Ipswich in the 21st Century

The Ipswich Town Hall
The population of Ipswich was 13,602 in the 2000 Census, and continues to grow. The present High School opened on High Street, and the former school on Green Street became the Town Hall. The Town continues to debate about construction of new elementary schools and public safety facilities. The “Mothers Day Storm” of 2006 flooded downtown, but a decade later the Ipswich River dried up during a long drought. The Ipswich Riverwalk opened, featuring a mural of the town’s history, painted by Alan Pearsall.
The Ipswich Riverwalk mural - In 2005 EBSCO Publishing commissioned artist Alan Pearsall to paint a 2,700-square-foot mural on one of the old mill buildings occupied by the company in Ipswich. The mural is the centerpiece of the town's Riverwalk.
2006: the Mill Road “linear park” - It’s been 16 years since the 2006 Mother’s Day storm rammed the Ipswich River into the Mill Road Bridge, almost collapsing one of its three brick arches and closing the bridge for three years. Fences were erected at either end, effectively making the bridge feel like a demilitarized […]
Mothers Day Flood, May 14-16, 2006 - Fourteen inches of rain fell between May 14 and May 16, 2006, creating the historic 2006 Mothers Day Flood. Water flow levels in the Ipswich River were 27% higher than recorded in previous epic floods.
The old elm tree - The American Elm tree at the corner of County and East Streets succumbed to Dutch Elm disease in 2012, but a polished cross section is on display at the Ipswich Town Hall.
Photos from the Great Snow of 2015 - Images from the blizzard, January 27, 2015 and the series of snowstorms that followed. Many photos are from the I Love Ipswich Facebook group. Featured image: the road into Crane Beach, by Diane Young.
The 2016 Ipswich drought - Based on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Palmer Drought Severity Index, the three-month period between May 1 and July 31 was the driest for those three months in Massachusetts since 1966 and the ninth driest on record. Due to the shortage of rainfall and continued high water […]
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