Danvers Bank President and CEO Kevin Bottomley noticed the silence.

"There wasn't a lot of activity," he said. "No phones ringing. My Blackberry was quiet. And it was wonderful."

A lot of the North Shore seemed to stop yesterday as Barack Obama became the 44th president of the United States. In schools, in shops, in offices, televisions were pulled out of closets, computers streamed video and radios broadcast the event in sound while hundreds gathered to watch, to listen, to be a part of history.

"We allowed anyone in the bank who wanted to watch to watch," Bottomley said. At each bank office, conference rooms were set aside. They promptly filled with people, often to overflow. A skeleton crew manned the teller windows, but almost no one came in.

The streets were nearly empty, Bottomley said.

At Salem District Court, presiding Judge Robert Cornetta abruptly adjourned and left the bench when the time neared for Obama's inaugural address. In the downstairs offices, staffers gathered around a small black-and-white television with rabbit ears. Lawyers hurried off to restaurants with televisions.

At Axcelis Technologies in Beverly, more than 300 workers crowded into the cafeteria to watch the swearing-in on banks of TV screens.

"When the ceremony started," said Maureen Hart, director of communications, "you could hear a pin drop. Everyone listened intently."

Here and there, Hart saw tears glistening in the eyes of her co-workers.

"What a great thing it is for children to see," she said, recalling the years of racial strife and violence that preceded the inauguration of the first African-American president. "It's wonderful to see that things have finally turned around."

Both Gordon College and Salem State College urged students and staff to watch the inauguration.

"I'm inspired," Gordon spokeswoman Jo Kadlecek said when it was over. On locations all over the campus, people crowded in, including at a cinema-sized screen in the MacDonald Auditorium. "It was standing room only. ... It wasn't quiet except when it was supposed to be."

They cheered the appearance of Obama. Pastor Rick Warren was likewise well-received. "There was a real sense of excitement," Kadlecek said.

So many people came to watch the TV broadcast in a lobby at Salem State that spokesman Jim Glynn couldn't squeeze through himself. When the event was long over, he noticed with surprise, "I haven't had an e-mail in a couple of hours."

Hundreds watched the event via computer at Analogic in Peabody. "There was definitely interest," said spokesman Paul Roberts. The Gordon Conference Room and the cafeteria were set aside for the event.

Analogic lawyer Bruce Garr watched the whole thing. At different points in Obama's address, he noted co-workers cheering, clapping and tearing up. "People were moved," he said. "I know I was."

Yet, for all the history-making of the event, it was something almost routine that really impressed Garr.

"Obama mentioned it, too, in his speech," he said. It's a thing Americans tend to take for granted and shouldn't.

"To live in America," Garr said, "and see the transition of power peacefully accomplished every four years is an amazing thing. Whatever we do wrong, we get that right. We're lucky to live in this place."

Staff writer Julie Manganis contributed to this story.