Hingham, Massachusetts

Hingham is a town in metropolitan Greater Boston on the South Shore of the U.S. state of Massachusetts in northern Plymouth County. As of the 2010 census, the population was 22,157. Hingham is known for its colonial history and location on Boston Harbor. The town was named after Hingham, Norfolk, and was first settled by English colonists in 1633.

For geographic and demographic information on the census-designated place Hingham, please see the article Hingham (CDP), Massachusetts.

History
The town of Hingham was dubbed "Bare Cove" by the first colonizing English in 1633, but two years later was incorporated as a town under the name "Hingham". The land on which Hingham was settled was deeded to the English by the Wampanoag sachem Wompatuck in 1655. The town was within Suffolk County from its founding in 1643 until 1793; Norfolk County from 1793 to 1803; and Plymouth County from 1803 to the present. The eastern part of the town split off to become Cohasset in 1770. The town was named for Hingham, a village in the English county of Norfolk, East Anglia, whence most of the first colonists came, including Abraham Lincoln's ancestor Samuel Lincoln (1622–90), his first American ancestor, who came to Massachusetts in 1637. A statue of President Lincoln adorns the area adjacent to downtown Hingham Square.

Hingham was born of religious dissent. Many of the original founders were forced to flee their native village in Norfolk with both their vicars, Rev. Peter Hobart and Rev. Robert Peck, when they fell foul of the strict doctrines of Anglican England. Peck was known for what the eminent Norfolk historian Rev. Francis Blomefield called his "violent schismatical spirit". Peck lowered the chancel railing of the church, in accord with Puritan sentiment that the Anglican church of the day was too removed from its parishioners. He also antagonized ecclesiastical authorities with other forbidden practices. Hobart, born in Hingham, Norfolk, in 1604 and, like Peck, a graduate of Magdalene College, Cambridge, sought shelter from the prevailing discipline of the high church among his fellow Puritans. The cost to those who emigrated was steep. They "sold their possessions for half their value", noted a contemporary account, "and named the place of their settlement after their natal town". (The cost to the place they left behind was also high: Hingham was forced to petition Parliament for aid, claiming that the departure of its most well-to-do citizens had left it hamstrung.)

While most of the early Hingham settlers came from Hingham and other nearby villages in East Anglia, a few Hingham settlers like Anthony Eames came from the West Country of England. The early settlers of Dorchester, Massachusetts, for instance, had come under the guidance of Rev. John White of Dorchester in Dorset, and some of them (like Eames) later moved to Hingham. Accounts from Hingham's earliest years indicate some friction between the disparate groups, culminating in an 1645 episode involving the town's "trainband", when some Hingham settlers supported Eames, and others supported Bozoan Allen, a prominent early Hingham settler and Hobart ally who came from King's Lynn in Norfolk, East Anglia. Prominent East Anglian Puritans like the Hobarts and the Cushings, for instance, were used to holding sway in matters of governance. Eventually the controversy became so heated that John Winthrop and Thomas Dudley were drawn into the fray; minister Hobart threatened to excommunicate Eames. The bitter trainband controversy dragged on for several years, culminating in stiff fines. Eventually a weary Eames, who was in his mid-fifties when the controversy began and who had served Hingham as first militia captain, a selectman, and Deputy in the General Court, threw in the towel and moved to nearby Marshfield where he again served as Deputy and emerged as a leading citizen, despite his brush with the Hingham powers-that-be.

Although the town was incorporated in 1635, the colonists didn't get around to negotiating purchase from the Wampanoag, the Native American tribe in the region, until three decades later. On July 4, 1665, the tribe's chief sachem, Josiah Wompatuck, sold the township to Capt. Joshua Hobart (brother of Rev. Peter Hobart) and Ensign John Thaxter, representatives of Hingham's colonial residents. Having occupied the land for 30 years, the Englishmen presumably felt entitled to a steep discount. The sum promised Josiah Wompatuck for the land encompassing Hingham was to be paid by two Hingham landowners: Lieut. John Smith and Deacon John Leavitt, who had been granted 12 acre on Hingham's Turkey Hill earlier that year. Now the two men were instructed to deliver payment for their 12 acre grant to Josiah the chief Sachem. The grant to Smith and Leavitt—who together bought other large tracts from the Native Americans for themselves and their partners—was "on condition that they satisfy all the charge about the purchase of the town's land of Josiah—Indian sagamore, both the principal purchase and all the other charge that hath been about it". With that payment the matter was considered settled.

The third town clerk of Hingham was Daniel Cushing, who emigrated to Hingham from Hingham, Norfolk, with his father Matthew in 1638. Cushing's meticulous records of early Hingham enabled subsequent town historians to reconstruct much of early Hingham history as well as that of the early families. Cushing was rather unusual in that he included the town's gossip along with the more conventional formal record-keeping. Cushing's early manuscript was published in 1865, with photographs of his contemporaneous notes on Hingham and its inhabitants titled "Extracts of the Minutes of Daniel Cushing of Hingham". The first history of Hingham was written in 1827 by Hingham attorney Solomon Lincoln. In it Lincoln delineated the history of many of the town's landmarks and early families. In subsequent years Solomon Lincoln corresponded with Abraham Lincoln about the future president's Hingham ancestry, of which Abe professed to be ignorant. When Solomon Lincoln suggested that Abe might have forebears in Hingham, Abe responded with dry Lincoln wit that if the town's name were 'Hang'-em' then he probably did have relatives there.

Hingham is home to the United States' oldest continuously used house of worship, the Old Ship Church, built in 1681, which currently serves members of the Unitarian Universalist faith. Old Ship Church is the only remaining 17th-century Puritan meeting house in New England. The meeting house derives its name from the roof and ceiling rafters, which resemble an upside-down ship's hull. Many of the builders were ship carpenters, and the form was common throughout East Anglia, the home of many of the town's earliest settlers. The town boasts a wide assortment of eighteenth-century and nineteenth-century homes. Many of these may be found in the six historic districts set aside by the town of Hingham. Hingham was originally part of Suffolk County, and when the southern part of the county was set off as Norfolk County in 1793, it included the towns of Hingham and Hull. In 1803 those towns opted out of Norfolk County and became part of Plymouth County.

In 1889, a wealthy Hingham resident, John Brewer, commissioned Frederick Law Olmsted to design a residential subdivision on a peninsula Brewer owned adjacent to Hingham Harbor. While Olmsted's tree-lined horse-cart paths were made, the residential buildings were never constructed. After World War II, Hingham was unsuccessful in its bid to have Brewer's peninsula used as the site of the planned United Nations Secretariat building. In later years the site was also considered for a nuclear power plant. In the 1960s, to prevent eventual development, townspeople organized an effort to preserve the peninsula as open space. Today this natural conservation land is called World's End and is maintained by The Trustees of Reservations.

Wilmon Brewer was a lifelong Hingham resident, a literary scholar, and a generous benefactor to Hingham. He gave "The Old Ordinary" (a historic, 17th-century tavern) to the Hingham Historical Society, and Brewer and his wife, Katharine More Brewer, donated 300 acres of their Great Hill estate to the town, which is now More-Brewer Park. The gift made possible the purchase of World's End for use as a public park. Wilmon Brewer served as a trustee of the Hingham Public Library from 1938 until 1985.

Today, many descendants of the founding families of Hingham still live in the town and share heritage with the Boston Brahmins.

Hingham's contribution in the World Wars
From 1903 until 1961, the Hingham Naval Ammunition Depot (originally called the Hingham Naval Reserve) was a major supplier of U.S. munitions, occupying 990 acre on the Weymouth Back River (in the section once known as The Hockley). Most of the munitions used in the European front in World War II were created at the depot. At peak capacity in 1945, over 2,400 civilians and military personnel worked there. In the mid-1950s, the site contained over 90 buildings, its own telephone exchange, and 15 cranes. The base was decommissioned in 1961, though the Navy held on to the property until 1971, when it was turned over to the town of Hingham. Today much of the site is now occupied by the town's Bare Cove Park.

Hingham was also the location of the 97 acre Hingham Shipyard (also known as the Bethlehem Hingham Shipyard). Set up as an adjunct to the Fore River Shipyard in nearby Quincy, it was built in just four months in the winter of 1941-42. It operated for some 39 months during the Second World War. The facility employed approximately 23,500 workers and produced some 75 destroyer escorts (DEs), 17 high speed transports (APDs), 95 tank landing ships (LSTs), 40 landing craft (LCIs), for a total of 227 vessels. These smaller, relatively simple ships played a vital role in the Allied victory, and were built in record time. One DE was launched just 23 days after keel-laying, and in one 50-hour span a total of 5 LSTs were delivered. The steel mill erected on the site (used later as a General Services Administration warehouse) was the largest single-story building in New England, at 1000 ft. (A twin building was demolished in the 1980s, and the Mill Building was demolished in 2006). After the war, the complex became an industrial park. By the 1970s, the complex had fallen into disuse. Through the late 1980s and 1990s, the area primarily used as an MBTA commuter boat terminal and parking area, with some Marine businesses, the Hingham Bay Club Restaurant, a lobster pound, and the offices of the Building 19 Salvage Store Chain (in fact, the Building 19 chain began in the park, in what was Building 19 of the old shipyard. The corporate headquarters is still located in the Southwest corner of the park on Route 3A, one of only two of the original buildings of the Shipyard that remain standing). The area is now enjoying a renaissance as a new marina, condominium, retail, and restaurant complex, which maintains the "Hingham Shipyard" name. The shipyard is now known for its bars, restaurants, shops, and cinema. Throughout the complex are plaques and displays that pay tribute to the Shipyard, as well as a "Main Gate" building, which is a copy of the Guard House that once stood at the entrance of the complex. The smokestack of the original Power Plant also remains standing.

"The Main Street of America"
During World War II, Eleanor Roosevelt authored a book titled This is America, which used Hingham as an embodiment of the typical American town in wartime. As part of her visit researching the book she toured Hingham's Main Street, with its stately eighteenth- and nineteenth-century houses and, at the time, a canopy of elm trees. Mrs. Roosevelt later concluded in the book "[t]his is the most beautiful Main Street in America". Main Street looks today much as it did then, though the elm canopy has mostly fallen victim to the ravages of Dutch Elm disease.

In January 2007, the town carried out a long-discussed plan to put up the first set of traffic lights along Main Street, intended to improve safety at the intersection with Free and High streets. Those street lights ended up being put up on Free and High streets, making it easier for cars to cross, but causing traffic to back up along Main Street. Since then, there have been no car accidents at the intersection.

Current development
While strongly rooted in America's colonial past, Hingham has seen a wave of development in the past ten years. Real-estate development pressure in Hingham is likely spurred by several factors: the town's close proximity to Boston; its high-quality public education; its relatively unspoiled historic character, and expanding availability of public transportation to Boston, by MBTA bus, commuter ferry near the Hingham Shipyard, and the highly controversial commuter rail.

Recent development includes the Conservatory Park residential subdivision and the Black Rock residential subdivision (a gated community, golf course, and private club). Another gated community for senior citizens, Linden Ponds, has been constructed in the southern part of Hingham. A second private golf club and residential community is nearing completion. Both golf clubs were developed on Hingham's western border with neighboring Weymouth, in areas that had previously been woodland or quarry. Brandon Woods, an exclusive neighborhood of large homes starting at around $1,000,000, was also built off Charles Street in the early 2000s. The old shipyard is being converted into an upscale condo community including a movie theatre and stores with starting prices around $1,000,000. Next to the current Beal's Cove condo community is the new Backriver townhomes community, with buildings including three units per building, which sell starting in the $700,000s. Baker's Hill is now home to the Christina Estates. There is another 55+ community called Ridgewood Crossing off French Street, which includes upscale free-standing condos for "active adults". A street is also being built off Fresh River Ave on the Weymouth border called Steven's Way. Another street off Gardner Street is being built with large houses around $1,500,000.

Hingham's recent and future projected growth have led its school board to conclude that additional educational resources must be constructed for the town's expanding student population. The state has approved the construction of a fourth elementary school on the site of the former East School. The town has recently voted to spend approx. $7 million for renovations and repairs to the Foster and Plymouth River elementary schools.

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 68.1 sqkm, of which 57.5 sqkm is land and 10.6 sqkm, or 15.58%, is water. Hingham is bordered on the east by Cohasset, and Scituate, on the south by Norwell and Rockland, on the west by Weymouth, and on the north by Hingham Bay and Hull. Cohasset and Weymouth are in Norfolk County; the other towns, like Hingham itself, are in Plymouth County. Hingham is 14 mi southeast of downtown Boston.

Hingham lies along the southwest corner of Boston Harbor, at the portion known as Hingham Bay. The bay leads to a harbor, which cuts a U-shaped indentation into the northern shore of the town. The town is separated from Hull by the Weir River and its tributary, which leads to the Straits Pond. The northern third of the town's border with Weymouth consists of the Weymouth Back River, which empties out into Hingham Bay. There are several other small ponds and brooks throughout town. The town also has several forests and parks, the largest of which, Wompatuck State Park, spreads into the neighboring towns of Cohasset, Scituate and Norwell. There are also several conservation areas throughout town; the portion of the Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area in Hingham includes Bumpkin Island, Button Island, Langlee Island, Ragged Island, Sarah Island and the World's End Reservation, which juts out into the bay. There is a marina along the mouth of the Weymouth Back River, and a public beach along the harbor.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 19,882 people, 7,189 households, and 5,478 families residing in the town. The population density was 884.8 people per square mile (341.6/km²). There were 7,368 housing units at an average density of 327.9 per square mile (126.6/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 97.5% White, 0.40% Black or African American, 0.04% Native American, 0.88% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.22% from other races, and 0.95% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.75% of the population.

There were 7,189 households out of which 37.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 65.7% were married couples living together, 8.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 23.8% were non-families. 21.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.72 and the average family size was 3.19.

In the town the population was spread out with 27.7% under the age of 18, 4.3% from 18 to 24, 26.3% from 25 to 44, 27.5% from 45 to 64, and 14.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 89.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 85.6 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $83,018, and the median income for a family was $98,598 (these figures had risen to $100,444 and $134,259 respectively as of a 2007 estimate). Males had a median income of $66,802 versus $41,370 for females. The per capita income for the town was $41,703. About 2.4% of families and 3.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 4.7% of those under age 18 and 3.1% of those age 65 or over.

Top employers
According to the Town's 2009 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top employers in the city are:

Government
On the national level, Hingham is a part of Massachusetts's 8th congressional district, and is currently represented by Stephen F. Lynch. The state's senior (Class II) member of the United States Senate, re-elected in 2008, is John Kerry. The junior (Class I) senator, elected in 2012, is Elizabeth Warren.

On the state level, Hingham is represented in the Massachusetts House of Representatives as a part of the Third Plymouth district, by Garrett Bradley. The district also includes Cohasset, Hull and North Scituate. The town is represented in the Massachusetts Senate as a part of the Plymouth and Norfolk district, by Robert Hedlund. The district also includes the towns of Cohasset, Duxbury, Hull, Marshfield, Norwell, Scituate and Weymouth. The town is patrolled on a secondary basis by the First (Norwell) Barracks of Troop D of the Massachusetts State Police.

Hingham is governed on the local level by the open town meeting form of government, and is led by a town administrator and a three-member board of selectmen. The town hall is located in the former Central Junior High School building, which it moved into in 1995. The town has its own police and fire departments, with a central police station next to the town hall and fire houses located near the town common, in West Hingham, and in South Hingham. The town's nearest hospital is South Shore Hospital in Weymouth, where all emergency calls are sent. There are two post offices in town, one in downtown Hingham on North Street and another in South Hingham right on Route 53. The town's public library is located on Leavitt Street in Center Hingham, and is part of the Old Colony Library Network.

Transportation
A small portion of Route 3 passes through the southwest corner of town, with one exit in town and another at Route 228 just south of the town line. Routes 3A and 53 also cross through the town, the latter mirroring the path of Route 3. Route 228 passes from north to south in town; the rest all pass from west to east.

Public transportation is currently served by the commuter boat ferry service from the Hingham Shipyard to Rowes Wharf in downtown Boston, the MBTA's Bus Route 220, with Route 222 also passing through a small section of town, and the MBTA Commuter Rail to Boston South Station. Commuter rail has been restored along the Greenbush Line through Hingham. Trains stop at two stations in town; West Hingham and Nantasket Junction. As part of the MBTA's agreement to restore train service, a tunnel has been built to carry the commuter trains under historic Hingham Square. There were disputes in Hingham about whether to allow the train to pass through the town. Some people felt that Hingham is becoming less like a town and more like a small city. Others felt that the line will benefit the town. Ferries also run from Hingham Shipyard to several islands in Boston Harbor during the summer as well as to Pemberton Point, Hull. There is no air service in the town; the nearest airport is Logan International Airport in Boston as well as smaller public airports in Norwood and Marshfield.

Notable people


Hingham's most famous line of citizens came from two unrelated families named Lincoln who emigrated to Massachusetts from the English county of Norfolk in the seventeenth century, from Hingham and Swanton Morley respectively. A bridge in Hingham over Route 3, the Southeast Expressway, is named after American Revolutionary War General Benjamin Lincoln of the Swanton branch. General Lincoln is best remembered for accepting Cornwallis's sword of surrender at the Siege of Yorktown. But the most famous Hingham Lincoln never lived in the town: United States President and Civil War Commander-in-Chief Abraham Lincoln, descended from one of several Lincoln families who settled in Hingham — and unrelated to General Benjamin. A bronze statue, a replica of the famous sitting Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. sits at the foot of Lincoln Street at North Street.
 * Bobby Allen, Providence Bruins AHL player
 * Tony Amonte, National Hockey League (NHL) player
 * John F. Andrew, 19th century United States Congressman
 * Issachar Bates, prominent Shaker composer and church leader, was born in Hingham in 1758.
 * Bill Belichick, head coach of the New England Patriots professional football team
 * Brian Boyle, New York Rangers NHL player
 * Andy Brickley, former NHL player
 * Marc Brown, children's author known primarily for the Arthur series of picture books (and related TV show)
 * Prescott Bush Jr., brother of 41st President George H.W. Bush and Uncle of 43rd President George W. Bush
 * Fox Butterfield, wrote for the New York Times
 * Ken Casey, bassist and co-lead vocalist of the Irish punk rock group Dropkick Murphys
 * Herbert L. Foss, recipient of the Medal of Honor in the Spanish-American War
 * Bob Graham, former U.S. senator from Florida
 * Kelly Amonte Hiller, Northwestern University women's lacrosse coach, 5-time NCAA champions
 * Capt. Joshua Hobart, Hingham representative to the Massachusetts General Court and Deputy for 25 years, Speaker of the House, member, Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company
 * Rev. Peter Hobart, founding minister, Hingham's First Parish Church, later Old Ship Church Two sons of Rev. Peter Hobart moved to Long Island, New York, in the seventeenth century, where both were prominent. Rev. Joshua Hobart, who married the daughter of William Vassall, an early Massachusetts merchant named in the 1629 charter for the Massachusetts Bay Colony, graduated from Harvard College, and after some time in Barbados and London, returned to America. He settled in the ministry at Southold, Long Island, where he served the town for nearly a half-century. Rev. Hobart's brother, Capt. Josiah Hobart, settled at East Hampton, Long Island, where he was named in the town's first deed, known as the Dongan Patent, as one of the town's initial trustees. Capt. Hobart also served as High Sheriff of Suffolk County, and built one of East Hampton's oldest surviving homes.Google Books Search
 * Elisha Leavitt, Tory whose invitation to British forces to use his Grape Island sparked early Revolutionary War skirmish
 * John Leavitt, early Hingham settler, deacon, Old Ship Church, namesake of Hingham's Leavitt Street
 * Josiah Leavitt, physician and inventor
 * General Benjamin Lincoln, Revolutionary War general, Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts
 * Levi Lincoln, Sr., United States Attorney General and Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts
 * Samuel Lincoln, weaver's apprentice, ancestor of President Abraham Lincoln
 * Mary Hawke Thaxter, descendant of Hingham settlers, born in Hingham and mother of John Hancock
 * Sean McDonough, TV sportscaster
 * Marty McInnis, NHL player
 * Suzanne Parsons, player in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League
 * Rev. Robert Peck, born at Beccles, Suffolk, England, in 1580. He graduated from Magdalene College, Cambridge, with an A.B. degree in 1599, and received his A. M. in 1603. He was a talented and influential clergyman, and was a founder of the town of Hingham, Massachusetts. He served as teacher and a minister at Hingham's First Parish Church. Although Peck returned to England, his daughter Anne married Major John Mason, a soldier who was a major figure in the Pequot War and served as a Deputy Governor of the Connecticut Colony. Rev. Peck's brother, Joseph Peck, founded the town of Rehoboth, Massachusetts.
 * Judson Pratt (1916–2002), actor
 * Bob Ryan, Boston Globe sports writer and editor
 * David Silk, NHL player
 * Frank Spaziani, former head coach of the Boston College Eagles football team
 * Isaac Sprague, the best-known American botanical illustrator in the 1800s
 * The Unseen, punk rock group
 * Tim Wakefield, knuckleballer pitcher for the Boston Red Sox baseball team
 * Roger Noble Burnham (1876-1962), born in Hingham, sculptor. He designed and sculpted the Tommy Trojan statue for University of Southern California
 * Caroline Blake, WNBA player

J Lineberry (talk) 15:31, 5 March 2013 (UTC)Joanne Lineberry, Hockey Database, Google Search, Town of Hingham birth records.== References == The first NHL Hockey Player to come from Hingham was Kurt Walker Class of 1972 Hingham High School and was a longtime resident of Hingham. He played for the Toronto Maple Leafs 1975-78 and the LA Kings 1978-80, prior to Kurt there were no NHL Hockey Players born and raised in Hingham.