Quincy, Massachusetts

About Quincy, Massachusetts

Quincy is a city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Its nicknames are "The City of Presidents," "City of Legends," and "Birthplace of the American Dream." As a major part of Metropolitan Boston, Quincy is a member of Boston's Inner Core Committee for the Metropolitan Area Planning Council. Its name, which comes from that of Colonel John Quincy, is correctly pronounced /ˈkwɪnzi/,, though non-locals often mispronounce it as /ˈkwɪnsi/. Quincy is the birthplace of former Presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams, as well as statesman John Hancock. The population was 88,025 at the 2000 census.

The Wollaston neighborhood is the oldest part of Quincy, first settled by English immigrants in 1625 as Mount Wollaston. Quincy itself later became part of Braintree, was officially incorporated as a separate town in 1792, and was made a city in 1888.

Among its several firsts was the Granite Railway, the first commercial railroad in the United States. It was constructed in 1826 to carry granite from a Quincy quarry to the Neponset River in Milton so that the stone could then be taken by boat to erect the Bunker Hill Monument in Charlestown, Massachusetts. Quincy granite became famous throughout the nation, and stonecutting became the city's principal economic activity.