This article is about Gloucester, Massachusetts, U.S.A.; there are other places called Gloucester (disambiguation)


Gloucester ( ) is a city on Cape Ann in Essex County, Massachusetts, in the United States. It is part of North Shore (Massachusetts). As of the Census of 2003, the city population was 30,730. An important center of the fishing industry and a popular summer destination, Gloucester consists of an urban core on the north side of the harbor and the outlying neighborhoods of Annisquam, Bay View, Lanesville, Folly Cove, Magnolia, Riverdale, East Gloucester and West Gloucester. It is bounded by Rockport, Massachusetts to the...

This article is about Gloucester, Massachusetts, U.S.A.; there are other places called Gloucester (disambiguation)


Gloucester ( ) is a city on Cape Ann in Essex County, Massachusetts, in the United States. It is part of North Shore (Massachusetts). As of the Census of 2003, the city population was 30,730. An important center of the fishing industry and a popular summer destination, Gloucester consists of an urban core on the north side of the harbor and the outlying neighborhoods of Annisquam, Bay View, Lanesville, Folly Cove, Magnolia, Riverdale, East Gloucester and West Gloucester. It is bounded by Rockport, Massachusetts to the east, Ipswich Bay to the north, Essex, Massachusetts and Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts to the west and Massachusetts Bay to the south.

History
The boundaries of Gloucester originally included the town of Rockport, Massachusetts, in an area dubbed'Sandy Bay. 'That village separated formally on February 27, 1840. In 1873, Gloucester was reincorporated as a city.

=Early Gloucester=
Gloucester was founded at Cape Ann by an expedition called the'Dorchester Company'of men from Dorchester, Dorset (in the county of Dorset, England) chartered by James I of England in 1623. This date allows Gloucester to boast the first settlement in what would become the Massachusetts Bay Colony, as this town's first settlement predates both Salem, Massachusetts in 1626, and Boston in 1630. This first company of Settler made landing at Half Moon Beach, and settled nearby, setting up fishing stages in a field in what is now Stage Fort Park. This settlement's existence is proclaimed today by a memorial tablet, affixed to a 50 boulder in that park.

Life in this first settlement was harsh and it was short-lived. Around 1626 the place was abandoned, and the people removed themselves to Naumkeag (what is now called Salem, Massachusetts), where more fertile soil for planting was to be found. The meetinghouse was even disassembled and relocated to the new place of settlement. At some point in the following years - though no record exists - the area was slowly resettled. The town was formally incorporated in 1642. It is at this time that the name'Gloucester'first appears on tax rolls, although in various spellings. The town took its name from the great Cathedral City in South-West England, where it is assumed many of its new occupants originated.