USA > Massachusetts > Hampshire County > Gazetteer of Hampshire County, Mass., 1654-1887 > Part 44
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PRIVATE INSTITUTIONS.
The Cooley Dickinson Hospital was built in 1885, and was formally opened January 1, 1886. Its object as stated in the bequest by its founder, the late Caleb C. Dickinson, of Hatfield, is " to establish and put in operation in the town of Northampton a hospital "for the sick poor of the towns of Hat- field, Whately and Northampton, where they may receive such care, nursing and medical attendance as their diseases and sicknesses may require, either gratuitously or at a moderate charge according to the circumstances of each." Mr. Dickinson in his will further says, "It is my design with the property which a kind Providence has given me to found a hospital where the sick among the poor of said towns shall be tenderly and kindly provided with such care and treatment as their condition needs, and which in numerous cases it is impossible for them to receive in their homes, and the same to be wholly or in part free of charge." The building is a handsome wooden structure, situated on the tract formerly occupied by Dr. Denniston's water cure, on North Elm corner of Locust street. The lot embraces sixteen acres, ten acres of which was given by the city of Northampton. The grounds are being improved and put in order rapidly. George W. Hubbard and John Whittelsey of Northampton, and William H. Dickinson of Hatfield, are trustees of the institution ; Miss Eva A. Castle is matron and superintendent.
Northampton City Alms House .- The city furnishes support for its aged, insane and otherwise helpless poor, at an alms house situated on North Prospect street. It embraces a two-story brich house with two extensions of wood, also of two stories, and thirty-seven acres of land. It is under the supervision of Oscar J. Damon, as warden, and Mrs. Damon as matron, with a requisite number of assistants. The average number of inmates is four- teen.
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Shady Lawn Sanitarium .- The character, peculiarities or usefulness of institutions, as of men, may differ with the point of view from which they are regarded. For their abilities may lie in more lines and fields than one, and their services may be multiple.
Thus Shady Lawn, an institution which its locality and the state owe en- tirely to Dr. Austin White Thompson, as elsewhere stated in this work, may be viewed on its public or its private side, with reference to its work in treat- ing insanity and the various inebrieties, or with reference to its, perhaps, more conspicuous achievements in general surgery and in the surgical and other treatment of diseases peculiar to women ; or still again as a health re- sort for troubles of the nervous system and other ailments that can be better managed and cured away from the sufferer's home, and with the equipment, organization, discipline and method of a hospital competently governed, and liberally and conscientiously supplied and overseen.
It has its public side. This is turned towards the state authorities. By them its proprietor is officially addressed as "Superintendent of the Shady Lawn Lunatic Hospital," and in virtue of this official position he, no more than the superintendents of the state lunatic hospitals, can retain and treat lunatics and inebriates, as such, unless they have been committed to his hos- pital by a court of jurisdiction according to law. Precisely like the state superintendents, he has full sanction and authority to retain such patients as have been thus committed ; but quite differently, on the other hand, by rea- son of the private character of his asylum, Dr. Thompson may decline any case, thus excluding such as would be undesirable companions for cases already grouped together. For the state hospitals must admit all cases that are sent to them by the courts, no matter what the nature or severity of their insanity. It should not, however, be inferred that acute cases, with trying features that compel the removal of the lunatic from home and family, can not be cared for at Shady Lawn. Many persons, violently seized with mania, have been successfully treated there and have been restored and returned to their friends. It need hardly be said that in a private hospital special care can be given to cases whose means permit, and whose nurture and tastes require comforts or luxuries ; and that the most scientific treatment, thus individuated, is for that reason actually more effective and hopeful, especially in acute cases early committed. With veteran and agreeable attendants and a limitation of the number of inmates, a special environment and mental atmosphere can be commanded for insane cases in a private hospital ; and then, in this one, the insane come in social contact with other patients who are not mentally afflicted, to the great advantage of the former class.
Another important particular, wherein Shady Lawn differs from the state institutions for the insane and inebriates, relates to the law forbidding the public hospitals to admit patients who do not belong in the commonwealth. Shady Lawn is under no such restriction ; but has received the greater share of its cases from beyond the borders of Massachusetts. All parts of the
AUSTIN WHITE THOMPSON.
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Union, including the West and California, and Cuba and Canada, have con- tributed inmates. An interesting and impressive illustration and result of the polyglot blending of nationalities in Dr. Thompson's establishment was the decoration of his grounds for a Fourth of July celebration, some years ago, with the flags of Germany, Spain and Great Britain, intertwined with the stars and stripes, subjects of all those powers, being then members of his resident clientele.
To no class of its residents, we judge, has Shady Lawn been more truly a home, or better than home, than to the aged demens, with decrepit health, whose broken and confused minds have made them an impossible feature in their own families. They must have, for their best comfort, the constant ministrations of both nurse and physician in a way requiring method and discipline quite foreign to domestic life. They must be controlled. They can be amused. So their life becomes more bright and orderly, and much suffering is spared them; while the relief to their relatives at home is un- speakable. Quite a number of aged persons thus necessarily, but pleasantly exiled from their homes have passed in this retreat the last few years of their lives. They have represented prominent families in many parts of the country.
Thus far the history of this sanitarium in its relations to the insane and inebriates, who have made up the larger part of its constituency. And here in passing we may appropriately mention that it is the only private lunacy and inebriate hospital in Western Massachusetts; and it is due Dr. Thomp- son to say that it is conducted upon the principles of regular medical science and the ethics of quiet self-respect-without 'ism or 'pathy, or the assump- tion of mystery, cant or quackish arts.
It remains to speak of the surgical side of his work. And this has been probably more brilliant, because more original, and because the performance and results of surgery are more visible and demonstrable than are the deli- cate labors that must be done for, and with the darkened minds under treat- ment for lunacy as the prime disorder.
In surgery, as in medicine, there are specialties that naturally arise in the practice ; and one class of surgical cases that separate themselves from the generality in experience are such as are more safely attempted under hospital means, facilities and safeguards, where, during convalescence from opera- tions, the surgeon can be constantly under the same roof with the patient. This division of surgical cases includes a good part of operations deliberately attempted for the restoration of health, when possible through surgical means, such as the removal of tumors, for example ; and is distinguished from cases of accident and emergency that must be cared for wherever the accident befell. Shady Lawn receives for operation and care such cases as the for- mer; and the test of experience has shown that its large grounds, its retire- ment from business streets and its equipment have given the very best re-
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sults, even in midsummer. Conservative surgery may, therefore, be said to have been, and to be, one of its features.
But it is with a surgical specialty, more strictly speaking, that this institu- tion has been chiefly and prominently concerned, viz .: with that of the diseases peculiar to women. Gynaecology is the name given to this branch of the science. It is cultivated in the larger cities of the world, whither cases are commonly sent for operation, as are cases requiring delicate attentions to the eye or the ear. In this very interesting and important field of Gynaecology Shady Lawn has been doing notable work ; indeed, in one particular it has made an epoch and won a distinction for Northampton that we are the first to record for permanent history.
In May, 1879, Dr. Thompson performed what is known as " Battey's oper- ation," from the name of the surgeon who first propounded it, its first per- formance in the New England states. This operation is the removal of the ovaries from the abdomen, for the sake of relieving some disease that seems to be ascribable to those organs. He has since done this operation a num- ber of times, with complete success ; and in every instance but one for the care of mental disorder. Lacerations of the bladder and of the womb have been repaired, and other surgical work falling within the same specialty has been a regular and constant element in the business of the hospital. But Dr. Thompson's priority in this part of the country in the difficult and im- portant operation in question, and his altogether successful repetitions of it, deserve to be put on record for his credit and that of the city and county wherein it was done. In this particular Northampton has the start of all New England, its " love of proud cities," and even its " Hub." We hope that long usefulness and many triumphs await Shady Lawn in the future ; but in the achievement we have just recorded " its past at least is secure."
In concluding our sketch, our historian would beg to express his thanks to Dr. Thompson for a courteous and considerate reception and treatment.
The Mary A. Burnham Classical School .- It was not long after the estab- lishment of Smith college when President Seelye saw the need of a prepara- tory school. At this time Miss Bessie T. Capen held the chair of chemistry at the college, and was consulted by the president with reference to the mat- ter. Miss Capen, at his suggestion, wrote to Miss Mary A. Burnham, then in Vermont ; she came on here, and after a brief consultation plans were formulated, and in September, 1877, Miss Burnham started the school on the Lyman estate on Elm street. The success of the venture was assured almost from the start. In about two years the ell addition to the old Lyman house was put up, and in June, 1880, Miss Capen retired from the department of chemistry at the college, joined Miss Burnham's enterprise and took the late Rev. Gordon Hall's house on Elm street, for additional study room. In 1882 the Talbot place on Prospect street was taken by Miss Capen, Miss Burn- ham continuing with the school on Elm street, the two of course being iden-
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tical in interests. Miss Burnham died in 1884, and the school with an effi- cient corps of teachers, is conducted by Miss Capen.
BANKS.
Early Institutions .- The first bank established here was the " Northampton Bank," which was organized March 31, 1803. At its first meeting the fol- lowing persons were chosen directors: Ebenezer Hunt, Jonathan Dwight, Samuel Porter, Oliver Smith, Benj. Prescott and Erastus Lyman. The directors subsequently made choice of Levi Shepherd as president, and Levi Lyman, cashier. They also voted to build a banking house, and that the bank should go into operation September 1, 1803. In October of the same year a new board of directors was chosen. Hon. Samuel Henshaw was elected president, and Mr. Lyman continued as cashier. The first half-yearly dividend was declared the second Monday of April, 1804. Whether the vote of the directors to erect a banking house was carried out, is not known. The bank was continued for ten or fifteen years, and its affairs were wound up soon after the establishment of the Hampshire bank.
On the 15th of August, 1813, the "Hampshire Bank " was organized, and the following directors chosen: Joseph Lyman, Ebenezer Mattoon, Seth Wright, Oliver Smith and Ebenezer Hunt, Jr. Joseph Lyman was chosen president, and Thomas Swan, cashier. The capital stock was $100,000. The banking house was on the site of the store now occupied by Merritt Clark, and a portion of the wall of the original building is still standing. This institution continued to do business for about twenty years, its only president being Hon. Joseph Lyman. The affairs of the bank were closed up soon after the establishment of the present Northampton bank, the stock-holders having the privilege of taking stock in the new bank. A few only availed themselves of the opportunity.
Northampton National Bank .-- April 13, 1833, the Northampton bank was organized with a capital of $100,000.00, which in 1837 was increased to $200,000.00. Eliphlet Williams was chosen president, and J. D. Whitney, cashier. In 1865 the bank was re-organized under the national currency act, with the name it now bears, and the capital increased to $400,000.00. On the night of Tuesday, January 25, 1876, the bank was robbed of nearly a million dollars, which disaster has since been known as "the great North- ampton bank robbery." The facts in relation to this robbery are too well known to require recapitulation here. The present officers are Oscar Ed- wards, president ; J. L. Warriner, vice-president ; and J. Whittelsey, cashier.
Northampton Institution for Savings .- This bank was incorporated March I, 1842, and on the Ist of the following October the first meeting of the cor- porators was held, when C. P. Huntington was elected president, and S. L. Hinckley, secretary and treasurer. The incorporators of the bank were J. H. Butler, Samuel L. Hinckley and Stephen Brewer, and it owes its existence
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to the first mentioned of these gentlemen. The present officers are H. G. Knight, president; L. Maltby, treasurer ; and T. G. Spaulding, secretary.
First National Bank of Northampton .- The Holyoke bank was chartered in the spring of 1848, with a capital of $100.000.00. At its organization John Clarke was chosen president, and Thomas Green, cashier. In 1849 the capital of the institution was increased to $150,000.00, and in 1850, to $200,000.00. On May 2, 1864, it was re-organized and took the name it now bears, and the capital increased to $300,000.00. In 1865 it was again in- creased to $400,000.00, and in 1869 to $500.000.00. The present officers are William B. Hale, president ; H. F. Williams, vice-president ; and Fred- erick N. Kneeland, cashier.
Hampshire County National Bank .- This institution was chartered in May, 1864, with a capital of $100,000.00, and commenced business in August of that year. The prime mover in the enterprise was Luther Bodman, who was elected its first president and who still holds that position. W. C. Robinson was the first cashier. In December, 1864, the capital was increased to $200,000.00, and in 1865 to $250,000.00. Lewis Warner is the present cashier.
The Hampshire Savings Bank .- This bank was organized in May, 1869, with J. C. Arms, president ; Lewis Warner, treasurer, and Luther Bodman, secretary. In 1873 Luther Bodman was chosen president, and still holds the position, with Lewis Warner, treasurer.
The Florence Savings Bank .- This institution was organized April 5, 1873, and began business May 6th of the same year. A. T. Lilly was chosen presi- dent, and H. H. Bond, secretary and treasurer. The former still holds the office, and M. W. Bond is treasurer.
HOTELS.
The Hotel Norwoood, on Bridge street, a cut of which appears herewith, is one of the most elegant, home-like and hospitable public houses to be found. Late in the last century there stood upon its site the famous " Tontine" buildings, which were destroyed by fire about 1815. John Clarke, father of Christopher Clarke, bought the land, and, in 1827, built the present building for a private residence. After his death it was purchased of his executors by the late ex-Lieut. Gov. Hayden, and was long known as the Hayden place. In the spring of 1886 it was taken by George W. Forbes, it having been re- cently remodeled, and was elegantly furnished and opened as a first-class hotel. Its fine appearance is shown by the engraving. Mr. Forbes is a hotel man of experience, popular and genial, and we predict for the young "Nor- wood " many years of prosperity.
The Mansion House, Rodney Brown, proprietor, is located on Main street. It is a well-kept, popular hotel.
The Hampshire House is located on Main street, corner of Strong avenue. The City Hotel is located on the corner of Pleasant and Pearl streets.
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HOTEL NORWOOD, GEORGE W. FORBES, PROPRIETOR.
NORWOOD
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WATER WORKS.
The construction of the Northampton water works was commenced in May, 1871. The water is taken from Roberts's Meadow brook, one and one-half miles west of Leeds. There is a fall of ninety feet in Florence, and 244 feet at the railroad crossing in Bridge street. There are now laid twenty-six and two-thirds miles of pipe. The number of families taking water January 1, 1884, was 1,647, and the supply proving inadequate, a second reservoir was constructed, with a capacity of 16,500,000 gallons. The cost of the entire works, including the second reservoir, was $240,620.00. The water commis- sioners are D. W. Bond, president ; Oscar Edwards, treasurer; H. F. Will- iams, clerk ; Lucius Dimock, Josephus Crafts, J. S. Lathrop and Jonas M. Clark, superintendents.
GAS WORKS.
The original charter of the Northampton Gas Light Co. was issued in 1853, to William H. Stoddard, Samuel A. Fisk and Daniel Kingsley. The com- pany was empowered to hold real estate to the amount of $50,000.00. The company was organized in 1855, and the works were completed in 1856, at a cost of $35,000.00. The capital was increased to $100,000.00. The pres- ent officers are M. M. French, president, and William B. Hale, secretary and treasurer.
CHURCHES.
The First Church of Christ, Congregational .- The organization of a church was always a primary object in the settlement of new towns and plantations in the Province of Massachusetts Bay. So it is not strange that the peti- tioners to the general court for liberty to plant in Nonotuck, should adduce as a principal reason that it was suitably located for "propagating the gospel," as it seemed desirable to them that "they might live and attend upon God in his holy ordinances without distraction." The next year after the arrival of the settlers a contract was made with five of the planters for the erection of a house of worship, the materials and dimensions of which are thus described :
"A house for the town of Norhampton, of sawen timber, twenty-six foot long and eighteen foot wide, nine foot high from the lower part of the cell to the upper part of the roisens."
Other specifications of minor importance followed. This edifice was un- doubtedly used both for civil and religious purposes. In 1658 the town unanimously extended an invitation to Mr. Eleazer Mather "to be minister to them in the way of trial in dispensing his gifts." Mr. Mather came at once, and it was agreed that he should have for half a year £25 in "good merchantable wheat." And soon after it was voted to raise £1oo to build a
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minister's house. A home-lot of four acres was also donated to Mr. Mather in case he remained with them four years. This lot was bounded by Main and Pleasant streets. Seven years after the settlement and three years after the call to Mr. Mather, a church organization was effected. This singular vote appears in 1663: "Each person will contribute towards defraying the charge of the sacrament three pecks and half of wheat for a year," to be paid "to the deacon when he shall call for it."
Mr. Mather died after ministering to the church about eleven years. Rev. Solomon Stoddard succeeded Mr. Mather in 1672. The terms of his settle- ment were : Meadow land of the value of £100 and fioo a year for his support, £100 to build a house, the use of £100 worth of sequestered land for an indefinite period, and a home lot of four acres, upon the condition that Mr. Stoddard " doth settle and abide amongst us." On the fifth of No- vember, 1672, the following significant note was passed by the church. It was the entering wedge, if not the very marrow of the "half-way covenant " doctrine which was destined nearly three-quarters of a century afterwards to exert a momentous influence upon the internal peace and harmony of the church in Northampton, and is inserted exactly as it appears upon the records :-
" Voted & consented unto by the Elders & Brethren of this church, that from year to year such as grow up to adult age in the church shall present themselves to the Elders, & if they be found to understand & assent unto the doctrine of faith not to be scandalous in life, & willing to submit themselves to the government of Christ in this church, shall publicly own the covenant & be acknowledged members of this church."
It may be remarked in this connection that, as will be seen by the preced- ing paragraph, the constitution of the "Half-way covenant" system was the work of the church itself, and not of the pastor, although accepted and de- fended by the latter. This departure from established usages was first assailed by Dr. Increase Mather, of Boston, in a sermon entitled "The Order of the Gospel." To this Mr. Stoddard replied with rare ability, and seemingly had the best of the argument, as his opponent gradually suffered the controversy to subside. It was only renewed when his grandson and successor, Jonathan Edwards, re-opened the whole question. During Mr. Stoddard's ministry, nearly the whole adult population was embraced within the pale of the church. On one occasion about fourteen hundred persons were ascertained by actual count, to be listening to one of his admirable discourses. His active pastor- ate extended through the long period of fifty-seven years. From such ac- counts as have come down to the present time, it appears that he was fre- quently, if not generally, an extemporaneous preacher.
The first meeting-house was converted into a school-house, and the second edifice was erected in 1663. A committee was appointed to assign seats to individuals and families, with directions to regard "age, estate, qualifications, only respecting commissioned officers and impartiality." This was somewhat vague. The new house was forty-two feet square. It was not until 1682
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that steps were taken to procure a bell. Up to that time the people had been called together. for public worship by the beating of a drum or the blowing of a trumpet. Jedediah Strong received 18s. per year for several years for blowing the trumpet on the Sabbath.
An accident occured in this meeting-house on the 13th of March, 1737, which may be briefly alluded to. While Mr. Edwards was conducting divine service, the gallery, full of people of all ages, fell upon those who were seated below. Of the hundreds who were involved in the ruins some were severely bruised, but fortunately, no bones were broken.
The third pastor of the church was Rev. Jonathan Edwards. Mr. Edwards was emphatically a great man, a profound thinker, and the most logical rea- soner of his time. But he became involved in a little controversy with his people and his pastorate terminated in 1750. The third meeting-house was erected in 1738.
The fourth pastor was Rev. John Hooker, a grandson of Rev. Thomas Hooker, one of the founders of the Connecticut colony and the first minister of Hartford. He married Sarah Worthington, sister of Colonel John Worth- ington, of Springfield, an eminent lawyer, but favorable to the growing in- croachments of the English crown upon the rights and privileges of the colo- nies, wherein he differed from nearly all his contemporaries in Western Massa- chusetts. Mr. Hooker was installed in 1753, and died in 1777, of small- pox after a pastorate of twenty-three years. It is stated that his style of preaching was simple and unaffected, direct and earnest.
His successor, Rev. Soloman Williams, was a native of East Hartford, Conn. It is said that at his ordination dinner the town furnished "one hund- red and six pounds of beef, pork and veal," but declined to pay for any liquors. He married the daughter of his predecessor, Mr. Hooker. His success as a preacher was somewhat remarkable. During his ministry nearly one thousand persons were added to the church. He died in 1834 at the great age of eighty-two.
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