Newburyport designated a ‘Coast Guard City’

Nearly half a century after Congress declared Newburyport the birthplace of the U.S. Coast Guard, the city has been recognized as one of the country’s 14 “Coast Guard Cities.”

The Coast Guard Cities program, launched in the late 1990s, honors communities that “have made special efforts to acknowledge the professional work of the Coast Guard men and women assigned to their area,” according to the Coast Guard’s website. “Making Coast Guard men and women and their families feel at home in their home away from home is an invaluable contribution to morale and service excellence.”

Newburyport Mayor Donna Holaday said her city and the Coast Guard have a “terrific” relationship that involves working closely together during storms and other weather-related events.

The city sponsors a scholarship fund for the children of Coast Guard personnel and delivers food and treats on weekends, when there is no Coast Guard chef on duty, Holaday said.

As part of the application process, local officials provided the Coast Guard with a book that included the 0fficial congressional proclamation, signed by President Lyndon Johnson in 1965. The proclamation was based on the city’s role as the host of the first station established by the United States Revenue Cutter Service, a forerunner to the Coast Guard that was developed by Alexander Hamilton, then the Treasury secretary, in 1790.

Newburyport was honored on Aug. 4, during the city’s annual Yankee Homecoming celebration.