New Bedford is a port city in Bristol County, Massachusetts,
United States. The city is 76 km south of Boston. Its population
in 2020 was 101,079.
In the 19th century the city was an
important center for whaling and wooden shipbuilding. This is
commemorated by the New Bedford Historic District, a National
Historic Landmark. Today the town is home to a famous whaling
museum (The New Bedford Whaling Museum). Herman Melville's
Moby-Dick is partly set in New Bedford. The 1983 gang rape of
Cheryl Araujo in a New Bedford bar drew national media attention
and became known as the New Bedford Bar Rape.
Before the 17th century, the only inhabitants along the Acushnet
River were the Wampanoag (Native American tribe) who were native to the
entire southeastern region of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Their
number is estimated at 12,000 people. British explorer Bartholomew
Gosnold landed on Cuttyhunk Island on May 15, 1602. From there he
explored Cape Cod and the neighboring areas, including what is now New
Bedford. However, the first settlement of the New Bedford area by
Europeans was not until 1652. Settlers of Plymouth Colony acquired land
from the Wampanoag sachem (chief) Massasoit. There were
misunderstandings. Since the Wampanoag have no knowledge of ownership,
they thought they merely sold the settlers the rights to use it, but did
not give up their ownership rights permanently. The settlers established
the settlement of Old Dartmouth, among other fishing and farming
villages, which included not only present-day Dartmouth but also
present-day New Bedford, Acushnet, Fairhaven and Westport. An area of
Old Dartmouth near the west bank of the Acushnet River called Bedford
Village was purchased by a prominent and wealthy middle-class family
named Russel in 1787 and renamed New Bedford in its own right. There
were shipyards that built sailing ships, e.g. the schooner Caroline and
the whaling ship Charles W. Morgan. The late 18th century was a period
of growth. New Bedford's first newspaper, The Medley, also known as the
New Bedford Marine Journal, was founded in 1792. In the same year the
city got its first post office. Immigrants from the whaling island of
Nantucket founded New Bedford's successful whaling industry. The city of
Fairhaven seceded from New Bedford in 1812 and became independent. In
1847 New Bedford was declared a city. The first mayor's name was Abraham
Hathaway Howland.
At the same time, New Bedford was beginning to
overtake Nantucket Island as the largest and leading port for the
whaling industry, as described at the beginning of Herman Melville's
novel Moby-Dick. Whaling was the city's most successful and formative
business in that century. Today you can see the history of whaling in
the historically preserved area of the city. An inlet in Antarctica was
named in memory of this time in New Bedford Inlet.
In the
mid-1840s, the United States' first petroleum oil refinery was built on
neighboring Fish Island. Recently developed crude oil in Pennsylvania
was shipped to New Bedford, which was experienced in processing whale
oil, where, like whale oil before it, it was processed into lamp and
other oils. Industrial gas production from coal (coal gasification) has
also started on the island. However, there was a huge explosion that
destroyed a building.
The economy of New Bedford received
stability through the textile industry. The University of Massachusetts
Dartmouth created the New Bedford Textile School, which gave a major
boost to the textile industry in 1895-1899. However, it shrank during
the Great Depression and ended entirely in the 1940s. At the peak,
30,000 people were employed in 32 cotton mills. The tool industry
developed there in the 1970s.
In the mid-1990s, the fishing
industry that had been flourishing since New Bedford's founding began to
decline when restrictions made necessary by overfishing of the seas came
into force.
New Bedford is a coastal town and seaport, bordering the parish of
Dartmouth to the west, Fairhaven to the north, Acushnet and Fairhaven to
the east, and Buzzards Bay to the south. From New Bedford's northern
border with Freetown to the shore of Buzzards Bay at Clark's Point, the
distance is approximately 14 miles. The east-west diameter is about 3.2
km. The city's highest point is an unnamed hill traversed by Interstate
195 and Hathaway Street west of Old Town, rising more than 55 meters
above sea level.
The port of New Bedford, which it shares with
Fairhaven, is actually the mouth of the Acushnet River, which empties
into Buzzards Bay east of Clark's Point, the city's southernmost point.
To the west, on the other side of Clarks Point, is the elongated bay of
Clarkes Cove, which stretches 2.5 kilometers inland.
Just below
the uninhabited Palmer's Island, which borders the port to the south,
there is a storm surge barrier that is more than three kilometers long
and is intended to protect the port and the fishing fleet anchored
there. In addition to Palmer's Island, the islands of Fish Island and
Pope's Island belong to the city. The supports of the Bedford-Fairhaven
Bridge stand on the latter. The middle part, a bascule bridge, connects
the two islands, but at the same time allows the passage of ships and
boats to the upper part of the port.
The city's largest park,
Brooklawn Park, is at the north end, and the next largest, Fort Taber
Park (also called Fort Rodman because there were then two forts there),
is on Clark's Point. On the Dartmouth city limits is Buttonwood Park,
which includes a lagoon and zoo. Northwest of the city is the Acushnet
Cedar Swamp Conservation Area, which also extends into the Dartmouth
area.