Haverhill, MA
February 22, 2017
Lawrence, MA
February 22, 2017
The land on which the Town of Ipswich was founded was originally inhabited by Indian tribes who called the area Agawam. Little has been known about these people until recently. But now, studies have shown that tribes had been living along these coastal and riverine areas for thousands of years. One of the most important discoveries about Indian history was made in 1951 at our own Bull Brook site. Carbon dating proved that artifacts found at this site belonged to inhabitants of the Paleo-Indian period, about 9000 B.P. (Before Present).
Other collections discovered at Great Neck and along the river banks have been analyzed as they belong to the later Archaic (8000-5000 B.P.) and the Woodland (2000 B.P.) Periods. Thus we have come to realize that we are only the latest in a long history of peoples who have lived in this special place.
The growth and development of Ipswich as a larger town – never a suburb – came only after 1945 with the great outward expansion of population from Boston. The town government was reformed in 1950 with the acceptance of the Town Manager Charter. This charter was rescinded by the voters, regained, lost again, and the present Town Manager-Selectmen Charter was adopted by the voters in 1967. The town’s efforts to control growth and improve the environmental quality of life began in 1957 when the zoning and sewage programs were accepted by voters. Since then, efforts have continued, with the updating of zoning, increasing the efficiency of the sewerage treatment plant, and building a water filtration plant to provide clean drinking water.
