LYNN — Once known as Shoe City in the early 20th century, with trade and production skyrocketing, Lynn has continued to provide trade and technical education opportunities for Lynn students and adults, strengthening the local economy. 

To highlight the importance of trade careers in the community, Dr. Judith Josephs, educator and producer of her Lynn Television show, “History of Success,” hosted an interview with three individuals who have brought trade and technical opportunities to local schools. 

“My show highlights the history in which I discuss the early trade schools in the City of Lynn and how they have evolved over the years, resulting in the modern Lynn Vocational & Technical Institute and community colleges such as North Shore Community College,” Josephs said. 

Lynn Vocational Technical Institute has been known for its high school-level courses, instructing students to focus on a trade while also operating as a college-preparation school. Beginning in 1943, it operated as an all-male school, including a shoe school for men returning from World War II, with the name Lynn Trade. 

The school’s name was then changed to Lynn Trade High School in 1953, and it moved to its current location on Neptune Boulevard in 1971, where its name was changed again to Lynn Vocational Technical Institute, and it also opened its doors to girls. 

“The mission of Lynn Vocational Technical Institute is to provide students with the academic and technical skills necessary to be college and career ready,” according to the school’s mission statement. “We are committed to fostering and promoting a strong work ethic that will enable students to become productive, respectful, and responsible adults.”

The strong work ethic is shared by a majority of Lynn residents, as Lynn is a trade-heavy city. To further expand opportunities for high school graduates and adults, North Shore Community College (NSCC) has become a driving force in providing training for technical jobs. 

More than 26 trade programs are available to Lynn residents at the Lynn and Danvers campus locations. Programs range from mechanical trades to health care fields, with course loads ranging from 18 to 490 hours, depending on program intensity. 

“Blending tradition and innovation, liberal arts and career preparation, intellectual development and cultural and personal growth, we foster a diverse and caring community of learners where all are welcome, and each is challenged,” according to the NSCC mission at a glance statement on their website. 

Some of that tradition has come from the McGee family, who have deep ties to the city’s rise in trade, particularly its prominence in shoemaking in the early 1900s. 

Former state senator and current MBTA Board of Directors member Thomas M. McGee, grandson of Mary McGee, a union shoemaker in Lynn, and son of Thomas W. McGee, former Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, wanted to build on his family’s legacy of creating opportunities within the community. 

As Speaker of the Massachusetts House, Thomas W. McGee championed the vision of building a community college in Lynn in the 1980s. His son later continued the legacy by naming the new NSCC building in his honor in 2017.  

Thomas M. McGee joined Josephs on her program to share how significant an educational opportunity can be for individuals seeking good jobs and fair wages in the greater Lynn area. 

“To understand that creating opportunity across the board… makes our communities better, changes lives, changes families, and gives people the ability to raise their families, and for their children to learn what hard work, and just as importantly, the opportunity for training and education can do to transform lives,” McGee said during the interview with Josephs. 

For the City of Lynn, providing more opportunities for the younger generation to make a sustainable living and connection with local companies has been a goal for William A. Heineman, the president of North Shore Community College. 

“There are a lot of employers in Lynn and the surrounding North Shore region that thrive on technological change and the trades,” Heineman said. “By offering those programs at North Shore, we’re not only helping individual students to improve their lives, but we’re also meeting the needs of the local employers and the local economy.” 

Heineman shared that since the introduction of free tuition for adults 25 and older through the MassReconnect program in 2023, and later the inclusion of all Massachusetts residents under the MassEducate program in 2024, more and more students have been taking advantage of courses. 

“We’ve seen our enrollment boom since free community college began, and what that signals to us is there were people out there that wanted a college education, but just didn’t believe it could work for them,” Heineman said. 

By building on its long tradition of skilled trades, Lynn has continued to grow as a center for technical education and workforce development.

If you’re interested in learning more about the History of Success segment with Dr. Judith Josephs and her guests, you can access the “History of Vocational Technical & Career Technical Education in Greater Lynn & Essex County” segment on the Lynn TV History of Success archive.