Shawmut, according to 19th-century scholarship, is a term derived from the
Algonquian word ''Mashauwomuk'' referring to the region of present-day
Boston, Massachusetts
Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
.
[Forsford, Eben Norton, ''The Indian names of Boston, and their meaning'']
University Press, 1886. It appears in a number of present-day placenames.
Origin of the word
It appears in print very early in the history of
New England
New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...
; records from 1630 note that
William Blaxton was "dwelling on the other side of
Charles River
The Charles River (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ), sometimes called the River Charles or simply the Charles, is an river in eastern Massachusetts. It flows northeast from Hopkinton, Massachusetts, Hopkinton to Boston along a highly me ...
, alone, at a place by the Indians called Shawmutt".
The meaning of ''Shawmut'' is uncertain. Most explanations refer to either the
salt water surrounding the peninsula, from which come explanations like "canoe landing place" or "place to ferry across", or to the
springs of
fresh water
Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salt (chemistry), salts and other total dissolved solids. The term excludes seawater and brackish water, but it does include ...
found within, a major inducement for the settlement of the
Massachusetts Bay Colony
The Massachusetts Bay Colony (1628–1691), more formally the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, was an English settlement on the east coast of North America around Massachusetts Bay, one of the several colonies later reorganized as the Province of M ...
at that site.
Examples of the placename
This word appears in several place-names, not all of which can be traced with certainty to the ''Mashauwomuk''
place name.
*
Shawmut Peninsula is the promontory on which Boston is built. Due to land reclamation efforts throughout the 19th century, the peninsula is now over twice its original size.
*
Shawmut MBTA station is a
subway station on the
MBTA Red Line in
Dorchester, Massachusetts
Dorchester () is a Neighborhoods in Boston, neighborhood comprising more than in the city of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Originally, Dorchester was a separate town, founded by Puritans who emigrated in 1630 from Dorchester, Dorset, E ...
, that opened in 1928.
* Shawmut Street in
Bay Village, Boston.
* Shawmut Avenue in
South End, Boston, site of the
Goldsmith Block.
* Shawmut Bank was established in Boston in 1836 and its logo, the stylized bust of
Sachem Obbatinewat, became widely recognizable in
Greater Boston
Greater Boston is the metropolitan region of New England encompassing the municipality of Boston, the capital of the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the most populous city in New England, and its surrounding areas, home to 4,941,632. The most s ...
over the next century and a half. In 1988 the bank's parent, Shawmut Corporation, merged with Hartford National Corporation, owner of Connecticut National Bank and the
Provident Institution for Savings, to form Shawmut National Corporation. The name and logo were retired in 1995 as a result of the merger of Shawmut National Corporation and
Fleet Financial Group.
[Shawmut Capital Partners](_blank)
* Shawmut Capital Partners, an independent, stand-alone venture capital firm formed in 1998 by a former Chairman of
Fleet Financial Group, now holds the rights to the Shawmut name and the logo of Chief Obbatinewat.
* Shawmut Line was the popular name for the service operated by the
Pittsburg, Shawmut and Northern Railroad and its successor, the
Pittsburg and Shawmut Railroad. The name may originate in financial backing from the Shawmut Bank in Boston.
* Shawmut, Maine is a village located in the town of
Fairfield, Maine. It was so named because the Shawmut Manufacturing Company, which ran a de-barking operation was chiefly financed by the Shawmut Bank of Boston, Massachusetts.
* Shawmut Dam on the
Kennebec River
The Kennebec River (Abenaki language, Abenaki: ''Kinəpékʷihtəkʷ'') is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed June 30, 2011 natural river within the U.S. state of Ma ...
on Maine was built by the Shawmut Manufacturing Company in 1914. As there are abandoned
railroad tracks nearby, the Shawmut Manufacturing Company may be a link between Shawmut Bank and the other railroad-related uses of the Shawmut name.
*
Shawmut, Montana is a small community near
Harlowton. It takes its name from a
train station
A train station, railroad station, or railway station is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight, or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track, and a station building providing suc ...
, which, in turn, may have taken its name from the surname of a local
ranch
A ranch (from /Mexican Spanish) is an area of landscape, land, including various structures, given primarily to ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle and sheep. It is a subtype of farm. These terms are most often ap ...
er or may be connected to the
railroad
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...
interests mentioned above.
*
Shawmut Design and Construction is a large national construction management firm with headquarters in Boston and offices in
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
;
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence () is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Rhode Island, most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. The county seat of Providence County, Rhode Island, Providence County, it is o ...
;
Las Vegas
Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...
;
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
;
Miami, Florida
Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...
;
West Springfield, Massachusetts; and
New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is List ...
. Founded in 1982, the name Shawmut comes from the company's first office which was near the
Shawmut MBTA station mentioned above.
* MV ''Shawmut'' was a steel
commercial trawler, built in
Quincy, Massachusetts
Quincy ( ) is a city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the largest city in the county. Quincy is part of the Greater Boston area as one of Boston's immediate southern suburbs. Its population in ...
, in 1938, which later served the U.S Navy as the
USS ''Goldcrest'' (AM-80) during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
.
* Shawmut Group is a public affairs and campaign consulting firm based in Boston. It is managed by Eric Fehrnstrom, Beth Myers, and Peter Flaherty.
See also
*
Shawmut Motor Company
*
USS ''Shawmut''
References
{{Reflist
Geography of Boston