Hamilton is a town in the eastern central portion of Essex County in eastern Massachusetts, United States. At the 2020 census, it had a population of 7,561.[1] Currently the town has no manufacturing industry and no industrially zoned land.
Though Hamilton is a landlocked town in the North Shore region of Massachusetts, its proximity to it provides easy access to the Atlantic seashore with its reservations, beaches and boating. The town includes many historic houses, pastoral landscapes, and old stone walls that accompany winding tree-lined roads. It also has a rich equestrian heritage, which remains strong due to the influence of the many horse farms and of Myopia Hunt Club, which holds frequent equestrian events, including polo most Sunday afternoons. (Myopia also hosts a Thanksgiving Day fox hunt each year that the public may attend.[2]) Thus, people visiting Hamilton may well share the secondary roads with horse and pony riders. Patton Park, one of the parks in downtown Hamilton, was named after General George S. Patton. The park is a center of activity for the town.
Hamilton is closely tied to neighboring Wenham, sharing a school system, library, recreation department, commuter rail station and newspaper.
Hamilton includes South Hamilton, a part of Hamilton that the Postal Service has assigned the ZIP Code 01982. "Hamilton" and "South Hamilton" differ only in ZIP Code and are otherwise the same town.
Hamilton was first settled in 1638 and was originally a section of Ipswich known as "The Hamlet". The first recorded land grant in the Hamlet was Matthew Whipple's farm, dated 1638. Three years later the new stagecoach road from Boston to Newburyport (Bay Road) was laid out through the Whipple land. Other early settlers of the Hamlet, including the Appletons, Winthrops, Lamsons, and Dodges, were attracted by countryside similar to the English farms and estates they had left behind.
The town was incorporated on June 21, 1793,[3] and named for Alexander Hamilton, whose portrait became the town seal in 1903. With the arrival of the Boston and Maine Railroad in 1839, the population center moved gradually southward toward the depot.
The farm village proved to be an attractive location for Boston groups seeking land for recreation and renewal. A Methodist ministers' association first held a camp meeting at Asbury Grove in 1859. In the 1880s, the Myopia Hunt Club, which had been named in jest for its nearsighted founders, moved from Winchester, Massachusetts, to the Gibney Farm in Hamilton. Beginning as a lawn tennis and baseball club, it turned to polo, the hunt, and golf as members built large summer estates in the area. Myopia donated the site for the General George S. Patton Memorial Park to the town of Hamilton. The park continues to be a recreation center for the town.
In 1921, the Mandell family built the Community House in memory of the eight men in Hamilton and Wenham who died in military service during World War I, including their son, Sam. They commissioned Guy Lowell, a respected architect of Boston and New York, to design the building, and gave the Community House in trust for the use of the residents of both towns. Although in its early days the Community House offered activities such as bowling and a men's smoking room, it now features a wide range of classes and activities for all ages.[4][5][6]
In 2021, Hamilton became the first town in Massachusetts to mandate composting.[7][8]
View of First Congregational Church from Hamilton Cemetery
Hamilton-Wenham Public Library
Hamilton Town Hall Hamilton, Massachusetts
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 14.9 square miles (38.6 km2), of which 14.2 square miles (36.7 km2) is land and 0.73 square miles (1.9 km2), or 4.89%, is water.[9] Hamilton lies 5 miles (8 km) inland from Massachusetts Bay, and both the eastern and western portion of town are bordered by water, with the Ipswich River to the west and Chebacco Lake and several other small ponds to the east. The highest point in town is found on Blueberry Hill in Bradley Palmer State Park, with an elevation of at least 215 feet (66 m), according to the most recent (2011-2012) USGS 7.5-minute topographical map.[10] Several areas of town are protected, including Myopia Hunt Club and parts of Bradley Palmer State Park, Appleton Farm Grass Rides, and the Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary.
There are no freeways within town; Route 128 provides the nearest access, in Beverly. Route 1A passes through the center of town, and Route 22 passes through the eastern corner of town between Wenham and its eastern terminus in Essex.
As of the census[22] of 2000, there were 8,315 people, 2,668 households, and 2,142 families residing in the town. (Update: The population was 8251 in 2009, down less than 100 from the 8,315 of the 2000 census. Based on the total area, both land and water, the density is therefore 553.8 persons per square mile.) As of the 2000 census, there were 2,825 housing units at an average density of 193.5 per square mile (74.7/km2). The racial makeup of the town was 94.19% White, 0.47% African American, 0.17% Native American, 4.26% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 0.34% from other races, and 0.53% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.99% of the population.
There were 2,668 households, out of which 66.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 71.1% were married couples living together, 7.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 19.7% were non-families. Of all households, 15.7% were made up of individuals, and 7.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.87 and the average family size was 3.22.
In the town, the population was spread out, with 27.4% under the age of 18, 5.9% from 18 to 24, 33.3% from 25 to 44, 23.0% from 45 to 64, and 10.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 96.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.1 males.
Hamilton is esteemed for the regional school district it shares with neighboring Wenham, and Hamilton is where the majority of the schools in the Hamilton-Wenham Regional School District are located. The town serves two elementary schools; the Winthrop, and Cutler schools. The town only has one middle school; the Miles River Middle School. High School students attend Hamilton-Wenham Regional High School.
The Pingree School, a private secondary school, is located on the historic Pingree Family Estate in Hamilton.
^Known for his exploits in World War II, Patton resided in Hamilton. This is the reason for Patton Park, a park made famous by the installation of an M4 Sherman full-sized World War II tank on which many children and young adults play. At one point, children were able to play inside the tank until the late 1960s when a fire was set inside. After this, the hatches were welded shut.
^In the years after his 1980 retirement from the Army with the rank of Major General, Patton turned a Hamilton estate owned by his late father into the 250 acres (1.0 km2) Green Meadows Farm, where he named the fields in honor of Vietnam soldiers who died under his command.
^"1950 Census of Population"(PDF). Bureau of the Census. 1952. Section 6, Pages 21-10 and 21-11, Massachusetts Table 6. Population of Counties by Minor Civil Divisions: 1930 to 1950. Retrieved July 12, 2011.
^"1920 Census of Population"(PDF). Bureau of the Census. Number of Inhabitants, by Counties and Minor Civil Divisions. Pages 21-5 through 21-7. Massachusetts Table 2. Population of Counties by Minor Civil Divisions: 1920, 1910, and 1920. Retrieved July 12, 2011.
^"1890 Census of the Population"(PDF). Department of the Interior, Census Office. Pages 179 through 182. Massachusetts Table 5. Population of States and Territories by Minor Civil Divisions: 1880 and 1890. Retrieved July 12, 2011.
^"1870 Census of the Population"(PDF). Department of the Interior, Census Office. 1872. Pages 217 through 220. Table IX. Population of Minor Civil Divisions, &c. Massachusetts. Retrieved July 12, 2011.
^"1860 Census"(PDF). Department of the Interior, Census Office. 1864. Pages 220 through 226. State of Massachusetts Table No. 3. Populations of Cities, Towns, &c. Retrieved July 12, 2011.
^"1850 Census"(PDF). Department of the Interior, Census Office. 1854. Pages 338 through 393. Populations of Cities, Towns, &c. Retrieved July 12, 2011.
D.G. Beers & Co. "Hamilton". Essex County 1872. Registry of Deeds, Southern Essex District. Archived from the original on 17 July 2011. Retrieved 2 August 2010.
