Past and Present
Beverly Farms and the adjacent Prides Crossing originally were farming communities, like the rest of Beverly. In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, wealthy residents of Boston and New York City built summer "cottages" along the seashore; these cottages were nearly the size and stature of those in Newport, Rhode Island, though only a few of the original mansions remain in Beverly Farms today.
In 1887, Beverly Farms unsuccessfully petitioned the Massachusetts Legislature for incorporation as a town.
By the mid twentieth century, Beverly Farms resembled a small town, somewhat secluded from the rest of Beverly and culturally interlinked with Prides Crossing. Working-class neighborhoods sprang up as support for the mansions became necessary. At this point, there was a wide financial gap between the wealthy and the working class.
Beverly Hills, California, was named in 1907 after Beverly Farms, part of Beverly, which was a vacation spot of then-President Taft.
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