Quincy, Massachusetts

Quincy is a city located in Norfolk County, Massachusetts and bears the nickname "The City of Presidents". As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 88,025. Quincy was formed in 1792 and named for Colonel John Quincy, and was originally part of Braintree. Contrary to appearances, the city's name is pronounced as "Kwin-zee".

History

Before its English settlement, the area that became known as Quincy was noted as having the seat of the great sachems of Massachusett, at Moswetutset Hummock, at the base of what is now known as the Squantum peninsula.

Related Topics:
Moswetutset Hummock - Squantum

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Quincy was first settled by English immigrants in 1625, as Mount Wollaston (with a most unusual history), subsequently became part of Braintree, Massachusetts, was officially incorporated as a separate town in 1792, and made a city in 1888.

Related Topics:
1625 - Mount Wollaston - Braintree, Massachusetts - 1792

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Among its several firsts was the Granite Railway, the first commercial railroad in the United States. It was constructed to carry granite from a quarry in Quincy to the Neponset River in Milton so that the stone could be taken to build the Bunker Hill Monument in Charlestown, Massachusetts. Quincy granite became famous throughout the nation, and stonecutting became the city's principal economic activity.

Related Topics:
Granite Railway - Railroad - United States - Bunker Hill Monument - Charlestown, Massachusetts

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Second was shipbuilding. Sailing ships were built in Quincy for many years, and the final known clipper ship built was in Germantown in the 1870s. The Fore River area became a shipbuilding center in the 1880s -- originally owned by Thomas Watson of telephone fame -- and many famous warships were built at the Fore River Shipyard, including the aircraft carrier USS Lexington (CV-2), the battleships USS Massachusetts (BB-59) and USS Nevada (BB-36), and the USS Salem (CA-139), the world's last all-gun heavy warship, which is still preserved at Fore River as a museum today. John J. Kilroy, the author of the famous Kilroy Was Here graffiti, was a welding inspector at Fore River.

Related Topics:
Clipper ship - Germantown - Fore River - Thomas Watson - Fore River Shipyard - USS Lexington (CV-2) - USS Massachusetts (BB-59) - USS Nevada (BB-36) - USS Salem (CA-139) - Kilroy Was Here

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Quincy was also an aviation pioneer; Dennison Field in the Squantum section of town dated from 1910, and was the site of some of the first aerial meets ever. It was leased to the Navy as an airfield, and served as a reserve Naval Air base into the 1950s.

Related Topics:
Dennison Field - Squantum - Naval Air base

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