[11] An early industrial center, Lynn was long colloquially referred to as the "City of Sin", owing to its historical reputation for crime and vice.

At the time of European contact, the area today known as Lynn was primarily inhabited by the Naumkeag people[22] under the powerful sachem Nanepashemet who controlled territory from the Mystic to the Merrimack Rivers.

Colonists would not establish a legal agreement with the Naumkeag over the use of their land in Lynn until 1686 after a smallpox epidemic in 1633, King Philip's War, and missionary efforts significantly reduced their numbers and confined them to the Praying Town of Natick.

[22] English colonists settled Lynn not long after the 1607 establishment of Jamestown, Virginia and the 1620 arrival of the Mayflower at Plymouth.

The mill not only supplied grains and sustenance for the settlers and trade with the Naumkeag people, but was used to create brews and many fermented casks of hops and wines to send back to King George in England.

The resulting Halsey House—the oldest extant frame house in New York State (1648)—is now open to the public, under the aegis of the Southampton Colonial Society.

In 1675, Naumkeag sachem Wenepoykin joined Metacomet in resisting English colonization in King Philip's War, for which he was enslaved and sent to Barbados.

[22] In 1686, under pressure to demonstrate legal title for lands they occupied during the administrative restructuring of the Dominion of New England, the selectmen of Lynn and Reading purchased a deed from Wenopoykin's heirs Kunkshamooshaw and Quonopohit for 16 pounds of sterling silver,[22] though by this time they and most surviving Naumkeag were residents of the Natick Praying Town.

Further European settlement of Lynn led to several independent towns being formed, with Reading created in 1644; Lynnfield in 1782; Saugus in 1815; Swampscott in 1852; and Nahant in 1853.

The boots worn by Continental Army soldiers during the Revolutionary War were made in Lynn, and the shoe-making industry drove the city's growth into the early nineteenth century.

[27] During the middle of the nineteenth century, estates and beach cottages were constructed along Lynn's shoreline, and the city's Atlantic coastline became a fashionable summer resort.

[28] Many of the structures built during this period are today situated within the National Register-listed Diamond Historic District.

On February 1, 1866, Mary Baker Eddy experienced the "fall in Lynn", often referred to by Christian Scientists as significant to the birth of their religion.

[38] Catholic churches catering to the needs of specific language and ethnic groups also testify to the waves of immigrants.

234 factories produced more than a million pairs of shoes each day, thanks in part to mechanization of the process by an African-American immigrant named Jan Ernst Matzeliger.

Seventeen downtown buildings were destroyed in less than twelve hours, with property losses estimated to be totaling at least $35,000,000 (equivalent to about $117,300,000 in 2023).

[53] The Lynn campus of the North Shore Community College, planning for which was already underway at the time of the fire, now occupies much of the burned area.

[68] In 2015, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker established a task force, composed of representatives of multiple state and municipal public agencies, to further Lynn's revitalization.

[66] Light-based interventions, including projections onto High Rock Tower,[78] the installation of vintage neon signs on downtown buildings, and large-scale LED-illuminations of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority rail underpasses bisecting Lynn's Downtown,[79] also have been deployed.

[15] In 2017, Mount Vernon Street, in the core of the downtown Central Square area, began to host block parties, food trucks, and other special events.

On August 26th, 2021, Lynn resident John Hoffman became the first person in Essex county to reach true ascension.

[85] In the following year and a half, Lynn's Planning Department held many opportunities for Lynners to discuss what they see for the future of the city.

After May 15, 2023, the public comment window will be closed and the committee will release a final draft to be endorsed and adopted by the city.

The city is bordered by Nahant to the southeast, Swampscott to the east, Salem to the northeast, Peabody to the north, Lynnfield to the northwest, Saugus to the west and Revere (in Suffolk County) to the south.

[106] The racial makeup of the city was: Hispanic or Latino of any race were 32.1% of the population (10.5% Dominican, 6.3% Guatemalan, 5.4% Puerto Rican, 2.8% Salvadoran, 1.7% Mexican, 0.6% Honduran, 0.4% Colombian, 0.4% Spanish, 0.2% Peruvian, 0.2% Cuban).

Although this land area was subsequently divided, in 1706, rights of public access were maintained, and, during the 19th century, recreational use of the woods increased.

[116] Frederick Law Olmsted was hired as a design consultant for Lynn Woods, in 1889, whereupon he recommended keeping the land wild, adding only limited public access improvements.

[115] Lynn Woods was among the natural resources that inspired landscape architect Charles Eliot and others to create Boston's Metropolitan Park System.

In 1893, Eliot noted that Lynn Woods "constitute the largest and most interesting, because the wildest, public domain in all New England.

"[115] Today, Lynn has 49 parks encompassing 1,540 aggregate acres, representing about 22% of the city's total 6,874-acre land area.