View the Peabody HandbookPeabody, Massachusetts
A Short History of Peabody
From Naumkeag fishing grounds to the leather-tanning capital of America — the “Tanner City” — and the hometown of one of the great philanthropists of the nineteenth century.
Before the City
The land that became Peabody was long home to the Naumkeag people, part of the larger Pawtucket and Massachusett world of the North Shore. English colonists began settling the area in 1626 as part of Salem, and for generations it was farmland on the inland edge of one of New England’s oldest towns.
From Salem to South Danvers
As Salem grew, its outlying farming districts split off one by one. The area first became part of Danvers, then in 1855 was set off on its own as the town of South Danvers. In 1868 the town renamed itself Peabody to honor George Peabody, the financier and philanthropist born here in 1795. Peabody finally incorporated as a city in 1916.
George Peabody, the Namesake
George Peabody rose from a modest local upbringing to become a leading merchant banker in Baltimore and London, and is often called the father of modern philanthropy. He funded housing for the poor in London, founded Peabody Institutes and libraries, and endowed museums that still bear his name at Harvard and Yale. His birthplace endures as the George Peabody House Museum, and the town’s choice to take his name reflects the pride a small place felt in its most famous son.
The Tanner City
By the late nineteenth century Peabody had become one of the world’s great centers of leather tanning — the “Tanner City” or “Leather City.” The tanneries drew waves of immigrant workers: Irish, French-Canadian, Greek, Polish, Russian-Jewish, Turkish, and Armenian families who built the neighborhoods, churches, and clubs that still shape the city. The Great Peabody Fire of 1915 tore through the leather district, but the industry rebuilt and remained central well into the twentieth century.
The Modern City
The leather industry faded after mid-century, and Peabody reinvented itself as a regional commercial center — anchored by the Northshore Mall and the busy Route 1 corridor — while keeping its residential, family-oriented character. The city preserved green space at municipally owned farms like Brooksby Farm, and welcomed new Brazilian, Dominican, and other immigrant communities, continuing the gateway story that has defined Peabody from the start.
Sources: City of Peabody; Peabody Historical Society & Museum; George Peabody House Museum; U.S. Census Bureau.