Lynn

Industrial city and seaport on Massachusetts Bay in Essex County, Massachusetts, 15 km/9 mi northeast of Boston; population (2000 est) 89,100. Lynn manufactures turbines, generators, jet engines, footwear, and clothing.

Incorporated as Saugust in 1629, it was renamed after King's Lynn, Norfolk, England, in 1637, and was incorporated as a city in 1850. An iron-smelting works was established in 1643. However, its early economy was based on shellfish and farming. Tanning became important by 1775, and at one time Lynn was the largest producer of women's shoes in the world. General Electric established a plant here in 1930. In 1942 the first successful US turbojet engine was designed and built in the city.

The US founder of the Christian Science movement, Mary Baker Eddy, lived and held the first Christian Science meeting here in 1875. Another notable resident was the abolitionist Frederick Douglass. Lynn has 22 entries on the national register of historical places, although it was severely damaged by fires in 1869 and 1889.