Quincy ( ) is a

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

in Norfolk County,

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. It is the largest city in the county. Quincy is part of the

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 ...

area as one of

Boston 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 ...

's immediate southern

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

s. Its population in 2020 was 101,636, making it the seventh-largest city in

the state A state is a political entity that regulates society and the population within a definite territory. Government is considered to form the fundamental apparatus of contemporary states. A country often has a single state, with various administrat ...

. Known as the "City of Presidents", Quincy is the birthplace of two

U.S. presidents The president of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States, indirectly elected to a four-year term via the Electoral College. Under the U.S. Constitution, the officeholder leads the executive branch ...

—

John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Before Presidency of John Adams, his presidency, he was a leader of ...

and his son

John Quincy Adams John Quincy Adams (; July 11, 1767 – February 23, 1848) was the sixth president of the United States, serving from 1825 to 1829. He previously served as the eighth United States secretary of state from 1817 to 1825. During his long diploma ...

—as well as

John Hancock John Hancock ( – October 8, 1793) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father, merchant, statesman, and prominent Patriot (American Revolution), Patriot of the American Revolution. He was the longest-serving Presi ...

, the first signer of the

Declaration of Independence A declaration of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of the territory of another state or failed state, or are breaka ...

and the first and third governor of Massachusetts. First settled in 1625, Quincy was briefly part of Dorchester before becoming the North Precinct of Braintree in 1640. In 1792, Quincy was split off from the Town of Braintree and was incorporated separately as the Town of Quincy; the new town was named after Colonel

John Quincy Colonel John Quincy (July 21, 1689 – July 13, 1767) was an American soldier, politician and member of the Quincy political family. His granddaughter Abigail Adams named her son, the future president John Quincy Adams, after him. Two days ...

, maternal grandfather of

Abigail Adams Abigail Adams ( ''née'' Smith; – October 28, 1818) was the wife and closest advisor of John Adams, the second president of the United States, and the mother of John Quincy Adams, the sixth president of the United States. She was a founder o ...

and after whom John Quincy Adams was also named. Quincy became a city in 1888. For over a century, Quincy was home to a thriving

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

quarry A quarry is a type of open-pit mining, open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock (geology), rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some juri ...

ing industry; the city was also the site of the

Granite Railway The Granite Railway was one of the first railroads in the United States, built to carry granite from Quincy, Massachusetts, to a dock on the Neponset River in Milton. From there boats carried the heavy stone to Charlestown for construction ...

, the United States' first commercial railroad. Shipbuilding at the

Fore River Shipyard Fore River Shipyard was a shipyard owned by General Dynamics Corporation located on Weymouth Fore River in Braintree, Massachusetts, Braintree and Quincy, Massachusetts. It began operations in 1883 in Braintree, and moved to its final location on ...

was another key contributor to the city's economy. In the 20th century, both

Howard Johnson's Howard Johnson by Wyndham, still commonly referred to as Howard Johnson's, is an American hotel brand with over 200 hotels in 15 countries. It was also formerly a Chain store, restaurant chain, which at one time was the largest in the U.S., wit ...

and

Dunkin' Donuts DD IP Holder LLC, doing business as Dunkin', and originally Dunkin' Donuts, is an American multinational coffee and doughnut company, as well as a quick service restaurant. It was founded by Bill Rosenberg in Quincy, Massachusetts, in 19 ...

were founded in the city. Today, Quincy has developed into both a vibrant immigrant destination and a suburban business hub, and is considered attractive due to its safety, relatively large housing stock, and extensive connections to Boston.

History

Pre-Colonial Period to the Revolution

The road that eventually became the Old Coast Road from Boston to

Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...

, going through Quincy and Braintree, started out as a Native American trail.

Massachusett The Massachusett are a Native American tribe from the region in and around present-day Greater Boston in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The name comes from the Massachusett language term for "At the Great Hill," referring to the Blue Hills ...

sachem Sachems and sagamores are paramount chiefs among the Algonquians or other Native American tribes of northeastern North America, including the Iroquois. The two words are anglicizations of cognate terms (c. 1622) from different Eastern Alg ...

Chickatawbut Chickatawbut (died 1633; also known as Cicatabut and possibly as Oktabiest before 1622) was the sachem, or leader, of a large group of indigenous people known as the Massachusett tribe in what is now eastern Massachusetts, United States, during th ...

had his seat on a hill called

Moswetuset Hummock Moswetuset Hummock is a Native American site and the original name of the tribe (Mosetuset) in the region named Massachusetts after them. The wooded hummock in Squantum, Massachusetts, is formally recognized as historic by descendants of the P ...

prior to the settlement of the area by English colonists, situated east of the mouth of the

Neponset River The Neponset River is a river in eastern Massachusetts in the United States. Its headwaters are at the Neponset Reservoir in Foxborough, near Gillette Stadium. From there, the Neponset meanders generally northeast for about to its mouth at ...

near what is now called

Squantum Squantum is a neighborhood of Quincy, Massachusetts, connected to the mainland by a causeway that crosses over a wetland area of the bay. Often thought of as a peninsula, Squantum proper is technically a barrier island as it is surrounded on all ...

. It was visited in 1621 by

Plymouth Colony Plymouth Colony (sometimes spelled Plimouth) was the first permanent English colony in New England from 1620 and the third permanent English colony in America, after Newfoundland and the Jamestown Colony. It was settled by the passengers on t ...

commander

Myles Standish Myles Standish ( – October 3, 1656) was an English military officer and colonist. He was hired as military adviser for Plymouth Colony in present-day Massachusetts, United States by the Pilgrims (Plymouth Colony), Pilgrims. Standish accompan ...

and

Squanto Tisquantum (; 1585 (±10 years?) – November 30, 1622 Old Style, O.S.), more commonly known as Squanto (), was a member of the Patuxet tribe of Wampanoags, best known for being an early liaison between the Native American population in Southe ...

, a native guide. Four years later, a party led by Captain Richard Wollaston established a post on a low hill near the south shore of

Quincy Bay Quincy Bay is the largest of the three small bays of southern Boston Harbor, part of Massachusetts Bay and forming much of the shoreline of the city of Quincy, Massachusetts. Locally in the Wollaston neighborhood of Quincy it is known as Wollaston ...

east of present-day Black's Creek. The settlers found the area suitable for farming, as Chickatawbut and his group had cleared much of the land of trees. (The Indians used the name Passonagessit ("Little Neck of Land") for the area.) This settlement was named Mount Wollaston in honor of the leader, who left the area soon after 1625, bound for

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

. The Wollaston neighborhood in Quincy still retains Captain Wollaston's name. Upon the departure of Wollaston, Thomas Morton took over leadership of the post. Morton's history of conflict with the Plymouth settlement and his free-thinking ideals antagonized the Plymouth settlement, who maligned the colony and accused it of debauchery with Indian women and

drunkenness Alcohol intoxication, commonly described in higher doses as drunkenness or inebriation, and known in overdose as alcohol poisoning, is the behavior and physical effects caused by recent consumption of alcohol. The technical term ''intoxication ...

. Morton renamed the settlement Ma-re-Mount ("Hill by the Sea") and later wrote that the conservative

separatists Separatism is the advocacy of cultural, ethnic, tribal, religious, racial, regional, governmental, or gender separation from the larger group. As with secession, separatism conventionally refers to full political separation. Groups simply seekin ...

to the south were "threatening to make it a woefull mount and not a merry mount", in reference to the fact that they disapproved of his

libertine A libertine is a person questioning and challenging most moral principles, such as responsibility or Human sexual activity, sexual restraints, and will often declare these traits as unnecessary, undesirable or evil. A libertine is especially som ...

practices. In 1627, Morton was arrested by Standish for violating the code of conduct in a way harmful to the colony. He was sent back to England, only to return and be arrested by

Puritans The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to rid the Church of England of what they considered to be Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should b ...

the next year. The area of Quincy now called Merrymount is located on the site of the original English settlement of 1625 and takes its name from the punning name given by Morton. The area was first incorporated as part of Dorchester in 1630; it was briefly annexed by Boston in 1634. The area became Braintree in 1640, bordered along the coast of Massachusetts Bay by Dorchester to the north and Weymouth to the east. Beginning in 1708, the modern border of Quincy first took shape as the North Precinct of Braintree.

Post-Revolution

Following the

American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...

, Quincy was officially incorporated as a separate town named for Col.

in 1792, the grandfather of Abigail Adams and was made a city in 1888. Quincy, Massachusetts, is the only one of 17 cities named Quincy in the United States whose residents pronounce the name as "KWIN-zee" rather than "KWIN-see". In 1845 the Old Colony Railroad opened; the

Massachusetts Historical Commission The Massachusetts Historical Commission (MHC) is a review board for state and federal preservation programs for the United States state of Massachusetts. It consists of 17-member panel of appointed representatives from state and private agencies a ...

stated that the railroad was "the beginning of a trend toward

suburbanization Suburbanization (American English), also spelled suburbanisation (British English), is a population shift from historic core cities or rural areas into suburbs. Most suburbs are built in a formation of (sub)urban sprawl. As a consequence ...

". Quincy became as accessible to

as was Charlestown. The first suburban land company, Bellevue Land Co., had been organized in northern Quincy in 1870.MHC Reconnaissance Survey Town Report QUINCY
." ''

''. 1981. 9 (10/18). Retrieved on January 16, 2010. Quincy's population grew by over 50 percent during the 1920s. Among the city's several firsts was the

, the first commercial railroad in the United States. It was constructed in 1826 to carry

from a Quincy quarry to the

in Milton so that the stone could then be taken by boat to erect the

Bunker Hill Monument The Bunker Hill Monument is a monument erected at the site of the Battle of Bunker Hill in Boston, Massachusetts, which was among the first major battles between the United Colonies and the British Empire in the American Revolutionary War. The 2 ...

in Charlestown. Quincy granite became famous throughout the nation, and stonecutting became the city's principal economic activity. Quincy was also home to the first iron furnace in the United States, the John Winthrop Jr. Iron Furnace Site (also known as Braintree Furnace), from 1644 to 1653. Quincy Masschusetts Frederick Childe Hassam 1892

Quincy Masschusetts Frederick Childe Hassam 1892

In the 1870s, the city gave its name to the Quincy Method, an influential approach to education developed by

Francis W. Parker Francis Wayland Parker (October 9, 1837March 2, 1902) was a pioneer of the progressive education, progressive school movement in the United States. He believed that education should include the complete development of an individual — mental, ph ...

while he served as Quincy's

superintendent of schools In the American education system, a superintendent or superintendent of schools is an administrator or manager in charge of a number of public schools or a school district, a local government body overseeing public schools. All school principal ...

. Parker, an early proponent of

progressive education Progressive education, or educational progressivism, is a pedagogical movement that began in the late 19th century and has persisted in various forms to the present. In Europe, progressive education took the form of the New Education Movement. T ...

, put his ideas into practice in the city's underperforming schools; four years later, a state survey found that Quincy's students were excelling.Koegel, R. "Partnership Education and Nonviolent Communication" Retrieved 2008-12-0

/ref> Many of Quincy’s teachers were recruited by districts in other states, spreading the Quincy method beyond Massachusetts to New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Vermont, Florida, Minnesota, and other places. Quincy was additionally important as a

shipbuilding Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other Watercraft, floating vessels. In modern times, it normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation th ...

center. Sailing ships were built in Quincy for many years, including the only seven-masted

schooner A schooner ( ) is a type of sailing ship, sailing vessel defined by its Rig (sailing), rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more Mast (sailing), masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than t ...

ever built, ''Thomas W. Lawson''. The Fore River area became a shipbuilding center in the 1880s; founded by

Thomas A. Watson Thomas Augustus Watson (January 18, 1854 – December 13, 1934) was an assistant to Alexander Graham Bell, notably in the invention of the telephone in 1876. Life and work Born in Salem, Massachusetts, United States, Watson was a bookkeeper and ...

, who became wealthy as assistant to

Alexander Graham Bell Alexander Graham Bell (; born Alexander Bell; March 3, 1847 – August 2, 1922) was a Scottish-born Canadian Americans, Canadian-American inventor, scientist, and engineer who is credited with patenting the first practical telephone. He als ...

in developing the telephone, many famous warships were built at the

. Amongst these were the

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and hangar facilities for supporting, arming, deploying and recovering carrier-based aircraft, shipborne aircraft. Typically it is the ...

; the

battleship A battleship is a large, heavily naval armour, armored warship with a main battery consisting of large naval gun, guns, designed to serve as a capital ship. From their advent in the late 1880s, battleships were among the largest and most form ...

s , now preserved as a

museum ship A museum ship, also called a memorial ship, is a ship that has been preserved and converted into a museum open to the public for educational or memorial purposes. Some are also used for training and recruitment purposes, mostly for the small numb ...

Battleship Cove Battleship Cove is a nonprofit maritime museum and war memorial in Fall River, Massachusetts, United States. Featuring the world's largest collection of World War II-era naval vessels, it is home to the highly-decorated battleship . It is locate ...

in Massachusetts, and ; and , the world's last all-gun heavy warship, which is still preserved at Fore River as the main exhibit of the

United States Naval Shipbuilding Museum The United States Naval Shipbuilding Museum is a private non-profit museum in Quincy, Massachusetts featuring USS ''Salem'' (CA-139), a heavy cruiser docked at the former Fore River Shipyard where she was laid down in 1945. The museum was establ ...

. John J. Kilroy, reputed originator of the famous

Kilroy was here Kilroy was here is a meme that became popular during World War II, typically seen in graffiti. Its origin is debated, but the phrase and the distinctive accompanying doodle became associated with G.I. (military), GIs in the 1940s: a bald-head ...

graffiti, was a rivet inspector at Fore River. Quincy was also an

aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' include fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air aircraft such as h ...

pioneer thanks to Dennison Field. Located in the

section of town it was one of the world's first airports and was partially developed by

Amelia Earhart Amelia Mary Earhart ( ; July 24, 1897 – January 5, 1939) was an American aviation pioneer. On July 2, 1937, she disappeared over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to become the first female pilot to circumnavigate the world. During her li ...

. In 1910, it was the site of the Harvard Aero Meet, the second air show in America. It was later leased to the

Navy A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the military branch, branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral z ...

for an airfield, and served as a reserve

Squantum Naval Air Station Naval Air Station Squantum was an active naval aviation facility during 1917 and from 1923 until 1953. The original civilian airfield that preceded it, the Harvard Aviation Field, dates back to 1910. The base was sited on Squantum Point in the ...

into the 1950s. The Army has also long maintained a presence in the city, with the

Massachusetts Army National Guard The Massachusetts National Guard is the National Guard component for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeas ...

occupying the Kelley Armory in Wollaston, from 1971 to 1976 it served as headquarters for the 187th Infantry Brigade. The

and

restaurant chains were both founded in Quincy.

Celtic punk Celtic punk is punk rock mixed with traditional Celtic music. Celtic punk bands often play traditional Celtic folk songs, contemporary/political folk songs, and original compositions.P. Buckley, ''The Rough Guide to Rock'' (London: Rough Guides, 2 ...

band

Dropkick Murphys Dropkick Murphys are an American Celtic punk band formed in Quincy, Massachusetts in 1996. The current lineup consists of co-lead vocalist and bassist Ken Casey, drummer Matt Kelly, co-lead vocalist Al Barr (on hiatus from the band since 202 ...

got its start in the city's Wollaston neighborhood in 1996. Quincy is also home to the United States' longest-running

Flag Day A flag day is a flag-related holiday, a day designated for flying a certain flag (such as a national flag) or a day set aside to celebrate a historical event such as a nation's adoption of its flag. Flag days are usually codified in national s ...

parade, a tradition that began in 1952 under Richard Koch, a former director of Parks and Recreation, who started the "Koch Club" sports organization for kids and had an annual parade with flags.

Geography

Quincy shares borders with

to the north (separated by the

), Milton to the west,

Randolph Randolph may refer to: Places In the United States * Randolph, Alabama, an unincorporated community * Randolph, Arizona, a populated place * Randolph, California, a village merged into the city of Brea * Randolph, Illinois, an unincorporated com ...

and Braintree to the south, and Weymouth (separated by the Fore River) and

Hull Hull may refer to: Structures * The hull of an armored fighting vehicle, housing the chassis * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a sea-going craft * Submarine hull Ma ...

(maritime border between

and

Hingham Bay Hingham Bay is the easternmost of the three small bays of outer Boston Harbor, part of Massachusetts Bay and forming the western shoreline of the town of Hull and the northern shoreline of Hingham in the United States state of Massachusetts. It ...

) to the east. Historically, before incorporation when it was called "Mount Wollaston" and later as the "North Precinct" of Braintree, Quincy roughly began at the Neponset River in the north and ended at the Fore River in the south. Quincy Bay, within city limits to the northeast, is part of

Boston Harbor Boston Harbor is a natural harbor and estuary of Massachusetts Bay, located adjacent to Boston, Massachusetts. It is home to the Port of Boston, a major shipping facility in the Northeastern United States. History 17th century Since its dis ...

and

Massachusetts Bay Massachusetts Bay is a bay on the Gulf of Maine that forms part of the central coastline of Massachusetts. Description The bay extends from Cape Ann on the north to Plymouth Harbor on the south, a distance of about . Its northern and sout ...

. There are several beaches in Quincy, including

Wollaston Beach Wollaston Beach is the largest public beach in the Boston Harbor. The beach is located parallel to Quincy Shore Drive in North Quincy, Massachusetts, which was constructed to provide access to the bay beach for Greater Boston. Wollaston beach e ...

along

Quincy Shore Drive Quincy Shore Drive is a historic parkway in Quincy, Massachusetts. The road is one of a series of parkways built by predecessors of the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, to provide access to parks and beaches in the Great ...

. Located on the western shore of Quincy Bay, Wollaston Beach is the largest Boston Harbor beach. Quincy's territory includes Hangman Island, Moon Island (restricted access, and all land is owned by the City of Boston), Nut Island (now a peninsula), and Raccoon Island in the

Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area Boston Harbor Islands National and State Park is a combination national recreation area and state park situated among the islands of Boston Harbor. The park is made up of 34 islands and peninsulas and is managed by the Boston Harbor Islands Pa ...

. According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water. The total area is 37.60% water. Although Quincy is primarily urban, or fully 23 percent of its land area lies within the uninhabited

Blue Hills Reservation Blue Hills Reservation is a state park in Norfolk County, Massachusetts in the United States. Managed by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, it covers parts of Milton, Quincy, Braintree, Canton, Randolph, and Dedha ...

, a state park managed by the

Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation The Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) is a state agency of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States, situated in the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. It is best known for its parks and parkways. Th ...

. This undeveloped natural area encompasses the southwestern portion of Quincy and includes the city's highest point, Chickatawbut Hill. Other hills within Quincy include Forbes Hill in Wollaston, Presidents Hill in Quincy Center and Penns Hill in South Quincy.

Climate

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 101,636 people and 46,789 households, making it the eighth-largest city in the state. The population density was . There were 51,156 housing units. The racial makeup of the city was 56.2%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

(non-Hispanic), 6.4%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

alone, 0.1% Native American alone, 28.9% Asian alone (15.6%

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

, 3.2%

Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overseas Vietnamese, Vietnamese people living outside Vietna ...

, 2.6%

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Associated with India * of or related to India ** Indian people ** Indian diaspora ** Languages of India ** Indian English, a dialect of the English language ** Indian cuisine Associated with indigenous peoples o ...

), 0.1%

Native Hawaiian Native Hawaiians (also known as Indigenous Hawaiians, Kānaka Maoli, Aboriginal Hawaiians, or simply Hawaiians; , , , and ) are the Indigenous peoples of Oceania, Indigenous Polynesians, Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands. Hawaiʻi was set ...

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 0.85% from other races, and 5.3% from two or more races.

Hispanic or Latino ''Hispanic'' and '' Latino'' are ethnonyms used to refer collectively to the inhabitants of the United States who are of Spanish or Latin American ancestry (). While many use the terms interchangeably, for example, the United States Census Bureau ...

of any race were 5.4% of the population. 33.5% were of Irish, 12.7% Italian and 5.0% English ancestry according to the 2000 Census. 58.1% spoke only English, while 8.0% spoke Chinese or Mandarin, 2.6%

Cantonese Cantonese is the traditional prestige variety of Yue Chinese, a Sinitic language belonging to the Sino-Tibetan language family. It originated in the city of Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton) and its surrounding Pearl River Delta. While th ...

, 1.9% Spanish, 1.5% Vietnamese and 1.3% Italian in their homes. Of the city's 46,789 households, approximately 56.6% were married couples living together, 12.5% had a female householder with no spouse present, 5.2% were male householders with no spouse present, and 25.8% were non-families. 50.1% of Quincy's population was male, and 49.9% female. The average household size was 2.2 people, and most people (84.3%) were in the same house a year ago. In the city, the age distribution of the population shows 14% under the age of 18, 66.2% from 18 to 64, and 19.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40.8 years. The median income for a household in the city was $90,668. Males had a median income of 1.31 times greater than females ($97,905 compared to $74,737 for females). The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the city was $53,082. About 7.3% of families and 9.8% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 15.2% of those under age 18 and 11.1% of those age 65 or over.

Asian community

As of 2010, Quincy has the highest per capita concentration of persons of Asian origin in Massachusetts.Encarnacao, Jack.
Quincy's Asian population surging
(). ''

The Patriot Ledger ''The Patriot Ledger'' is a daily newspaper in Quincy, Massachusetts, that serves the South Shore. It publishes Monday through Saturday. History The paper was founded on , as the weekly ''Quincy Patriot'' by John Adams Green and Edmund Butl ...

''. March 23, 2011. Retrieved on September 8, 2015. As of 2003 about 66% of the Asians in Quincy are ethnic Chinese,Eschbacher, Karen.
Immigrants from India a growing community in Quincy
(). ''

''. July 2, 2003 (from th
summary page
). Retrieved on September 8, 2015. giving the city one of the largest Chinese populations in the state.Hsiao, Teresa.

(). ''

''. July 2, 2003 (from th
summary page
. Retrieved on September 8, 2015. There is also a community of persons of East Indian origins, with most of them working in

information technology Information technology (IT) is a set of related fields within information and communications technology (ICT), that encompass computer systems, software, programming languages, data processing, data and information processing, and storage. Inf ...

and other skilled professions. A growing number of people with Vietnamese origins live in the area as well and make up the second largest Asian American group in Quincy; it is estimated that nearly 4,000 Vietnamese people live in the city. In 1980, there were 750 persons of Asian origin in Quincy. Most of the Asian immigrants coming in the 1980s originated from Hong Kong and Taiwan.Eschbacher, Karen.
Quincy's Asian-American community is growing, changing
(). ''

''. June 28, 2003 (from th
summary page
. Retrieved on September 8, 2015. In 1990, Quincy had 5,577 persons of Asian origin, with 143 of them being of East Indian origin. The number of Asians increased to 13,546 in 2000, with about 9,000 of them being ethnic Chinese, and 1,127 of them being ethnic East Indian. The latter group grew by 688%, making it the fastest-growing Asian subgroup in Quincy. Around 2003, most Asian immigrants were coming from

Fujian Fujian is a provinces of China, province in East China, southeastern China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capital is Fuzhou and its largest prefe ...

instead of

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

and

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

. At that time, Quincy had a higher Asian population than the Boston Chinatown. The overall Asian population increased by 64% in the following decade, to 22,174 in 2010. Quincy's Chinese population increased by 60% during that time period.Fox, Jeremy C.
Chinese population expanding in Boston suburbs
(). ''

Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...

''. Retrieved on September 8, 2015. Historically, Quincy's Asian residents traveled to shops in

Chinatown, Boston Chinatown, Boston (Cantonese: 唐人街; Jyutping: ''Tong4jan4gaai1'') is a neighborhood located in downtown Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It is the only surviving historic ethnic Chinese enclave in New England since the demise of the ...

.Eschbacher, Karen.
Many anticipate Quincy is becoming THE NEXT CHINATOWN
(). ''

''. June 28, 2003 (from th
summary page
. Retrieved on September 8, 2015. In 2003, New York City-based Kam Man Food opened one of its supermarkets in Quincy. In February 2017, City Councilor Nina Liang presented a motion to designate Quincy as a "Sanctuary City". This motion was voted down by the City Council. Quincy has an estimated 8,000 undocumented residents and has the 11th-highest concentration of immigrants in Massachusetts overall. As of 2000, about 50% of Asians in Quincy own their own houses; many who rent do so while saving money for down payments for their houses. Sixty-five percent of the Chinese were homeowners, while only 10% of the East Indians were homeowners. As of 2003, slightly more than 2,500 Asian Americans in Quincy were registered to vote, making up almost 25% of Asians in the city who were eligible to vote.Eschbacher, Karen.
LOOKING TO THE FUTURE
(). July 2, 2003 (from th

. Retrieved on September 8, 2015. In the 1980s, the city experienced unrest due to racial tensions and violence directed toward Southeast Asian and Chinese residents.Eschbacher, Karen.

(). ''

''. July 1, 2003 (from th
summary page
. Retrieved on September 8, 2015. At this time, the Quincy Police Department did not employ any AAPI police officers, which led to a lack of trust within the

Asian-American Asian Americans are Americans with ancestry from the continent of Asia (including naturalized Americans who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of those immigrants). Although this term had historically been used for ...

community.Eschbacher, Karen.
Two Asian-American officers make inroads in neighborhoods
(). ''

''. July 1, 2003 (from th
summary page
. Retrieved on September 8, 2015. The City gradually increased its outreach to its Asian-American communities and developed multicultural programming showcasing immigrant cultures to help familiarize the larger community with its new neighbors and promote community integration. Racial tensions gradually diminished, and by 2003, the Quincy Police Department had prioritized the diversification of their force, employing multiple Asian-American officers . In 2003, Quincy Asian Resources Inc. planned to establish a newsletter for Asian residents. In 2011, Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center, Inc. (BCNC; zh, t=波士頓華埠社區中心, labels=no) began offering services in Quincy.

Neighborhoods

Quincy is divided into numerous

neighborhoods A neighbourhood (Commonwealth English) or neighborhood (American English) is a geographically localized community within a larger town, city, suburb or rural area, sometimes consisting of a single street and the buildings lining it. Neighbourh ...

with individual histories and characteristics. * Adams Shore was originally developed as a summer

resort A resort (North American English) is a self-contained commercial establishment that aims to provide most of a vacationer's needs. This includes food, drink, swimming, accommodation, sports, entertainment and shopping, on the premises. A hotel ...

location and is now a year-round

residential area A residential area is a land used in which housing predominates, as opposed to industrial and commercial areas. Housing may vary significantly between, and through, residential areas. These include single-family housing, multi-family residen ...

. * Germantown is the site of a former planned manufacturing community begun in the 1750s to encourage

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

immigration Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as Permanent residency, permanent residents. Commuting, Commuter ...

, it is now a densely populated residential neighborhood featuring several public housing developments. *

Houghs Neck Houghs Neck is a one-square-mile (2.6 km2) peninsula in Quincy, Massachusetts. It is surrounded by Quincy Bay, Hingham Bay and Rock Island Cove. It is lined by Perry Beach, which runs along Manet Avenue; Nut Island, which is just beyond Gr ...

is a northeastern peninsular community named for Atherton Hough, who was granted the land in 1636 for use as a farm and

orchard An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit tree, fruit- or nut (fruit), nut-producing trees that are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also so ...

. Hough's Neck has a substantial Irish-American population. * Marina Bay is a residential-

commercial Commercial may refer to: * (adjective for) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and services ** (adjective for) trade, the trading of something of economic value such as goods, services, information or money * a dose of advertising ...

area developed in the 1980s on the site of the closed

Naval Air Station Squantum Naval Air Station Squantum was an active naval aviation facility during 1917 and from 1923 until 1953. The original civilian airfield that preceded it, the Harvard Aviation Field, dates back to 1910. The base was sited on Squantum Point in the ...

with high-rise

condominium A condominium (or condo for short) is an ownership regime in which a building (or group of buildings) is divided into multiple units that are either each separately owned, or owned in common with exclusive rights of occupation by individual own ...

s, restaurants and a large

marina A marina (from Spanish , Portuguese and Italian : "related to the sea") is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats. A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ships or cargo ...

. * Merrymount is a primarily residential neighborhood and the site of Quincy's initial settlement. * Montclair is the northwestern section of the city along West Squantum Street, bordering the town of Milton. * North Quincy is a residential and commercial neighborhood along Hancock Street and Quincy Shore Drive that is home to a substantial

population, the community is regionally notable for its culturally diverse small business sector, and it is the location of the city's largest high school,

North Quincy High School North Quincy High School (NQHS) is a public secondary school located in the North Quincy neighborhood of Quincy, Massachusetts, United States. The school serves grades 9 through 12, and has an enrollment of over 1,200 students. It is one of tw ...

. * Quincy Center is a historic commercial and government center of the city where

City Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...

Thomas Crane Public Library The Thomas Crane Public Library (TCPL) is a city library in Quincy, Massachusetts. Noted for its Richardsonian Romanesque architecture, the building was funded by the Crane family as a memorial to Thomas Crane, a wealthy stone contractor who go ...

, the

United First Parish Church United First Parish Church is an American Unitarian Universalist congregation in Quincy, Massachusetts, established as the parish church of Quincy in 1639. The current building was constructed in 1828 by Boston stonecutter Abner Joy to design ...

(Old Stone Church), Quincy Masonic Building, The Adams Academy building, The Woodward School for Girls, and numerous office buildings and residential streets can be found. *

Quincy Point Quincy Point is a neighborhood of Quincy, Massachusetts. "The Point" is generally defined as the land east of Quincy Center, the downtown district. Quincy Point is bordered on the west by Elm Street, on the east by Weymouth Fore River and the B ...

is a densely populated residential area east of Quincy Center, with commercial areas along Quincy Avenue and Southern Artery, it is also the site of the

. * South Quincy is a residential and commercial area bordering the town of Braintree that includes Crown Colony office park and Faxon Park, a wooded protected space. *

is a

peninsula A peninsula is a landform that extends from a mainland and is only connected to land on one side. Peninsulas exist on each continent. The largest peninsula in the world is the Arabian Peninsula. Etymology The word ''peninsula'' derives , . T ...

r area and the northernmost region of Quincy, once-popular as a summer seaside resort destination, it is now a year-round residential area known for its tight-knit community and its recreational offerings, including several municipal beaches and

Squantum Point Park Squantum Point Park is a state-owned, public recreation area located on the Squantum peninsula of Quincy, Massachusetts, United States. The park was created on the site of the former Squantum Naval Air Station, which is preserved in a strip of ...

, which is on the site of the former

. Squantum has a significant Irish-American population. * West Quincy is a residential and commercial section with immediate access to

Interstate 93 Interstate 93 (I-93) is an Interstate Highway in the New England states of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont in the United States. Spanning approximately along a north–south axis, it is one of three primary Interstate Highways ...

and is the site of several former

quarries A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to manage their safet ...

, now the

Quincy Quarries Reservation The Quincy Quarries is a public recreation area in Quincy, Massachusetts, commemorating the site of the Granite Railway—often credited as being the first railroad in the United States. The former quarries produced granite for over a century, ...

, as well as the

, the first commercial railway in the United States. * Wollaston, named for Captain Richard Wollaston, the leader of Quincy's original settlers, was an early rail-accessed commuter home for Boston workers, it is now a densely populated residential and commercial area that includes the former

Eastern Nazarene College The Eastern Nazarene College (ENC) was a Private university#United States, private, Christian college in Quincy, Massachusetts, United States. Established as a Holiness Movement, holiness college in Quincy, Massachusetts, in 1900, the college m ...

campus.

Economy

During its history, Quincy has been known as a manufacturing and heavy industry center, with

ing dominating employment in the 19th century and

at the Fore River Shipyard and Squantum Victory Yard rising to prominence in the 20th century. The recent decades have seen a shift in focus to several large employers in the professional and service sector of the economy. Quincy is the location of the corporate headquarters of several firms, including Boston Financial Data Services, the

Stop & Shop The Stop & Shop Supermarket Company, known as Stop & Shop, is an American regional chain of supermarkets located in the northeastern United States. From its beginnings in 1892 as a small grocery store, it has grown to include a 365-store chain ...

supermarket A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. Strictly speaking, a supermarket is larger and has a wider selecti ...

chain, Arbella Insurance GroupMajor Employers
." Quincy 2000 Collaborative. Retrieved on October 23, 2009. and ''

'', the publisher of the South Shore's largest regional newspaper. Other major employers with offices in Quincy are

State Street Corporation State Street Corporation is an American global financial services and bank holding company headquartered at One Congress Street in Boston with operations worldwide. The company is named after State Street in Boston, which was known as the "Gr ...

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (BCBSMA) is a state licensed nonprofit private health insurance company under the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association with headquarters in Boston. History BCBSMA formed in 1988 after the merger of Blue Cros ...

Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Harvard Pilgrim Health Care is a non-profit health services company based in Canton, Massachusetts serving the New England region of the United States. On August 14, 2019, the boards of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and Tufts Health Plan announced ...

and

Boston Scientific Boston Scientific Corporation (BSC), headquartered in Marlborough, Massachusetts and incorporated in Delaware, is an American biotechnology and biomedical engineering firm and multinational manufacturer of medical devices used in interventional ...

TACV Cabo Verde Airlines, formerly named ''TACV'', is an international airline based in Cape Verde. It connects three continents with non-stop flights from their hub at Amílcar Cabral International Airport on Sal Island. History TACV Cabo Verde ...

, national

flag carrier A flag carrier is a transport company, such as an airline or shipping company, that, being locally registered in a given sovereign state, enjoys preferential rights or privileges accorded by that government for international operations. Histo ...

airline of

Cape Verde Cape Verde or Cabo Verde, officially the Republic of Cabo Verde, is an island country and archipelagic state of West Africa in the central Atlantic Ocean, consisting of ten volcanic islands with a combined land area of about . These islands ...

, has its United States corporate office in Quincy.

Icelandair Icelandair is the flag carrier of Iceland. Linked from here It is part of the Icelandair Group and operates to destinations on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean from its main airline hub, hub at Keflavík International Airport. Its smaller dom ...

has its North American headquarters in the city as well.

Income

Data is from the 2009–2013 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates.

Government

Local

Quincy has a strong mayor government. The incumbent mayor, Thomas P. Koch, has served since 2008; he is the 33rd mayor of the city. Mayors in the city were elected to two-year terms. In 2013, the city's voters opted to extend the mayoral term to four years, beginning after the 2015 election. In addition to the mayor, the city has a nine-member city council, with Ian Cain serving as president as of 2025. One councilor is elected to represent each of the city's six wards, and three are elected at large. Councilors serve two-year terms. The city also has a school committee with seven members—the mayor and six members elected to staggered four-year terms. In the fall of 2024, responding to public pressure, Mayor Thomas Koch and nine members of the Quincy City Council announced they would defer sizable raises passed in June until after the 2028 election cycle.

Public safety

The Quincy Police Department was formed in 1888, currently headquartered at the original

Quincy Police Station The Quincy Police Station is located at 1 Sea Street in Quincy, Massachusetts. The original three-story yellow brick Classical Revival structure was designed by the local firm of Clark, Batty and Gallagher, and built in 1925 for $75,000. It is ...

which was built in 1925 as the city's first purpose-built

police station A police station is a facility operated by police or a similar law enforcement agency that serves to accommodate police officers and other law enforcement personnel. The role served by a police station varies by agency, type, and jurisdiction, ...

and added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1990. In 2010, the city of Quincy was the first in the US to have its police department carry the nasal spray

Narcan Naloxone, sold under the brand name Narcan among others, is an opioid antagonist, a medication used to reverse or reduce the effects of opioids. For example, it is used to restore breathing after an opioid overdose. Effects begin within two ...

(Nalaxone) to combat the overdose outbreak associated with the opioid epidemic in the US. When the program first began, the city's officers were reviving an overdose victim every four to five days. By 2014, police officers had administered the opioid antagonist over 300 times. Other cities and police departments throughout the US developed their own Narcan-dispensing programs based on the model pioneered by the Quincy PD. In 2017, overdose deaths in the city and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts had declined, it was thought, due to the use of naloxone by the police and others. The state legislature, in 2018, required all pharmacies to keep Narcan in stock and available to anyone, without a prescription. Fire emergencies are handled by the Quincy Fire Department, which was founded in 1889 and includes the Central Fire Station, which is on the National Register of Historic Places and is still active as of 2023. The city's

Emergency Medical Services Emergency medical services (EMS), also known as ambulance services, pre-hospital care or paramedic services, are emergency services that provide urgent pre-hospital treatment and stabilisation for serious illness and injuries and transport to d ...

are privately contracted, with ambulance response being handled by Brewster Ambulance Service since 2015.

State

Quincy is represented in the

Massachusetts State Senate The Massachusetts Senate is the upper house of the Massachusetts General Court, the bicameral state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The Senate comprises 40 elected members from 40 single-member senatorial districts in the s ...

by Democrat John F. Keenan ( Norfolk and Plymouth district). Three members of the

Massachusetts House of Representatives The Massachusetts House of Representatives is the lower house of the Massachusetts General Court, the State legislature (United States), state legislature of Massachusetts. It is composed of 160 members elected from 14 counties each divided into ...

represent Quincy: Bruce Ayers ( 1st Norfolk district), Tackey Chan ( 2nd Norfolk district), and Ronald Mariano ( 3rd Norfolk district). Each representative is a Democrat, and Mariano is the speaker of the House.

Education

Quincy is home to various educational institutions, public and private, including a

Montessori school The Montessori method of education is a type of educational method that involves children's natural interests and activities rather than formal teaching methods. A Montessori classroom places an emphasis on hands-on learning and developing ...

, a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

academy, and one independent

college-preparatory school A college-preparatory school (often shortened to prep school, preparatory school, college prep school or college prep academy) is a type of secondary school. The term refers to state school, public, Independent school, private independent or p ...

, a private liberal arts and sciences college that is currently in the process of closing after the 24-25 school year, and

Quincy College Quincy College (QC) is a public community college in Quincy, Massachusetts. It is an open admission school that offers associate degrees, bachelor degrees, and certificate programs. It was founded in 1958 and enrolls approximately 3,500 studen ...

, a public community college, two public

high schools A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

, five public

middle school Middle school, also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school, is an educational stage between primary school and secondary school. Afghanistan In Afghanistan, middle school includes g ...

s, and 12 public

elementary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

s. In the 19th century, the city became an innovator in progressive public education with the Quincy Method, developed by

while he served as Quincy's

. Four years after its implementation, a state survey found that Quincy students excelled at reading, writing, and spelling, and ranked fourth in their county in math.

Higher education

The city is home to

, a former college of the liberal arts and sciences located in Wollaston Park. The college relocated to the area in 1919 from its original location in

Saratoga Springs, New York Saratoga Springs is a Administrative divisions of New York#City, city in Saratoga County, New York, United States. The population was 28,491 at the United States Census 2020, 2020 census. The name reflects the presence of mineral springs in the ...

, where it was established as a "

holiness Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects ( ...

college" in 1900. In June 2024, The Board of Trustees of

announced that the institution was preparing a plan to take steps toward closure, with the goal of closing the College at the end of the 2024-2025 school year. The future of its campus is uncertain as of November 2024.

, a

community college A community college is a type of undergraduate higher education institution, generally leading to an associate degree, certificate, or diploma. The term can have different meanings in different countries: many community colleges have an open enr ...

in Quincy Center, operates under the auspices of the City of Quincy. The college is unusual in this respect, as it is the only one of Massachusetts' 16 community colleges to be run by a city rather than by the

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

. It is one of only two colleges in the United States organized this way.

Public primary and secondary education

Public education at the

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Work ...

and secondary levels is managed by Quincy Public Schools, a system that includes one early childhood center, eleven elementary schools, five middle schools and two high schools. ;Public high schools *

* Quincy High School ;Public middle schools * Atlantic * Broad Meadows * Central * Point Webster * South-West (formerly Reay E. Sterling) ;Public elementary schools * Atherton Hough * Beechwood Knoll * Charles A. Bernazzani * Clifford Marshall * Lincoln-Hancock Community * Merrymount * Montclair * Francis W. Parker * Snug Harbor Community * Squantum * Wollaston * Dr. Richard DeCristofaro Learning Center

Private and alternative education

Private and alternative education institutions for children in preschool through 8th grade include Quincy's three Catholic parochial schools — Sacred Heart, St. Ann, and St. Mary. The

Archdiocese of Boston The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Boston () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or archdiocese, of the Catholic Church in eastern Massachusetts in the United States. Its mother church is the Cathedral of the Holy Cross (Boston), Cathedral o ...

decided to merge these three schools to form the Quincy Catholic Academy, which opened in 2010 on the site of the former Sacred Heart school. The

Woodward School for Girls The Woodward School is an independent, college-preparatory day school for girls in grades six through twelve. Founded by bequest in 1869 and opened in 1894, the school is located in the historic Quincy Center district of Quincy, Massachusett ...

, opened in 1894, is an

independent school A private school or independent school is a school not administered or funded by the government, unlike a State school, public school. Private schools are schools that are not dependent upon national or local government to finance their fina ...

offering a college-preparatory education to girls in grades 6–12. The Adams Montessori School is open to children of preschool through elementary school age.

Public libraries

The

serves as the flagship library of the City's library network, which is part of the regional

Old Colony Library Network The Old Colony Library Network (OCLN) is a consortium of 27 member libraries located on the South Shore of Massachusetts in the United States. OCLN membership includes 26 town and city libraries and one academic library. OCLN's cooperative approac ...

Supplementary education

Several Chinese community organizations in Quincy have offered after-school and weekend instruction in

Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...

and

to local youth over the years. The Quincy Chinese Language School and The Chung Yee School are no longer in operation. In 2016, The South Shore Chinese Language School began offering popular weekend classes in Mandarin and Cantonese to children ages 5 and up at the Quincy YMCA.

Transportation

As part of Metro Boston, Quincy has easy access to transportation facilities. State highways and the Interstate system connect the

area to the airport, port, and intermodal facilities of

. Due to its proximity to Boston proper, Quincy is connected not only by these modes of transportation but also to the regional subway system, operated by the

Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (abbreviated MBTA and known colloquially as "the T") is the public agency responsible for operating most public transportation services in Greater Boston, Massachusetts. The MBTA transit network in ...

(MBTA), known locally as "The T". The four subway or "T" stops in Quincy, which are on the MBTA's Red Line, are North Quincy Station, Wollaston Station,

Quincy Center Station Quincy Center station is a Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) intermodal transit station in Quincy, Massachusetts. It is served by the rapid transit Red Line plus the Fall River/New Bedford Line, Greenbush Line, and Kingston L ...

, and Quincy Adams Station.

Highways and roads

and

U.S. Route 1 U.S. Route 1 or U.S. Highway 1 (US 1) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway that serves the East Coast of the United States. It runs from Key West, Florida, north to Fort Kent, Maine, at the Canadian border, ...

travel south to north concurrently through Quincy beginning in the southwest, where the Quincy–Randolph border bisects the median between the northern and southern halves of the Exit 5 cloverleaf at Massachusetts Route 28. Following a route around the southern extent of the

, this I-93 and US 1 alignment is along the former southern section of

Route 128 The following highways are numbered 128: Canada * New Brunswick Route 128 * Ontario Highway 128 (former) * Prince Edward Island Route 128 Costa Rica * National Route 128 (Costa Rica), National Route 128 India * National Highway 128 (India) Ja ...

. The highway travels along a wooded wetland region of the Reservation, entering Quincy completely just beyond Exit 5 and then crossing into Braintree as it approaches the

Braintree Split The Braintree Split is the major interchange of Interstate 93 (I-93), U.S. Route 1 (US 1), and Route 3 in Braintree, Massachusetts, one of the South Shore suburbs of Boston. Traveling northbound, the routes merge into a three-way concurren ...

, the junction with

Massachusetts Route 3 Route 3 is a state-numbered route in the U.S. state of Massachusetts, maintained by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT). Spanning approximately along a north–south axis, it is inventoried with U.S. Route 3 (US 3) a ...

. Weekday traffic volume averages 250,000 to 275,000 vehicles per day at this intersection, the gateway from Boston and its inner core to the South Shore and

Cape Cod Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer months. The ...

."I-93/Southeast Expressway/Route 3 (Braintree Split): ''Operational Assessment and Potential Improvements''"
Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization, March 2006, p. 3. As Route 3 joins I-93 and US 1 at the Braintree Split, the three travel north together toward Boston around the eastern extent of the Blue Hills Reservation, entering West Quincy as the Southeast Expressway. The expressway provides access to West Quincy at Exit 8— Furnace Brook Parkway and Exit 9—Bryant Avenue/Adams Street before entering Milton. The Furnace Brook Parkway exit also provides access to Ricciuti Drive and the

as well as the eastern entrance to the

Blue Hills Reservation Parkways The Blue Hills Reservation Parkways are a network of historic parkways in and around the Blue Hills Reservation, a Massachusetts state park south of Boston, Massachusetts. It consists of six roadways (in seven distinct segments) that provide ...

. Principal numbered state highways traveling within Quincy include: Route 3A south to north from Weymouth via Washington Street, Southern Artery, Merrymount Parkway and Hancock Street to the Neponset River Bridge and the Dorchester section of Boston;

Route 28 Highway 28 may refer to: Australia * Cumberland Highway *Mountain Highway, Mountain Highway (Victoria) * – NT Canada * Alberta Highway 28 * British Columbia Highway 28 * Nova Scotia Trunk 28 * Ontario Highway 28 * Saskatchewan Highway 28 Cz ...

, which travels south to north from Randolph to Milton along Randolph Avenue in Quincy through a remote section of the Blue Hills Reservation; and Route 53, which enters traveling south to north from Braintree as Quincy Avenue, turning right to form the beginning of Southern Artery in

before ending at the intersection with Washington Street/Route 3A. In addition to the Blue Hills

parkway A parkway is a landscaped thoroughfare. The term is particularly used for a roadway in a park or connecting to a park from which trucks and other heavy vehicles are excluded. Over the years, many different types of roads have been labeled p ...

s, Quincy includes two other

parkways. Furnace Brook Parkway travels east from I-93 through the center of the city from West Quincy to Quincy Center and Merrymount at

. There the parkway meets

at the mouth of Blacks Creek. Quincy Shore Drive travels in a northerly direction along the shore of Quincy Bay through Wollaston and into North Quincy, with much of its length abutting

, then turns in a westerly direction upon intersecting with East Squantum Street and continues to meet Hancock Street at the Neponset River Bridge. As for Quincy's other important city streets, Hancock Street begins at the southern extent of Quincy Center as a continuation of Quincy Avenue and travels north to Dorchester as a main commercial thoroughfare of Quincy Center, Wollaston and North Quincy. Washington Street enters the city at Fore River Rotary after crossing

Weymouth Fore River Weymouth Fore River is a small bay or estuary in eastern Massachusetts and is part of the Massachusetts Bay drainage basin, watershed. The headwater of Weymouth Fore River is formed by the confluence of the Monatiquot River and Smelt Brook in the ...

via the

Fore River Bridge The Fore River Bridge spans the Weymouth Fore River between Quincy and Weymouth, Massachusetts. The total length of the bridge including the approaches is . History A bascule bridge was built in 1936, replacing an earlier span. The bascule b ...

and continues to Quincy Center, ending at Hancock Street. Along with Quincy Avenue and Southern Artery, other heavily traveled streets include Newport Avenue, which parallels Hancock Street to the west on the opposite side of the MBTA railway, Adams Street heading west from Quincy Center to Milton, and West and East Squantum Streets in the Montclair and North Quincy neighborhoods. Other streets are discussed in several of the neighborhood articles listed above.

Airport

Boston's

Logan International Airport General Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport — also known as Boston Logan International Airport — is an international airport located mostly in East Boston and partially in Winthrop, Massachusetts, United States. Covering , it has ...

is accessible via MBTA Red Line connections at

South Station South Station, officially The Governor Michael S. Dukakis Transportation Center at South Station, is the largest railroad station and intercity bus terminal in Greater Boston and New England's second-largest transportation center after Logan I ...

, directly on the MBTA commuter boat (see below) or by motor vehicle using

or surface roads to the

Ted Williams Tunnel The Ted Williams Tunnel is a highway tunnel in Boston, Massachusetts. The third in the city to travel under Boston Harbor, with the Sumner Tunnel and the Callahan Tunnel, it carries the final segment of Interstate 90 (the Massachusetts Turnpi ...

MBTA rail and other commuter services

Subway service is available on the Red Line of the MBTA from four stations in Quincy: North Quincy, Wollaston, Quincy Center, and Quincy Adams. Commuter rail service operates out of Quincy Center. Both services serve

in Boston with connections to

MBTA Commuter Rail The MBTA Commuter Rail system serves as the commuter rail arm of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's (MBTA's) transportation coverage of Greater Boston in the United States. Trains run over of track on 12 lines to 142 stations. It ...

and

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

intercity lines. Buses are also available for transportation in Quincy, including private bus lines and several lines provided by the MBTA. Most of the MBTA routes funnel through the Quincy Center station, which is the principal hub south of Boston for all MBTA bus lines. The southern bus garage for the MBTA system is adjacent to the Quincy Armory on Hancock Street. Quincy was a major terminal for the commuter boat system that crosses

to Long Wharf,

, Rowe's Wharf, Hingham, and

Logan Airport General Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport — also known as Boston Logan International Airport — is an international airport located mostly in East Boston and partially in Winthrop, Massachusetts, United States. Covering , it has ...

. The commuter boats, which were operated by Harbor Express under license by the

, docked at the

. Service ended in October 2013 after a water main break damaged the sea wall and wharf. Temporary repairs would have cost $15 million; permanent repairs $50 million. In 2014, the MBTA made the decision to permanently end the service and sell the land.

Sports

Quincy has had brief flirtations with professional sports. The Quincy Chiefs of the minor league Eastern Basketball Association (the predecessor to the defunct

Continental Basketball Association The Continental Basketball Association (CBA), originally known as the Eastern Pennsylvania Basketball League, and later as the Eastern Professional Basketball League and the Eastern Basketball Association, was a men's professional basketball m ...

) played a single season in 1977–1978, and were coached and managed by former

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), ...

executive Leo Papile. The Chiefs finished 12–19 in third place, and lost in the playoffs to eventual league champion

Wilkes-Barre Wilkes-Barre ( , alternatively or ) is a city in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. Located at the center of the Wyoming Valley in Northeastern Pennsylvania, it had a population of 44,328 in the 2020 census. ...

. Quincy's professional baseball team, the Shipbuilders, competed in the

New England League The New England League was a mid-level league in American minor league baseball that played intermittently in five of the six New England states (Vermont excepted) between 1886 and 1949. After 1901, it existed in the shadow of two Major League B ...

in 1933, recording a 12–6 record before moving to Nashua midseason; a revival of the team played in the NEL from 1941 through to 1944. The final season of the

Boston Minutemen The Boston Minutemen were an American professional soccer team based in Boston, Massachusetts that played in the North American Soccer League (NASL). They played from 1974 to 1976. Their home fields included Alumni Stadium in Chestnut Hill, ...

of the

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League (NASL) was the top-level major professional soccer league in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to 1984. It is considered the first soccer league to be successful on a national scale in the ...

was played at Veterans Memorial Stadium, in 1976, finishing 7–17. The

Real Boston Rams The Real Boston Rams were an American amateur soccer club based in Quincy, Massachusetts, Quincy, Massachusetts. The Rams play in the USL Premier Development League, the fourth division of the American soccer pyramid. Founded in 2012, the club pl ...

of the

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

4th division

Premier Development League USL League Two (USL2), formerly the Premier Development League (PDL), is a semi-professional soccer league sponsored by United Soccer Leagues in the United States, forming part of the United States soccer league system. The league will featu ...

, an affiliate club of the

New England Revolution The New England Revolution are an American professional association football, soccer club based in the Greater Boston area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. It is on ...

, played in Veterans Memorial Stadium from 2014 to 2015. In 2019, the

Boston Cannons The Boston Cannons are a professional field lacrosse team based in Boston, Massachusetts, that competes in the Premier Lacrosse League (PLL). The team plays its home games at Harvard Stadium. The team competed in Major League Lacrosse (MLL) fro ...

, a professional men's

field lacrosse Field lacrosse is a full contact sport, full contact outdoor sport played with two opposing teams of 10 players each. The sport originated among indigenous peoples of the Americas, Native Americans, and the modern rules of field lacrosse were i ...

team in the

Premier Lacrosse League The Premier Lacrosse League (PLL) is a professional field lacrosse league in the United States. The league comprises eight teams. Its inaugural season debuted on June 1, 2019, and included a 14-week tour-based schedule taking place in 12 major- ...

(PLL) moved their home stadium from Boston to Veterans Memorial Stadium. The team played two seasons there before the MLL–PLL merger. The New England Free Jacks of Major League Rugby moved to Veterans Memorial Stadium in 2021, relocating from Weymouth. Quincy has had several American football, football teams in the semi-pro Eastern Football League over the years. The current club, the Quincy Militia, played its inaugural season in the EFL in 2009. Founded in 2009 by long-time Quincy resident Vaughn Driscoll, new owners came into the team picture in 2013. Militia games are played July to October with home games at Veterans Memorial Stadium on Saturday nights. An earlier team, the Quincy Giants, played in the minor league Atlantic Coast Football League between 1969 and 1971. Quincy's only college sports program was the "Lions" of

, in the NCAA Division III, D-III Conference of New England of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC), before the closure of the college in June 2025. Quincy's high school sports programs are in the Patriot League: the D-III Fisher Division "Raiders" of

and the DIIA Keenan Division "Presidents" of Quincy High School, who are rivals. Quincy also hosted the youth baseball Babe Ruth League World Series in 2003, 2005 and 2008. High school baseball and Babe Ruth League games are played at Adams Field. High school football is played at Veterans Memorial Stadium

Notable people

, wife of John Adams, second President of the United States * Abigail "Nabby" Adams Smith, daughter of Abigail and John * Brooks Adams, noted historian * Charles Francis Adams Sr., diplomat, son of John Quincy Adams * Charles Francis Adams Jr., Civil War general, president of Union Pacific Railroad (1884–1890) * Charles Francis Adams III, 44th Secretary of the Navy, mayor of Quincy * Charles Adams (1770–1800), lawyer, son of John Adams * John Adams Sr., father of president John Adams, grandfather of president John Quincy Adams *

, second President of the United States, first Vice President, founding father of U.S. *

, sixth President of the United States * John Quincy Adams II, lawyer and politician * Louisa Adams, wife of

, sixth President of the United States * Thomas Boylston Adams (1772–1832), Thomas Boylston Adams, Massachusetts Representative, justice * Paul W. Airey, first Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force * Carl Andre, minimalist artist * Louis Bell, Grammy Award-nominated record producer and songwriter * Henry Beston, writer and naturalist * Clara Blandick (1876–1962), actress, "Auntie Em" in ''The Wizard of Oz (1939 film), The Wizard of Oz'' * Eva Maria Brown (1856-1917), social reformer * William R. Caddy, Medal of Honor recipient * Karen Cashman, 1994 Winter Olympics speed skating bronze medalist * Priscilla Chan, philanthropist and spouse of Mark Zuckerberg * John Cheever, novelist * Ken Coleman, sportscaster, called Boston Red Sox games from 1966 to 1974 and again from 1979 to 1989 * Dick Dale, surf guitarist * Bill Dana, comedian (famous as "José Jiménez (character), José Jiménez") * Bill Delahunt, William Delahunt, U.S. congressman for 10th District * Peter Del Vecho, Academy Awards, Oscar-winning producer of ''Frozen (2013 film), Frozen'' * Dick Donovan, major league pitcher with the Boston Braves (baseball), Boston Braves, Chicago White Sox and Cleveland Indians * Joe Dudek, Denver Broncos player, college football Hall of Famer and 1985 Heisman Trophy candidate * Joseph Dunford, 19th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and 36th Commandant of the United States Marine Corps, Commandant of the Marine Corps * Billy De Wolfe, actor * Illeana Douglas, actress * Esther Earl, Esther Grace Earl (1994–2010), Vlogger/ YouTuber/ Author/ Nerdfighteria, Nerdfighter/ Activist in the Harry Potter Alliance * Dick Flavin (poet), Dick Flavin, poet laureate of Boston Red Sox * Gwen Gillen, artist and sculptor * Ruth Gordon, Oscar-winning actress and screenwriter *

, patriot and president of Continental Congress * Howard Deering Johnson, founder of

chain * John F. Keenan (State Senator), John F. Keenan, State Senator from Norfolk and Plymouth district * Pete Kendall, offensive lineman for NFL's Washington Redskins * Helen Ketola, All-American Girls Professional Baseball League player * Jake Kilrain, champion bare-knuckles boxer (1859–1937) * Great Brink's Robbery, Adolph "Jazz" Maffie, bookie, participant in Great Brink's Robbery * James C. McConville, 40th Chief of Staff of the United States Army and 36th Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Army * Sheri McCoy, CEO of Avon Products, Avon * Ralph McLeod, Major League Baseball player (Boston Bees) * Sam Mele, Major League Baseball player and manager; resided in Quincy while with Boston Red Sox * Mike Mitchell (actor), Mike Mitchell, actor, comedian, co-host of Doughboys (podcast), ''Doughboys'' podcast * Mike Mottau, player for NHL's Boston Bruins * Don Murray (writer), Donald Murray, ''

'' columnist * Francis Wayland Parker, educator * Everett P. Pope, World War II Medal of Honor recipient * Mary Pratt (baseball), Mary Pratt, All-American Girls Professional Baseball League player * Dave O'Brien (sportscaster), Dave O'Brien, sportscaster for ESPN and NESN * Dorothy Quincy Hancock Scott, socialite, wife of John Hancock * Edmund Quincy (1628–1698), built Dorothy Quincy House (1685) * Edmund Quincy (1681–1737), jurist * Edmund Quincy (1703–1788), merchant *

, colonel, Massachusetts General Court, General Court representative, and grandfather of

* Josiah Quincy II, attorney, "the Patriot", newspaper propagandist * Josiah Quincy III, president of Harvard University (1829–1845), U.S. Representative (1805–1813), Mayor of Boston (1823–1828) * Josiah Quincy Jr., Mayor of Boston (1846–1848), built Josiah Quincy Mansion * Josiah Quincy (1859–1919), Josiah Quincy, General Court representative, assistant secretary of the Navy, mayor of Boston (1895–1899) * Samuel Miller Quincy, lawyer, historian, Civil War soldier, 28th Mayor of New Orleans (May 5, 1865 – June 8, 1865) * Lee Remick, Oscar-nominated actress * William B. Rice, industrialist and local philanthropist * Wilbert Robinson, Baseball Hall of Fame player and manager * William Rosenberg, founder of

* Esther R. Sanger (1926–1995), social worker known as "Mother Teresa of South Shore" * Richard A. Stratton, former United States Navy officer and prisoner of war * Gordon R. Sullivan, retired United States Army General (United States), general, who served as 32nd Chief of Staff of the United States Army, U.S. Army Chief of Staff * Charles Sweeney, United States Air Force, Air Force major general, pilot for Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Nagasaki nuclear attack * Pete Varney, Major League Baseball catcher for (Chicago White Sox, Atlanta Braves) * Lesley Visser, ''

'' journalist and television sportscaster * Katharine Augusta Ware (1797-1813), poet and literary magazine editor * Solomon Willard, builder of the

and creator of Granite Railway, first commercial railway in America * Walter Zink, professional baseball pitcher who played for the New York Giants * Robert Burns Woodward, Nobel prize chemist

Gallery

File:John Adams birthplace, Quincy, Massachusetts.JPG, President John Adams birthplace (Quincy, Massachusetts), John Adams' birthplace. File:Old House, Quincy, Massachusetts.JPG, "Peacefield", residence of four generations of the Adams family. File:Josiah Quincy House, Quincy, Massachusetts.JPG, The Josiah Quincy House in Wollaston Park. File:Graves of the Adams, Quincy, Massachusetts.JPG, Tombs of Presidents

and

and their wives, in a family crypt beneath the United First Parish Church, Quincy, Massachusetts, United First Parish Church in Quincy Center. File:Thomas Crane Public Library Quincy MA.jpg,

File:Quincy Quarries Reservation June 2009 3.jpg,

in West Quincy. File:Wollastonbeachtoboston.jpg, View of Marina Bay and

across Quincy Bay from Wollaston Beach. File:USS Salem museum.jpg, , site of the

. File:Bellotti Courthouse Quincy 2019.jpg, Francis X. Bellotti Courthouse File:St. John the Baptist Church Quincy interior 2019a.jpg, Interior of St. John the Baptist Catholic Church File:Kelley Armory.jpg, The Massachusetts National Guard's Kelley Armory in Wollaston

References

External links

Official WebpageDiscover Quincy
– Quincy tourism information {{DEFAULTSORT:Quincy, Massachusetts Quincy, Massachusetts, 1620s establishments in the Massachusetts Bay Colony 1625 establishments in the Thirteen Colonies Cities in Massachusetts Cities in Norfolk County, Massachusetts Populated coastal places in Massachusetts Populated places established in 1625