BEVERLY
At a session of the General Court held May 27, 1668, a petition was received from "the inhabitants of yt part of Salem comonly called Basse River" praying for certain privileges belonging to a town government, and the Court having heard "wt Salem deputjes sajd, judge meet to grant their reuest, prouided the towne of Salem doe fully concurr therewth " At a session of the General Court held November 7, 1668, the vote of the town of Salem consenting to the separation was presented and "The Court, on pervsall of this returne, judge it meete to grant that Basse Riuer be henceforth a towneship of themselues, referring it to Salem to accomodate them wth lands & bounds suitably for them, & that it be called Beverly. " The name was probably derived from the borough of Beverley in Yorkshire, England, and May have been selected at the suggestion of Maj.-Gen. Robert Sedgwick who gave to the inhabitants a bell that he had captured at St. John in 1654. (See Essex Institute Bulletin, Vol. XX, p. 17.)
Sept. 11, 1753, part of Salem was annexed.
April 27, 1857, part of the town was annexed to Danvers.
March 23, 1894, the town was incorporated as a city.
The population of Beverly at different periods was as follows:
|
| 1765, |
2,164. |
|
1800. |
3,881 |
|
1840, |
4,689. |
| 1776, |
2,754. |
|
1810. |
4,608 |
|
1850, |
5,376. |
| 1790, |
3,290. |
|
1820. |
4,283 |
|
1905, |
15,223. |
|
|
|
1830, |
4,073 |
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