People have lived in what is now Quincy for 1820-1920 Four Centuries thousands of years. The people who live of New Americans here today and the community they form are The century from 1820 to 1920 was the the latest point in a long historical process. great period of diverse European immigration to America. In that 100 years, Residents, Immigrants, Before 1820 Quincy grew from a town of 1,600 residents and Heritage in Quincy to a city of nearly 50,000. Members of the Massachusett tribe of American Indians for centuries made the Immigrants changed Quincy into an An Overview shore of Quincy Bay their warm season ethnically and religiously diverse home. In 1617 an epidemic, probably a community, with several Protestant disease brought on a visiting European ship, denominations, Roman Catholicism, ravaged the native population here and along Orthodox Christianity, Judaism, and Islam the New England coastline. Estimates are all represented. that 80% of the people died. By the time of King Philip’s War, 1675-77, little presence The waves of immigrants who would change of the Massachusett remained in the town. the composition of Quincy from 1820 to However, descendants of these original 1920 conformed to the larger national inhabitants still live in the general area pattern of immigration. Irish immigrants today. were the first and largest group and their period of immigration, the longest. Other Most European settlers here in the colonial northern European groups soon followed. era came from England, but by no means all. Immigrants from southern and eastern Most significant were the skilled workers Europe arrived from the later 1800s through brought from Germany to labor in the the early 1900s. Significant numbers of glassworks in the 1750s. They created a immigrants also began to arrive from new neighborhood name, “Germantown.” Lebanon and Syria in the early 1900s. And when the glassworks failed, a number Photo by Robert G. Noble of the workers remained and established In Quincy, the granite industry—which families. Their descendants included some underwent a tremendous expansion after of the most prominent residents of the 1825—was the specific stimulus to 1800s. urbanization and immigration. At first, the Quincy Historical Society granite industry attracted American-born for Mass. Memories Roadshow, Although slavery was not prevalent in New workers from elsewhere in New England, Massachusetts Studies Project University of Massachusetts, Boston England, there were African Americans here then increasingly, immigrants. For much of in the colonial years who were held as the 1800s, close to half of Quincy’s working slaves. There is also evidence of free population labored in granite or a related Mass. Memories Roadshow is supported in part by African Americans here. industry. the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities. While, as everywhere, immigrants had to stability and began to play major roles in the Africa, South America, the Indian toil here to support themselves and their community. subcontinent, the Middle East, and Europe. families, there are few signs of the most desperate levels of poverty and suffering The growth and increasing diversity of There are both changes and constants in the that many experienced in cities like Boston. Quincy in the 19th century can be seen in immigrant experience. While immigrants a Many immigrants coming to Quincy may the Massachusetts State Census. In 1855, generation ago would have settled first in have already spent time laboring in Boston immigrants constitute 26% of the total Boston, then moved out to Quincy, many or elsewhere. population of 6,000. Of the immigrants, now come to Quincy directly. In the 80% are Irish and almost all the others are absence of a single dominant industry like However, the life of the immigrant was not from elsewhere in the British Isles. In 1895 the granite industry and in the context of a in any sense easy. The first generations of immigrants reach their peak percentage of 21st century economy, Quincy’s new Irish took the unskilled jobs that existed in the overall population: 34% of a total Americans pursue work and success in a the granite quarries. Later immigrants took population of 21,000. By 1915, while the wide variety of ways. And as did the similar jobs or worked in the factory-based percentage of immigrants has dropped a immigrants of the 1800s, these new industries that began to be established in point to 33%, the total population of the city Americans bring traditions and cultural Quincy by the 1890s. Others--denied other has doubled in 20 years to 41,000. The 1915 institutions with them that strengthen the life access to work--established one-person census lists more than a dozen countries of of the city. businesses. origin for significant numbers of immigrants to Quincy. They include Italy, Ireland, At the same time, the earlier immigrant Some immigrant groups did arrive here England, Scotland, Sweden, Finland, Russia, groups all retain a presence within the because they had become skilled workers at Syria, Germany, Norway, Poland, and Quincy. In particular, the two largest earlier home in stone cutting. Among these were Greece. groups—Italians and Irish—still are a the Scots, who began arriving in the 1850s substantial part of the population. The (some later Scots would similarly arrive 1980 to Present Patriot Ledger recently reported that 31% of with shipbuilding trades). Swedish Quincy residents identify themselves as of immigrants began arriving in the early 1870s In recent years Quincy has again become Irish heritage—although not all are and Finns established themselves slightly home to new Americans. The largest descendants of Quincy’s original Irish later. Although the growth of Quincy's numbers of immigrants have come from immigrants. Italian community in many ways mirrored East Asia. Although Chinese have lived and the large scale immigration of Italians to the worked in Quincy since the turn of the 20th The diversity of all the groups that have United States, there were also a number of century, the rapid increase in the city’s lived here and continue to come here and skilled stonecutters who came deliberately Asian population dates from around 1980, Quincy’s strong sense of tradition have to Quincy. when the U.S. census counted 990 residents created for Quincy an exceptionally rich of Asian heritage. The 2000 census reported heritage and the prospect for a vibrant Many immigrants were able to move from there were 13,500 Quincy residents of Asian future. being granite workers to owners of small heritage, more than 15% of the population. quarries or cutting yards. Immigrant groups over the course of a generation or two-- As in the past, immigration is quite diverse. Quincy Historical Society is solely responsible for the content of this brochure. All rights reserved. sometimes quicker--gained economic Quincy today is home to immigrants from © Quincy Historical Society, 2007