Founded in 1626, the City of Beverly is one of the oldest communities in the state. Residents describe their city as the birthplace of the United States Navy, noting that the first ship commissioned by the Navy first sailed from Beverly Harbor. Although the city was the location of the first cotton mill and the first Sunday school in the country, and has one of its neighborhoods, the Fish Flake District, on the National Register of Historic sites, it is the present and future rather than the past which engross the energies of the community.

Beverly residents have watched an interesting shift over the past 50 years, as the city changed from an industrial site with huge manufacturers like the United Shoe Machine Corporation, to a bedroom community that is 85% residential and emphasizes its academic and cultural facilities more than the industrial parks that house mixed computer and other high technology firms. The city is the home of private Endicott College and a campus of the public North Shore Community College as well as the site of the North Shore Music Theatre which brings in hordes of visitors to glittering Broadway-type productions. Intact in Beverly is the spacious echo of the past since the city is still the home of some of the most historic families in America on gracious estates in the northern portion of the community.

Residents note the first-rate hospital, the miles of beautiful beach, and the diverse sections of the community that offer everything from rural to urban lifestyles in saying that the city offers everything that anyone could want in a home town.