BEVERLY, a city of Essex county, Massachusetts, U.S.A., on the picturesque "North Shore," opposite Marblehead, and 18m. N.E. of Boston. It has a land area of 15sq.m., includes nine miles of seacoast, and is the starting point of the famous North Shore drive, which winds past the beautiful summer resorts of Pride's Crossing and Beverly Farms (within the city limits), Manchester and Magnolia, and on to Gloucester and the towns on Cape Ann. It is served by the Boston and Maine railway, motor buses, and steamers. The population was 13,884 in 1900; 22,685 in 1925; and 25,086 in 1930.
Manufacturing and commerce have displaced the fishing and seafaring occupations of earlier days; and among the manu factures shoe-machinery has taken the place formerly held by boots and shoes, which are still, however, an important product. The plant of the United Shoe Machinery Corporation has 2 I ac. of floor space and 6m. of aisles. In all some 35 products are manufactured in the city, including oiled clothing, shoe find ings, soles, heels, lasts and counters. The output of the 46 es tablishments in 1927 was valued at $12,924,157. Beverly is an important receiving and distributing point for oil from the Texas fields and for coal. The commerce of the harbour in 1927 amount ed to 455,569 tons, chiefly of these two commodities, and was valued at $7,290,018. Market-gardening and horticulture are car ried on quite extensively within the city. The assessed valuation of property is about $55,000,000, giving a per capita valuation second highest among the cities of the State.
Beverly was settled in 1626 by Roger Conant; was incorpo rated as a separate township in 1668, and as a city in 1894. The first cotton-mill in the United States was established here in 1788, and the manufacture of Britannia ware was begun in 1812.
It was the home of George Cabot (1751-1823), Nathan Dane (1752-1835), and Wilson Flagg (1805-1884) ; and the birth-place of Lucy Larcom (1826-1893), who made it the scene of much of her Story of a New England Girlhood. During the adminis tration of President Taft it was the summer capital.