Lynn, Massachusetts

Lynn is a city located in Essex County, Massachusetts. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 89,050.

History

Lynn was first settled in 1629 and was officially incorporated in 1850.

Related Topics:
1629 - 1850

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Colonial Lynn was a major part of the regional shoe-making which started in 1635, and tannery industries of the early U.S. colonies, which reportedly includes the boots worn by Continental Army soldiers during the Revolutionary War. This historic theme is reflected in the city seal, which features a colonial boot.

Related Topics:
1635 - Continental Army - Revolutionary War

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On May 21, 1852, the northern, more affluent section of the city seceeded from Lynn and became Swampscott. After the split, each carved out their own respective niches in the economy: Swampscott took a path as the country's first upscale resort town, while Lynn became host to a broad range of buisnesses based around the new concept of rapid production through machines.

Related Topics:
1852 - Swampscott

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Despite industrial expansion in the early 20th century, Lynn began to decline in the latter half of the century. It began to attract an unsavory element, leading to a rise in crime. This trend earned Lynn the still-infamous taunt:

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:Lynn, Lynn, city of sin. You never come out the way you went in. Ask for water, they give you a gin... it's the darndest city I ever been in.

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In a 1997 effort to escape association with this couplet, city solicitor Michael Barry proposed to rename the city "Ocean Park", but this initiative was withdrawn after receiving widespread ridicule (opponents came up with a new rhyme, "Ocean Park, Ocean Park, you'd better get out before it gets dark").

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In the very early 1990s, the city of Lynn created an advertising campaign to offset the city's stagnating image as a depressed, crime-ridden satellite urban area. This was the "City Of Firsts" campaign.

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Among the numerous Lynn Firsts that were touted were:

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• First American jet engine
• Lydia E. Pinkham - First woman in advertising (and first woman in mass-marketing)
• First baseball game played under artificial light
• First dance academy in the U.S.
• First tannery in the U.S.
• First air mail delivery in the U.S.

Unfortunately, after a few short years, the majority of these claims were found to be inaccurate or unprovable. For example, the first air mail delivery in the U.S. occurred on Long Island, and the first baseball game under artificial light seems to have actually occurred in Indiana. As for Lydia Pinkham, her recognition is legitimate, however she turned out to have been a snake oil peddler. The jet engine claim seems to be the only uncontested Lynn first, but not very meaningful as the first jet engine was made in Britain, and the U.S. engine was closely modeled after it.

Related Topics:
Long Island - Indiana - Snake oil - Britain

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Lynn has been plagued by nagging commercial decline over the past 25 years. For many years, a local rumor persisted that Lynn was host to the first McDonald's to ever close, though this was disproven a number of times. Efforts by the MBTA to turn downtown Lynn into a transportation center in the early 1990s did not result in a noticeable increase in visitors. Progress made in turning Lynn in to a technological center for the North Shore in the late 1990s and early 2000s was promising at first, but was eventually stunted by the burst of the dot-com bubble.

Related Topics:
McDonald's - MBTA - 1990s - 2000s - Dot-com

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In 2005, a number of new development projects in Lynn have led to buzz that the town is once again experiencing a renaissance. Industrial buildings formerly left vacant have been bought and converted into loft spaces by real estate developers, and eagerly snapped up by young homebuyers who enjoy the urban lifestyle of Boston proper but can't afford the higher prices of lofts in Boston's South End and similar neighborhoods. Only time will tell whether this resurgence of interest in Lynn results in a true gentrification or whether it is merely another bubble like the one that swelled and broke during the 1990s.

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