Hingham, Massachusetts | |
|---|---|
 TheOld Ship Church, Hingham (Seventeenth-century English Colonial architecture) | |
 Seal | |
| Nickname: | |
| Motto(s): "History and Pride"[4] | |
 Location in Plymouth County in Massachusetts | |
| Coordinates:42°14′N70°53′W / 42.233°N 70.883°W /42.233; -70.883 | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Massachusetts |
| County | Plymouth |
| Settled | 1633 (as Bare Cove) |
| Incorporated | September 2, 1635 |
| Government | |
| • Type | Open town meeting |
| Area | |
• Total | 26.3 sq mi (68.1 km2) |
| • Land | 22.2 sq mi (57.5 km2) |
| • Water | 4.1 sq mi (10.6 km2) |
| Elevation | 59 ft (18 m) |
| Population (2020)[5] | |
• Total | 24,284 |
| • Density | 1,090/sq mi (422/km2) |
| Time zone | UTC-5 (Eastern) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-4 (Eastern) |
| ZIP Code | 02043 |
| Area code | 339/781 |
| FIPS code | 25-30210 |
| GNIS feature ID | 0618342 |
| Website | Hingham, Massachusetts |
Hingham (/ˈhɪŋəm/HING-əm) is a town in northernPlymouth County in theU.S. state ofMassachusetts. Part of theGreater Boston region, it is located on theSouth Shore of Massachusetts. At the2020 census, the population was 24,284.[5] It contains thecensus-designated place of the same name. Hingham is known for its colonial history and location onBoston Harbor. The town was named afterHingham, Norfolk,England,[6] and was first settled by English colonists in 1633.
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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."[4][7] The land on which Hingham was settled was deeded to the English by the Wampanoag sachemWompatuck in 1655.[8] The town was withinSuffolk County from its founding in 1643 until 1803, andPlymouth County from 1803 to the present. The eastern part of the town split off to becomeCohasset in 1770. The town was named forHingham, amarket town in theEnglish county ofNorfolk, whence most of the first colonists came, includingAbraham Lincoln's ancestorSamuel Lincoln (1622–1690), his first American ancestor,[9] 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 town in Norfolk with both their vicars, Rev. Peter Hobart and Rev.Robert Peck, when they fell afoul of the strict doctrines of theChurch of England. Peck was known for what the eminent Norfolk historian Rev. Francis Blomefield called his "violent schismatical spirit". Peck lowered thechancel railing of the church, in accord withPuritan sentiment that theAnglican church of the day was too removed from its parishioners. He also antagonized ecclesiastical authorities with other forbidden practices.[10][11]
Hobart, born in Hingham, Norfolk, in 1604 and, like Peck, a graduate ofMagdalene College, Cambridge,[12] sought shelter from the prevailing discipline of the high church among his fellow Puritans.[13] 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.)[citation needed]
While most of the early Hingham settlers came from Hingham and other nearby villages inEast Anglia, a few Hingham settlers like Anthony Eames came from theWest Country of England.[14] The early settlers ofDorchester, Massachusetts, for instance, had come under the guidance of Rev. John White ofDorchester inDorset, 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 a 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 fromKing's Lynn in Norfolk.[15][16] Prominent East Anglian Puritans like the Hobarts and the Cushings, for instance, were used to holding sway in matters of governance.[17] Eventually the controversy became so heated thatJohn Winthrop andThomas Dudley were drawn into the fray; minister Hobart threatened to excommunicate Eames.[18]
The bitter trainband controversy dragged on for several years, culminating in stiff fines.[19] 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 nearbyMarshfield where he again served as Deputy and emerged as a leading citizen, despite his brush with the Hingham powers-that-be.[citation needed]
Although the town was incorporated in 1635, the colonists did not get around to negotiating purchase from theWampanoag, 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 (father of Col.Samuel 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 DeaconJohn Leavitt, who had been granted 12 acres (49,000 m2) on Hingham's Turkey Hill earlier that year. Now the two men were instructed to deliver payment for their 12-acre (49,000 m2) 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".[20] With that payment the matter was considered settled.
The third town clerk of Hingham was Daniel Cushing,[21] who emigrated to Hingham fromHingham, Norfolk, with his father Matthew in 1638.[22] 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.[23] Cushing was rather unusual in that he included the town's gossip along with the more conventional formal record-keeping.[24]
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According to theUnited States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 26.3 square miles (68.1 km2), of which 22.2 square miles (57.5 km2) is land and 4.1 square miles (10.6 km2), or 15.58%, is water.[25] Hingham is bordered on the east byCohasset, andScituate, on the south byNorwell andRockland, on the west byWeymouth, and on the north byHingham Bay andHull. Cohasset and Weymouth are inNorfolk County; the other towns, like Hingham itself, are inPlymouth County. Hingham is 14 miles (23 km) southeast ofBoston.
Hingham lies along the southwestern corner ofBoston Harbor. 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 theWeir River and its tributary, which leads to the Straits Pond. The northern third of the town's border with Weymouth consists of theWeymouth 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 theBoston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area in Hingham includesBumpkin Island,Button Island,Langlee Island,Ragged Island,Sarah Island and theWorld's End Reservation, which juts out into the bay. There is amarina along the mouth of the Weymouth Back River, and a public beach along the harbor.
According to theKöppen Climate Classification system, Hingham has ahumid subtropical climate, abbreviated "Cfa" on climate maps. The hottest temperature recorded in Hingham was 101 °F (38.3 °C) on June 23, 1888, July 17–18, 1900, July 9, 1912, July 22, 2011, and July 24, 2022, while the coldest temperature recorded was −13 °F (−25.0 °C) on January 22, 1961 and January 22, 1984.[26]
| Climate data for Hingham, Massachusetts, 1991–2020 normals, extremes 1885–present | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °F (°C) | 70 (21) | 73 (23) | 89 (32) | 95 (35) | 97 (36) | 101 (38) | 101 (38) | 100 (38) | 97 (36) | 88 (31) | 81 (27) | 77 (25) | 101 (38) |
| Mean maximum °F (°C) | 58.9 (14.9) | 59.3 (15.2) | 68.3 (20.2) | 81.3 (27.4) | 88.5 (31.4) | 91.6 (33.1) | 94.5 (34.7) | 93.1 (33.9) | 88.7 (31.5) | 79.5 (26.4) | 70.6 (21.4) | 62.0 (16.7) | 96.3 (35.7) |
| Mean daily maximum °F (°C) | 37.9 (3.3) | 40.4 (4.7) | 47.0 (8.3) | 58.4 (14.7) | 68.5 (20.3) | 77.2 (25.1) | 83.0 (28.3) | 81.5 (27.5) | 73.8 (23.2) | 62.9 (17.2) | 52.4 (11.3) | 42.9 (6.1) | 60.5 (15.8) |
| Daily mean °F (°C) | 29.8 (−1.2) | 31.6 (−0.2) | 38.1 (3.4) | 48.4 (9.1) | 58.2 (14.6) | 67.3 (19.6) | 73.2 (22.9) | 71.8 (22.1) | 64.5 (18.1) | 53.6 (12.0) | 43.9 (6.6) | 35.2 (1.8) | 51.3 (10.7) |
| Mean daily minimum °F (°C) | 21.7 (−5.7) | 22.9 (−5.1) | 29.2 (−1.6) | 38.3 (3.5) | 47.9 (8.8) | 57.3 (14.1) | 63.4 (17.4) | 62.2 (16.8) | 55.3 (12.9) | 44.2 (6.8) | 35.4 (1.9) | 27.4 (−2.6) | 42.1 (5.6) |
| Mean minimum °F (°C) | 2.0 (−16.7) | 5.2 (−14.9) | 12.4 (−10.9) | 25.9 (−3.4) | 33.9 (1.1) | 43.5 (6.4) | 52.2 (11.2) | 50.0 (10.0) | 39.5 (4.2) | 29.3 (−1.5) | 19.9 (−6.7) | 10.7 (−11.8) | 0.3 (−17.6) |
| Record low °F (°C) | −21 (−29) | −16 (−27) | −2 (−19) | 12 (−11) | 22 (−6) | 30 (−1) | 41 (5) | 34 (1) | 24 (−4) | 15 (−9) | 2 (−17) | −14 (−26) | −21 (−29) |
| Averageprecipitation inches (mm) | 4.49 (114) | 3.97 (101) | 5.39 (137) | 4.64 (118) | 3.78 (96) | 4.04 (103) | 3.56 (90) | 3.83 (97) | 3.90 (99) | 5.22 (133) | 4.43 (113) | 5.07 (129) | 52.32 (1,330) |
| Average snowfall inches (cm) | 14.8 (38) | 14.5 (37) | 10.3 (26) | 1.7 (4.3) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.1 (0.25) | 0.7 (1.8) | 8.8 (22) | 50.9 (129.35) |
| Average extreme snow depth inches (cm) | 9.3 (24) | 9.1 (23) | 7.2 (18) | 1.2 (3.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.1 (0.25) | 0.4 (1.0) | 5.1 (13) | 14.6 (37) |
| Average precipitation days(≥ 0.01 in) | 13.1 | 11.3 | 11.9 | 12.2 | 13.3 | 11.4 | 10.0 | 9.2 | 9.4 | 11.6 | 11.3 | 12.4 | 137.1 |
| Average snowy days(≥ 0.1 in) | 7.6 | 6.9 | 4.8 | 0.8 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.7 | 4.7 | 25.6 |
| Source 1: NOAA[27] | |||||||||||||
| Source 2: National Weather Service[26] | |||||||||||||
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
|---|---|---|
| 1850 | 3,980 | — |
| 1860 | 4,351 | +9.3% |
| 1870 | 4,422 | +1.6% |
| 1880 | 4,485 | +1.4% |
| 1890 | 4,564 | +1.8% |
| 1900 | 5,059 | +10.8% |
| 1910 | 4,965 | −1.9% |
| 1920 | 5,604 | +12.9% |
| 1930 | 6,657 | +18.8% |
| 1940 | 8,003 | +20.2% |
| 1950 | 10,665 | +33.3% |
| 1960 | 15,378 | +44.2% |
| 1970 | 18,845 | +22.5% |
| 1980 | 20,339 | +7.9% |
| 1990 | 19,821 | −2.5% |
| 2000 | 19,882 | +0.3% |
| 2010 | 22,157 | +11.4% |
| 2020 | 24,284 | +9.6% |
| 2024* | 24,414 | +0.5% |
| * = population estimate. Source:United States Census records andPopulation Estimates Program data.[28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35] | ||
The U.S. Census Bureau estimates, there are 24,284 people and 8,873 households in the town.[36] The population density was 884.8 inhabitants 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 orAfrican American, 0.04%Native American, 0.88%Asian, 0.02%Pacific Islander, 0.22% fromother races, and 0.95% from two or more races.Hispanic orLatino of any race were 0.75% of the population.[37]
There were 7,189 households, out of which 37.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 65.7% weremarried 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 household income in the town was $142,435 (mean household income was $206,876), and the median family income was $198,900 (mean family income was $265,292) in 2019.[38] Males had a median income of $66,802 versus $41,370 for females. Theper capita income in 2019 for the town was $78,301. About 2.4% of families and 3.5% of the population were below thepoverty line, including 4.7% of those under age 18 and 3.1% of those age 65 or over.
According to the Town's 2017 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report,[39] the top employers in the town are:
| # | Employer | # of employees |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Blue Cross/Blue Shield | 1,456 |
| 2 | Town of Hingham | 985 |
| 3 | Linden Ponds | 802 |
| 4 | Talbots | 461 |
| 5 | Serono Laboratories | 437 |
| 6 | Harbor House | 247 |
| 7 | Whole Foods | 212 |
| 8 | Stop & Shop | 196 |
| 9 | Russ Electric | 191 |
| 10 | Eat Well | 170 |
On the national level, Hingham is a part ofMassachusetts's 8th congressional district, and is currently represented byStephen F. Lynch. The state's senior member of theUnited States Senate isElizabeth Warren. The state's junior Senator isEd Markey, who was elected in a special election in 2013 to fill the seat vacated byJohn Kerry being appointed asUnited States Secretary of State.
On the state level, Hingham is represented in theMassachusetts House of Representatives as a part of the Third Plymouth district, byJoan Meschino.[40] The district also includes Cohasset, Hull and North Scituate. The town is represented in theMassachusetts Senate as a part of thePlymouth and Norfolk district, by Patrick O'Connor. The district also includes the towns of Cohasset, Duxbury, Hull, Marshfield, Norwell, Scituate and Weymouth.[41] The town is patrolled on a secondary basis by the First (Norwell) Barracks of Troop D of theMassachusetts State Police.[42]
Hingham is governed on the local level by theopen town meeting form of government, and is led by a town administrator and a three-memberselect board. The members of the board of selectmen are William Ramsey, Liz Klein, and Joe Fisher. 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.
| Voter Registration and Party Enrollment as of October 15, 2008[43] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Number of Voters | Percentage | |||
| Democratic | 4,101 | 25.63% | |||
| Republican | 2,976 | 18.60% | |||
| Unaffiliated | 8,870 | 55.43% | |||
| Libertarian | 56 | 0.35% | |||
| Total | 16,003 | 100% | |||
Hingham is home to seven public schools:
Hingham is home to five private schools:
A small portion ofRoute 3 passes through the southwestern corner of town, with one exit in town and another atRoute 228 just south of the town line. Routes3A and53 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 byMBTA ferry route F2H and F1 service from the Hingham Shipyard toRowes Wharf in downtownBoston,MBTA bus routes220 and222, and theMBTA Commuter RailGreenbush Line service toBoston South Station with stops atWest Hingham andNantasket Junction. There is no air service in the town; the nearest airport isLogan International Airport inBoston as well as smaller public airports inNorwood andMarshfield.
Hingham's most famous line of citizens came from two unrelated families named Lincoln who emigrated to Massachusetts from theEnglish county ofNorfolk in the seventeenth century, fromHingham[53] andSwanton Morley, respectively.[54] A bridge in Hingham overRoute 3, the Southeast Expressway, is named afterAmerican Revolutionary War GeneralBenjamin Lincoln of the Swanton branch. General Lincoln is best remembered for accepting Cornwallis's sword of surrender at theSiege of Yorktown. But the most famous Hingham Lincoln never lived in the town: United States President andCivil War Commander-in-ChiefAbraham 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 sittingLincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. sits at the foot of Lincoln Street at North Street.
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