Methuen, Massachusetts is a community in the Lower Merrimack Valley. Its unofficial nickname, "the City known as the Town," reflects the growth and diversity within the community.

Methuen played a significant role in this country's industrial revolution, which began in the Merrimack Valley. In the mid to late 19th century, mills along the Spicket River and Spicket Falls produced hats, shoes and textiles. Legacies of industrial wealth can be seen today not only in the mill buildings, but also in the estate and civic architecture of Methuen's millionaires.

The granite walls and turrets extending through central Methuen are prominent community features and monuments to the millionaire benefactors as well as to the immigrant laborers who built them 100 years ago. Methuen combines a rural farm-town setting with suburban sub-divisions and bustling new neighborhoods.