USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Hampden county, 1636-1936, Volume I > Part 21
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In 1826 a new line of stages was advertised, which left Spring- field daily at 5 A. M. for Hartford, taking the west side, and return- ing at 7 P. M., for one dollar. This line stopped at a Springfield hotel. The following year there was started a stage line from Spring- field to Belchertown by the Factory Village. In 1828 still another line was started between Norwich and Springfield, and the distance between the two places was covered in eleven hours.
At Chicopee, about 1823, the cotton factories on the Chicopee River belonging to the Boston and Springfield Manufacturing Com- pany were begun. In 1826 there were two brick five-story factories, with seven thousand spindles and two hundred and forty looms, and there were about twenty tenement houses for operatives with accom- modations for fifty-four families.
The poorhouse, which was built in 1802, was situated on the west side of North Main Street. Up to 1824 the inmates had numbered one hundred and fifty males and sixty-five females, besides a number of children. In August, 1802, Calvin Stebbins was made master of the workhouse. He promulgated a rule that no inmate should have any rum or ardent spirits not furnished by him, on pain of being put in the stocks, not exceeding three hours at a time. When a committee was appointed to consider the condition of the poor, it deplored the fact that the inmates were given so small an allowance of liquor.
In January, 1825, a committee of the Connecticut River Associa- tion addressed circulars to all towns interested in river navigation to meet at Windsor, February 16.
It was proposed to open river traffic to Lake Memphremagog. National aid was expected in continuing trade communication with Canada. A shipment of lumber which had to be carted forty miles to
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the Erie Canal, and thence carried two hundred miles to Troy, go by sloop down the Hudson to the Sound, up the Connecticut to Hartford, and then be transferred to furniture manufactories, troubled the visions of local students of commerce. The project of connecting the river at Bellows Falls with Boston by a canal was also talked of, but engi- neers preferred to strike the river at Springfield. The Windsor con- vention memorialized Congress and took steps to form a navigation company. A largely-attended meeting of the citizens was held at the Hampden Coffee-house in May to consider canals and river traffic. It was resolved that a Boston and Springfield canal was practicable and desirable, and that the river could be improved so as to admit sloops to Springfield. George Bliss was in the chair and delegates were chosen to attend a meeting at Brookfield.
A writer in a Boston paper declared that "a canal from Springfield to Boston will render our harbor the mouth of the Connecticut River." The papers of the State were filled with arguments pro and con, and every step of the engineers commissioned to survey the Connecticut and a canal route across the State was followed with lively interest.
Among other things, Thomas Blanchard, the inventor, was very much interested in steamboat navigation, and he built a little stern- wheel boat which he named after himself and launched in the autumn of 1828.
Not long afterward he invited a party of citizens to go with him on a trial trip. The "Blanchard" had a sixty-foot keel and twelve-foot beam, and a cabin ten by twenty-four, divided into two compartments.
The river was very high and a few days before the "Blanchard" had cruised around the swollen river, steamed up the Agawam to the bridge, and ventured across the flooded meadows to the Connecticut River again, about a mile above the mouth of the Agawam.
The first trip to Hartford was made in two hours and fifty min- utes, carrying fifty passengers, and the arrival at Hartford was greeted with a cannon salute. Much attention was given to Mr. Blanchard as an inventive genius. The "Blanchard" soon became very popular as an excursion boat. During a single week it took no less than six hundred school children on various pleasure trips. The steamer "Vermont," also built by Captain Blanchard, was completed in July, 1829, for a Brattleboro company. The hull was brought to
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completion on Hubbard Avenue and drawn on wheels through Main Street, then down Elm Street to the river, and thence floated to the wharf at the foot of Howard Street. It was seventy-five feet long and fifteen feet beam, and had a large promenade deck. Ascending the Enfield rapids was done with ease and the boat could pass through the Willimansett Canal. The Hartford "Mirror" noted in July, 1829, as evidence of business conditions, that four boats arrived there from Springfield in one day loaded with produce and merchandise valued at $100,000.
The steamer "Vermont" was able to run the Enfield Falls with- out the aid of poles. In April, 1830, the townsfolk saw for the first time a schooner under full sail. It was "The Eagle" on the river, and had come up through the Enfield Canal. The "Blanchard" and the "Vermont" both happened to be lying at the wharf, and the excited people at once dreamed of a metropolis.
A convention of the river towns at Windsor, Vermont, in October, 1830, recommended forming a company for a steam tow-boat naviga- tion of the river. Arrangements were soon made to superintend the building of a number of boats. Three boats were already plying between Springfield and Hartford. Captain Blanchard's new boat, the "Massachusetts," was ninety-six feet long and considered a beauty. Some people called these Connecticut boats "sauce-pans," and had their smile when the "Massachusetts" was not small enough to go through the Enfield Canal, and had to wait for high water before it could run up the falls. One boat took down to Hartford sixty passengers, most of them tourists, and the steamboat "William Hall" would arrive at the wharf with six or eight boats in tow. The Valley Company at this time owned some thirty freight boats and charged $2,000 for the season.
The "Agawam" made its trial trip down the river July 20, 1837, and ran the falls on the return trip easily, with no pole men employed. The steamboat "Barnet" was three days running the Enfield Falls, even with the assistance of no less than fifty men, so that the "Aga- wam's" trip of six miles of rapids in an hour's time was considered a great triumph.
After the decline of training day and the multiplying of feast days, there sprang up a number of special military organizations that graced many a festal occasion and covered the town with glory. The
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old artillery company, organized before the War of 1812, was the admiration and wonder of this vicinity. It had a couple of six- pounders which were kept at the foot of Elm Street, near the gate of the old cemetery. The dark blue coats and belts with big brass buckles lingered fondly in the memory. But it was the Hampden Guards that took the lasting honors for military prowess. This organization included most of the flower of Springfield. They wore white trousers, tall leather caps, blue dress coats with bell skirts and standing collars. The local organizations often participated in the May trainings, and always in the fall muster when the militia of the county gathered for inspection and parade and sham battles. The fields adjoining North Main Street, the "rye field" on the hill, and West Springfield have been the scenes of these martial displays.
In 1824 .the Governor's Foot Guards of Hartford made a return visit to Springfield in the "Blanchard." They were welcomed by the selectmen, a company of sixty horsemen, the Hampden Guards, the Springfield Artillery and a large crowd. They went to the Ordnance Yard and a banquet followed, and there was a reception in the town hall in the evening. The next day there was much marching and plenty of speeches.
The Ist and 2d Regiments of Infantry with the local artillery company were reviewed October 7, 1830, in Springfield, by Major- General Sheldon. They made a fine appearance and drew a big crowd, which improved the day by "stowing away oysters, gingerbread and other food well peppered with dust, and seemed as much fatigued with the labors of the day as the military."
By 1828, much attention was being paid to village improvements. New streets were laid out and Charles Stearns was appointed to widen and deepen a part of the town brook, for which he used 1,500 feet of block stone, over 10,000 bricks and 9,000 feet of planking. There was a bit of what now seems vandalism attending these improvements. In May, 1829, Charles Stearns proposed to cut down an ancient elm standing on Main Street, near the land of George Bliss, in order to carry out the work of draining the meadow by enlarging the brook. The elm was in the way and much feeling was caused by the plan to cut it down. The Blisses applied to Chief Justice Parker for an injunc- tion, which, after a learned argument, was denied, and the elm fell. Another handsome elm stood in the yard of James Bliss and it was
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cut down in 1853. A West Springfield farmer is said to have gathered some seeds under this tree, sowed them, and in due time traded elm saplings for a cemetery lot, whence came the avenue of elms leading to the beautiful Maple Street entrance of the cemetery. The old elm that stood on Court Square was planted by the Pynchon family, according to tradition, and was a large tree at the time of the Revolution.
A tree which figures in "The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table" stood on Barnes' lot on the old line between the Dwight pasture and the Pynchon lot. It was called the largest tree in New England. At its most slender girth, which was about two and a half feet from the ground, it measured twenty-eight feet in circumference. It stood only a few feet from the brook which flowed through the lot and there joined the town brook along the side of Main Street. One could almost sit under its great branches and catch the trout which abounded in the stream. The rails of the fence for which the old tree was the post had been placed against it so long that the tree had grown around them.
One of the town's famous trees was in front of the Elm Street schoolhouse. Attempts were made at various times to have it cut down, but it continued to stand long after it was a hundred years old.
There was another elm opposite Worthington Street, on the east side of Main, which was cut down when that street was laid out in 1841. This tree was often called the "offering tree," as the dense shade of the tree and the unfrequented neighborhood made a favorite resort. The roots of the tree protruded in a snarl on the south path. The trees on North Main Street which were set out in 1770 by Major Joseph Stebbins were brought by him from West Springfield on his back and in a boat. The row formerly extended from Carew Street to Cypress Street.
Evidence of lawless men abounded in those days, and the authori- ties had their hands full for a time. In 1828 a number of bold bur- glaries took place, and the people began to know the value of lock and key. Up to the War of 1812 no one bolted the door of his residence in the town and this was true of most New England villages. In 1828 John Kinder, employed by Coolidge and Sanderson, stole one hundred and sixteen muskrat skins from them and was arrested while attempting to dispose of them at Worcester.
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A gang of thieves had spread their operations through all this region. They had made raids on stores in Chicopee, West Springfield, Winslow's Clock Shop, and the residence of Jonathan Blake in Spring- field. Elijah Blake distinguished himself by organizing a party to scour the woods, and on a Sunday morning in May, Russell Stephen- son and George Ball were cornered in a hovel where booty was con- cealed. Stephenson drew a pistol on Blake, but he was not quick enough. Ball was seized and it was said at the time that some of the party were too busy looking out for their own safety in the event of stray bullets to be of service. Judge George Bliss committed the men for trial. At the trial of Stephenson and Ball a humorous court scene developed. The prisoners had entered the Blake house through the buttery window by pulling away a twine net, and the lawyer for the defense asked the judge to charge that burglary implied a breaking of the house, and "that tearing down a net made of double twine nailed to keep out cats is not such a breaking as to constitute the offence charged." The judge declined to so charge; the case went up on appeal, and the offenders were sent to prison for life. William L. Loring was convicted this same year for receiving and concealing a body taken from the Springfield burying ground on Elm Street.
In the autumn of 1832 the post-office was moved from its "uncom- fortable little coop" to a building opposite Court Square, on Elm Street, where there was a reading room above.
Among the industries of the town at this time were seventy-three mechanic shops, six cotton factories, three paper mills, four printing offices, thirteen warehouses, a rifle factory, six sawmills, four grist- mills, a powder mill, three tanneries, two forges, a sword factory and a spool factory.
The Springfield brewery was known to store liquors in the cellar of the present Congregational Church. Besides there was the Hamp- den brewery and the Sixteen Acre distillery, and for variety, a book store opposite Court Square.
The main armory building burned in March, 1824. Fire fighting was still very primitive, but there had been some improvement since the early plantation days. Then, many of the houses were thatched with straw, and great pains had to be taken lest a spark should get into the straw. The town voted that no one should carry uncovered fire along the street and that every man should sweep out his chimney
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every month in winter and every two months in summer. Also he was to keep a ladder of sixteen rungs to use in getting at the roof, and if a man smoked on a haystack he might be fined. To make certain that water would always be on hand, the brook in front of the houses was ordered to be kept well scoured, and a good stream running. Then, in case a roof caught on fire, some of the men went up the ladder, and others passed up water from the brook. There was no other way of getting a fire under control until after the Revolution.
When improvement came, it was a little fire engine provided by some of the citizens who donated it to the church for the use of the town. What it amounted to was simply a pump on wheels. There was a receptacle for water, called a tub, and the pump handles were long wooden rods at each side known as brakes. Whoever discovered a fire shouted an alarm, and all who heard it joined in the shouting. The cry would keep spreading until there was an uproar from Mill River to Round Hill. "Fire! Fire!" And then the bell on the old meetinghouse was rung. Every man had a fire bucket and some had bags in which to carry things to safety. The little fire engine was kept at a place near Market and State streets and it was pulled out and hauled on the run to the burning building. Men arrived from all directions and took their places in a double line which extended from the house to the town brook. The buckets were passed full of water up one line and emptied into the tub. Then back they came to be filled. One of the men stood on the engine directing the stream on the fire through hose only five feet in length. It had to be gotten very close to the building, and at best was not very effective in reach- ing the roof.
Some years later a longer hose was acquired which was capable of suction, and the engine, standing by the brook, got its own water, and with that hose the firemen could reach the Main Street houses.
The old engine was presently replaced by others named "The Lion," "The Tiger," "The Niagara" and "The Cataract"; and then came "The Eagle" and "The Ocean." In those times "Firemen's Mus- ter" was favorite holiday, and the procession was gay with red coats, shining black hats and blue trousers as the men pulled at the ropes attached to their engines and hose carts. Later came a great trial of strength to decide whose engine was best, and who could attain the dizziest height. In October, 1837, there was a grand muster with five
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engines, one hundred and sixty men and over a thousand feet of hose. By the use of two engines, hose was run to the balustrade at the foot of the spire of Dr. Osgood's Church, and a stream of water thrown ten feet above the old rooster. The annual festival of the fire depart- ment took place January 2, with one hundred and seventy-five sitting down at the Hampden Coffee-house table, and Samuel Bowles acting as one of the vice-presidents.
The old rooster on the First Church is perched one hundred and sixty-nine feet above the pavement and the bird himself is five feet high. London is his native home, but he left there about 1750, and has looked down on generations of firemen and on soldiers going off to wars. Tradition maintains that an eagle once alighted on him and was shot from below.
The celebration of Washington's Birthday in 1832 was another of those days that the town may well remember. Fully three thousand people took part, and politics was forgotten. Cannon on Armory Hill and Court Square were thundering at daybreak, and every church bell was ringing. Just before noon a procession formed at the town house, and the column proceeded to Dr. Osgood's meet- inghouse, where hundreds and hundreds were unable to get in. There was music and prayer, and passages quoted from Washington's Fare- well Address, and there was an oration and later in the day the town hall banquet. When evening came there was dancing at Factory Vil- lage, where "300 fair spinsters" skipped over the floor of the new factory building.
The Springfield Temperance Society was making fair progress in its crusade. Its membership after a three years' existence was two thousand five hundred, and in 1835 one thousand six hundred legal voters petitioned the county commissioners to refuse liquor licenses.
What was perhaps the most unusual of Presidential elections was at hand and now the old-timers gathered at Springfield in Feb- ruary, 1840, to give the Whig candidate for President, William Henry Harrison, a good send-off.
In April the famous campaign of "Tippecanoe and Tyler, Too," was underway with all its picturesque features. One day some Long- meadow boys rigged up a log cabin drawn by six horses. A fifteen- gallon keg served as a chimney. The hard cider candidate was well toasted, and both parties were ready for the fray. October 9 there
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was a grand Harrison demonstration in Springfield, and on the eve- ning of the eighth the town hall was occupied by the Whigs. A triumphal arch spanned Main Street, put there by the merchants of "Fountain row."
Early Friday morning a cavalcade with a band rode in from Mon- son and some wagons and horsemen poured in from Wilbraham. Besides they arrived from numerous other places. The Westfield delegation came in a huge wagon drawn by twelve horses, and on its banners was inscribed "Old Tip's Buggy." Over half a dozen bands were tuning up the party patriotism and Revolutionary soldiers were at the head of the column, six feet deep, proceeding to Worthington Grove.
All the afternoon was spent in speechmaking and singing Whig songs. The American eagle, in all sizes and conditions, perched on the decorated floats about the grove. Whig mottoes fluttered in the breezes on familiar terms with the stars and stripes, broken Demo- cratic arches lay in ruins and lampoons furnished food for the merry. Stuffed roosters stood proudly on log cabins, and General Harrison was located in drinking booths on the edges of the grove. It was a great day, and there were many great days before the strife was over. Harrison won, but the time of triumph was short and then there was deep mourning for the death of their standard bearer.
On the twenty-first of December, 1841, the railroad from Albany to Chatham Four Corners, New York, was so far completed that trains passed through to Worcester, thus joining Boston and Albany with a continuous rail. The project of a canal over this route had collapsed. By October, 1839, trains were running between Worcester and Springfield. There was a grand celebration on the arrival of the first train. A procession was formed and after marching up and down Main Street a stop was made at the roundhouse, where a dinner was waiting with tables arranged like the spokes of a wheel.
One local man who early became interested in railroads was George Bliss, and eventually he was chosen president of the Michigan Southern Road, a position he held until the project was completed to Chicago. Afterwards he was affiliated with various other lines.
One local man ventured to prophesy in a public meeting that they would be able to go from Springfield to Boston between "sun and sun, and back again." The audience were inclined to shake their heads.
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The new railroad's chief engineer was Major Whistler, and he brought his young son James to live in Springfield with him. James entertained his schoolmates with his clever drawings and when he was older he went to England, where he became one of the world's famous artists.
The word armory, as used in the United States, indicates a place for the manufacture of arms, and an arsenal is the place where they are stored. It was decided that the heavy work of forging should be done at the Water-shops, where the trip hammer could be run by waterpower, and on "Armory Hill" should be done the lighter work. The hill began to be almost a village by itself, where the homes were largely those of armorers. Indeed, the communities were so indi- vidual that rivalry prevailed between the boys of the hill and those of the street, so that snowballing and other fights were common between "Hillers" and "Streeters." If a boy of either clan passed the line of School and Spring streets he was open to attack from the enemy.
The tower of the arsenal is a trifle more than eighty-eight feet high. One of those who ascended it for the pleasure of overlooking the widespread valley was Longfellow, the poet. At that time one of the floors was stacked with guns in frames, and Mrs. Longfellow mentioned that these resembled the pipes of an organ. As a result, he was inspired to compose one of the finest poems ever written in the cause of universal peace.
When the English novelist, Charles Dickens, was making one of his American tours he passed through Springfield in the winter of 1842. A noted river pilot named Allen had charge of the steamer "Massachusetts," which was about to make the first trip of the season, and the suggestion was made to Mr. Dickens that as the roads were bad he had better go by steamer. Accordingly "Kit" Stebbins was asked to captain the "Massachusetts" and Allen to pilot it. This was the largest of the steamers then built and it could not go through the Canal because that was filled with ice and it would not have done to send any other craft. The steamer had a high ladies' cabin built up on the rear of the deck and there the steersman stood on top of this cabin, thus giving the famous novelist an impression of insecurity. Mr. Allen was stationed at the bow while shooting the rapids, and the rest of the time was in the cabin. When they reached Hartford
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Mr. Dickens asked Pilot Allen if he chewed tobacco, and a few days later Allen received a package from Dickens inclosing a tobacco-box.
In writing of the boat, Dickens said :
"I should think it must have been about half a pony power. The cabin was fitted with common sash windows like an ordi- nary dwellinghouse. These windows had bright red curtains, too, hung on slack strings across the lower panes, so that it looked like the parlor of a Lilliputian public house which had gotten afloat in a flood or some other water accident, and was drifting, nobody knew where. But even in this chamber there was a rocking chair. It would be impossible to get on any- where in America without a rocking chair."
One of the active boatmen of that period said of the famous author :
"The light weight Englishman wore a swallow-tail, snuff- colored coat and a red and white figured vest that was not long enough to reach his pantaloons, which were of the true Yankee check, and looked as if they had been bought from a North-street Jew shop in Boston."
Two years before the visit of Dickens the steamboat "Greenfield" had exploded near South Hadley Falls, killing two men and wounding several others. The boilers of the "Greenfield" and the "Agawam" were made on Mill River by a man who was killed at South Hadley Falls when the former boat exploded. Another boat was built at the foot of State Street, and in making a return trip from Hartford, hit a rock at the head of the fall. Help came from Thompsonville, and Dr. Osgood and others waded into the water and worked the boat off with levers. Samuel Bowles was on board with a new font of type for the "Republican."
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