Schools. Haverhill has 34 public school buildings with 242 teachers and 7,350 pupils. The aggregate value of the school buildings is $1,062,200. There is a splendid high school building which cost $400,000 and accommodates 1,000 pupils.
Board of Trade. There are 700 members in the Board of Trade, which has been organ ized for 25 years and has been an active factor in Haverhill's growth. It blazed the way for the modern factory building era; collected $10,000 for a modern lighting system in the down-town streets; has brought many indus tries to Haverhill; has been active in the sup pression of canvassers, and in the development of retail trade. The board has also inaugu rated through package-car service fbr local manufacturers to all the important jobbing and mercantile centres.
Parka. There are 27public parks in the city. Winnikenni Park, adjacent to Lake Ke noza, is very extensive, diversified and beauti ful, and abounds in delightful drives.
Public Buildings, Institutions, etc. The Public Library was founded in 1875 by the gen erosity of E. J. M. Hale, whose gifts to it, including a legacy of $100,000, amounted to more than $175,000. The library contains over 100,000 volumes, with an annual circulation of nearly 160,000. There are four branch libra ries for the accommodation of the more remote parts of the city, and 12 loan libraries placed in the district schools. Loan libraries are also established in connection with each grammar school, books being sent to and from these schools each week. The Hale Hospital occu pies a set of buildings of the most modern type and equipment. The Gale City Hospital, opened in February 1916 with accommodations for 50 patients, was formerly The Children's Home and was presented to the city for use as a hospital by Gen. Stephen Henry Gale. Haverhill also has a tuberculosis hospital and a separate contagious isolation hospital. The Historical Society occupies the eButtonwoods,s a large old mansion house on Water street, for merly the seat of the Saltonstall family, mark ing very closely the site of the first settlement of Haverhill. The Whittier homestead, the birthplace of the poet, John Greenleaf Whittier (17 Dec. 1807) and the scene of his poem 'Snowbound,' is situated about three miles from the heart of the city on the Merrimac road. The house, with the grounds surround ing it, is owned by the Whittier Association, and it is visited annually by many pilgrims.
The Y. M. C. A. and Y. W. C. A. have com plete and well-equipped buildings, including a thoroughly equipped gymnasium. The Pen tucket Club occupies an elegant mansion, for merly the Duncan residence, nearly a cen tury old, designed by the celebrated architect, Haviland, but harmoniously enlarged to meet the needs of the social club now occupying it. Haverhill lodge of Elks own a magnificent $87,000 home; the Moose have a lodge home and Division 14, A. Q. H., owns its own build ing. The local military organization is Com pany F, of Eighth regiment, M. V. M., organ ized in 1869, and attached to the Second brigade. Among the numerous fraternal and other organizations may be mentioned seven Masonic bodies, maintaining a Freemason's Hall Association, with a capital of $50,000; eight lodges of Odd Fellows, maintaining an Odd Fellows' Hall Association, with a capital of $100,000; Elks, Foresters, G. A. IL, Sons of Veterans, Woman's Relief Corps, Red Men, Daughters of Pocahontas, Knights of Malta, American Workmen, Knights of Pythias, Pa trons of Husbandry, Royal Arcanum Moose, Eagles, Knights of Columbus, Catholic Order of Foresters, Boot and Shoe Workers' Union, Shoe Workers' Protective Union, etc., while two literary clubs, the Monday Evening Club and the Fortnightly Club, are noteworthy.
History. The first settlement of Haverhill was made in 1640-41 by men from Newbury and Ipswich, the new settlement being known as Pentucket. In the year 1641 the Rev. John Ward came from Ipswich to be the minister and leader of the colonists, and so pleased were they with his character, attainments and zeal that they named the place Haverhill from the older Haverhill in Eng land, which was his birthplace. In 1642 title to the tract of land, 14 miles in length, was ob tained by purchase and deed from the Indians, Passaquo and Saggahew. In 1660 the first pub lic school was established, its teacher, Thomas Wasse, his salary flO a year. For many years Haverhill was a frontier town, and suffered from the forays of the Indians. On 15 March 1697 the savages attacked the house of Thomas Duston, carrying away his wife, Hannah, her infant child and her nurse, Mary Neff. The
child was soon killed, but Mrs. Duston, taken to an island in the Merrimac River above Con cord, N. H., in the night, with the assistance of her nurse and a captive youth, killed the Indians who were guarding her, as they lay asleep, scalped them, and escaped in a canoe, carrying the scalps as proof of her deed. A monument to her in City Hall Park commemo rates her heroism. On 29 Aug. 1708 the In dians made a murderous foray upon the centre of the town, setting fire to the church and the houses, killing the Rev. Benjamin Rolfe and 15 others, carrying away about 20 captives, but leaving about 30 of their own number dead. These are the more notable among many In dian attacks upon the place. At the outbreak of the Revolution Haverhill contributed to the patriot cause her quota of men, 74 of her sons being engaged in the battle of Bunker Hill. On 4 Nov. 1789 George Washington visited the town, remaining over night at Harrod's tavern, on the site where the city hall now is, and paying delightful compliments to the town and its beautiful location. In 1793 a stage coach line was established between Boston and Haver hill, "fare, 3d. a mile," running twice a week. On 6 Sept. 1793 the first newspaper printed in the town was published. It was called The Guardian of Freedom, and was issued weekly at nine shillings a year. In 1794 the first bridge across the river was erected. In 1827 the Haverhill Academy was opened, one of the students, John G. Whittier (q.v.), writing an ode for the dedication. In 1828 the Rocks Bridge was completed, and in the same year the steamer Merrimac, the first on the river, began running between Haverhill and New buryport. In 1837 the railroad, now the Boston and Maine, was extended from Andover to Haverhill. In 1842 certain citizens of Haverhill presented to Congress, through John Quincy Adams (q.v.), the famous petition for the dissolution of the Union, the object being to rebuke the Congressional agitators. In the Civil War Haverhill contributed to the Union cause about 1,300 men, her first troops leaving for the front on the day when the Massachu setts Sixth was attacked in Baltimore. To those who fell in that war she erected in 1869 on one of her principal squares a beautiful soldiers' monument. Haverhill became a city in 1869. The old place has suffered from sev eral disastrous fires, one in 1775 which de stroyed 17 buildings in the little town; one in 1873, which burned out 35 business houses, and the most disastrous one of 17 Feb. 1882, which burnt out about 300 business firms and de stroyed about $2,000,000 worth of property. On 6 Nov. 1888 the city hall, built in 1861, was gutted by fire, but it was immediately rebuilt.
The shoe and leather industry of Haverhill dates back almost to the time of the first settle ment, for in 1643 Job Clement established a tannery, and at about the same time Andrew Greeley practised the trade of shoemaker for the little settlement. In 1818 a special two horse wagon was regularly run between Haver hill and Boston for the transportation of shoes, and in 1835 the traffic employed 40 horses and two yoke of oxen. The coming of the railroad to Haverhill in 1837 furnished a better means of transportation and gave new impetus to manufacturing. In 1850 about 50,000 cases of shoes were sent out; in 1850 about 94,000, valued at about $3,750,000. The change in 1870 from town government to city government was coincident with an awakening to new life. Old residential streets were changed to manufac turing centres, old farms and pastures became thickly covered with residences, and in manu facturing the city rapidly grew to be one of the three cities leading in the output of shoes. To-day fully 10 per cent of the total output of shoes in the United States and nearly one fourth of the total number produced in Massa chusetts is made in the Haverhill factories. In 1890 Haverhill celebrated the 250th anniver sary of its settlement amid a great gathering of distinguished sons and guests, the address being by the Rev. Samuel H. Duncan, the his torical poem by Dr. John Crowell, and the be loved and distinguished son of the town, the poet Whittier, sending as a tribute his beauti ful poem, *Haverhill.* In 1915 Haverhill ap propriately commemorated her 275th anniver sary.
Population. The population of Haverhill (United States census of 1900) was 37,175, an increase from 27,412 in 1890. A part of this increase was due to the annexation of Brad ford, the population of which in 1895 was 4,736. The State census of 1915 gave Haverhill a population of 49,450.