Inevitably, such industries would encourage more working class families to move in. The percentage of residents who were renters remained high during this time period. Also, Beverly Building and Loan, which began in 1868, allowed some of the workers, as well as some middle class families, to finance their own houses. Those interested in developing Beverly talked and wrote highly of the train and steamboat services. According to Townsend, the typical lot in the 1870's was fifty feet by 150, and cost around 400 dollars.
Rentals cost anywhere from twelve to forty dollars per month.
Usually, however, those commuting were the upper class. Townsend goes on to say that the death rate was lower there than most other places. Though his descriptions were at times a bit hyperbolic, his attempts to attract buyers worked. By the late 1870's the population of the town was close to 1800. Three mansions, one built on Warren Street in Beverly, one on the Beverly waterfront , and one smaller house in Edgewater are examples of the picturesque type of architecture common in the developments.