American coastal town torn apart as emotions overflow in 400-year dispute over historic landmark A colonial town in Massachusetts is preparing to vote on the removal of a dam The Ipswich dam has, in some form, stood in the river for some 400 years By Sophie Mann For Dailymail.Com Published: 13:17 EDT, 19 May 2024 | Updated: 13:17 EDT, 19 May 2024 e-mail View comments Residents in the coastal Massachusetts town of Ipswich are at war over plans to tear down a historic dam built nearly 400 years ago. The town of Ipswich, which is in Essex County about one-hour north of Boston, was incorporated in 1634 and is one of the country's oldest surviving communities.

Its dam was built just three years later and now the town is preparing to vote on whether to keep or remove it, Boston Globe reported. But some residents who take enormous pride in the historic significance of the area are furious, with signs reading 'save our dam' popping up on lawns across the town. On the other side of the raging debate are those who want to 'free the river', which they claim will do wonders for the ecosystem.

The Ipswich dam, which has stood at the center of town in one form or another, for nearly 400 years The current iteration of the dam was constructed in 1880 and later changed to power a nearby hosiery mill - but has not been used for that purpose since the 1930s The Ipswich River dam has been at the center of the community since around 142 years before America declared itself a nation free from the .