Newburyport
| Newburyport, Massachusetts | ||
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State Street
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 Location in Essex County and the state of Massachusetts. |
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 Newburyport, Massachusetts
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| Coordinates: 42°48′45″N 70°52′40″W / 42.81250°N 70.87778°WCoordinates: 42°48′45″N 70°52′40″W / 42.81250°N 70.87778°W | ||
| Country | United States | |
| State | Massachusetts | |
| County | Essex | |
| Settled | 1635 | |
| Incorporated as a town | 1764 | |
| Incorporated as a city | 1851 | |
| Government | ||
| • Type | Mayor-council city | |
| • Mayor | Donna D. Holaday (D) | |
| Area | ||
| • Total | 10.6 sq mi (27.4 km2) | |
| • Land | 8.4 sq mi (21.7 km2) | |
| • Water | 2.2 sq mi (5.7 km2) | |
| Elevation | 37 ft (11 m) | |
| Population (2010) | ||
| • Total | 17,416 | |
| • Density | 1,600/sq mi (640/km2) | |
| Time zone | Eastern (UTC-5) | |
| • Summer (DST) | Eastern (UTC-4) | |
| ZIP code | 01950 | |
| Area code(s) | 351 / 978 | |
| FIPS code | 25-45245 | |
| GNIS feature ID | 0614293 | |
| Website | www |
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Newburyport is a small coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, 35 miles (56 km) northeast of Boston. The population was 17,416 at the 2010 census. A historic seaport with a vibrant tourism industry, Newburyport includes part of Plum Island. The mooring, winter storage and maintenance of recreational boats, motor and sail, still contribute a large part of the city's income. A Coast Guard station oversees boating activity, especially in the swift tidal currents of the Merrimack River.
At the edge of the Newbury Marshes, delineating Newburyport to the south, an industrial park provides a wide range of jobs. Newburyport is on a major north-south highway, Interstate 95. The outer circumferential highway of Boston, Interstate 495, passes nearby in Amesbury. The Newburyport Turnpike (U.S. Route 1) still traverses Newburyport on its way north. The commuter rail line to Boston ends in a new station at Newburyport. The earlier Boston and Maine Railroad leading further north was discontinued, but a portion of it has been converted into a recreation trail.
Newburyport was settled in 1635 as part of Newberry Plantation, now Newbury. On January 28, 1764, the General Court of Massachusetts passed "An act for erecting part of the town of Newbury into a new town by the name of Newburyport." The act begins:
Whereas the town of Newbury is very large, and the inhabitants of that part of it who dwell by the water-side there, as it is commonly called, are mostly merchants, traders and artificers, and the inhabitants of the other parts of the town are chiefly husbandmen; by means whereof many difficulties and disputes have arisen in managing their public affairs – Be it enacted ... That that part of the said town of Newbury ... be and hereby are constituted and made a separate and distinct town ....
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