Quincy (Massachusetts)

Quincy (Massachusetts), city, Norfolk County, eastern Massachusetts, on Quincy Bay, just south of Boston; settled 1625, incorporated as a city 1888. It is a financial and industrial center, known for its shipbuilding. Other manufactures include machinery, power transmissions, electronic devices, and soaps. Eastern Nazarene College (1900) is here. Of note also is the Adams National Historical Park, which includes the birthplaces of presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams and the Adams Mansion (1731). Other historic buildings include the Josiah Quincy house (1770) and the Quincy Homestead (1680). The American patriot and statesman John Hancock was also born in Quincy. The community was separated from Braintree in 1792 and named for John Quincy, a colonial legislator and resident. Granite was quarried in Quincy in the 18th and 19th centuries. In 1826 the first commercial railroad in the U.S. was constructed here to transport granite for the Bunker Hill Monument in Boston. Population 84,743 (1980); 84,985 (1990); 88,025 (2000); 90,250 (2005 estimate).