USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Berkshire, two hundred years in pictures, 1761-1961 > Part 5
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7
0
-
Members and friends of the Pittsfield Dope Club, newsmen's organization, went to the 1939 New York World's Fair by special train. They dined at the Ford Pavilion.
Sculptor Henry H. Kitson's Tyringham studio was nick- named "Gingerbread House" because of the built-in witch's face on its front. W. H. Tague
12
2
The 1938 opening of WBRK, Pittsfield, first Berkshire radio station, drew notables including Pittsfield's Fire Chief Tom Burke and others. Gravelle
Berkshire's first air mail service started May 19, 1938, when a plane flew from Pittsfield Airport. A special postal cachet was provided, showing Greylock and its tower. Gravelle
.
Military convoys became familiar symbols of war as they rumbled through Berkshire with men and material vital to winning the war.
DANGER
AIR
BRAKES
Girls helped make gas masks on an assembly line at Sprague Spec- ialties Co. in North Adams starting in 1942. Sprague Electric Company
Believed to be the first Berkshire funeral of the war dead was for Pvt. Frank A. Carchedi of Pittsfield. He died in the Battle of the Bulge in 1944, fighting near Luxembourg. His body was not re- turned to this country until November, 1948, for a military funeral.
Sgt. Edward J. Burns, Pitts- field's first casualty of the war. He died Dec. 7, 1941, as Japs bombed Wheeler Field.
-
-
Holland's royal family in exile spent the summer of 1942 in Lee. Queen Wilhelmina, her daughter Princess Juliana, and the princess' two children, Irene and Beatrix, were photo- graphed after they got off the train in Stockbridge. Rex Fall
USMO
Marine Cpl. John Collins of Pitts- field was killed in action in the Solomon Islands in 1942. Gravelle
Extra The Berkshire Evening Eagle Extra U. S. LOSSES HEAVY
Japs Say Two Battleships Sunk: Britain Enters War
Lars Fler
Blitzkrieg Nrihr
Is bitter
Threatgh Far 1 3-1
Ralfs Fe
--
Congres -. Braced for Bad Ven .. To Declare for War.
Gar Bulletit-
The day after Pearl Harbor
World War II
BERKSHIRE FELT the impact of World War II the day it started, Dec. 7, 1941; one of the dead in the Japanese bombing of Wheeler Field, Honolulu, was Sgt. Edward J. Burns of Pittsfield. One Berkshire man won the Congressional Medal of Honor, Capt. James M. Burt of South Lee; he was a tank commander honored for heroism in an action of October 1944, during which he was wounded. The war came home to Berkshire in various ways other than the drain on its young-man power. There were scrap-metal drives, military-truck convoys miles long frequently roared over the highways, housewives came out of the kitchen and into plants such as Sprague in North Adams and the GE in Pittsfield. Berkshire staged practice black- outs, and civilian spotters were posted in improvised towers to look for "enemy" aircraft. Shortages of everyday products developed; people lined up to buy scarce cigarettes, and women stormed department store counters whenever a few nylons went on sale. There was hoarding of sugar and coffee, and brisk traffic in food and gasoline stamps. A touch of glamor came in 1942 when exiled Queen Wilhelmina and Princess Juliana of Holland spent the summer in Lee. By the time a hard- won peace arrived in 1945, more than 400 Berkshire men had died for their country.
97
.
Wahconah Park, Pittsfield, presented this picture after the "Salvage Sunday" scrap drive on Oct. 19, 1942
P .* 15 L
LETTONS
NATIONAL 7: DEFENCE
CONTRIBUTION
Pittsfield's American Legion gave its Memorial Park cannon to the 1942 scrap drive, through error or Allied unity using British spel- ling for "defence." It was "18 tons of scrap-to lick the Japs."
-
Civilian defense took many forms. This plane spotters' tower was in Hinsdale.
VICTORY GARDEN
CIGARS A.SCHULTE
BRIDGE LL
SCHO
Long lines such as this were common as shortages developed. These people were waiting patiently in the wet to buy scarce cigarettes.
Many willing but inexperienced Berkshire people had a go with Victory Gardens to help expand the nation's food supply.
V-E DAY EXTRA
GENERAL & ELECTRIC
RICS
VE DAY EXTRA
German War Is Over; Japs Next
Half Vat Mark
------
-------------
-------------
----
-----
--
-----
------ ----
----------- ------------
---
------
---
When Germany surrendered, the GE News published an extra. Hundreds of GE employes celebrated by dan- cing in the streets at plant (right).
0
The Berkshire Evening Eagle Extra
JAPS SURRENDER; WAR IS FINISHED
Nije Recept I pronditional Terms Laid Down by Allied Governments
--------
------
---------
-----
---------
suppe rforte tat In
Aug. 14, 1945
Many war veterans under the GI Bill en- tered classes at Jacob's Pillow Univer- sity of the Dance. Here School Director Ted Shawn leads a class in the school's patio. The drummer is Barton Mumaw.
The night of V-J Day brought near-orgies in many cities. The celebration in Pittsfield, with parading and lots of drinking, included these servicemen and girls marching on North Street.
Capt. James Burt of South Lee proudly receives the Congressional Medal of Honor from President Harry S. Truman in a ceremony at Washington in 1945.
LA
Tanglewood, with its lush, manicured grounds and international reputation, is the major attraction of the Berkshire summer vacation-travel industry, which has grown to second largest industry of the area. Sunday crowds of 10,000 are not infrequent. Howard Babbitt
Student informality, with music practice in- side and outside a tent sometimes used for sleeping, is the rule at the School of Jazz adjacent to the Music Barn in Lenox. Fowler
100
One of the most spectacular and tragic fires in Berkshire County's history destroyed Shadowbrook Jesuit novitiate in March 1956 with the loss of four lives. Berkshire's biggest symbol of the Gilded Age was gone. It was replaced in three years by the modern, $41/2 million building at right. Eugene Mitchell
Recently
SOMEWHAT AS AN iceberg ponderously rolls over to regain equilibrium, Berk- shire during the 15 years following World War II underwent a slow revolution. Adams, once the biggest maker of textiles in Berkshire, saw all its mills close. In Pittsfield, the Berkshire Woolen mill closed, as did Elmvale Worsted, the latter's plant being purchased by the new and booming Marland Mold Co. of the plastics industry. In Dalton, the old Sawyer-Regan worsted mill failed, but paper-making in Dalton, as well as throughout the county, prospered. As textiles failed, the summer-tourist industry turned into a bonanza, climbing to second place in Berk- shire business, led only by electrical manufacturing. Summer camps also became important, with 38 establishments housing some 5000 children. Growing since the
Traffic snarls and parking shortages, reflected in this Christmas rush scene in Pittsfield, led two ways: suburban shopping, new mid-city lots. Tague
UNION SQUARE
Construction of Pittsfield General Hospital's $3,200,000new building began in 1959. It is designed to hold 230 additional beds. Tague
Author James Burns, Williams College political science teacher, and Silvio Conte of Pittsfield, a state senator, left, spoke from the same platform at the Berkshire Museum in 1958, vying for a seat in Congress. Conte won. W. H. Tague
Some big estates of the Gilded Age became resorts offering guilded fun all year. One such is Eastover, Lenox. owned by George Bisacca (above) who cashes in on Civil War themes.
Mayor Robert Capeless of Pittsfield speaking at Adlai Stevenson's whistle-stop in the 1952 campaign. John F. Kennedy, then a Massachusetts congressman, stands near him, with the late Gov. Dever at left. Tague
1930s, the winter-sports business schussed ahead, aided by the new technique of making snow for skiing when nature fails. Lenox, summer home of the classic Boston Symphony, was startled when Music Barn and the School of Jazz blared forth at the nearby de- Heredia estate, drawing many students and big audiences. The literary trend continued, with Sinclair Lewis living a few years in Williamstown; Stefan Lorant settling in Lenox, James Gould Cozzens in Williamstown and playwright William Gibson in Stock- bridge, among others. The revolution hit retailing as congested downtown sections lost trade to suburban shopping centers with generous and free parking space. Many old mid-city buildings were torn down for parking lots, including the E. D. Jones Co.
The 123-mile Massachusetts Turnpike from Boston to the New York state line opened May 15, 1957. It cost about $239 million to build. Tague
-
Charles Munch of BSO con- ducting at Tanglewood. Manos
Berkshire's biggest industry, from the air: GE plant and (at top of photo) the Naval Ordnance section where guidance systems of Polaris missiles are built. GE Library
paper-machinery plant in Pittsfield; the company moved to a new building in Dalton. Jones, like several other firms, also went from local ownership into the control of a big, nationwide corporation. The Berkshire Life Insurance Co. vacated the center of Pittsfield and went into a new home office on the outskirts. House-building boomed everywhere. Along with this, education pushed ahead: a new, $11/2 million building for North Adams State College; estab- lishment in Pittsfield of the state's first two-year college, Berkshire Community College, in the city's old Central Junior High School; new primary and secondary schools including regional plants (each serving 3 or more towns) in Sheffield, Dalton and Williamstown. An urban renewal project wiped out antiquated blocks in the heart
Williamstown Summer Theater opened in June 1955 with" Time of the Cuckoo." Star Marcia Hender- son takes rehearsal coffee break with director David Bryant. Tague
Pulitzer Prize novelist James Gould Cozzens (in his study at home) moved in 1959 to Williamstown, where the famed composer Cole Porter is a part-time resident.
President John Kennedy was a senator running for re- election when he spoke in September 1958 at Bousquet's Ski Area. With him are his wife and brother Ted. Mitchell
103
The Hancock Shaker village with its round, stone barn and 900 acres was bought in 1960 by a non-profit group to preserve it for public purposes. Extensive restoration was started. Mitchell
Eye-catcher among paintings in the Clark Art Institute, Williams- town, is William Bouguereau's "Nymphs and Satyr." Also in the museum, opened in 1955, are 32 Renoirs, 10 Winslow Homers and one of the world's finest col- lections of rare silver. Tague
First regional school in the county was Mount Everett in Sheffield, built in 1955 at a cost of $970,000 to serve five towns in the area. Tague
E. D. Jones, sold to Beloit Iron Works in 1958, moved into new plant in Dalton in 1960. Its old buildings in mid-Pittsfield were demol- ished for parking. Fowler
of North Adams, and a federal river-control program eased the scourge of floods in Adams and North Adams. In the bicentennial year, Pittsfield and Dalton were completing a sewer and treatment- plant project as the biggest step yet toward cleaning up the polluted Housatonic River - a fresh note on which to end our look at two hundred years of Berkshire history.
Golf over the years has become one of the chief summer sports in Berkshire with 16 courses, among them well-groomed Pontoosuc Country Club. Tague
-
-
Berkshire Life's $21/2 million home office on South Street in Pittsfield was completed in 1959. It is the fifth headquarters location for the 110-year-old company. W. Tague
Berkshire's beautiful hills and lakes, changed little by time, appeal in new ways and old to thousands seeking re- creation, as at Pontoosuc. W. H. Tague
Barrington Fair, whose half-mile track dates from 1856, annu- ally takes in over $3 million in bets on horses. Warren Fowler
After years of trying, promoters succeeded in 1960 in estab- lishing a horse track in Hancock, Berkshire Downs. Tague
Chronology
The following is a calendar of some, though by no means all, of the noteworthy events which have influenced or enlivened the course of Berk- shire history since the first white man penetrated the mountain barriers.
1676
King Phillip's War reaches into the Berk- shires as a Colonial detachment under Major John Talcott pursues a band of Narragansett Indians to the Great Ford- way on the Housatonic River near what is now Great Barrington, killing 25 braves and capturing 20.
1677
A company of ransomed men, women and children who had been captured by the Indians in Hatfield pass through the Great Fordway on their way home from Canada, via Albany, N. Y.
1692
The first settlement in Berkshire County is believed to have been established in this year by several Dutch farmers who migrated east from the Hudson River valley into what is now the town of Mount Washington.
1694
The Rev. Benjamin Wadsworth, crossing the Berkshires en route from Boston to an Indian conference in Albany, describes the area as "a hideous, howling wild- erness".
1705
A land patent designated "Westenhook", extending east to the Housatonic valley, is granted to Dutch settlers by the colony of New York.
1722
Joseph Parsons and 176 other residents of Hampshire County petition the Massachusetts General Court for the right to settle two townships on the "Housatunnick River". The petition is granted (Jan. 30).
1724
Chief Konkapot and 20 other Indians sell a tract along the Housatonic River (in - cluding what is now Sheffield, Great Bar- rington, Egremont, Mount Washington, Alford, and parts of Lee, Stockbridge, and West Stockbridge) to the Parsons proprietors for "£460, 3 bbls. of cider and 30 qts. of rum".
1725
First settlers, most of them from West- field, move into the Sheffield grant, known as Lower Housatonnic Town- ship. The honor of being the first permanent English settler of Berkshire County is generally ascribed to Matthew Noble of Westfield.
1733
Lower Township of Housatonic is set off and incorporated under the name of Sheffield; the proprietors hold Berkshire County's first town meeting at Obadiah Noble's house (Jan. 16).
1734
John Sergeant, a tutor at Yale College,is appointed missionary to the Stockbridge Indians; he starts construction of a mission house (Oct. 21), and opens a school for Indians (Nov. 5).
1735
The Massachusetts General Court grants the Stockbridge Indians a township six miles square, comprising most of what is now Stockbridge and West Stockbridge. Sheffield's first meeting house is erected on Sheffield Plain.
Lawyer John Ashley, Westfield native and Yale graduate, builds the Ashley house in Sheffield, now the oldest house of any architectural distinction still standing in Berkshire County.
1736
The North Parish of Sheffield, then called Upper Housatonic Township and sub- sequently Great Barrington, is surveyed by Timothy Dwight of Northampton.
Colonel Jacob Wendell of Boston purchases for £1,320 a tract of land six miles square comprising what is now Pittsfield.
1739
Ephraim Williams of Stockbridge and three others fail in an attempt to survey the Hoosic River valley due to harrass- ment by "sundry gentlemen from Albany", who were Dutch claimants.
Township of Stockbridge is incorporated and holds its first town meeting (July 11) at which Ephraim Williams is elected moderator and Capt. John Konkapot and Aaron Umpachenee selectmen.
First settlement of Tyringham, by Isaac Garfield, Thomas Slaton, John Chadwick and Captain John Brewer of Hopkinton.
Benjamin Wheeler of Marlboro, Mass., becomes the first settler in New Marl- boro.
1740
First saw mill and grist mill established in Great Barrington by David Ingersoll. Sheffield establishes three "common schools", the first in Berkshire County. First settlement of what is now Alford, principally by families from Connecticut.
1741
Samuel Jackson and 75 others of Fram- ingham, Mass., successfully petition the General Court to grant them the wilder- ness tract which is now Lanesboro.
1743
The Rev. Samuel Hopkins, later a theologian of some note, comes from Northampton to Great Barrington to serve as the town's first minister.
1744
The so-called "Great Road" between Boston and Albany is laid out through the Berkshires, crossing the county at Great Barrington; it was extensively used during the French and Indian Wars.
1745
Fort Massachusetts, westernmost outpost of the Bay Colony, is erected in what is now North Adams, near the Williams- town line.
False reports of an Indian attack on the outskirts of Stockbridge cause the in- habitants of that town and of Great Barrington to flee to the comparative safety of Sheffield.
1746
Fort Massachusetts is beseiged, captured and burned down by 900 French and In- dians under Gen. De Vaudreuil.
1749
East and West Hoosuck, comprising what is now Williamstown, Adams, and North Adams, is laid out by the General Court; West Hoosuck (Williamstown) receives its first settlers, from Connec- ticut.
John Sergeant dies in Stockbridge at age 39 after 15 years of ministering to the Indians in their own language.
1750
Sheffield establishes the first grammar (secondary) school in the Berkshires.
Jonathan Hinsdale of Hartford, Conn., builds the first house in what is now Lenox, near Courthouse Hill.
1751
The Rev. Jonathan Edwards, newly dis- missed from his pulpit in Northampton, comes to Stockbridge to succeed John Sergeant as missionary to the Indians.
1752
First settlement of Pontoosuck Plan- tation, later named Pittsfield, by Solomon Deming of Wethersfield, Conn., who brought a cart and team, cutting his way through the woods.
1753
First reference to maple sugar making in America appears in the writings of the Rev. Samuel Hopkins, who describes sugar making by the Stockbridge Indians and suggests that it might be useful in the manufacture of rum.
1754
"Freedom of the Will" by Jonathan Edwards is published; the first book written in Berkshire County.
106
First attempt to settle Lanesboro is frustrated by the appearance of a band of hostile Indians, who frighten the settlers away.
1755
Ashuelot Equivalent (later Dalton) is settled by families from Eastern Massa- chusetts.
First settlement of Becket, from Connec- ticut.
Col. Ephraim Williams is killed (Sept. 8) in French and Indian War at Crown Point, N. Y., six weeks after writing a will providing for establishment of "a free school forever in West Hoosac, pro- vided it be given name of Williams- town". This bequest eventually helped launch Williams College.
1756
Fort West Hoosac built, near center of Williamstown.
Three Williamstown settlers killed in Indian attack.
1757
Indian claims to Mt. Washington bought by settlers for £15.
A tract comprising what is now Wash- ington is bought by Connecticut group from Robert Watson of Sheffield, who falsely persuaded them he had bought it from the Indians; the Indian claim was purchased properly in 1760.
1758
Jonathan Edwards leaves Stockbridge to become president of Princeton (Jan. 4). Dies March 24.
General Jeffrey Amherst, British Com- mander-in-Chief in North America, camps in Great Barrington en route to Fort Ticonderoga.
1759
British victory over French at Quebec effectively ends Indian threat to Berk- shire area.
1760
First settlement of Richmond by Captain Micah Mudge and Ichabod Wood, both from Connecticut.
Lee's first settler, Isaac Davis, builds house at Hop Brook.
1761
Colonel William Williams goes to Boston as agent of the four towns and six plantations of Berkshire and submits a petition for their incorporation as a county (April 13).
Pittsfield act of incorporation is signed by Gov. Sir Francis Bernard (April 26). First Pittsfield town meeting (May 11). North Parish of Sheffield is incorporated as Great Barrington; act of incorporation is signed by Gov. Bernard (June 30). Berkshire County is established by division of Hampshire County (July 1) and Great Barrington is designated as county seat.
First county officials take office: Sheriff Elijah Williams of Stockbridge, Clerk of Courts Elijah Dwight of Great Barring- ton, and Register of Deeds Mark Hop- kins, also of Great Barrington.
First trial in Berkshire County, on charges that Landlord Root of Great Barrington "did wittingly and willfully suffer and permit singing, fiddling, and dancing in his dwelling-house, there being there a tavern or public house." Root pleads guilty, is fined 10 shillings and costs.
1762
First settlement of New Ashford by immigrants from Eastern Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut.
Hinsdale settled by Miller brothers,
Francis, David and Thomas, from Middlebury, Conn.
1763
Berkshire Association of Congregational Ministers established with five charter members.
Williamstown builds its first school house, on what is now Spring Street.
1764
Rev. Thomas Allen of Northampton becomes Pittsfield's first minister.
St. James Church - first Episcopal church in Western Massachusetts - established in Great Barrington.
1765
First Berkshire courthouse built in Great Bartington.
West Hoosuck incorporated as Williams- town (June 21).
New Framingham incorporated as Lanes- boro (June 20).
1766
West Stockbridge settled by Joseph Bryant of Canaan, Conn., who builds a house in section now known as West Center.
Rhode Island Quakers settle East Hoosuck (later Adams and North Adams).
1767
Hancock settled by Asa Douglass of Canaan, Conn.
Lenox taken from Richmond and in- corporated as a separate township; 'Lenox' was family name of Duke of Richmond.
Windsor settled by Joseph Chamberlain and Ephraim Keyes of Connecticut and Edward Walker of Hadley.
Cheshire settled by Col. Joab Stafford and others from Rhode Island.
1770
Tract comprising what is now Savoy granted to heirs of Capt. Samuel Gallup of Rehoboth for his "services and suffer- ings rendered and endured in an ex- pedition against Canada during King William's War about 1690."
1771
Inoculation for small-pox introduced in Great Barrington by a Dr. Latham; town officials oppose it.
Konkapot, aged 94, steps down as chief of Stockbridge Indians, and is succeeded by Chief Solomon (Solomon Unhaun- nauwaunnutt).
1774
County convention meets under the chairmanship of John Ashley of Sheffield and resolves to urge "nonconsumption of British manufactures" (July 6).
Some 1,500 unarmed Berkshire men seize courthouse in Great Barrington and prevent royal judges from sitting (Aug. 18). This has been termed "first open resistance to British rule in America.
Two regiments of Berkshire Minute Men are organized under Col. John Paterson of Lenox and Col. John Fellows of Sheffield, both of whom be- came generals in Revolutionary War.
1775
News of Battle of Lexington reaches Berkshires; Col. Paterson's regiment starts out for Cambridge (April 21).
Fort Ticonderoga captured without a shot in surprise attack by Ethan Allen's Green Mountain Boys and 57 Berkshire men under Col. James Easton (May 10).
1776
Hancock, formerly called Jericho, in- corporated as a township; named after John Hancock, the patriot.
Continental troops under Gen. Henry Knox bring from Ticonderoga 58 captured cannon and mortars to Dor- chester via Albany, Great Barrington, Monterey and Westfield along the Great Road, later known as Knox Trail, using 124 yoke of oxen.
1777
Berkshire volunteers muster at Stafford Hill, Cheshire, before marching to Battle of Bennington (Aug. 12). "Fight- ing Parson" Allen of Pittsfield was said to have fired the first Berkshire shot at Bennington.
Lee incorporated as a township; named after Revolutionary Gen. Charles Lee. Harwood incorporated as township of Washington.
Following Gen. Burgoyne's surrender with 5,791 troops at Saratoga (Oct. 17), two large groups of British prisoners cross Berkshire County en route to Boston.
1778
Gageborough renamed Windsor at re- quest of its inhabitants, who do not wish to have their town named after a British general.
Adams incorporated as a township. 1779
Mrs. John Fisk is excommunicated from Stockbridge Church for marrying a Revolutionary War officer accused of habitually using profane language. A cause celebre in Massachusetts Congrega- tionalism, this case pitted Calvinist orthodoxy against the church liberals.
1780
Berkshire regiment of 300 men, recruited to help check Indian and Tory depreda- tions in the Mohawk Valley, is ambushed at Palatine, N. Y., in the last engagement involving Berkshire troops in the Revolu- tionary War. Forty patriots killed and scalped, including Col. John Brown of Pittsfield, commander of the regiment.
107
1781
First Quaker meeting house built in Adams; it burned down and was rebuilt in 1784.
Konkapot, head man of the Stockbridge Indians, dies, allegedly at the age of 104.
1783
Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts meets in Berkshire County for first time, at Lenox.
First - settlement of Florida by Daniel Nelson of Stafford, Conn.
Feast and ball at Peace Party House, Pittsfield, to celebrate the signing of the Treaty of Paris.
Great Barrington court refuses to order the return to her master of Elizabeth Freeman, a Negro slave who fled harsh treatment and was defended in court by Theodore Sedgwick; she has been called the first American slave freed by law.
1784
Dalton (formerly Ashuelot Equivalent) incorporated as a township; named after Tristram Dalton, speaker of the Massa- chusetts House of Representatives.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.