Interior House Painter Merrimac MA

Merrimac, Massachusetts
Town
Merrimac Town Hall near Merrimac Square
Seal
Location in Essex County and the state of Massachusetts.
Coordinates: 42°49′50″N 71°00′10″W / 42.83056°N 71.00278°W / 42.83056; -71.00278Coordinates: 42°49′50″N 71°00′10″W / 42.83056°N 71.00278°W / 42.83056; -71.00278
Country	United States
State	Massachusetts
County	Essex
Settled	1638
Incorporated	1876
Government
• Type	Open town meeting
• Board of    Selectmen	Benjamin S. Beaulieu (Chair) Joel Breen Chris Manni (Clerk)
Area
• Total	8.8 sq mi (22.9 km)
• Land	8.5 sq mi (21.9 km2)
• Water	0.4 sq mi (1.0 km)
Elevation	107 ft (33 m)
Population  (2020)
• Total	6,723
• Density	760/sq mi (290/km2)
Time zone	UTC-5 (Eastern)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-4 (Eastern)
ZIP code	01860
Area code	351 / 978
FIPS code	25-40430
GNIS feature ID	0618301
Website	www.merrimac01860.info

Merrimac is a small town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, and on the southeastern border of New Hampshire, approximately 34 miles (55 km) northeast of Boston and 10 miles (16 km) west of the Atlantic Ocean. It was incorporated on April 11, 1876. It is situated along the north bank of the Merrimack River in the Merrimack Valley. The population was 6,723 at the 2020 census. Historically a mill town, it has long since become a largely residential community. It is part of the Greater Boston metropolitan area.

History

Settled by the English in 1638 as a part of Salisbury and later as a part of Amesbury around the village of Merrimacport, it was known throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries as an agricultural and fishing community, with a small amount of shipbuilding. When Amesbury separated from Salisbury in 1666, Merrimac was referred to as the West Parish of Amesbury, or simply West Amesbury, although it was unincorporated. When a border dispute between the Massachusetts and New Hampshire colonies was settled in 1741, the new border sliced off the parts of Amesbury that were further from the Merrimack River, with the area then associated with West Amesbury becoming the “new town” of Newton, New Hampshire.

In 1771, the West Parish of Amesbury (present-day Merrimac) had a population of at least four enslaved Africans. They were held in bondage by town residents Isaac Merrill, Benjamin Morse, and Wells Chase. At least one former enslaved African, “Forte,” who was sold by an unknown West Newbury slaver to Christopher Sargent, became locally famous for his fiddling after the abolition of slavery in Massachusetts.

In the nineteenth century, benefiting from a manufacturing boom following the establishment of some of the first planned industrial cities in the United States, nearby Lawrence and Lowell, Merrimac came to be known worldwide for its horse-drawn carriage industry. During this period, the town proper of Merrimac, centered around Merrimac Square, expanded separately from the village of Merrimacport. In 1876, Merrimac, including Merrimacport, separated from Amesbury and officially incorporated itself as a town. It is believed that the town, as well as the river that runs along its southern border, are both named for the American Indian tribe that occupied the region. “Merrimac” (or Merrimack) means “swift water place” in the language of this tribe. This town center consists of the typical brick buildings and Victorian architecture of the late nineteenth century, and it is surrounded by much of the town’s population. Interstate 495 now divides Merrimacport from Merrimac. At the beginning of the twentieth century, as with the rest of the New England, it went through a period of deindustrialization as the region’s industry relocated to the Midwest. The communities of the Merrimack Valley, including Merrimac, were particularly affected by this long period of economic decline and have never fully recovered.

Today, Merrimac is a typical small New England community. It went through numerous growth spurts throughout the 1990s and the beginning of the twenty-first century as it was absorbed into the Lawrence metropolitan area.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 8.8 square miles (22.9 km), of which 8.5 square miles (21.9 km²) is land and 0.39 square miles (1.0 km), or 4.48%, is water. Merrimac is drained by the Merrimack River, whose north bank the town lies on. Located in the Merrimack River Valley and on the coastal plain of Massachusetts, Merrimac’s land consists mainly of small, forested hills (before the twentieth century, it was mostly pasture). The town also has several ponds, streams and Lake Attitash (which is located partially in Merrimac, and partially in neighboring Amesbury).

Merrimac is roughly diamond-shaped, and is bordered by Amesbury and Lake Attitash to the northeast, West Newbury to the southeast, Haverhill to the southwest, Newton, New Hampshire, to the north and northwest, South Hampton, New Hampshire, to the far northeast, and Plaistow, New Hampshire, on the western corner. The town is 14 miles (23 km) northeast of Lawrence, 30 miles (48 km) southeast of Manchester, New Hampshire, and 34 miles (55 km) north of Boston. Merrimac lies along Interstate 495, with Exit 53 giving access to the town. Massachusetts Route 110 also passes through the town, just north of I-495. There are no bridges crossing the Merrimack directly into the town; the Rocks Village Bridge lies just to the south of town in Haverhill, and the nearest downstream crossing is the Whittier Memorial Bridge in Amesbury.