Chronology of Roads and Buildings
This chronology lists history of schools, firehouses, churches, mills, and other buildings in Essex. It also lists roads, canal, and railroad activity.
See also the General Essex History, or chronology of Weather Phenomona and Epidemics
Year | Event |
|---|---|
1650 | "Latin School" established in Chebacco to prepare youths for Cambridge |
1654 | Road from Ipswich to Chebacco laid out (little more than a footpath) |
1656 | First sawmill in Chebacco |
1679 | Sills laid for a meeting house in Chebacco; work halted by court order. Building raised, despite order, through efforts of the women of the Parish (April) Building completed (July) following court permission |
1681 | First Meeting House dedicated. Gallery and turret added. Parsonage built for John Wise, near the Meeting House |
1687 | Spring Street opened when John Cogswell divided his 300 acre grant among his four sons. |
1695 | Nathaniel Rust, the first schoolmaster, began teaching in a room in his home (now on John Wise Ave.) |
1700 | In Chebacco were a church, a school, five sawmills, one shipyard, three bridges, and two causeways. |
1702 | First school house erected (on the common) |
1712 | Tanning yard established alongside brook, in back of Burying Ground |
1718 | New (second) Meeting House built on the common |
1733 | A Pound constructed |
1741 | School held in a house at the Falls two months each year |
1742 | School sessions held two months at the Falls, two months on the South side of the River, and two months at the schoolhouse on the Common (an annual arrangement) |
1752 | Separatists' new meeting house built on site of present Congregational Church |
1754 | Sixth Parish purchased property on spring Street as location for parsonage for Mr. Cleaveland |
1757 | First schoolhouse sold; second schoolhouse built on same site. |
1761 | First schoolhouse at Falls |
1774 | A pound, built of stone, established. |
1779 | First schoolhouse built on south side of Chebacco River |
1793 | New Meeting House constructed on site of third meeting house (present Congregational Church) |
1797 | Bell cast by Paul Revere installed in meeting house |
1800 | A new schoolhouse was built as the Falls, on the site of the first one. |
1801 | A second schoolhouse built on the south side of the river A new schoolhouse in the North district |
1809 | The Christian Baptist society erected a meeting house on site of present United Methodist Church |
1817 | New road to Manchester built |
1819 | Chebacco Parish, separated from the Town of Ipswich by the Massachusetts Legislature; incorporated as the Town of Essex |
1821 | Essex Canal opened, for moving timbers between the Merrimac and Chebacco Rivers |
1824 | Engine house built across from congregational church at site of present White Elephant Shop. Engine and equipment purchased by Town. |
1834 | A new "poor house" built in the town A bark mill established at the Falls for a tanning business |
1835 | A school house constructed in the center of Essex (now the Shipbuilding Museum) |
1836 | The Universalist church constructed in the center of Essex |
1841 | New schoolhouse in the South District |
1842 | Congregational Meeting House remodeled to provide a second-floor Sanctuary and a first-floor meeting hall. The selectmen occupy an office in the corner of the meeting hall |
1845 | Schoolhouse built in the East District |
1851 | New engine house on Thompson Island, near the causeway New fire engine for the town |
1854 | Horse/ carriage sheds built at Congregational Meeting House |
1860 | Records indicate operation of four rope-walks in Essex at this time |
1864 | Hardy's Hall and the engine house at the end of the causeway destroyed by fire |
1865 | Construction of a new engine house on the causeway |
1867 | First Essex post office located in Richardson's Hall |
1893 | Construction of Essex Town Hall; transfer of all Town offices and all Town meetings from the Congregational Meeting House to the new building |
1946 | Universalist church destroyed by fire. Rebuilt on same site. |
Copyright © 2000 by Kurt A. Wilhelm