By an act of the great and General Court, passed on January
10, 1739, that part of Boston known as Winnisimmet Village, Rumney
Marsh and Pullin Point ” in consideration of the fact that they
had long since built a meeting-house and supported the same,” be
set off as a town to be known by the name of Chelsea. The area
mentioned includes the present cities of Chelsea, and Revere, town of
Winthrop and part of the town of Saugus. The first big change in the
town occurred on February 22, 1841, when the panhandle was given to
the town of Saugus. The panhandle was a strip of land about twenty
five hundred feet wide and nearly four miles long, extending through
what is today Malden, Melrose and into Wakefield (Reading orignally).
On March 19, 1846, Rumney Marsh and Pullin Point (Revere and
Winthrop) were set off as North Chelsea.
On February 11, 1857, a committee consisting of Erastus Rugg,
Stephen Massey, Mellen Chamberlain, Samuel Orcutt and Hosea Ilsley,
presented a city charter to the legislature for acceptance. An Act to
establish the City of Chelsea was “enacted by the Senate and
House of Representative in General Court” and then on March 13,
1857, Governor Henry J. Gardner signed the charter and Chelsea became
a city. The new charter was presented to the town for a vote on March
23, 1857. The charter was accepted by a vote of 733 to 107 in the negative.
The charter called for election of officers within thirty days of
acceptance by the citizens. The administration of the municipal
government would be vested in one officer; the mayor, one council of
eight; called the board of aldermen and one council of twenty; called
the common council. The charter called for periodic meetings which
would enable people to voice their opinions. The town was divided
into four wards, each to be equally proportionate to the number of
legal voters. The election was held within the prescribed time.
Francis B. Fay received 688 of the 715 votes cast, to become the
first mayor of the new city of Chelsea.
All town meetings, which by law were held in March, were
suspended. All town officers were to hold their positions until their
successors were chosen and qualified. On the evening of April 13, the
common council elect, and the mayor and the aldermen elect met and
proceeded to the city hall, which was filled to overflowing. Isaac
Stebbins, chairman of the selectman, called the meeting to order.
Reverend Leonard began the meeting with a prayer. Justice Ruggles
Slack administered the oath to Francis B. Fay, inaugurating him as
mayor. The aldermen and the common council were then in turn, sworn
in by the mayor. After the swearing-in, the selectmen were dutifully dismissed.
The last board of selectmen of the town of Chelsea were: Isaac
Stebbins, Francis Low, John R. Dufur, Gustavus A. Godbold and Edward Bassett.
In 1894 the people made changes in the city charter that came into
effect in 1895. The biggest change in the charter abolished the
common council and increased the number of alderman from eight to fifteen.