List of city nicknames in Massachusetts

This partial list of city nicknames in Massachusetts compiles the aliases, sobriquets, and slogans that cities and towns in Massachusetts are known by (or have been known by historically), officially and unofficially, to municipal governments, local people, outsiders or their tourism boards or chambers of commerce. City nicknames can help in establishing a civic identity, helping outsiders recognize a community or attracting people to a community because of its nickname; promote civic pride; and build community unity.[1] Nicknames and slogans that successfully create a new community "ideology or myth"[2] are also believed to have economic value.[1] Their economic value is difficult to measure,[1] but there are anecdotal reports of cities that have achieved substantial economic benefits by "branding" themselves by adopting new slogans.[2]

Some unofficial nicknames are positive, while others are derisive. The unofficial nicknames listed here have been in use for a long time or have gained wide currency.

The Minute Man Statue on the Green in Lexington commemorates the events that earned the town its sobriquet of The Birthplace of American Liberty.

See also

References
  1. Muench, David (December 1993). "Wisconsin Community Slogans: Their Use and Local Impacts" (PDF). University of Wisconsin Extension. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 9, 2013. Retrieved April 10, 2007.
  2. Alfredo Andia, Branding the Generic City :) Archived 2008-05-21 at the Wayback Machine, MU.DOT magazine, September 10, 2007
  3. Numerous local businesses, including Carriagetown Marketplace Shopping Center Archived 2016-02-05 at the Wayback Machine
  4. Claims to Fame - Products Archived 2007-04-08 at the Wayback Machine, Epodunk, accessed April 16, 2007.
  5. Technology Plan 2007-2011, Attleboro Public Schools Archived 2012-03-31 at the Wayback Machine, Attleboro Public Schools website, accessed September 17, 2011
  6. Attleboro Massachusetts- The Jewelry Capital of the World, Guyot Brothers Company, Inc. website, accessed September 17, 2011
  7. Boston: "The Athens of America" - Britannica Student Encyclopaedia
  8. U.S. City Monikers, Tagline Guru website, accessed January 5, 2008
  9. Barry Popik, Smoky City, barrypopik.com website, March 27, 2005
  10. Why do they call Boston "Beantown"?, Ask Yahoo? website, September 5, 2001
  11. Why do they call Boston "Beantown"? Archived 2008-05-09 at the Wayback Machine, Boston-Online website
  12. Norman Dalager, "What's in a nickname?", Boston.com website, accessed June 18, 2008
  13. The Hub of the Universe, from Oliver Wendell Holmes' reference to the Massachusetts State House as the "hub of the solar system"
  14. Queen City, Time (magazine), January 30, 1928, accessed April 13, 1928.
  15. http://www.brockton.ma.us/
  16. Cambridge Officials Put a Stop to Boy Scout Drive to Aid Troops in Iraq Archived 2008-11-03 at the Wayback Machine, Fox News, accessed April 4, 2008.
  17. "City of Chicopee" Archived 2012-03-07 at the Wayback Machine, Boys & Girls Clubs of Chicopee. Accessed December 9, 2015
  18. Trausch, Susan (1990), "There is Life Beyond Boston--Really," The Boston Globe, June 6, 1990, p. 17: "[Springfield] has Chicopee, "Kielbasa Capital of the World," right next door."
  19. O'Brien, George (2001), "Stretching the Imagination in Chicopee," BusinessWest, October 1, 2001: p. 14: "The city once known merely as the kielbasa capital of the universe now has much more on its plate."
  20. Reynolds, Mark. "Mayor's plans for city include schools for gifted pupils", The Providence Journal, February 2, 2005. Accessed June 28, 2009. "Meanwhile, the graduation rate for students in Fall River -- the self-proclaimed 'Scholarship City' -- is 97 percent."
  21. Mike Richard (1993). Glory to Gardner: 100 years of football in the Chair City.
  22. Bruce Gellerman, Erik Sherman (2008). Massachusetts Curiosities: Quirky Characters, Roadside Oddities & Other Offbeat Stuff. Globe Pequot. ISBN 0762746807.: "By 1837 they were turning out so many chairs that residents immodestly dubbed the place "Chair City of the World."
  23. Constance Riley (2008). Chair City of the World. Xlibris. ISBN 978-1436358453.
  24. Used in numerous local business and organization names, e.g. Chair City Supply Company, Chair City Oil, Chair City Family Medicine, Chair City Pale Ale Archived 2012-01-10 at the Wayback Machine, Chair City Pipers, etc.
  25. City of Gardner official website, accessed October 28, 2008.
  26. Faber, Harold (1993-09-12). "The World Capital of Whatever". The New York Times. Retrieved 2018-11-15.
  27. Holyoke Community Charter School (HCCS) Opens in the Birthplace of Volleyball, SABIS Educational System, archived from the original on November 28, 2010
  28. Used in city promotional materials including the city of Leominster's official website Archived 2012-08-13 at the Wayback Machine
  29. Examples of the use of this name include the book title Lexington, the Birthplace of American Liberty: A Handbook by Fred Smith Piper (first published in 1902, formerly available from the Lexington Historical Society , and currently available through Google Books), the Lexington Visitor Center website, and the City of Lexington website Archived 2007-06-10 at the Wayback Machine (all websites accessed January 6, 2008).
  30. Numerous local businesses, including Mill City Grows, Mill City Glass Works, and Mill City Ballroom Archived 2015-11-28 at the Wayback Machine. Accessed December 9, 2015
  31. Drake, John (2006-12-27). "Natick to be designated "Home of Champions"". Boston Globe. Retrieved 15 November 2011.
  32. Tom Huntington "Treasure Trove of Documents Discovered in Whaling Town," American Heritage, Winter 2009.
  33. Focus on Newburyport Archived 2006-08-22 at the Wayback Machine, Merrimack valley Info, accessed October 1, 2007. "Shipbuilding was one of the most important and profitable trades making Newburyport known as the 'Clipper City.'"
  34. Archived 2012-01-18 at the Wayback Machine, Official website of the City of Newton
  35. , North Andover Citizen Newspaper
  36. Vallette, David A. (2009-05-01). "'Hamp override draws foes, backers". The Republican. Springfield, Mass. Retrieved 2009-06-22.
  37. Gordon, Ronni (2007-07-27). "Theater benefit at Noho academy". The Republican. Springfield, Mass. Retrieved 2009-06-22.
  38. Steven Otfinoski, "Presidents and Their Times: Calvin Coolidge". page 15.
  39. America's Hometown, Town of Plymouth website, accessed November 19, 2011
  40. "The slogan for Provincetown says it well, 'Like No Where Else'" Archived 2012-07-22 at Archive.today
  41. "Visitor Services Board Meeting Minutes" (PDF). Town of Provincetown. 22 August 2005. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 June 2015. Retrieved 5 March 2012. Some members felt that although a slogan ("Like nowhere else") has been chosen, there needs to be more community input and consensus
  42. Used in "Rich Gay, Poor Gay", by David Colman, The New York Times, September 4, 2005, and in the title of the book Ptown: Art, Sex, and Money on the Outer Cape By Peter Manso (2002; Simon and Schuster; ISBN 978-0-7432-4311-7
  43. http://www.quincyma.gov/Visiting/aboutQuincy.cfm
  44. "QUITS POST IN DISPUTE ON SALEM'S BIRTH DATE; Author of City History Gives Up Place With the Essex Institute.", The New York Times, March 6, 1926, accessed April 23, 2007. "Sidney Perley, author of a history of Salem, resigned his position with the Essex Institute today because of a dispute as to the date of the city's founding. His action renewed a controversy which had raged since plans were set on foot to observe next July the tercentenary of the 'City of Witches.'"
  45. Matarazzo Jr., Bruno. "Historic buildings getting plundered for copper" Archived 2013-02-01 at Archive.today, The Salem News, April 23, 2007, accessed April 23, 2007. "SALEM – Think of a thief snatching a gold necklace from around a woman's neck as she walks down the street. Now think of the victim as a historic building, and you get an idea of one of the crime trends haunting the Witch City."
  46. Sweeney, Emily (January 9, 2011). "How the South Shore became the Irish Riviera". Boston Globe.
  47. Affordable towns near Boston for would-be home buyers Archived 2014-12-24 at the Wayback Machine, by David Valdes Greenwood. Boston Phoenix, accessed April 4, 2008.
  48. New England for Visitors, About.com, accessed April 23, 2007. "Did you know that Springfield is the birthplace of basketball?"
  49. Federal Reserve System and Brookings Institution (2008), Springfield, Massachusetts: Old Hill, Six Corners, and the South End neighborhoods, in The Enduring Challenge of Poverty in America: Case Studies from Communities Across the U.S. Retrieved from Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco website, November 19, 2011. "Springfield was once known as the 'City of Firsts'. It was the first to develop interchangeable parts..."
  50. Springfield, Economic Development Council of Western Massachusetts
  51. Choose Springfield, Massachusetts, website accessed November 19, 2011
  52. The City of Progress New City Library, Merrick Park, State Street Springfield, MA
  53. The City Of Progress, Winchester Square Springfield, MA
  54. Read the ebook Progressive Springfield, Massachusetts by George Storrs] [Graves
  55. "Full text of "The picturesque city, Springfield, Massachusetts; a series of forty views showing the picturesque side of this "city of homes" Archive.org. 1913-07-05. Retrieved 2018-08-12.
  56. "Amenities | Choose Springfield, Massachusetts". choosespringfieldmass.com. Archived from the original on 2012-03-24. Retrieved 2018-08-12.
  57. https://archive.org/stream/progressivesprin00grav#page/n1/mode/2up
  58. https://archive.org/stream/picturesquesprin00grav#page/n1/mode/2up
  59. A Message From The Mayor Archived 2008-01-05 at the Wayback Machine, City of Taunton, Massachusetts website, accessed April 23, 2007. "Throughout our glorious history, our community has earned the reputation as the Christmas City as visitors converge on Taunton from all corners of New England to witness the annual lighting of historic Taunton Green."
  60. City of Taunton, Massachusetts, accessed on the original site on April 23, 2007; archived on May 2, 2008. "Taunton has three nicknames; 'City of Firsts'- 1st Woman Proprietor, 1st to raise the Liberty & Union Flag 1774, and 1st Silver Manufacturer 'The Silver City- Had three major Silver Manufacturing Plants-1 remaining Christmas City-For decades the community lit up the Taunton green at the annual "Lights On" ceremony."
  61. Lopes, Ashley. "Watching the history of Taunton", Taunton Daily Gazette, April 15, 2007, accessed April 23, 2007. "TAUNTON – Mayor Charles Crowley, producer of cable access program Olde Tyme Taunton, kept the history of the Silver City alive as he celebrated his 250th show Wednesday."
  62. HighBeam
  63. Siek, Stephanie V. Waltham: Room to grow at museum", Boston Globe, April 12, 2007, accessed April 23, 2007. "You can see it at the new home of the Waltham Museum, which finally has enough room for its many windows into the past lives of the Watch City."
  64. WESTFIELD, THE "WHIP CITY", accessed April 23, 2007.
  65. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-08-28. Retrieved 2011-05-29.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  66. Town of Winchendon official website Archived 2015-11-26 at the Wayback Machine, accessed December 9, 2015
  67. http://www.worcestermass.org/
  68. Laura Crimaldi, Reaching high in City of Seven Hills; ‘Second tier’ Worcester thrives, Boston Herald, March 1, 2009; archived July 6, 2009
  69. Worcester, Mass - Origins of the Phrase Wormtown, WorcesterMass.com website, accessed October 28, 2008
  70. [https://parisofthe80s.com/paris-of-the-80s-an-introduction-107b08bb6155>
  71. Worcester, Mass - Origins of the Phrase The Woo, WorcesterMass.com website, accessed April 28, 2013
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