Chelsea was settled as part of Boston in 1624 by Samuel Maverick under the name of Winnisimmet (meaning "good spring nearby").
On March 19, 1846, Rumney Marsh and Pullen Point became a separate town known as North Chelsea.
On April 12, 1908, nearly half the city was destroyed and 18,000 people (56% of the population) were left homeless by the first Great Chelsea Fire.
The members selected to the two- and one-year term were subject to reelection by the voters of Chelsea.
[2] Acting Governor Draper appointed William E. McClintock, a civil engineer and former chairman of the Massachusetts Highway Commission and City Engineer of Chelsea, Mark Wilmarth, a civil engineer from Malden, Massachusetts, Alton C. Ratschesky, a financier from Boston and Beverly, Massachusetts who was president of the United States Trust Company, Alton E. Briggs, a former teacher at Chelsea High School, and businessman George H. Dunham to the board.
A proposed $2 million Proposition 2 1/2 override was rejected by the voters, which prevented the city from raising taxes high enough to cover the deficit.
[7] On September 11, 1991, the state legislature approved Governor William Weld's proposal to appoint a receiver to take over Chelsea's municipal government.
[8] The receiver was granted almost unilateral control of the city, including the sole power to formulate budgets, issue bonds, and abrogate contracts.
Weld chose businessman and former state Commissioner of Commerce, Secretary of Transportation, and MBTA Chairman James Carlin to serve as the city's receiver.