Danvers, town, Essex County, northeastern Massachusetts, near Boston; settled 1630s as Salem Village, incorporated 1757 as Danvers, probably for the Danvers Osborn family of New York. Manufactures include communications equipment, light bulbs, machinery, clothing, and electric and electronic equipment. Danvers has many colonial structures such as the Rebecca Nurse home (1678). In 1692 several residents were victims of the Salem witchcraft panic. The footwear industry, founded in the late 1700s, was important here until the 1950s. Population 24,100 (1980); 24,174 (1990); 24,174 (1996 estimate).
