rare. Historians conclude that only fifteen people were executed as witches in the American colonies before 1692. In that year alone, however, over one hundred sixty people, mostly from Essex County, Massachusetts, were accused of witchcraft. Of these, nineteen were hanged and one was pressed to death for refusing to plead. In July 1692, Rebecca Nurse of Salem Village (then part of the town of Salem, now part of present-day Danvers) was hanged at Gallows Hill in Salem. She was the daughter of William Towne of Topsfield. Young Salem Village girls allegedly possessed by the devil – the source of Rebecca Nurse’s witchcraft accusation and most others – also named as witches Rebecca’s Topsfield sisters, Sarah Cloyce and Mary Esty; while Sarah was eventually set free, Mary was hanged in September. Sarah Wildes and Elizabeth How from Topsfield were hanged along with Rebecca Nurse. Many other Topsfield residents were accused of witchcraft until the hysteria ended in May 1693, when the governor of Massachusetts set free all of the remaining persons accused of witchcraft and issued a proclamation of general pardon. While the causes of the 1692 witchcraft episode continue to be the subject of historical and sociological study, there is a consensus view that land disputes and perhaps economic rivalry among factions in Salem, Salem Village and Topsfield fueled animosity and played an underlying role.
The witchcraft delusion is an extreme example of how religion is alloyed in Topsfield history, but other examples abound. Indeed, Topsfield was founded in part based on ”alarming” 1633 news that the Roman Catholic French had planted settlements nearby and intended to send settlers “with divers priests and Jesuits among them.” Governor Winthrop and the
PuritanA Puritan of 16th and 17th-century England was an associate of any number of religious groups advocating for more "purity" of worship and doctrine, as well as personal and group piety. Puritans felt that the English Reformation had not gone far enough, and that the Church of England was tolerant...
establishment (who believed a Protestant theocracy was proper), countered the Catholic threat in March of that year by sending English men and women into the wilderness that would become Topsfield. Among the first group was William Perkins, a preacher. From the beginning, Topsfield residents made provision for “the publicke worship of God.” In 1684, they hired the Reverend
Joseph CapenJoseph Capen was the son of John Capen of Dorchester, Massachusetts, by his second wife, Mary, the daughter of Samuel Bass of Braintree...
, whose
Parson Capen HouseThe Parson Capen House is located at 1 Howlett Street, Topsfield, Massachusetts. It was built in 1683 as the home of local pastor the Reverend Joseph Capen...
still stands as the town’s most notable historical landmark. A successor to Capen's original
Congregational ChurchCongregational churches are Protestant Christian churches practicing congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its own affairs....
building overlooks the Topsfield common. Its white steeple graces countless postcards. Topsfield’s preeminent historian,
George Francis DowGeorge Francis Dow was an American antiquarian for the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, active in Massachusetts....
, tells us: “No minister of those early days left a deeper impression on the town than Reverend Joseph Capen, who wisely led the minds of the people along the varied paths of knowledge until his death in 1725.”
No minister in those early days may have left a deeper impression on Topsfield religious history, but it was a contemporary of Reverend Capen whose family has best connected Topsfield to the religious history of the world. Robert Smith settled in Topsfield in 1638. His descendants extended through five generations in Topsfield. They were respected townspeople and members of Capen's
Congregational ChurchCongregational churches are Protestant Christian churches practicing congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its own affairs....
.
Joseph Smith, Sr.Joseph Smith Senior was the father of Joseph Smith, Jr., the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement. Joseph Sr., was also one of the Eight Witnesses of the Book of Mormon, which Mormons believe was translated by Joseph Jr. from the Golden Plates. In addition, Joseph Sr...
was born in Topsfield in 1771, and his son,
Joseph Smith, Jr.Joseph Smith, Jr. was the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, also known as Mormonism, and an important religious and political figure during the 1830s and 1840s...
, founded the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The younger Joseph Smith was born in Sharon, Vermont, in 1805, not long after his family moved from Topsfield. Mormons point out Topsfield in their church history books and continue to visit the Smith ancestral hometown today.
Revolution and New Republic: Minutemen, Turnpike, Gerrymander and The Fair
The population of Topsfield grew slowly in the eighteenth century, reaching only 773 by the year 1776. Topsfield was much smaller and more agrarian than other Essex County towns by the time of the Revolution and perhaps for these reasons the town seemed a bit more conservative and less ardent for independence than its Essex County neighbors. Nonetheless, as tensions between crown and colonists mounted in the years before the
American RevolutionThe American Revolution is the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen of Britain's colonies in North America at first rejected the governance of the Parliament of Great Britain, and later the British monarchy itself, to become the sovereign United States of...
, Topsfield joined the network of committees dedicated to preserving the rights of the people. On June 8, 1771, the town voted to stand ready “to preserve and Defend Our Own Lawfull Rights Libertys and propertys even to the last Extremity.” Topsfield sent two militia companies numbering 110 “Minute Men” to answer the Lexington Alarm on April 19, 1775. As Dow tells us, “The news from Lexington, spreading like wildfire in every direction, reached this place at about ten o’clock in the forenoon. The farmers were busy in their fields, but there was no hesitation. The plough was stayed mid-furrow, and within an hour, many were on their way to the scene of the conflict.” Topsfield men participated in the
Battle of Bunker HillThe Battle of Bunker Hill took place on June 17, 1775, mostly on and around Breed's Hill, during the Siege of Boston early in the American Revolutionary War...
on June 17, 1775 and were part of General Washington’s Continental army throughout the remainder of the
American Revolutionary WarThe American Revolutionary War , also sometimes known as the American War of Independence, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen united former British colonies in North America, and concluded in a global war between several European great powers...
.
Advances in communication, transportation and commerce in the nineteenth century wove Topsfield ever more tightly into the fabric of the new republic. In 1803, Governor Caleb Strong chartered the Newburyport Turnpike Corporation, a profit-making venture that proposed building a toll road straight from Newburyport through Topsfield to Boston. Proponents of the turnpike claimed it would be a far more efficient way between the two endpoints, cutting travel time from six to four hours. Work on the Turnpike began in August 1803 and involved immense amounts of manual and animal labor. When the Newburyport Turnpike opened for business on February 11, 1805, its builders claimed it was the best in the nation. The turnpike had tollhouses located in Newbury, Topsfield and Chelsea, each with a large gate that swung open and closed across the way. Stagecoaches ran regularly carrying passengers, mail and freight, though not without difficulty over the Topsfield’s steep hills. Accidents were common. The Newburyport Turnpike Corporation was never particularly profitable and became less so with the advent of the railroad. The corporation ceased operations around 1847 and sold the turnpike to Essex County in the early 1850s.
In contrast to the straightness of the turnpike, Topsfield was one of the towns surrounded by the original "Gerrymander" - meandering electoral districts drawn by Governor
Elbridge GerryElbridge Thomas Gerry was an American statesman and diplomat. As a Democratic-Republican he was selected as the fifth Vice President of the United States of America, serving under James Madison, from March 4, 1813, until his death a year and a half later...
in 1812 to further the interests of his political party. The Gerrymander brought Topsfield little claim to fame; but on June 12, 1818, the State legislature did something that would bring Topsfield its greatest claim to fame - it chartered the Essex Agricultural Society, the organization that runs the Topsfield Fair.
The goal of the Essex Agricultural Society, formed by a group of "practical farmers" who first met in February 1818, was "to promote and improve the agricultural interests of farmers and others in Essex County." Those practical farmers were savvy enough to elect
Timothy PickeringTimothy Pickering was a politician from Massachusetts who served in a variety of roles, most notably as the third United States Secretary of State, serving in that office from 1795 to 1800 under Presidents George Washington and John Adams.-Early years:Pickering was born in Salem, Massachusetts to...
, a Revolutionary War hero with a renowned political background, as the the society's first president. The society held a cattle show on October 5, 1820 in Topsfield, the most central town in Essex County and easiest to reach by stagecoach. At that first show, committees reported on such things as working oxen, neat cattle, dairy, fat oxen and swine, Indian corn, potatoes and manure. President Pickering even won a prize for the "superior performance of his plough." The Topsfield Fair as it is known today descended from that original cattle show and is considered the country's oldest. Different towns across Essex County hosted the fair until 1895, when the society selected a more permanent site, first in Lynn and then, in 1910, at the present Topsfield site. The Topsfield Fairgrounds sits on the former Treadwell Farm property. Dr. John Goodhue Treadwell of Salem bequeathed the farm to the Agricultural Society in 1858 for the "promotion of the science of agriculture." The fair has been held annually since 1820 with just six exceptions. Government decrees suspended the fair for three years during the Civil War and in 1943, 1944 and 1945 during World War II.
Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century: Railroad, Civil War, Shoes and Immigration
In the middle of the nineteenth century, entrepreneurs in New England stated small railroad companies. John Wright and Asa Pingree were among the Topsfield men who chartered the Danvers and Georgetown Railroad in 1851, with plans to run a rail line between those two towns through Topsfield. Railroad cars entered Topsfield for the first time on August 12, 1854. When the line was open for public travel on October 23, the
Boston Transcript wrote: “It was a great day for the hardworking citizens of several towns of Essex County when a new route between Boston and Newburyport was opened to the public. We understand a large number of persons from Georgetown, Boxford and Topsfield, who had never travelled with a steam horse, ventured the experiment of jumping on and trying him.” The Topsfield station was first on Main Street and moved to a new location on Park Street in 1897. Railroad mergers and other unions were common at this time. By 1905, a number of the local lines – the Danvers and Georgetown, the Danvers Railroad, the
Newburyport RailroadThe Newburyport Railroad was a railroad that came about from the merger of three small rail companies into one large company to compete with the Eastern Railroad....
and the
Eastern Railroad (Massachusetts)The Eastern Railroad was a railroad connecting Boston, Massachusetts, to Portland, Maine. Throughout its history, it competed with the Boston and Maine Railroad for service between those two cities, until the Boston & Maine finally put an end to the competition by leasing the Eastern in December...
among them – were effectively made part of the
Boston and Maine RailroadThe Boston and Maine Corporation , known as the Boston and Maine Railroad until 1964, was the dominant railroad of the northern New England region of the United States for a century...
.
The news of the firing on
Fort SumterFort Sumter is a Third System masonry coastal fortification located in Charleston harbor, South Carolina. The fort is best known as the site upon which the shots initiating the American Civil War were fired, at the Battle of Fort Sumter.- Construction :...
on April 12, 1861, reached Topsfield about five o’clock that afternoon. Topsfield sent 113 soldiers to the
American Civil WarThe American Civil War , also known as the War Between the States and several other names, was a civil war in the United States of America. Eleven Southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America...
and appropriated funds for recruiting and supporting them. Dow adds that: “The ladies of Topsfield worked heartily in the cause of the soldiers during the war, and forwarded to the army, money, clothing and hospital stores”. The Topsfield soldiers – many of whom may never before have “travelled with a steam horse” or left town at all – fought and died in places far from home: Bull Run, Virginia; Gettysburg, Pennsylvania; and Fort Hudson, Louisiana, to name just a few. Several men of Topsfield died as prisoners in the Confederate’s notorious
Andersonville PrisonThe Andersonville prison, officially known as Camp Sumter, was the largest Confederate military prison during the American Civil War. The site of the prison is now Andersonville National Historic Site in Andersonville, Georgia. Most of the site actually lies in extreme southwestern Macon County,...
, located in Georgia. In 1860, Topsfield had a population of 1,292, but in 1865 that number had fallen to 1,212. In his will, Dr. Justin Allen left money to the town to erect a monument to honor Topsfield solders of the Civil War. Alphonso T. Merrill’s design, called “The wounded color Sergeant,” is a prominent landmark on the Topsfield Common, dedicated in 1914.
Up to and through the 19th century, Topsfield was principally an agrarian town, but one industry - the manufacture of shoes - flourished for a while in Topsfield, as it did at this time across New England. The town records mention the first shoe maker in 1838. The industry picked up in Topsfield during the Civil War, as sewed shoes were beginning to supersede pegged ones, and many Essex County firms supplied shoes to the Union troops. In 1867, four shoe manufacturing firms were located in town. The Herrick family owned the largest one, founded in 1837. Topsfield shoes found customers across the United States and it was said that one time, Topsfield shipped 200,000 pairs annually. The shoe business in Topsfield declined after the Civil War. The Herrick family, the last manufacturer in town, ceased operations in the early 20th century.
In one sense, all the people in Topsfield are immigrants, now that the Agawam people were gone. During the time of the Irish Potato famine, a wave of Irish immigrants came to America, arriving in Topsfield in the 1850’s to work constructing the railroad. Dow tells us “The Irishmen employed in the making of the roadbed were brought into Topsfield in 50 tipcarts, just at the edge of the evening [after the work day was over].” The Irish workers slept in town and later occupied shanties located above the railroad bridge, which crosses West Street. The first known Catholic families to moved to Topsfield during this time.. Italian immigrants arrived in the wave of immigration, mostly from eastern and southern Europe, which occurred from 1890 to 1920. They worked constructing the great estates and summerhouses in Essex County. On the estate of Thomas E. Proctor, now owned by the
Massachusetts Audubon SocietyThe Massachusetts Audubon Society, founded in 1896 and headquartered in Lincoln, Massachusetts, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to "Protecting the nature of Massachusetts." MAS is independent of the National Audubon Society, and in fact was founded earlier...
(the
Ipswich River Wildlife SanctuaryThe Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary, which is the Massachusetts Audubon Society’s largest wildlife sanctuary, is located in Topsfield, Massachusetts. Much of its landscape was created by a glacier 15,000 years ago. The park's more than ten miles of interconnected trails wind through forests,...
), Italian immigrant stone masons constructed the ”Rockery” - a lavish rock garden and series caverns, which still exists. They lived in shanties during the construction. Historians believe that Topsfield’s first Italian families are descended from these masons.
Modern Period: Technological Advances, Automobiles, Route 128 and Suburbia
The turnpike and railroad were important technological advances affecting Topsfield history in the early and middle 19th century, but the pace of technological advance accelerated dramatically as that century came to a close. The 1870s and 1880s saw the invention of three technologies that we take for granted today, but were revolutionary in their day: the electric light bulb, (connected with the name of
Thomas EdisonThomas Alva Edison was an American inventor, scientist and businessman who developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb...
); the
telephoneThe telephone is a telecommunications device that transmits and receives sound, most commonly the human voice. It is one of the most common household appliances in the developed world, and has long been considered indispensable to business, industry and government...
(connected with the
Alexander Graham BellAlexander Graham Bell was an eminent scientist, inventor, engineer and innovator who is credited with inventing the first practical telephone....
) and centrally-generated
electricity generationElectricity generation is the process of creating electricity from other forms of energy.The fundamental principles of electricity generation were discovered during the 1820s and early 1830s by the British scientist Michael Faraday...
(connected with both Edison and
George WestinghouseGeorge Westinghouse, Jr was an American entrepreneur and engineer who invented the railway air brake and was a pioneer of the electrical industry. Westinghouse was one of Thomas Edison's main rivals in the early implementation of the American electricity system...
). All three were available to Topsfield residents by the 1890s and boomed after the turn of the century (by 1904, for example, there were over three million phones in the US). These technologies, like the turnpike and railroad before them, integrated the town of Topsfield into the larger world.
The
automobileAn automobile, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...
, however, affected Topsfield more than any other technology by allowing its residents to disconnect where they lived from where they worked. Ransom Olds debuted the large-scale, production-line manufacturing of affordable automobiles at his Oldsmobile factory in 1902.
Henry FordHenry Ford was the American founder of the Ford Motor Company and father of modern assembly lines used in mass production. His introduction of the Model T automobile revolutionized transportation and American industry. He was a prolific inventor and was awarded 161 U.S. patents...
greatly expanded this concept beginning in 1914, introducing significant efficiencies in the production process of the Model T (by that year, the assembly process for the Model T had been so streamlined it took only 93 minutes to assemble a car; an assembly line worker could buy a Model T with four months' pay).
Automobiles need roads, of course, and quality and quantity of road-building accelerated during the twentieth century. Massachusetts Route 128, with Boston at its center, quietly but powerfully influenced Topsfield's history and character. Originally known as the "Circumferential Highway", Route 128 was the first limited-access beltway in the United States. The Route 128 number dates from the origin of the Massachusetts highway system in the 1920s. By the 1950s, Route 128 ran from Nantasket Beach in Hull to Gloucester. With the rapid growth of high-technology industry in the suburban areas along Route 128, the highway came to symbolize the Boston high-tech community itself. In 1955, Business Week magazine ran an article titled "New England Highway Upsets Old Way of Life" and referred to Route 128 as "the Magic Semicircle". The number of companies grew rapidly from that point in time, many of them involved with
space raceThe Space Race was an informal competition between the United States and the Soviet Union, as each side tried to match or better the other's accomplishments in exploring outer space...
and
cold warThe Cold War was the continuing state of political conflict, military tension, and economic competition existing after World War II , primarily between the USSR and its satellite states, and the powers of the Western world, including the United States...
defense projects. In the 1980s, the positive effects of this growth on the Massachusetts economy were dubbed the "Massachusetts Miracle". Throughout this period of expansion, employees of the Route 128 companies made Topsfield their home.
For its first three hundred years, Topsfield was a small farm town. But each year from its colonial period Topsfield has grown more closely connected to the larger world. More than anything else, affordable automobiles and modern road systems changed Topsfield and made the town what it is today - a bedroom community within the greater Boston metropolitan area.
Geography
Topsfield lies in the geographic center of Essex County, Massachusetts. Clockwise from the north it is bounded by
IpswichIpswich 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 and Plum Island State Park...
,
HamiltonHamilton is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 8,315 at the 2000 census.- History :Hamilton was first settled in 1638 and was originally a section of Ipswich known as “The Hamlet.” The town was incorporated on June 21, 1793 and named for Alexander Hamilton,...
,
WenhamWenham is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 4,440 at the 2000 census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 8.1 square miles , of which, 7.7 square miles of it is land and 0.4 square miles of it ...
,
DanversDanvers is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. Located on the Danvers River near the northeastern coast of Massachusetts, Danvers is most widely known for its association with the 1692 Salem witch trials.-History:...
,
MiddletonMiddleton is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 7,744 at the 2000 census.- History :Middleton was first settled in 1659 and was officially incorporated in 1728. Prior to 1728 it was considered a part of Salem, and contains territory previously within the...
and
BoxfordBoxford is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 7,921 at the 2000 census.Part of the town comprises the census-designated place of Boxford.- History :...
. Part of the "North Shore," Topsfield is nearly twenty-five miles north of Boston, twelve miles south of the Merrimac River and eight miles from the Atlantic Ocean. Like its namesake in Essex County, England, Topsfield has within its bounds some of the highest land in the county. The Pierce Farm hill rises 280 feet above sea level and the Great Hill and Town Hill are both over 260 feet. The Newburyport Turnpike (
U.S. Route 1U.S. Route 1 is a major north-south U.S. Highway that serves the East Coast and is the oldest highway in the United States. It runs over from Key West, Florida, north to Fort Kent, Maine, at the Canadian border. U.S. 1 generally parallels Interstate 95, though it is significantly farther west ...
, called "Old Boston Road" within Topsfield) passes over the shoulders of these hills and more or less through the center of the town, running north/south.
Interstate 95Interstate 95 is the main highway on the East Coast of the United States, paralleling the Atlantic Ocean from Maine to Florida and serving some of the most populated urban areas in the country, including Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and Miami. It is one of the...
cuts through the southern part of Topsfield near the
Masconomet Regional High SchoolMasconomet Regional High School is located in Boxford, Massachusetts, and serves the towns of Boxford, Middleton and Topsfield.Masconomet Regional Middle School serves grades 7 and 8 while the Masconomet Regional High School serves grades 9 through 12...
. The
Ipswich RiverIpswich River is a small river in northeastern Massachusetts, USA. Its watershed is approximately and the estimated population in the area is 160,000 people. - Geography :The river is formed by the junction of Lubber and Maple Meadow brooks in Wilmington...
(called '"Agawam" by the Native American tribe of the same name) flows through Topsfield. Hood's Pond, covering an area of sixty-eight acres in the northern part of town, is the largest body of water in Topsfield, though most of it lies in Ipswich. According to the
United States Census BureauThe 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. As part of the United States Department of Commerce, the Census Bureau serves as the leading source of quality data about...
, Topsfield has a total area of 12.8
square mileThe square mile is an imperial and US unit of measure for an area equal to the area of a square of one statute mile.
s (33.3 km²), of which, 12.7 square miles (33.0 km²) of it is land and 0.1 square miles (0.3 km²) of it (0.78%) is water.
Demographics
As of the
censusA "census" is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population.In other words every 10 years...next one would be in 2010 The term is used mostly in connection with...
of 2000, there were 6,141 people, 2,099 households, and 1,712 families residing in the town. The
population densityPopulation density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans. It is a key term used in geography....
was 482.1 people per square mile (186.1/km²). There were 2,144 housing units at an average density of 65.0 persons/km² (168.3 persons/sq mi). The racial makeup of the town was 97.75% White, 0.37%
African AmericanAfrican Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have origins in any of the black populations of Africa. In the United States, the terms are generally used for Americans with at least partial Sub-Saharan African ancestry...
, 0.03% Native American, 0.85%
AsiaAsia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.6% of the earth's total surface area and with approximately 4 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population.Asia is traditionally defined as part of the...
n, 0.00% Pacific Islander, 0.34% from other races, and 0.65% from two or more races. 0.83% of the population were
HispanicHispanic is a term that historically denoted a relationship to the ancient Hispania . During the modern era, it took on a more limited meaning, relating to the contemporary nation of Spain....
or
LatinoThe demonyms Latino and Latina , are defined in English language dictionaries as:* "a person of Latin-American or Spanish-speaking descent."* "A Latin American."...
of any race.
There were 2,099 households out of which 40.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 73.7% were
married couplesMarriage is a social union or legal contract between individuals that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged by a variety of ways, depending on the culture or demographic...
living together, 6.1% have a woman whose husband does not live with her, and 18.4% were non-families. 16.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.87 and the average family size was 3.22.
In the town the population was spread out with 28.2% under the age of 18, 4.6% from 18 to 24, 24.7% from 25 to 44, 27.0% from 45 to 64, and 15.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 41 years. For every 100 females there were 94.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.3 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $96,430, and the median income for a family was $104,475. Males had a median income of $67,428 versus $43,780 for females. The
per capita incomePer capita income means how much each individual receives, in monetary terms, of the yearly income generated in the country. This is what each citizen is to receive if the yearly national income is divided equally among everyone. Per capita income is usually reported in units of currency per year...
for the town was $37,770. 1.7% of the population and 0.4% of families were below the poverty line. Out of the total people living in poverty, 0.0% are under the age of 18 and 4.1% are 65 or older.
Topsfield Town Government
Topsfield is governed by a five-member Board of Selectman. One member is elected each year to serve for three years. The current members are: A. Richard Gandt; Karen A. Dow, clerk; Nancy J. Luther; Martha A. Morrison, chair; and Laura J. Powers.
The Board of Selectmen is an outgrowth of, or an agent of, the major decision-making body, the Town Meeting. The office has evolved throughout more than three hundred years of tradition and custom. In addition to those duties which have been established by custom, the Selectmen’s powers and duties are determined by the provisions of the Massachusetts General Laws and the respective town bylaws. The Selectmen have general supervision over all matters not specifically delegated by law or town vote to some other officer or board. The Selectmen meet regularly on Monday night in the Proctor School Library. All meetings are open to the public and are televised and can be viewed on Channel 10/47, the Community Channel. Selectmen’s meetings, like those of all public boards and committees, must be posted at least 48 hours in advance. They are open to the public and subject to the requirements of the state Open Meeting Law Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 39, Section 23B. The Board may retire to executive session only to discuss those matters permitted by law. The Board must state which of the eight provisions is being invoked at that time. All minutes are a matter of public record except when they need to remain secret long enough to protect the legal purposes of the session.
State Government
Topsfield is part of the Second Essex state senate district (seat held in 2009 by Senator Frederick E. Berry (D)) and the Thirteenth Essex state congressional district (seat held in 2009 by Representative Theodore C. Speliotis (D)).
Federal Government
Congress is part of the Sixth Congressional District of Massachusetts (seat held in 2009 by Representative John F. Tierney (D)).
Education
Topsfield has two public elementary schools:
Steward School, serving preschool through third grade; and
Proctor Elementary School, serving fourth through sixth grade. In the 1970's, each of these schools had all the elementary grades and students attended from different parts of town. Masconomet Regional Middle School and
Masconomet Regional High SchoolMasconomet Regional High School is located in Boxford, Massachusetts, and serves the towns of Boxford, Middleton and Topsfield.Masconomet Regional Middle School serves grades 7 and 8 while the Masconomet Regional High School serves grades 9 through 12...
, situated together in
BoxfordBoxford is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 7,921 at the 2000 census.Part of the town comprises the census-designated place of Boxford.- History :...
, serve seventh through eighth grade and ninth through twelfth grade, respectively. Both the high school and middle school enroll students from Boxford and
MiddletonMiddleton is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 7,744 at the 2000 census.- History :Middleton was first settled in 1659 and was officially incorporated in 1728. Prior to 1728 it was considered a part of Salem, and contains territory previously within the...
. In athletics, Masconomet is part of the
Cape Ann LeagueThe Cape Ann League is a conference of athletic teams in the northern area of Metro Boston. The Cape Ann League features 14 schools and covers 22 towns. The Cape Ann League is primarily divided up into each sport by a large division and small division...
.
Annual events
Topsfield residents have traditionally celebrated
Memorial DayMemorial Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May . Formerly known as Decoration Day, it commemorates U.S. men and women who died while in the military service...
with a parade through the center of town to honor Topsfield's living veterans and those who have died in service of the county. Topsfield residents served in the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, the Spanish American war and all of the wars of the twentieth century. A memorial to Topsfield's veterans is on the common.
Summer begins in Topsfield with the Topsfield Historical Society’s Strawberry Festival in early June. Bowls of fresh strawberries, whipped cream and piles of shortcakes are served by volunteer members. This can be the first introduction to small town life for Topsfield newcomers - all the local groups such as the Garden Clubs, the Friends of the Library, the Newcomers Club among many others are available to explain their activities and invite new members. Old timers look forward to live music, displays of arts and crafts the latest donations to the Friends of the Library book sale.
Topsfield is the home of the
Topsfield Fair, an agricultural fair founded in 1818. The oldest agricultural fair in America, it features carnival rides and games in addition to the more traditional attractions - exhibitions of livestock, rabbits and cavies, crafts, horses and produce. Most notable is the Giant Pumpkin competition. The
2004 winning pumpkin weighed 1,253 pounds and was grown by Steven Sperry of Johnston, RI.
Points of interest
- Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary
The Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary, which is the Massachusetts Audubon Society’s largest wildlife sanctuary, is located in Topsfield, Massachusetts. Much of its landscape was created by a glacier 15,000 years ago. The park's more than ten miles of interconnected trails wind through forests,...
- Parson Capen House
The Parson Capen House is located at 1 Howlett Street, Topsfield, Massachusetts. It was built in 1683 as the home of local pastor the Reverend Joseph Capen...
- Coolidge Estate
The Coolidge Estate, located in Topsfield,Massachusetts, is the former property of William A. Coolidge, a lawyer, financier, and art collector. Encompassing , it includes a 24-room Georgian-style mansion designed by architect Phillip Richardson in 1921, other buildings, and landscaping by the...
External links