ESSEX AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY 43 



were those who questioned if the ancient Essex Agricul- 

 tural Society had not fulfilled its mission. 



When the Society was organized in 1818, Essex County 

 was an agricultural section, and farming was the prin- 

 cipal industry. The total population by the Census of 

 1820 was 74,666. Salem was the principal town, with 

 a population of 12,731, where there was some farming 

 but the principal employments were commerce and manu- 

 factures. Gloucester had a population of 6,384, and the 

 industries were equally farming and manufactures, 

 Newburyport, with a population of 6,852, did little farm- 

 ing, and its activities were commerce and manufactures. 

 Marblehead, population 5,630, was chiefly engaged in 

 commerce. In Lynn, fifth in population, 4,515, about one- 

 seventh of the population were engaged in agriculture, 

 six-sevenths in manufactures. In Beverly, Danvers and 

 Newbury there were large farming interests. Haverhill, 

 with a population of 3,070, was largely a farming com- 

 munity, but with considerable manufacturing. In all the 

 rest of the County farming was the predominant industry. 



By the Census of 1860, Haverhill was credited with 

 208 farms, the largest number of any town in the County, 

 and on these farms there were 597 cows and 196 oxen. 

 Beverly, Newbury and Danvers were largely farming 

 communities. 



But in the next half century, by the Census of 1910, 

 Lynn had attained a population of 89,336, and farming 

 was practically eliminated. Lawrence was founded in 

 1845, and its territory included some thousands of acres 

 of land in Methuen and Andover. On these acres the 

 new city sprung into being, and in 1910 its dense manu- 

 facturing population numbered 85,892. Haverhill had 

 advanced rapidly as a manufacturing center and reached 

 a population of 44,115. The great South Parish of Dan- 

 vers, famous for its fine farms in earlier years, had 

 become Peabody, the largest manufacturing town in the 

 State, with a yearly output of leather valued at $16,000,- 



