EVERETT

A short history of Everett

Everett was originally part of Charlestown, and later Malden. It separated from Malden in 1870. The community was named after Edward Everett, who served as U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator, the 15th Governor of Massachusetts, Minister to Great Britain, and United States Secretary of State. He also served as President of Harvard University.

In 1892, Everett was upgraded from a town to a city. On December 13, 1892, Alonzo H. Evans defeated George E. Smith to become Everett's first mayor. Landfill has expanded the Everett shoreline over the centuries. At some point between 1905 and 1912, it connected the mainland to what was formerly White Island in the Mystic River. The bridge of the Grand Junction Railroad was originally built using this island for part of the crossing.

In 1919, Beacon Oil began construction of an oil refinery and storage yard near the Mystic River, opening in 1920. In its first decade, the facility experienced five major explosions or fires. In 1929, Beacon Oil was purchased by Standard Oil of New Jersey, also known as Esso and now known as ExxonMobil. The refinery shut down in 1965 due to lack of profitability, but the tank storage remained.

In 1971, Distrigas of Massachusetts began importing liquefied natural gas (LNG) at its Everett Marine Terminal in the Island End section of Everett. This terminal was the first of its kind in the country. It was purchased by GDF Suez North America, and as of 2013, supplied 20% of New England's natural gas demand from its two tanks with a combined capacity of 3,400,000,000 cu ft (96,000,000 m3), equal to approximately one day of Massachusetts gas demand. In 2019, it was purchased by Constellation Energy, at the time a subsidiary of Exelon. As of 2023, it receives 99% of LNG imports into the United States, mostly from Algeria and Trinidad. LNG is trucked to other storage sites around the state or heated to gas form and transferred by pipeline.

On September 16, 2014, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission voted to approve Wynn Resorts' proposal for a $1.6 billion casino to be located on a 33-acre site on the Mystic River in Everett. The casino, named Encore Boston Harbor, opened on June 23, 2019. After a remediation process to clean the site, Wynn Resorts constructed Encore Boston as an integrated resort with a hotel, a harborwalk, restaurants, a casino, spa, retail outlets, and meeting and convention space. Public amenities along the year-round harborwalk include a picnic park, paths for bikers and pedestrians, viewing decks, waterfront dining and retail, a performance lawn, floral displays, and boat docks. Wynn Resorts described the $2.6 billion development as "the largest private single-phase construction project in the history of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts." A bike and pedestrian bridge is being designed by MassDOT to connect the public boardwalk at the Encore Resort to Somerville's Draw Seven park.

Most of the remaining land south of the Newburyport/Rockport Line and Massachusetts Route 99 in Everett is taken up by a tank farm and oil terminal on the Mystic River. In December 2023, the Conservation Law Foundation announced it had settled a federal pollution lawsuit with Exxon. The company sold the site for cleanup and redevelopment starting with raising the land to avoid climate change-related flooding and adding apartment buildings near Route 16. Exxon also agreed to a deed restriction which prevents the land from ever being used for fossil fuel storage in the future. A 700 MW, 4-hour battery has received approval for construction by the Energy Facilities Siting Board.

Everett has an increasing population as people are seeking new households near downtown Boston while not wanting to pay the higher prices of living now associated with surrounding municipalities, such as those in neighborhoods of Boston, Cambridge, or Somerville.

Adapted (trimmed) from the Wikipedia article Everett, Massachusetts, revision 1380046980 by its contributors, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.