Peabody, Massachusetts

Peabody is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. At the 2010 census, the population was 51,251, and in 2014 the estimated population was 52,376. Peabody is located in the North Shore region of Massachusetts.HistoryFirst known as the Northfields, "the Farms", and Brooksby, the area was settled about 1626 within Salem, which had itself been founded in 1626 and incorporated in 1629. In 1752, the area was set off from Salem and incorporated as part of Danvers. It was usually referred to as "the South Parish", associated with the church located in the center (now Peabody Square). In 1855, the community broke away from Danvers to become the town of South Danvers, incorporated that May 18. The name was changed on April 30, 1868, to Peabody after George Peabody, a noted philanthropist. It would be incorporated as a city in 1916. The western, less densely populated portion of the town is often separately referred to as West Peabody.The town began as a farming community, but its streams attracted mills which operated by water power. In particular, Peabody was a major center of New England's leather industry, which attracted immigrants from all around the world. By 1915, a third of the population was foreign-born. In addition to becoming home to large Irish and Russian populations, Peabody notably developed a large community of laborers hailing from the Ottoman Empire, mostly Turkish- and Kurdish-speakers from the region of Harput (now known as Elazığ). The population was situated primarily on Walnut Street, where they filled boarding houses and coffee houses to such an extent that it became known as "Ottoman Street," and, more pejoratively and less accurately, "Peabody's Barbary Coast." One visitor even noted that signs in town were written in both English and Ottoman Turkish.