Essex County, Massachusetts

Essex County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

County Seat:
Year Organized: 1643
Square Miles: 498

Court House:

36 Federal Street
Salem, MA 01970-3445

Etymology - Origin of County Name

For the English county of Essex

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

History

The county was created by the Massachusetts General Court on May 10, 1643, when it was ordered "that the whole plantation within this jurisdiction be divided into four sheires". Essex initially contained Salem, Lynn, Wenham, Ipswich, Rowley, Newbury, Gloucester, and Andover.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 829 square miles (2,146 km²), of which, 501 square miles (1,297 km²) of it is land and 328 square miles (849 km²) of it (39.57%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

North: Rockingham County, N.H.
East: North Atlantic Ocean
South: Suffolk County
Southwest: Middlesex County
Northwest: Hillsborough County, N.H.

Cities and Towns:

- Amesbury	town
- Andover	town
- Beverly	city	Incorporated Area
- Boxford	town
- Danvers	town
- Essex	town
- Georgetown	town
- Gloucester	city	Incorporated Area
- Groveland	town
- Hamilton	town
- Haverhill	city	Incorporated Area
- Ipswich	town
- Lawrence	city	Incorporated Area
- Lynn	city	Incorporated Area
- Lynnfield	town
- Manchester-by-the-Sea	town
- Marblehead	town
- Merrimac	town
- Methuen	city	Incorporated Area
- Middleton	town
- Nahant	town
- Newbury	town
- Newburyport	city	Incorporated Area
- North Andover	town
- Peabody	city	Incorporated Area
- Rockport	town
- Rowley	town
- Salem	city	Incorporated Area
- Salisbury	town
- Saugus	town
- Swampscott	town
- Topsfield	town
- Wenham	town
- West Newbury	town

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

County Resource Guide

Counties: US Map

The history of our nation can be seen as a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names we've given our counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of our country!"

But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history.

Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally, act locally."

Penn Foster High School

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