The Fish House

The Fish House, at Humphrey Street on Fisherman's Beach, is the only municipal fish house on the East Coast. Built in 1896 on land taken by eminent domain, the Fish House was built to consolidate the many fishing structures that stretched along the oceanfront obscuring views of the ocean and subtracting from the area's appeal. At that time, Swampscott depended on its summer industry of tourists, hotels and estate residents who stayed from May to September each year. The town's forefathers decided that building one municipal Fish House, where lockers would be rented to fishermen, would help rid the town of the fishing shanties. Today, the Fish House is an historic building and part of the National Register of historic places.

Article by David W. Brewin