Best Web Design in Haverhill, MA (2026)

Web Design for Haverhill, Massachusetts

Haverhill is an Essex County city on the Merrimack River about 35 miles north of Boston, on the New Hampshire border, long known as "The Queen Slipper City" for a shoe industry that at its 1910s peak made one in ten pairs of American shoes. Founded in 1640 as Pentucket, the city carries deep colonial history from Hannah Duston's 1697 captivity to poet John Greenleaf Whittier, and later gave the world Louis B. Mayer's first theaters and the Haverhill High classmates who inspired Archie Comics. Today its old mills are being converted to lofts along a revitalizing riverfront.

AppWT works with Haverhill, MA businesses from Livonia, Michigan, mostly online and travelling as needed.

About Haverhill

Also known as. The Queen Slipper City (for the fine women's shoes it produced; by 1913 one-tenth of all U.S. shoes were made here).

History. European settlers from Newbury arrived in 1640 and called the place Pentucket, meaning "place of the winding river"; the land was purchased from the Pentucket people on November 15, 1642 for three pounds, ten shillings. The town was renamed Haverhill after the Ward family's English hometown of Haverhill, Suffolk. During a 1697 King William's War raid, Hannah Duston (1657-1736) was captured, killed and scalped several of her captors, and later became the subject of what is often cited as the first statue erected in honor of a woman in the United States. Poet and abolitionist John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892) was born in Haverhill and set his poem Snow-Bound there. Haverhill incorporated as a city in 1870; an 1882 fire destroyed much of its shoe-and-mill district, affecting some 300 businesses, and in 1898 the city elected shoe worker John C. Chase, the first Socialist mayor of an American city.

Local economy. Shoe manufacturing dominated the economy for generations, earning the "Queen Slipper City" name; by 1913 one-tenth of U.S. shoes were made in Haverhill. At the 1910s peak the city had about 126 companies devoted to shoes and boots and produced roughly 25 million pairs in 1915; the last shoe factory, Allen Shoe, closed in 1991. Earlier industries included sawmills, gristmills, woolen mills, tanneries, shipping, and shipbuilding. The modern economy is diversified across healthcare, education, retail, and professional services, aided by proximity to the I-495 tech corridor, with more than $150 million invested in converting downtown factories to loft housing.

Culture and community. Team Haverhill's River Ruckus, held annually since 2010 in the Riverfront Cultural District, draws 5,000-plus people with live music (produced by 92.5 The River), a classic car show, a kids' zone, a Taste of Haverhill food showcase, and fireworks over the Merrimack. Musician and filmmaker Rob Zombie (founder of White Zombie) and TV host Tom Bergeron are both Haverhill natives. Film mogul Louis B. Mayer, later co-founder of MGM, launched his movie-theater career in Haverhill. Nobel laureate cell biologist James E. Rothman also hails from the city.

What makes Haverhill distinct. Archie Comics' fictional Riverdale High was inspired by Haverhill High School, whose classmates and hangouts artist-writer Bob Montana drew on for characters like Archie, Betty, and Veronica. Louis B. Mayer got his start running movie theaters in Haverhill before building MGM into a Hollywood empire. In 1898 Haverhill elected John C. Chase as the first Socialist mayor of any U.S. city, a former shoe-factory worker. The Hannah Duston monument is frequently cited as one of the earliest statues in the United States erected to honor a woman.

Haverhill Landmarks and Local Life

• Winnekenni Castle overlooking Lake Saltonstall in the Winnekenni Park Conservation Area.
• The Buttonwoods Museum - housed in the 1814 John Ward House, and the Museum of Printing
• The Main Street Historic District and the colonial-era Rocks Village on the Merrimack.
• A statue honoring Hannah Duston and the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) hall memorializing the city's Civil War heritage.