Class __ COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT KING'S HANDBOOK OF SPRINGFIELD MASSACHUSETTS A SERIES OF MONOGRAPHS HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE EDITED BY MOSESKING ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY VIEWS AND PORTRAITS SPRINGFIELD, MASS. JAMES D. GILL, PUBLISHER 1884 '/^ Copyright, 18S4, Bv MOSES KING, EOITOR AND PUBLISHER. ILLUSTRATIONS BY CHARLES COPELAND, LEWIS JESSE BRIDGMAN, JACK ELLIOT, AND MANY OTHERS. Jrankliii ISrfBS: RAND, AVERY, AND COMPANY, BOSTON. 1/ PREFACE. TN making this " Handbook of Springfield," the aim has been to make a readable and trustworthy description of the city as it now is. The volume contains nearly four hundred octavo pages, with almost two hundred illustrations, nearly all of which were made expressly for this volume. At the end are full indexes comprising nineteen pages, with more than twenty- seven hundred references, so that any part of the contents can be referred to instantly. The views are intended to show some of the historic, unique, and prominent features of the city. The portraits will bring to mind the faces of men who have been prominent in civil government, who have gained places in the local literary annals, or have been active in those enter- prises which have brought wealth and fame to tlie city. No attempt has been made to furnish an elaborate history of Springfield; yet for all practical purposes, the book contains as much history as the ordinary citizen cares to know or could well remember. It is believed that this book is the most pretentious one as yet issued of its kind, for any city of the size of Spring- field, in this country. The original design was a much smaller volume ; but after the work was begun, so much interesting matter was found for the reader, and so many enthusiastic and patriotic citizens were met, that the book was materially enlarged, and many illustrations were added. It is hoped that it now will be acceptable, not only to the former and present resi- dents, but also to those who may have occasion only to visit the city. It will be apparent that much valuable aid has been rendered by many well-informed citizens, most of whom are credited at the end of their respec- tive chapters. Many persons not having furnished whole chapters ought to be mentioned here, in brief acknowledgment of their services : among them, the Rev. Dr. William Rice, the venerable city librarian ; J. Newton Bagg of West Springfield ; Thomas M. Dewey, late secretary of the Business- 6 PREFACE. Men's Association ; and Oscar B. Ireland, the scholarly actuary of the Massa- chusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company. Albert H. Hardy, a newspaper writer, has rendered some good help, especially in the business chapter. Among those who have furnished valuable material besides the chapters to which their names are attached, are, Henry Morris, Solomon B. Griffin, Wilmot L. Warren, Charles H. Barrows, Charles G. Whiting, and Albert H. Kirkham. It may also be said, that nearly two thousand pieces of proof have been sent out in the mails for corrections, and hundreds of persons have kindly returned their pieces with useful comments. For photographs from which pictures have been made, we are indebted to Chauncy L. Moore and E. J. Lazelle. Several illustrations were furnished through the courtesy of the Springfield Printing Company. Owing to circumstances over which there was no control, the book appears several months later than was expected. Every thing, as far as possible, has been corrected to Jan. i, 1884; but no changes that have taken place since then, with rare exceptions, have been made, and these excep- tions are almost wholly in the business chapter, which, as far as possible, has been corrected up to the time of going to press. In preparing a volume of this size and in this style, for a city like Spring- field, it becomes necessary to sell many thousand copies in order to realize a profit on the undertaking; and the publisher feels confident he will receive a generous patronage from the hundreds of earnest, thrifty, and devoted citizens of the prosperous and delightful city described in the following pages. MOSES KING, Cambridge, Mass., Sept. i, 1884. Edit07- and Publisher. POSTSCRIPT. Just as the book is finished, I find myself so overburdened with work that I have disposed of all my interest in it to James D. Gill, one of the most enterprising business men of the city, whose art and literary establish- ment is unequalled in any other city of the size of Springfield. I trust he will receive the full reward that the book, as well as his own industry and capacity, deserves. M. K. CONTENTS. An elaborate detailed index to the text, and a complete list of the illustrations, will be found at the close of the volume, from pages 375 to 394. Chapter. Page. Frontispiece 2 Bird's-eye View of Springfield from the United-States Arsenal Tower Preface 7 Springfield's Past History . . . Henry Morris. I. 9 Early Settlers. — Indian Troubles. — Wars. — Growth, etc. Geology and Geography . . Nathaniel SoiUhgate Shaler. II. 27 Prominent Features of the Geology and Geography of the Region about Springfield. Springfield as a City. . . . Clark Whitman Bryan. III. t^'}) Its Growth from a Town of Fourteen Thousand to a City of Thirty- five Thousand Inhabitants. Surroundings of Springfield . . John Wheeler Harding. IV. 51 An Outline History and Description ; Anecdotes, Comments, and Reminiscences. Highways and Byways Heman Smith. V. 61 Old and New Streets and Roads, their Names and Ages, Bridges, Brooks, and Horse-cars. Traffic AND Transportation . Moses Foster Siveetser, et al. VI. 77 Early Boats, Stage-coaches, and Canals, and the Later Steam-railroads. The Public Hospitality .... James Beebe Smith. VII. 93 The Taverns of Old, and the Hotels and Restaurants of To-day. PuiiLic Buildings and Government Charles Henty Barrows. VIII. in Public Buildings, Fire, Water, Sewer, Police, Judicial, Post-office, and Other Departments. The Educational Institutions . Admiral Paschal Stone. IX. 125 The Public and Private Schools ; Colleges ; Educational Matters. CONTENTS. Literature and Science . . William Steele Shiirtleff. Literati and Scientists, Libraries, and Reading-rooms; Literary, His- torical, and Scientific Organizations. Art and Music Artists and Musicians, and the Art and Musical Organizations. The Religious Organizations The Churches, Past and Present Places of Worship, Christian and Kindred Associations. Charities and Hospitals . . Burton Monroe Firman. Charities, Relief Associations, Aid Societies, Hospitals, and Alms- house. The Cemeteries .... Samuel Giles Buekingham. Past and Present Places of Burial. — Springfield, Oak-Grove, and Catholic Cemeteries. Parks and Squares . . . Charles Goodrich Whiting. Parks, Squares, Fountains, Statues, Monuments, Hills, and Ponds. United-States Armory . . . Albert Hai-leigh Kirkham. The Arsenals, Water-shops, Superintendents, Arms, Statistics, and Anecdotes. The Sociability of the City Theatres. — Athletic Associations. ■ — Halls, etc. Newspapers and Periodicals . Solomon Bulkley Griffin. Early Journalism. -—" The Republican." — " The Union." —" The News." — " The Democrat." — Later Periodicals. The Financial Institutions . . Wilmot Lillie Warren. State and National Banks, Savings Institutions, Clearing-house, Pri- vate Banks. Charles Martyn Prynnc. -Secret Organizations. — Clubs. The Insurance Companies The Mutual Fire. — Springfield Fire and Marine. — Massachusetts Mutual Life, etc. Merchants and Manufacturers Brief Descriptions of some Noteworthy Factories and Mercantile Establishments. The Bibliography of Springfield . . William Clogston. Printed Matter relating to Springfield in general, and to its Institu- tions and Citizens. Chapter. Page. X. 141 XI. 163 XII. 173 Index to Text Index to Illustrations XIII. XIV. XV. XVL XVII. XVIII. XIX. XX. XXI. XXII. XXIV. XXIII. 223 233- 245 265 283 295 309 319 371 375 393 I^er Past ffc^istor^. EARLY SETTLERS. — INDIAN TROU- BLES.— WARS.— GROWTH, ETC. THE scenery of Springfield and its vicinity has long been regarded as beautiful. A few years ago a native of Springfield, during a visit in Scotland, spoke enthusiastically to his Scottish host, of a particular view, as the finest he had ever seen. The host, who at the time \\as not aware that his guest resided in Springfield, replied that it was the finest he himself had ever seen, excepting one from the tower of the United-States Arsenal, on the Connecticut River. Only five years after the settlement of Boston, in the year 1635, many of the inhabitants of the towns about Boston, attracted by the glowing de- scriptions given them by Indians of the fertility of the valley of the Con- necticut, were desirous to remove to the banks of this river: considerable parties removed from Dorchester, Cambridge, and Watertown, and settled in Windsor, Hartford, and Wethersfield. On the 6th of May, 1635, the inhabitants of Roxbury had liberty granted them to remove themselves to any place they should think meet, not to prejudice another plantation, pro- vided they should continue under the government of Massachusetts. In Copyright, 1883, by Moses King. lO KING'S HANDBOOK OF SPRINGFIELD. accordance with this permission, William Pynchon, a patentee and magis- trate under the colony charter, and others, came with their families from Roxbury, and located themselves, in the spring of 1636, at Springfield, then known by its Indian name of Agawam. There is little doubt that a small pioneer party of explorers was sent here "by Pynchon in 1635, and built a house on the west side of the Connecticut, in the meadow. This site was abandoned on account of its exposure to freshets, and a new location selected on the east side of the river. On the 14th of May, 1636, Mr. Pynchon, Henry Smith (Pynchon's son-in- law), Matthew Mitchell, Jehu Burr, Williahi Blake, Edmund Wood, Thomas Ufford, and John Cable signed a written agreement, containing numerous articles for the future government of the settlement. The first article is in the following words : " Wee intend by Gods grace, as soon as we can, with all convenient speede to procure some Godly and faithful! minister with whome we purpose to joyne in church covenant, to walk in all the ways of Christ." The second article expressed their intention that the town should be composed of forty families, unless they should think meet afterwards to alter their purpose, yet not to exceed fifty families " rich and poore." None of the signers of this agreement, except Pynchon and Smith, remained here long. Most of them left within three years. Other settlers came, and on the i6th of May twelve persons received allotments of land. Soon after their arrival the settlers entered into negotiation with the Indians for the purchase of a site for the plantation. The land was valua- ble to the Indians mainly as affording a range for hunting and fishing, and the gathering of nuts and wild fruits that grew spontaneously. In addition, they had small patches of cultivated ground, where they raised their corn. They were willing to sell to the planters the land they required, reserving to themselves only such uses of it as they were accustomed to enjoy. Accordingly, by a deed executed with due formality on the 15th of July, 1636, — the purport of which was explained to them by an Indian interpreter from the Bay, — two of the "ancient Indians of Agawam," for themselves and eleven other Indians who claimed to be proprietors of the lands, con- veyed to William Pynchon, Henry Smith, and Jehu Burr, their heirs and associates forever, a large tract of land on both sides of the river, including the greater part of the land now occupied by the city of Springfield. For this deed Pynchon and his associates paid a consideration which was satis- factory to the Indians, and of which they never complained. The first settlers built their houses on the westerly side of the town street, which was about eighty rods easterly of the river, and substantially parallel with it. The first allotment of lands was made in May, 1636, to the eight signers WILLIAM PYNCHON A Patentee and Magistrate undet the Colony Charter. 12 KING'S HANDBOOK OF SPRINGFIELD. of the agreement, and four others who had joined them. As most of these twelve persons left the plantation soon, this allotment of lands was after- wards greatly altered by a new division, which was the basis of the perma- nent settlement. This new division assigned to each man a home-lot extending from the street to the river, with a portion of the meadow and upland of equal width on the easterly side of the street. In general these home-lots were eight rods wide. Pynchon and a few others had lots much wider. The town street of that day corresponded, substantially, with the present Main Street of the city, in its general course. Besides this principal street, there were three narrow lanes leading from it to the river. These, with greatly increased width, are now represented by Elm Street, York Street, and Cypress Street. The only road running easterly from the town street was in some part of its course the same as the present State Street. In 1636 the Plantation of Agawam was supposed to be in the same jurisdiction with Windsor, Hartford, and Wethersfield; and the government of these four towns was administered by commissioners appointed by the General Court of Massachusetts. Pynchon and Smith were members of this commission, and Pynchon attended its session at Hartford. A more accurate survey of the division-line between Massachusetts and Connecti- cut established the fact, that Agawam fell within the jurisdiction of Massa- chusetts, and left the settlers here temporarily without any magistrate, and at such a distance from the Bay as to be practically beyond the reach of the authorities located there. In this exigency, the planters at Agawam met on the 14th of February, 1639, ^'""d voted that Mr. Pynchon sliould execute the office of a magistrate in the plantation, with all the powers necessary to administer justice, until the General Court should otherwise order. Under this authority Mr. Pynchon acted until June, 1641, when he was duly commissioned by the General Court with similar powers. On the 14th of April, 1641, the name of the town was changed, by a vote of the inhabitants, from Agawam to Springfield. This is said to have been a compliment to Pynchon, whose residence in England had been a place of that name. The General Court recognized the town by the name of Springfield in 1641. Rev. George Moxon had been settled as the minister in 1637. In 1639 a house was built for him upon a home-lot fourteen rods wide, which was granted him. He had at first a salary of forty pounds sterling, which was raised by an annual tax. In 1645 the first meeting-house was erected. It stood near the south-easterly corner of Court Square, and extended into the present Elm Street, and fronted southerly. Prior to 1647 the bounds of the town were quite indefinite. In 1638 old style (1639 as time is now reckoned), a committee, appointed for the KING PHILIP. The Chief of the Wampanoags. 14 KING'S HANDBOOK OF SPRINGFIELD. purpose, described the northern boundary as at a brook on the other side of the river, about a quarter of a mile above the mouth of Chicopee River. The brook at the lower end of the long meadow on the east side of the river, and the brook a little below on the west side, are mentioned as the southerly boundary. No east or west boundary is given. In the year 1647 the General Court made very large additions to the territory of Springfield : so that it included Westfield, Suffield, a consider- able part of Southwick, and the whole of West Springfield, Holyoke, and Agawam, on the west side of the river; and the present Springfield, Chico- pee, Enfield, Somers, Wilbraham, Ludlow. Longmeadow, and Hampden, on the east side. Over all this territory Massachusetts claimed and exercised jurisdiction until about the year 1748, when the towns of Enfield, Suffield, and Somers united with Connecticut. The limits of Springfield have been further greatly reduced, from time to time, by the incorporation of the other towns, named above, which remained in Massachusetts. The growth of Springfield in population was not at first very rapid. Twelve settlers received allotments of land in May, 1636, two days after the agreement to establish the plantation was signed. In 1642 there was a second division of planting-lands among the settlers then here. Seventeen persons received allotments under that division. In 1643 there were allotments to twenty-two. In the year 1649 the subject of witchcraft attracted some attention in Springfield. One Mary Parsons, wife of Hugh Parsons, had circulated a report that a widow named Marshfield. who had removed from Windsor to Springfield, was guilty of witchcraft,— an offence then punishable with death. For this story the widow commenced an action before Mr. Pynchon against Mary Parsons; and the magistrate, finding her guilty of the slander, sentenced her to pay three pounds to the plaintiff, or else to be whipped twenty lashes by the constable. Two years later, in May, 1651, Mary Parsons was herself charged with the crime of witchcraft. She was indicted for having " used divers devilish practices by witchcraft, to the hurt of Martha and Rebeckah Moxon," two daughters of the minister. For this offence she was tried at Boston before the General Court, but acquitted for want of satisfactory evidence. Upon the charge of murdering her own child, on which she was tried at the same time, she was convicted, and sentenced to death. About this time (1651) Mr. Pynchon incurred the displeasure of the General Court on account of a theological book, published in England, which was alleged to contain heretical sentiments. The charge of heresy was a very serious one at that day; and when Pynchon admitted the author- ship of the work, and after being admonished by the Court, and dealt with KING'S HANDBOOK OF SPRINGFIELD. 15 by leading divines of the colony, selected to convince him of his errors, failed to make a satisfactory recantation of them, he felt himself to be and was, in no little peril. As the result of this difficulty, he left America, and returned to England, in 1652, where he died a few years afterwards. Henry Smith, his son-in-law, — although designated as his successor in the mao-is- tracy at Springfield, — and Mr. Moxon the minister, accompanied Pynchon to England. Neither of them ever returned to this country. Two mem- bers of Mr. Pynchon's family remained in Springfield, — his son John Pynchon, and his son-in-law Elizur Holyoke. After the departure of Pynchon and Smith, Springfield was destitute of any local magistracy. To provide for this exigency, the General Court, in October, 1652, appointed three commissioners as magistrates, to govern the town. These were John Pynchon, Elizur Holyoke, and Samuel Chapin. These three men had jurisdiction for the trial of all causes, civil or criminal, except those criminal cases of so grave a character as were proper to be tried before the General Court at Boston. In May, 1653, these three commissioners were appointed by the General Court a committee to lay out two new plantations at Nonotuck, or Norwot- tuck. They reported, in 1654, that they had laid out a plantation on the west side of the river, and reserved land on the east side for another when required. The first of these became the town of Northampton ; the other, on the east side of the river, became the town of Hadley. In 1662 Springfield, Northampton, and Hadley were made a county called Hampshire, of which Springfield was made the shire-town. The three commissioners were authorized to hold courts, both at Springfield and Northampton. In 1660 was built the first brick building ever erected in Springfield. It was the dwelling-house of John Pynchon, who is called in the records " The ' From a painting in possession of the City Library. i6 KING'S HANDBOOK OF SPRINGFIELD. Worshipful Major Pynchon" and, later, "The Worshipful Colonel." The bricks used in its construction were made at Northampton. The carpenters and masons were from Windsor. The building was forty-two feet long, and twenty-one feet wide. The walls were very thick and solid, rising about twenty-two feet from the ground to the eaves. The roof was very steep, and the ridge was about twenty-two feet in per- pendicular height above the garret-floor. It was designed to be a fortified house, and was actually used as such during the Indian war. This build- ing remained in the occupation of the Pynchons until it was demolished, in 1 831, to make room for a more modern house. It was long known as the "old fort." The wooden house which had been the home of William Pynchon was connected with the new brick house, and made to serve as an appendage to it. It was removed in 1831 to the easterly part of Cross Street, where in an altered state, in 1883, it serves as a dwelling-house and laundry. There are still marks of antiquity about it. John Pynchon was engaged in a very large business as a merchant. He purchased furs very extensively of the Indians and others. These were A'liVG'S HANDBOOK OF SPRINGFIELD. 17 sent down the river to his warehouse, at what is now known as Warehouse Point in East Windsor, and thence to Hartford : from which place thev were shipped to Boston and England. He was an owner, or part owner, of several vessels. Until the year 1675, the relations of the people of Springfield with the Indians were amicable and pleasant. William P\-nchon, and, after he left, his son John, had frecpent and friendly intercourse with them in the way of trade. The Indian sold his beaver and other furs to Pynchon, and, in return, purchased from him such goods as Pynchon kept in store as suited to the Indian's needs. Fire-arms and ammunition onl\- were prohibited articles. The red men roamed the streets of the town, and visited freelv the houses of the whites. No cause of disaffection or discontent was known to exist on the part of the Indians. They had what was called a fort in the southerly part of the town, but this created no uneasiness on the part of their white neighbors. Their wigwams and their planting-grounds were on both sides of the Connecticut. Probably the whole Indian population in the town, and its immediate vicinity, did not exceed two hundred persons. In 1675 the disturbances fomented by Philip, the chief of the Wampa- noags, began in the south-eastern part of the State, and gradually spread westward until they reached the valley of the Connecticut. Philip himself was said to have visited the Agawam Indians, and induced them to join the confederacy against the whites. About three hundred hostile Indians were secretly introduced into their fort, and every preparation made to assault Springfield, and slaughter its inhabitants. The time was favorable for the attempt: the soldiers who had been stationed here as a garrison were temporarily absent, with Major Pynchon their commander, on an expedition about twenty miles up the river, to check some hostile demonstrations there. The intention of Philip's men became known to the people at Windsor through the disclosures made by a friendly Indian ; and timely warning was sent to Springfield, and to Major Pynchon at Hadley. The people generally took refuge in the fortified houses, of which there were three, — one of them the Pynchon house, and the others in the south part of the street. Three men and one woman were killed by the Indians. Thirty-two houses and twenty-five barns were burned, with Major Pvnchon's corn-mill and saw- mill. Discouraged by these disasters, occurring just as winter was approach- ing; and fearful of the suffering likely to follow the destruction of their houses, and the stores of provisions which they had gathered for the winter, — many of the inhabitants were inclined to abandon the town, and seek a home elsewhere. But wiser counsels prevailed, and most of them remained to repair the losses they had sustained. After this manifestation of their treachery, the Indians withdrew from Springfield. No considerable number i8 KING'S HANDBOOK OF SPRINGFIELD. of them were seen here. But for some years they continued to visit this vicinity, and perpetrate deeds of violence upon the persons and property of unwary settlers as they found opportunity. Within a few years after this Indian outbreak, Springfield lost three of its most prominent men. Samuel Chapin, who came here in 1642, and had been a deacon in the church from that time, and was one of the magistrates appointed by the General Court to hold the courts for the county, and per- form other important duties, died on the nth of November. 1675. ^" i^^eal statue is soon to be erected in his honor in Court Sc|uare. On the fifth day of February following, the "honored Capt. Elizur Holyoke." another of the magistrates, died. John Pynchon survived these colleagues in the magistracy about twenty-seven years, and died in 1703, at the age of about eighty years. Probably no man, before or since, ever had so great an influ- ence in the affairs of Western Massachusetts, especially in the Connecticut Valley, as Major Pynchon. He was the commander of the military forces here. He was chief judge of the local courts of the old county of Hamp- shire, a member of the court of assistants at Boston, and often employed as a commissioner to negotiate and adjust affairs of importance with the other Colonies. In 1696 the settlers on the west side of the river were incorporated into a new parish, and not long afterwards the southerly part of Springfield was incorporated as the parish of Longmeadow. In 1723 a court-house was built, and the town contributed largely toward the expense. The money was in part raised by the sale of some of the common lands belonging to the town. It was a plain two-story wooden structure, its front projecting some distance into Main Street. It was for years the only public building in the town, and near by stood the whipping- post. It was a quaint little building ; and " it would seem that our venerable ancestors, who arranged the room, attempted to indicate, in the different grades of the floor (of which there were at least half a dozen), the relative rank and importance of the occupants of the place, from judge and jury down to prisoner and public." In those times the judges appeared in the old English style, attired in robes and wigs. During the French and Indian wars, covering the period from 1744 to 1760, in which New England bore so prominent a part, Springfield men served in the army, and many of them perished. In the year 1745, at the siege and capture of Louisburg, 18 soldiers from this town lost their lives. In 1774 that part of Springfield lying westerly of the Connecticut River was incorporated as a town, by the name of West Springfield. The difificulties between England and her American Colonies were now drawing to a head. The colonists everywhere were taking sides. It soon became apparent at Springfield, that, while a respectable and influential A'/A'G'S HANDBOOK OF SPRINGFIELD. 19 minority clung closely to their relation with the mother country, the large majority of the people were determined to resist oppression, and looked forward to a possible separation from England in no distant future. At a town-meeting held on the 27th of June, 1774, certain letters which had been received from the town of Boston were referred to a committee of 9 persons; viz., Deacon Nathaniel Brewer, Capt. George Pynchon, Dr. Charles Pynchon, Capt. Simeon Colton, Moses Field, Jonathan Hale, jun.. Ensign Phineas Chapin, James Sikes, and Deacon Daniel Harris. First Court-house just before its Demolition in 1871. July 12, 1774, this committee reported several resolutions, condemning taxation without representation; denouncing the Boston Port Bill as a meas- ure that " ought to alarm us, and fill us with deep concern." They add : '• Impressed with just concern for our privileges, and at the same time gov- erned by sentiments of loyalty to our sovereign, and with warm affection for our mother country, we ardently wish that all the Colonies, and every indi- vidual in them, may unite in some prudent, peaceful, and constitutional measure for the redress of our grievances, the security of our liberties, and the restoration of union and mutual confidence between Great Britain and 20 KING'S HANDBOOK OF SPRINGFIELD. the Colonies." Another resolution expressed disapprobation of all meas- ures unnecessarily at^rontive of the Parliament, and all tumults and riots. These resolutions were adopted, in town-meeting, by a large majority. At an adjourned meeting, July 26, it was voted that the resolutions should be sent to the town-clerk of Boston. Sept. 20, 1774, the town appointed a committee to devise a plan of asso- ciated action, and suggested the calling of a county congress, to which it elected three provisional delegates. It also appointed a committee to procure necessaries for the subsistence of the industrious poor in Boston, and a committee to correspond with neighboring towns. In January, 1775, various other resolves were voted by the town, and William Pynchon, jun., was chosen a delegate to the Provincial Congress to meet in P'ebruary. Jan. 10 the town appropriated £z^ to procure a town stock of ammunition. July 12, 1775, John Hale and William Pynchon. jun., were chosen delegates to the General Court to meet at Watertown, July 19. Nov. 14, 1775, a committee was chosen to consider the subject of providing for the soldiers and minute-men. Nov. 20, 1775, the town granted ^52 14^-. id. for this object. March 5, 1776, nine persons were appointed a committee of safety. While a very large majority of the people of Springfield were preparing to throw off their allegiance to Great Britain, there were some of its most prominent and influential men who shrunk from the dissolution of the ties that bound them to the mother country, and clung to the hope of an adjust- ment of the existing difiiculties without a resort to arms. One noteworthy instance was Col. John Worthington, a native of Springfield, born Nov. 24, 1 719, a graduate of Yale in 1740, and afterwards a tutor there. He prac- tised his profession of the law extensively in the old county of Hampshire, and the county of Worcester, and was regarded as a very able advocate. He Avas popular among his own townsmen, courtly in his manners, and was thought to stand high in favor with the provincial government. He was king's attorney in Hampshire County, and could have been attorney-general for the whole State if he had chosen to accept the office. His relations to the government, and his association with •its officers, kept him from sympa- thy with the popular cause ; and from 1774 to the time of his death in April, 1800, he lived a retired life. During the Revolutionary War, Springfield was a recruiting-post, and a depot for military stores. Works for repairing arms were carried on here, which led ultimately to the establishment of the national armory. After the war, — and as a result of the expenses incurred in the war, the heavy taxation, and the depreciation of paper money, — came on those dis- orders, with which Springfield was intimately associated, commonly called Shays' Rebellion. One of the earliest actors in fomenting this rebellion /CING'S HANDBOOK OF SPRINGFIELD. 21 Avas one Samuel Ely, a pretended minister, who had preached at Somers. Conn. He instigated a mob, which obstructed the holding of a court at Northampton. For this he was indicted, and sentenced to imprisonment in the jail at Springfield. Taking advantage of the absence of a laro-e number of people from the town, a mob assembled, and rescued him. From this time onward, until the year 1787, there was a series of dis- orders, more or less violent, which pervaded the Commonwealth. The ses- sions of the courts were obstructed by mob violence, and the law was defied. Springfield was the scene of some of these outbreaks. In Mav, 1782, a mob collected here, to prevent the session of the Court of Common Pleas, but was dispersed by the action of the orderly citizens. In the year 1786, the insurrection had reached its highest point. The Supreme Court was to hold a session at Springfield on the fourth Tuesday of September. About 1,200 rebels, variously armed, assembled to prevent the transaction of the regular business. Under the protection of about 600 militia-men and volunteers, commanded by Gen. Shepard, the court was in session about three days ; but, for want of a grand jury, the proper business of the session Avas left undone. The most prominent leaders of the rebellion were Daniel Shays of Pelham, and Luke Day of West Springfield, both of whom had been officers in the Revolutionary army. The town of Springfield was loyal, and passed votes instructing its representative in the General Court of a decidedly conservative tendency. To protect the courts, and suppress the rebellion, the government issued orders to raise an army of 4,400 men under the command of Gen. Benjamin Lincoln. Of this number, 1,200 were raised by the county of Hampshire. They were under the command of Gen. Shepard, and ordered to rendezvous at Springfield. On the 25th of January, 1787, Shays approached Springfield from the east with a large force, intending to seize the Arsenal. Shepard was pre- pared to meet him, and notified him that if he persisted in advancing he would be received with a discharge of cannon. Shays disregarded this warning, and continued to advance, notwithstanding shots were directed on either side and over the heads of his men. Shepard then ordered a shot to be discharged at the centre of the column. L^pon this the rebels raised an outcry of murder, and fied. This was virtually the end of the rebellion. Oct. 21, 1789, Gen. Washington arrived in Springfield on his visit to New England. He lodged at the tavern there kept by Zenas Parsons, which stood on what is now Court Square. The large old elm near the south-easterly corner of the square was directly in front of the principal entrance, to the house. In his diary, Washington mentions that "Col. Worthington, Col. Williams, adjutant-general of the State of Massachu- setts, Gen. Shepard, Mr. Lyman and many other gentlemen, sat an hour or two with me in the evening at Parsons tavern where I lodged, and which is At '!''■ A^/.XG'S HAXDBOOK OF SPRINGFIELD. 23 a good house." This building now stands on Court Street, near Water Street. By an Act of the Legislature passed on the twenty-sixth day of February, 1794, all the courts of the county of Hampshire were directed to be held at Northampton, which was made the shire town of the county. The rea- son assigned for making this change was stated to be, that Northampton, on account of its central situation, was the most suitable place for holding the courts of the county, and most likely to give general satisfaction. What- ever force there may have been in this reason in 1794, later years have shown that the centre of population and business is to be found nearer Springfield. Until the passage of this Act, Springfield had always been a shire town ; and a session of the court had been held here from the first settlement. This change probably had an unfavorable effect upon Spring- field, from which it was not entirely relieved until this creation of the new- county of Hampden in 181 2. Although Springfield became an important military post and a depot for military stores during the Revolution, it was not until April, 1794, that Con- gress established the National Armory here. This was followed in June, 1798, by an Act of the Legislature of Massachusetts, consenting to the pur- chase by the L'nited States of 640 acres of land here for military purposes. With the war of 1812-15, Springfield had but little immediate connection. When, near its close, British cruisers were hovering off the coast of New England, and threatening the safety of our ports, the Governor of Massa- chusetts ordered a draft from the militia of the State to march to Boston to repel a threatened invasion : two regiments of infantry and one of artillery went from the old county of Hampshire. The principal officers from Springfield were Brig.-Gen. Jacob Bliss, Major Solomon Warriner. and Capt. Ouartus Stebbins. The troops from this vicinity were stationed at Commercial Point in Dorchester, and remained in camp about forty days, when they were dismissed. In the summer of 181 2 the southerly part of the old county was formed into a new county, by the name of Hampden, of which Springfield was made the shire town. This made necessary the erection of a new court- house. To provide a suitable location for this, a tract of land in the central part of the town was purchased by individuals, and conveyed to the county. The buildings previously upon it were removed, and a new court-house erected in 1821, fronting upon this common, now known as Court Square. March 2, 1824, one of the principal workshops of the L^nited-States Armory in Springfield was destroyed by fire. The scene was pictured by a West-Point graduate, and shows the method of dealing with fires, when fire-engines were worked by hand, and supplied with water by a line of men passing buckets from hand to hand. 24 KING'S HANDBOOK OF SPRINGFIELD. March 24, 1S28, the first town-hall here, which had been finished the month previous, was formally opened with an historical address delivered by George Bliss at the request of the town. In 1S31 the brick dwelling-house built by John Pynchon in 1660. a structure intimately associated with the early history of Springfield as the scene of many interesting events, was demolished, and its site occupied by a modern dwelling. Oct. I, 1S39, the Western Railroad was opened to travel from Worcester to Springfield; and soon afterwards trains for transporting merchandise began to run. Sept. 5, 1S41, the large and beautiful ground of the Springfield Cemetery was consecrated, and an address delivered by Rev. William B. O. Peabody. April 29, 184S, the northerly part of Springfield was set off and incorpo- rated as a new town by the name of Chicopee. The effect of this division was to defeat for the time a movement that had been started, in the central part of the town, for a city charter. It deprived the town of about half its territory and two-fifths of its population. In 1852 the population of the town had increased so much that a new application of the town for a charter was successful, and on the 12th of April the city of Springfield was incorporated. The organization of the city government was completed by the election of officers, and Caleb Rice was chosen mayor. The need of a city-hall was soon felt, and the erection of such a building determined upon. On the Fourth of July, 1854, the corner-stone was laid with a few simple ceremonials. The hall was finished in 1855, and on the first day of January, 1856, was dedicated. On that occasion. Dr. J. G. Holland delivered an address, which was published by order of the city council. The Rebellion of 1861-65 caused as great excitement in Springfield as elsewhere in New England. The raising of soldiers and other war meas- ures were prosecuted vigorously. Public meetings were presided over by the mayor, at which patriotic speeches were made and volunteers enlisted. The Tenth, Twenty-seventh, and Forty-sixth Regiments were encamped here before going to the seat of war. Companies for several other regi- ments were raised here. In 1 87 1 the county commissioners decided to erect a new court-house on the south side of Elm Street. It was built of .Monson granite, and finished in 1874, at a cost of $289,785.30, exclusive of the furniture with which it was fitted up. This carried the whole expense up to $304,543.29. The house was dedicated April 28, 1874, when an address was delivered by William G. Bates of Westfield. On Sunday, May 30, 1875, a disastrous fire broke out on Taylor Street, 3 2 o -=• ^!> ~o' ® ^ rv 5 ^^1 :- 1^ V^-^'^X^^,^ 26 KING'S HANDBOOK OF SPRINGFIELD. and soon raged with such fury that many buildings on Worthinglon Street, Wights Avenue, Alain, Vernon, and Water Streets, were in flames. While Springfield from the first had the advantage over the other Massa- chusetts towns in the Connecticut Valley, of being the oldest settlement and the seat of justice, and the residence of the magistrates and other leading men, it shared with Northampton, a later-settled town, the advantage of an attractive site upon the river. Very early a rivalry sprang up between the two towns, that lasted nearly a century and a half. For the greater part of this time, each of them was a half shire town. In 1794 the courts were all removed to Northampton, and Springfield lost the prestige it had derived from them in the time of the Pynchons. At the time of this change neither of these towns could boast a large population. By the census of 1790, Northampton had a population of 1,628, while Springfield had only 1,574. The census of 1800 gave Springfield an excess of 222 over Northampton. From that time Springfield gained steadily over its competitor, until by the United-States census of 1880 it had a population of 33,340 against one of 12,172 at Northampton. All rivalry in respect of numbers has long since ceased. Each still claims the advantage of a beautiful location and charm- ing scenery. Northampton rejoices in the excellence of its educational and charitable institutions. Springfield feels a just pride in the success of the various commercial and manufacturing enterprises which have distinguished its past history, and which promise so much for its future. HENRY MORRIS. KING'S HAXDLWOK OF SPRINGFIELD. 27 ffiroloQU anti ffirocjrapiju, PROMINENT FEATURES OF THE GEOLOGY AND GEOGRAPHY OF THE REGION ABOUT SPRINGFIELD. THE topography of a country is the key to its history, so we should first notice the general geographical features of this district. The Con- necticut Valley, from the northern border of Massachusetts to the sea, is not an ordinary river-channel : it is, in fact, a wide trough between two sys- tems of mountains. On the west lie the worn-down remnants of the once lofty Berkshire Mountains ; on the east, the yet more degraded ridges that constitute what we may call the Eastern Massachusetts set of mountain ridges. These worn-down old mountains were elevated at different times. That on the east was probably the first to begin its upward movement, in very ancient days. The elevation of the Berkshire chain probably began at a little later date. As these mountain chains grew, they left between them a broad trough, from ten to thirty miles wide, extending from the sea to some distance north of Springfield. This trough probably assumed something like its present form just after the close of the coal-measures was formed, but it was begun ages before that time. During the coal-mak- ing time this valley was probably the seat of the forests of those ages, and may have had coal-beds deposited within it : if so, they were soon worn away; for, shortly after the coal-time, the thick and extensive beds of the new red or triassic sandstone were laid down directly upon the surface of the old crystalline rocks which then, as now, formed the sides and floor of the valley. During this triassic time the Connecticut Valley formed a shallow arm of the sea, extending nearly as far up as where the Vermont line now lies. It probably received a number of considerable streams rising in the hills to the east and west, and at its head was the delta of the upper Connecticut. This period of the New Red Sandstone, or trias, occupied a long portion in the earth's history, and saw many great changes of climate. Once, at least, during this time, it is likely that this region was the seat of extensive glaciers, that discharged a great deal of pebbly sediment into their Connecticut basin. These pebbles were sorted and arranged in strata, and now appear in the extensive reddish-colored pudding-stone beds that abound in the valley. But the greater part of the time seems to have been one of moderate climate, as is shown by the animal and plant life that then existed in this part of the world. 2 8 A'ING'S HANDBOOK OF SPRINGFIELD. Of the plant-life of the Connecticut, the fossils left then give us little information ; but of the animals we have some very remarkable remains, — remains that give to these rocks a singular, indeed we may say an un- equalled, interest among all formed in this period of the earth's history. These fossils do not give us the forms of the creatures themselves, for hardly any thing that entered into their structures has come down to us : they consist of the footprints made by the ancient creatures on the shores of the bay, when they were left bare by the retreating tide. These foot- prints have been found in various parts of the new red sandstone beds in the Connecticut Valley ; but they are best known in the shaly sandstones found at Turner's Falls, a few miles above Greenfield. At that point they have been extensively quarried for flagging, and as a source of supply of speci- mens for natural-history museums. The best collection of these specimens is that brought together by the late Dr. Hitchcock, contained in the museum of natural history at Amherst College; another of nearly if not equal value is at Yale College. Examining either of these collections, we see large slabs of stone, some- times ripple-marked, oftener covered with the obscure mud-flow lines so common along the soft beaches that form in brackish water-bays of our coast : exactly such beaches as are now to be seen left bare along the banks of the Hudson when the fresh water sent down by the river is lifted and lowered by the tide. These fossil mud-flats are stamped over with the foot- prints of many different species of animals, varying in size from a robin to a creature that must have weighed some hundreds of pounds. When these footprints were first studied, it was supposed that they were the tracks of bird-like animals ; and at first sight their general shape, and the fact that each animal appears ordinarily to have walked on two feet, support this idea. But a more careful inquiry has shown that these creatures are very far away from the birds. Looking closely at the footprints, we see that many of the animals, though walking for most of the time on two legs as a kangaroo does, had two other, shorter legs, which they occasionally applied to the ground : moreover, in many cases there is trace of a tail, indicated by a furrow where it dragged on the mud as the animal walked along. So far, though acres of these ancient sea-shores have been closely scru- tinized, we have not found a single bone or other fossil remain, that can confidently be asserted to have belonged to these creatures. At this point, they have left us nothing but these footprints on the sands. From the fossils of other regions, we conclude that they were creatures in many ways more closely akin to our frogs and toads than to any other living creatures. They were hatched in the water from eggs, lived for a while in a tadpole state, and then passed through a change in which lungs took the place of gills, and legs sprouted in their places, as in our living amphibians. In KING'S HANDBOOK OF SPRINGFIELD. 29 their perfect state, these creatures were often of great size, weigliing several hundred pounds. It is ahnost certain they were cold-blooded; and, as their large bodies could not during the winter have found shelter under ground as our living amphibians do, their existence is good proof that the winter season in their day, in this region, could not have been any thing like as cold as it is at present. The physical history of this triassic time was as curious as its organic life. While for long ages these red sandstones and shales were making in the Connecticut Bay, the volcanic forces were very active in this region: from time to time crevices opened in this shallow sea-floor, and great sheets of lava were poured out upon its surface, or forced between the beds of rock that had been already formed. These trappean rocks, being harder than the sandstones amid which they lie, now form many sharp hills and moun- tains in the valley, lending it much of its picturesque beauty. Mount Tom, Mount Holyoke, and many other hills, are in part composed of them. After the period of the trias we have little record of the changes in the Connecticut Valley, until the time of the last glacial period. One important series of events happened in this long interval. The rock beds of the triassic period were squeezed together, folded and tilted by the mountain-building forces, until they were built into many ridges and furrows, most of which have been planed away by glacial action. This mountain-building was probably connected with the further elevation of the old ridges of the Berk- shire mountains and those of Eastern Massachusetts. Some of the lava outflows of the Connecticut \'alley may have occurred while this dislocat- ing was going on. It is likely, that, during the ages from the trias to the last glacial period, this region was continually above the level of the sea: this is shown by the fact that there are no deposits formed during this interval within the limits of the valley. With the beginning of the last glacial period, we come again to records of the geological history of this region. This is one of the most interesting chapters of the great stone book : though much of its print is scarcely legi- ble, we can decipher enough to make a most interesting story, were it not necessary to give it in mere outline. The conditions in this district just before the coming of the last glacial period are not known to us, for the reason that the erosion of the surface which took place at that time destroyed the rocks which were formed in this district just before the ice-period commenced. Enough is known of other regions, however, to make it pretty certain, that, at the outset of the glacial period, there was a climate here not very different from that now prevailing in this region : many large animals existed then that are no longer found in this country, including the large form of elephant called the mammoth, 30 A'lXG'S HANDBOOK OF SPRINGFIELD. and his smaller kinsman the mastodon, himself as large as an ordinarv elephant. The glacial period came suddenl}-, — by what change of climate, we do not as yet well know: even less do we know the cause of the change itself. It is likely, that, without any great change in the average temperature of the year, the summers became much cooler, and the winters less cold, while the deposition of water in the form of snow was very greatly increased, so that the cool and probably short summer could not melt it away. Even with our present warm summer, if the snow-fall were to be increased so that the winter fall gave a depth on the average of ten feet, it would probably remain unmelted on the highlands of the Berkshire and Eastern Massachusetts mountain ranges, and, re-enforced by the snow-fall of the following winter, give us glaciers that would creep down the valleys and slowly possess the lowlands. Be this as it may, the glacial sheets grew in this country until the Connecticut Valley was filled to far above the tops of the hills on each side. At its time of greatest thickness, this sheet was probably somewhere near half a mile in depth. It flowed slowly, a few feet a day, down the valley to the sea. This ice-stream was not peculiar to this valley: it was a part of a great sheet that covered nearly all the northern half of North America. In New England, when this dreadful time was at its worst, the ice reached south to beyond Long Island of New York, and ended in a vast sea-wall of ice, and stretched as a vast rolling icy plain far to the north. It swept over the top of Mount Washington in the White Mountains, though that mountain rises three-quarters of a mile above the general level of the country on which it stands. From the valley of the Hudson, where the ice was even deeper than in the Connecticut basin, the ice flowed over the Berkshire Hills, augmenting the tide of frozen water that poured through this way. As this enormous weight of ice ground its way to the sea, it wore down the rocks over which it moved. The soft red sandstones and shales gave way readily, and a large part of their beds that were in the Connecticut Valley before the glacial period were ground away by the ice-mill. Where there were thick masses of lava, a much denser and harder rock, these parts remained projecting, forming the sharp ridges such as Mounts Tom and Holyoke. The pudding-stones were also solid enough to resist better than the sandstones, and so frequently stand up in ridges, while the softer rocks are worn down on either side of them. After a long period of desolation, when this region was in the condition that Greenland is now, the ice vanished as mysteriously as it came, leaving a vast amount of rocky waste strewn over the land. One of the peculiar features of the glacial period was, that all the regions covered by the glacial sheet seem to have been pressed downwards to a depth proportionate to the thickness of the ice that had lain on their surfaces. When the ice A'/NG'S riAXDBOOK OF SPRINGFIELD. 31 went away, the land crept up slowly to something like its old level: but for a while after the ice went away, this valley, in common with the neigh- boring regions, was very much depressed below the sea-level. This down- sinking of the valley seems to have been greater near its head than near its mouth. About Long Island Sound, the depression probably did not exceed a hundred feet or so; while, as far up as Bellows Falls, the down-sinking was probably more than three hundred feet: so that, for a while after the glaciers disappeared from the valley, it seems to have been returned to the conditions of the triassic period: it became once again a broad but shallow arm of the sea. When the ice went away, it left the surface of the land deeply covered w^ith a rubbish of sand, clay, and bowlders. The heavy rainfall that marked this ice-period continued to exist, though probably in a less intense form, after the ice had fallen back towards the north pole: so that much of this glacial rubbish was carried away by the streams ; and, from the hill-region about the Connecticut \'alley, a vast amount of the lighter part of the waste, that the streams could easily handle, was swept out into the Con- necticut Valley, and laid down beneath the water that covered its surface. This falling of glacial waste, transported and re-arranged by the action of water, formed a very thick sheet in the Connecticut Valley: it was at least a hundred feet deep near its mouth, and over three hundred feet thick in the region near the New-Hampshire line. Soon after this filling-in of mud, sand, and gravel was completed, the floor of the valley was lifted above the sea, and the river began to wear the waste away. If it were the rule that rivers kept their places unchanged, it would merely have cut a deep channel through this rubbish, leaving steep high banks on each side ; but it is a law of rivers, that they swing to and fro in their valleys, cutting tirst against one bank and then the other. In these swings, the Connecticut River has crossed its valley nearly from side to side, leaving here and there scraps of the old stratified drift in the form of bits of plain ground calle^ terraces. Constantly swinging to and fro. and as constantly cutting downwards towards its bed, these platforms, or terraces, have been left at different heights above the present level of the river. The highest are the oldest, the smallest in area, and the most ruined by the action of frost, rain, and snow. About Springfield, the most prominent and extensive of these terraces is at the height of about a hundred and eighty feet above the level of low water in the river; but it varies more or less in height. Some have thought that the uppermost of these terraces are as much as four hundred feet above the sea; but, above the level of three hundred feet about Springfield, the evidence becomes too obscure to be trusted. If the reader will go to some convenient hill-top that commands a wide 32 KING'S HANDBOOK OF SPRINGFIELD. view of the Connecticut Valley, and in his mind restore the vast mass of sand and gravel included below the level of the highest terraces and the present level of the river, he will then see how great has been the work done since the close of the post-glacial period. If he will remember that this post-glacial period probably occupies not over one five-hundredth part of the time that has elapsed since the building of this valley began, he will o-et a better idea of the wonderful changes that have been witnessed by it, only a small part of which have been recorded in any way that we can read. XATIIAXIEL SOUTHGATE SHALER. KING'S HANDBOOK OF SPRINGFIELD. 33 ^pringfiElti as a Cttg. ITS GROWTH FROM A TOWN OF FOURTEEN THOUSAND TO A CITY OF THIRTY-FIVE THOUSAND INHABITANTS. IN the autumn of 1S52, — the year that Springfield took on the swaddHng- clothes of a city, and had civic incorporation, — I set permanent foot in the then " Infant City," and from that time made it my home for almost a third of a century of years. I went to it at the time named, on a locomotive, from the Berkshire hills, with the complete vote of every town of Berkshire County in my pocket; it being the night of both the National and State elections of that year, the 2d of November. An iron horse, with the long- time faithful locomotive-engineer, — first of the Western, and afterwards of its successor the Boston and Albany Railroad, — the late Louis Sherts, for driver; a young stoker, now a successful officer of a celebrated line of railway at the West, and myself, in the cab, — dashed into the old Springfield depot, at 1 1 P.M. ; at which hour the vote of every town in the four western counties of Massachusetts, save that of one of the towns in eastern Hamp- den, — that being lost through a misunderstand- ing as to the meeting-place of the post-riders sent out for it, — was in the " Springfield-Re- publican " office, ready for tabulating and com- piling for the next morning's issue of that paper. And this successful gath- ering of election-returns from the remotest towns of Hampden, Hampshire, Franklin, and Berkshire Counties, was compassed with but limited aid from the telegraph ; as the telegraphic service was then both very feeble in ciuality and small in quantity quite generally throughout the Western Massachusetts towns. Almost the whole election-return collection service was then done by special horse and locomotive expresses. And in this connection it is but simple justice to say, that in the State election of 1883, with all the aids and assistances which a complete and thorough telegraphic service in nearly every village and hamlet in the State, with the addition of efficient and widely established telephonic service, the morning papers of the next day after the election had no better or more complete returns than were given thirty-one years ago, when horse-flesh and steeds of steel were The City Seal. 34 A'/NG'S HANDBOOK OF SPRINGFIELD. the main factors relied upon forgathering the election-returns for newspaper publication. On the occasion referred to, fifty miles by rail, and nearly as many by carriage or on horseback, — about one hundred in all, — were com- passed by myself, after the counting of the votes at their respective polling- places, reaching Springfield before midnight. Other messengers did equally efficient service in different directions, but none had so wide a reach of country to gather from as the one who scoured the Berkshire hills. Springfield, at that time, had 14,000 inhabitants, and was often called by would-be smart people, outside its new- ly made boundaries, the " Infant City;" and more appropriately, by smarter ones inside its legitimate limits, the "City of Magnificent Distances," for it was, in- deed, a city made up from three or four almost distinct villages, or, more prop- erly speaking, localities. Court Square was the acknowledged centre of the city. The Armory Grounds on the hill, bounded by State, Federal, Pearl, and Byers Streets, was one locality, com- ])aratively by itself. Uncle Sam"s Upper Water-shops, on Mill River to the eastward, was another. The Lower Water-shops — farther down the same stream, but since entirely demolished, all marks of buildings, dams, etc., being now obliterated — was still another. The river-bankers bounded the city on the westward, and multiplied exceedingly, as they do now, and prob- ably will to that very indefinite period when " time shall be no longer." To the northward, the railway-depot, into which the tracks of the Western, the Hartford and Springfield, and Connecticut-river Railroads were then laid, was the centre of another settleme'nt, substantially its own ; and it took some brisk examples of pedestrianism to compass all these points in the course of an ordinary " constitutional " walk. The Springfield Armory was then the lion of the town ; and it was shown up to all strangers as such, where " From floor to ceiling, Like a huge organ, rose the burnished arms." It had prominence, — its grounds for their beauty, and its buildings for their business. At times it was a very busy industrial centre, and brought much money to the town in the support of the skilled workmen who held positions there. To be "an Armorer," in those days, was to be one of the Caleb Rice, the First iVIayor AVJVG'S HANDBOOK OF SPRINGFIELD. 35 noted men of the town, or city when city it became. The railway-depot was then quite " out of town," and the distance between it and Court Square was broken and badly disconnected. A few scattered blocks and dwelling-houses were arranged along on the west side of the street, with fewer still on the east side ; " Barnes's Lot," a large open space where cir- cuses blossomed annually, having prominent place, about midway, with Town Brook, which forks at the corner of Main and Worthington Streets, locating its western boundary, and flowing thence, both northwardly and southwardly, through the city, to the Connecticut River, the southern branch running under the sidewalk on the east side of Main Street, from Worthington Street to York Street. The young city grew slowly but steadily, and became pretentious only by degrees ; but every day of its city growth has added materially to its beauty, wealth, and permanence. The word " boom " had not then been written down in the popular vo- cabulary ; but a boom neverthe- less, of no ordinary dimensions, came to the city with the opening of the war of the Rebellion. The Armory just before the war — for reasons more apparent since than were obvious at the time — had had its stock of arms almost en- tirely removed, and its force of employees reduced to a very few men, enough only remaining to keep the grounds in order, the machinery from rusting, and the property in general from going to decay. But all this was changed when President Lincoln found himself obliged to call repeatedly for troops with which to fight the battles of the Union, and when the loyal heart of the North responded so patriotically, as they came to the rescue beneath banner and bunting, with shout and song, — " We're coming, Fatlier Abraham, three hundred thousand more." Workmen were called from all quarters, gun-making machinery was built and bought as best it might be, old buildings were enlarged, and new ones erected on the grounds, until the Springfield Armory was enabled to equip a full regiment with arms in a single day. This fact necessarily made Phifos B. Tyler. 36 KING'S HANDBOOK OF SPRINGFIELD. Springfield famous, and gave much occasion for its name and locality to be kept constantly before the eyes of the people, not only of our own land, but incidentally of the world at large. Over three thousand men were at work at gun-making early in the war; while, just before its breaking-out, only some two hundred and fifty could be counted. The city limits had scarcely room to contain all its new-comers, — had not food and shelter sufficient for the proper accommodation of all the workmen who had been so suddenly gathered upon the grounds of our national Armory. From sheer necessity, many of these swarmed into the outlying regions of country, in search of temporary homes. The cars brought to the city, each morning, scores of workmen from Chicopee, Chico- pee Falls, Holyoke, Northamp- ton, West Springfield, Mitten- eague, and Westfield ; while hastily improvised vehicles came loaded, daily, from Long- meadow East and West, Aga- wam, Wilbraham, Ludlow, and intervening farmhouses, — all returning at night, with weary workmen and empty dinner- pails. Every house in the city was stowed full of humanity, from basement to attic ; board- ing-houses sprang up, like Jo- nah's gourd, in a night, and were ready to " take boarders '' in the morning: and prosperity reigned on all hands. When the war ended, and the occasion for more arms had passed away, many of the men who had sought and found work in the Armory had seen enough of Springfield to convince them that it was an excellent place in which to make homes for themselves and their families ; that it had good church, school, and general social privileges and advantages, with the promise of a rapid growth and development. As a consequence, many found ways and means for becoming permanent residents; and the building of houses, stores, and blocks, the opening and improving of streets and thoroughfares, and the successful development of industrial interests, have been constantly and steadily made. Three or four years before the outbreak of the Rebellion, the manufacture of the Smith & Wesson pistol was commenced, in a modest way, in hired apartments on Market Street; prospering marvellously, and growintj from small beginnings to the rearing of the immense manufac- Eliphalet Trask. HENRY ALEXANDER, JUN. KING'S HANDBOOK OF SPRINGFIELD. 37 ituring buildings now located on Stockbridge Street; finally overshadowing the Armory, both in amount and value of its productions, making great wealth for its projectors, and securing to the city a remarkably prosperous and very valuable industry. The railway-car-building industry pf the Wason Manufacturing Company, now located at Brightwood, — a northern district of the city, — has also had a rapid and successful growth and development within the limit of years under discussion in this article, until, like the Smith & Wesson estab- lishment, it far outranks the Armory, both in amount and value of its manufactures. As the Armory in the turn of years lost caste in the matter of being tJie lion of the town, other lions came into existence, growing apace, until strangers ■who wanted to "see the town " came by degrees to be shown or told of the Smith & Wesson Pistol Works, the Wa- son Car Manufactory, the establishment of " The Springfield Re- publican," — which pa- per had won for itself, while the city was still very young in years, not only a valuable national reputation, but a wide fame abroad as being a leading representative of dis- ktinguished American journalism, — the large printing and publishing house of Samuel Bowles & Co., the modest quarters of G. & C. Merriam (where Webster's Unabridged Dictionary was, and still is, published with much honor and profit to all who have ever come within the charmed circle of its interested parties), and the great Indian Orchard Mills at Indian Orchard, one of the villages of the city. Springfield, as a town or village, was not, however, unknown to the world in the field of manufacturing, or in the general run of business marts. In- deed, it had a wide name as being the home of one of the earliest and most Ansel Phelps, jun. 3^ A'/NG'S HANDBOOK OF SPRINGFIELD. successful paper-manufacturing establishments in the country, — that of D. & J. Ames. Their works were located on Mill River, where the shops of the Springfield Silk Company now stand. Their paper went to every city, village, and hamlet of our civilized country; and their name and fame were spread through all the world. In addition to tjieir mills in the suburbs of Springfield village, they had others at Chicopee Falls, at South-Hadley Falls, at Northampton, and at Suffield, Conn., with their business head- quarters for all of tliem at Springfield. Of the founders of that then wealthy and weighty paper- making firm, the junior member and the inventor of much of the paper- making machinery both then and now inuse, — John Ames, — still lives a quiet, retired life, enjoying a fair degree of health, in the old Ames homestead on the easterly slope of Ames Hill; while the senior member, Da- vid Ames, died at the age of 92, on March 12, 1882. after reaching the rank of the oldest and one of the most extensive paper-makers of the United States. The origin of the paper-making industry of the Connecticut Valley, now so prominent and prosperous, and of such vast dimensions, can easily be traced to the Ames family : the builder of the first paper-mill in Holyoke, Joseph C. Parsons (the president of the Third National Bank of Springfield), having had prominent connection with the Ameses, at the time of their greatest prestige and prosperity ; and George L. Wright, one of the oldest and best practical paper-makers, still in active business-life, at the head of the Worthy Paper Company of West Springfield, acquired his mastery of the paper-making business at the Ames Mills, and had prominent connection with them in their palmiest days. For many years, in the long ago, it wa.s William B Calhoun, KING'S HANDBOOK OF SPRINGFIELD. 39 a difficult matter, indeed, to find a slieet of foolscap or letter-paper — the only kinds of writing-paper made in those days— in any bookstore, school- house, or household even, that did not have the stamp of " D. & J. Ames " upon it. And the writing-down of this fact recalls to mind the circumstance, in evidence of the correctness of this statement, that the sheet of paper upon which the hand that writes these lines first attempted to make " pot-hooks " bore the Ames stamp. Springfield was then broadly known for its Ames paper, while still a town; so* that, when it took on city life and airs, it had the advantage of Stephen C. Bemis. being formally introduced, at least in a business way, to "all the world, and the rest of mankind." Its first mayor was Caleb Rice, who, some half a score of years ago, with the armor of business warfare belted and buckled closely about his loyal heart, as he went to his long home on one of the sunny hillsides of the city of which he was the first official head, was as proud of Springfield, and as free to proclaim her good name and deeds, and as bold to fight for these, as Springfield was appreciative of him in its early days of city life. His busi- ness ability, and faithfulness in official life, have full acknowledgment in the recognized fact, that the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company was "built up, under his 22 years' presidency, from a crude local society, to 40 A'/XG'S HANDBOOK OF SPRINGFIELD. a gigantic national organization. The love for and loyalty to Springfield and its interests, so pleasantly prominent with him, were by no means ex- ceptional in his case. The same record that is made of him in this respect may with equal pertinence and force be accorded to all the city fathers, who have in turn kept up the line of succession most nobly and well from the first days of the mayoralty to the present time. Nine of the city fathers — including Mayor Rice. Philos B. Tyler, Ansel Phelps, jun., William B. Calhoun, Daniel L. Harris, Stephen C. Bemis, Henry Alexander, jun., Albert D. Briggs, and Charles A. Winchester — have joined the great majority on the other side of the River of Life ; while Eliphalet Trask(the third mayor, and the only surviving ex-mayor from the incorpora- tion of the city to the year 1870), William L. Smith, Samuel B. Spooner, John M. Stebbins, Emerson Wight, Lewis J. Powers, William H. Haile, E. W. Ladd, and Henry AL Phillips the present worthy mayor, still remain, — nine again ; thus drawing the line equally between the living and the dead, as to number. It would be a pleasant thing to do, with time and space at command, to write here, at some considerable length, of all the mayors of the city, with every one of whom I have had most agreeable — never any other — business and social relations ; so much so, indeed, that I cannot allow the occasion to pass without having pleasant thoughts, or of giving a good word or two of the many which I find in my heart for each and every one of them. Limited time and space narrow me down to the following hastily made observations. In looking over the occupations of those who have filled the office of mayor, it will be noticed that they have been chosen from many walks in life ; and, although a few were in the legal profession, a large number have been active and thrifty manufacturers. Philos B. Tyler, the city's second mayor, was an active, wide-awake business man, who had much prominence, both at home and abroad, as the president and presiding genius of the American Machine Works, which built cotton-presses for the South, and steam-engines and the like for anybody who wanted them. He controlled a large trade throughout the Southern States before the war, and had much prestige and popularity at home, especially so among his employes and immediate business acquaint- ances. Eliphalet Trask knows all about Springfield as a city, from A to Z, hav- ing already passed far beyond the prescribed threescore-and-ten milestone on the highway of life, having been a prominent actor in both the jjolitical and business circles of the city. His political predilections won for him the lieutenant-governorship in the Know-nothing regime, and he served the State in that capacity from 1858 to 1S61. His kindly nod of recognition <><^Z oZ/. ^^Cy