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In 1734 the General Court in Boston granted a six-mile square township to the residents of Salem, in Essex County, Massachusetts, land that would become New Salem. The town was incorporated in 1753. By 1820, New Salem was the largest town in Franklin County with 2,145 inhabitants. At that time, the town's industry consisted mainly of the production of palm leaf hats as well as logging, tanning leather, and agriculture. The New Salem Academy was incorporated on February 25, 1795 "for the purpose of promoting piety, religion, and morality, and for the instruction of the youth in such languages and in such of the liberal arts and sciences as the trustees shall direct." This scene of the town common shows people watching a baseball game and one of the buildings of the Academy.

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Academy Hall and The Common, New Salem, Mass.

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