USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Hampden county, 1636-1936, Volume I > Part 37
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The year 1892 is an important one for these people. The first Jewish lodge of Springfield was formed : "The Commonwealth Lodge of the Sons of Benjamin." Other significant events this year were that the Jews, slightly more opulent, moved their synagogue to more palatial quarters in a room over Graves Hall, the present Carlisle Building, and a Jewish burying ground was bought in West Springfield. Prior to the purchase of the burying ground, bodies of Jews who died were shipped either to Boston or New York for burial. The Beth-El Cemetery was the answer to that sad and at the same time expensive procedure.
By this time the Jews were rapidly instituting themselves in various businesses, drawing away from the simple peddling that had been the chief means of livelihood. In 1892 Max Weiner became the first Jewish baker. Jacob Dorenbaum entered the field as the first Jewish barber and still plies his trade in this city! A welcome addi- tion to the business world took place when Samuel and Julius Gold- stein opened the first Jewish meat market. Formerly, it was neces- sary to get Kosher meat from New York, again an inconvenient and expensive procedure.
Moses Ehrlich came to Springfield during this year and a short time later started an iron and metal business on Liberty Street. Along with Philip Cohn and M. J. Aronson, he is considered a prime mover in the advancement of Jewish life here, religious, social, and charitable. The beautiful Kodimoh Synagogue on Oakland Street
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was due mainly to his efforts, and he was its president for several years before his death in 1924.
Events and personalities crop up here one after another. The first separate and distinct Jewish synagogue on Grays Avenue was dedicated, and Philip Cohn, the "Pioneer," was its sexton for forty- five years until his death. Max Weiner opened the first Turkish baths. The Young Men's Hebrew Association was instituted at 118 Worthington Street and later moved to Sargeant Street. Julius Kingsburg became the first Jewish jeweler in town, and Charles Henin the first Jewish doctor. And it was in 1896 that the Jews first came to be recognized in quite another way-in what was considered a won- derful political manœuvre, a job was obtained for Hillel Levine as a street cleaner !
The women organized the first women's society called the Hebrew Ladies' Relief Association. Two years later, Morris Grenowitz became the first Spanish War veteran. The field of municipal educa- tion was entered when Frederic Cohn, at the age of sixteen, became a teacher in the Elm Street Evening School, where the present Reg- istry of Deeds now stands.
At the turn of the century, Jewish community life here was firmly established. It is possible only to touch on the high-lights of the mul- tiple and numerous local Jewish activities. Samuel Rapaport was the first rabbi in Springfield in 1904. Ida Singer the first Jewish dentist. In 191 I a great event in Jewish life came when the B'nai B'rith Lodge was instituted in Odd Fellows Hall.
Henry Lasker was the first Jewish lawyer in Springfield and later became prominent in civic affairs. As president of the board of aldermen, Mr. Lasker acted in the capacity of mayor on several occa- sions, and in 1909 his vote decided the question of building the municipal group. It was Lasker, who as a student in high school, brought the great Israel Zangwill here to lecture. He was also founder of the Springfield Lodge of the B'nai B'rith and was the first president of the Congregation Beth-El. Another prominent civic fig- ure a few years ago was Ezekiel M. Ezekiel, who was appointed by Mayor Ralph N. Ellis as police commissioner in 1902 and served two terms of three years each.
At the time of the World War, two hundred and fifty Jewish boys enlisted or were drafted. Six were killed in action and two subse-
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quently died of their wounds. Abe Flesher was outstanding in per- forming deeds of heroism while with the American Army in France. At this time the Jews in Springfield raised $25,000 for war relief, exhibiting a splendid spirit of patriotism to the Nation.
The negro in Springfield goes far back into the dusty pages of history. There were negro slaves in this city as early as 1680, not long after William Pynchon and his followers came. Slavery at that time was still in its infant stage in America, but was a recognized institution in the North as well as in the South. It was not until 1808 that the last Springfield slave was purchased and freed by local citizens.
Several years before the first gun boomed at Fort Sumter to open the Civil War, this city became an important temporary stopping- place for colored men. They came under the cover of night, slept the daylight hours through in cellars or behind barred shutters and left the following night, as silently and mysteriously as they had come. These negroes were escaped slaves from southern plantations, and their destination was Canada and freedom. For Springfield was a station along the famous "Underground Railway," and here there were agents ready to welcome the fugitive with food and shelter, and arrange for his dash to the next station. And here it was that many an irate slaveowner from Virginia or the Carolinas came to look for his human property, only to turn back baffled by that crude yet strangely efficient system of stations strung from Philadelphia to the border. The "station" might be a house hidden away in the hills; it might be an innocent-looking barn with enough hay to conceal a man; or it might be a cellar or tunnel dug in the earth to shelter the freedom-bound negro from prying eyes. Many of these runaway slaves passed through this city in their dash for freedom.
About 1840 a few of the fugitives, finding friends among the whites, decided to run the risk of being caught and settled here in Springfield. They found employment as cooks, domestic workers and helpers, and soon became numerous enough to start the Colored African Congregational Church on what is now Sanford Street. Six years later two men, one colored and the other white, carved deep niches for themselves in local negro history.
The colored man was Thomas Thomas, a runaway slave from eastern Maryland. And the white man was John Brown, whose name
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is immortal as the great Abolitionist of American history-the same John Brown who schemed and planned for the negro's liberation for over twenty years; whose famous foray at Harper's Ferry came to a disastrous end; and about whom a song was later written which swept the country like wildfire and was sung by Union soldiers in wild chorus as they marched into battle against the Johnny Rebs.
John Brown came to Springfield in 1846 and planned many of the details of his insurrection while here. He was a member of the wool- dealing firm of Perkins and Brown and he opened a warehouse in the old John L. King Building, at the present location of Columbus Ave- nue and Railroad Street. Among the residents of Springfield, John Brown had the reputation of being a quiet, peaceful citizen and a religious man. There were not many aware of the passionate hate he had for slavery and the schemes he turned over in his mind to end once and for all this institution.
The Reverend Mr. Conklin, of the North Congregational Church, who separated himself in great measure from the other ministers in Springfield because he thought them indifferent to slavery, was inti- mate with Brown and sympathized with him in his ideas. Brown and his eldest son, John Brown, Jr., attended the little African church, and there met Thomas Thomas. Learning something of Thomas' upright and courageous character, the Browns invited him to join in their liberation enterprises. Thomas accepted, and during that time was sent by Brown to look up Madison Washington, the leader of the brave slaves of the vessel "Creole," whom the Abolitionist wanted as a leader for his colored recruits. Thomas formed the Springfield Gileadites, an order among colored people to resist capture of fugi- tives. Later he opened a small eating place near the site of the present Bijou Theatre, which he ran for years until his death in 1895. Among Thomas' colored lieutenants were B. C. Dowling and J. N. Howard, and all these men were intimate with Fred Douglass, a nationally known negro, who was one of the originators of the Under- ground Railway.
Brown left this city in 1849 to draw the strings of his scheme together and also because of business failure. While he was very neat and exact in his accounts, he never kept track of his checks and as a result rarely knew his bank balance. A great man with a great purpose, he was obstinate and stubborn in business, refusing to take
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the advice of his associates, and he is reputed to have lost $60,000 here. It is interesting to note that a tunnel was found in Brown's former home on Cypress Street when the house was torn down, and that many years later his old iron safe was found in a barn in Indian Orchard. This safe had a concealed keyhole hidden under a panel which slid to one side when a certain rivet on the front of the safe was pressed. Brown kept his papers dealing with the Abolitionist movement in this safe.
A prominent local negro in the 'fifties along with Thomas and the others was Primus Mason, who went West to California in the gold rush and accumulated a small fortune. He lived on the corner of Mason and State streets, and later contributed the land and much of the money for the founding and maintaining of Springfield's splendid Home for Aged Men on Walnut Street, which also has negroes on its board of directors. A nephew of Primus, Henry Mason, lives today on Bay Street.
Immediately after the Civil War there was an influx of negroes in the North, and many of them found their way to Springfield. One of them, Henry Clay, was well known here at that time. A former slave, he served his master as a body servant in the war. His mas- ter was shot and Clay escaped into the Union Army, where he enlisted, serving in a Rhode Island regiment. At one time he was commis- sioned by his commanding officer to enter the Confederate lines as a bread and pie vendor, and in that manner secured much valuable information. Later he was captured by the Confederates, but escaped and lay in abandoned trenches for some days, with nothing to eat but grass and roots and nothing to drink but rain water which had fallen into hoofprints left by horses. He received an honorable discharge at the close of the war, and came here and established a small furni- ture business on Worthington Street. His widow still lives in their tiny home at Hancock Street.
Another prominent negro during the years immediately following the war was William Hughes. He was an importer of colored domes- tic help, and brought from ten to fifteen negroes on each of five trips to his native Virginia. As a result, quite a large colony of Virginia negroes settled in the vicinity of Willow and Cross streets. Hughes, who was born in the State of Virginia, in 1825, was sold from one master to another until he became the property of James C. Spott, of
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Richmond, with whom he remained until the surrender of Lee at Appomattox. It is interesting to note that Hughes was called "By the Way" Hughes by his colored friends, because of his peculiar habit of starting practically every sentence with that phrase.
One of the oldest and best known citizens of Springfield is Alex- ander Hughes, who, incidentally, is not related to William. Mr. Hughes is now blind and lives in his own home on Monson Street, and he has an interesting story to tell of the early days. As a child he was a slave on the plantation of John B. Young in Henrico County, three miles north of Richmond. When the master returned from the war, he gave Mr. Hughes' father five days to leave the plantation, but young Alexander stayed on and worked about the place.
While still in his teens, he left the plantation and went to work in a tobacco factory in Richmond, later leaving there to drive a gro- cery wagon. In September, 1881, he came to Springfield, arriving on a Sunday. On Monday, Mr. Hughes relates, President Garfield was assassinated, and for the first time in his life the colored youth saw in amazement that negroes marched side by side with white men in the funeral parade held here. That day marked also the first time that he sat down beside a white person.
There were, according to Mr. Hughes, three colored churches in Springfield in 1882: the Sanford Street Congregational Church, the Lawrence Street Methodist Church, and the Pilgrim Baptist Church, which was located on the second floor of the old town hall on the corner of Market and State streets.
A day or so after Hughes' arrival here, he went to work for the grocery firm of West and Stone. During the evenings he attended the old Elm Street School, where he learned to read and write, something that was unknown to the Southern negro of that time. Later John Hall, of the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company, hired Hughes to work in the shipping department of that company, and he remained there until he was forced to retire on a pension when his sight failed him.
Mr. Hughes proudly relates that he entertained Booker T. Wash- ington in his home when that famous negro visited Springfield. He is proud, too, of the fact that the Young Men's Christian Association, which he joined in 1882, awarded him a life membership, and also of
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the prizes he received from the "Springfield Republican" some years ago for having the most attractive and best kept flower gardens around his home. One of the things he wanted to do when in the South was to vote, a privilege there denied him. In 1882 he cast his vote in an election here, and has not once missed going to the polls since then, voting the Republican ticket every time. He is seventy- nine years old, is owner of his home, and asserts smilingly that he hopes to live to be a hundred, secure in a happy existence despite the loss of his sight.
Shortly before the war, large numbers of negroes came to this city. The acute problem to be faced was the renting of homes to these people. However, the prejudice which has operated so long and so keenly against colored tenants served as an incentive to the possession of homes among them. In those years they lived in colonies in the Willow Street area and in the Hancock and Eastern Avenue area. Today, while the negro density is still large in the latter section, there has been a definite tendency to move toward the north end. There are about 3,000 colored people in Springfield, numbering over seven hundred families, and the assessed value of real estate owned by negroes is in the vicinity of a half million dollars.
The World War had an almost revolutionary effect on the eco- nomic and industrial status of the negro of the North. Previous to this the colored man had in practically every instance been an unskilled laborer, a "hewer of wood and drawer of water," but the war opened new doors of vocational opportunity for him. While the great majority of negroes in Springfield are still engaged in common labor, there has been a pronounced tendency to move into the skilled trades, and many of these people recently became machinists, masons, tailors, barbers and carpenters. A large number also are engaged as janitors, porters, hotel workers, clerks and elevator operators. In the local professional field there are Dr. B. T. Bowens and Dr. H. P. Kennedy in medicine; William H. Martin and J. C. Clarkson in law; and in dentistry, Dr. W. H. Jones, Otis B. Byrd, and O. L. Fraser.
Practically all the negroes are Protestants of various denomina- tions. Two of the churches in this city which are attended by whites sprang from humble negro churches. There are about six organized negro churches in Springfield at the present time, and at least three other religious missions conducted by negroes. A local branch of the
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National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is main- tained here and exerts a wide influence.
One of the finest negro social agencies in America is maintained here in the Dunbar Community League. This non-sectarian organiza- tion is an outgrowth of the St. John's institutional activities and Dr. William N. DeBerry, the outstanding leader in the local negro com- munity resigned from the pastorate of St. John's Church in order to devote his entire time to the league as its executive officer. The Dun- bar Community League, in its work toward the social betterment of negroes, is divided into several valuable departments. The Dun- bar Home, at 643 Union Street, was built for the accommoda- tions of working girls and women. The Dunbar Club for Boys and the Club for Girls at 620 Union Street are social centers encouraging wholesome entertainment for the colored youth of the city. The league also maintains classes for adult women, a playground and a free employment service. A housing project was started under the league auspices which involved the purchasing of several tenement houses, the apartments of which were let to colored families at modest rentals and on a plan of mutual benefit. A summer camp for boys, Camp Atwater, in East Brookfield, is still another league activity.
The colored man is social by temperament and character. He takes keen interest in organizing into groups of his own for various purposes. The oldest organization of colored people here is the Springfield Mutual Beneficial Association, founded in 1864. In 1866 the Sumner Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons was formed and seven years later the Golden Chain Lodge of Odd Fellows. In more recent years the Elks Lodge, the Knights of Pythias, the Good Samari- tans and the Galilean Fishermen were started.
By far the most outstanding negro leader in Springfield is Dr. William N. DeBerry. Receiving his early education in the South and completing his theological course at Oberlin, Ohio, he came to this city in 1899 and since then has been the moving spirit in practically every line of endeavor undertaken by his people. Besides being pastor of St. John's Church for twenty-five years, he is on the board of direc- tors of the Home for Aged Men, is the executive director of the Dunbar League, an officer in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and holds positions of responsi- bility in a host of other organizations throughout the city. Dr.
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DeBerry is largely responsible for bringing the Springfield negro up to the standing he now enjoys.
The main problem of the negro here as well as in the rest of America is, according to Dr. DeBerry, his place in industry. The depression set the colored man back several years in economic secur- ity, as it did the white man, and he believes it will take the North- ern negro a long time before he can get back his hard won gains. Then, too, there is always the problem of prejudice, although Spring- field is as free from racial animosities as any other American city with as many negro residents. The solution to this condition is, of course, education for all racial factions, and from this phase the out- look is bright. The rate of negro illiteracy has dropped very sharply in the last fifteen years, due to the adequacy of the schools in the North. A number of years ago, very few negroes knew how to read or write, but today it is difficult to find one here in Springfield who does not have at least the rudiments of education formerly denied to his father and grandfathers in the days of slavery.
It was economic pressure and the hope for better living conditions that was behind the migration of most Poles to America. Spring- field has about 3,500 of these Polish residents, a number that is almost trivial compared with the Polish population in some of the other places in the county, particularly Chicopee. The local people are mostly Russian Poles, while those in Chicopee came in great numbers from that part of Poland nearest the Austrian border. Like the French-Canadians, the Poles almost automatically settled in the mill cities and after the first of them obtained work and saved a little money they wrote home to friends and relatives to follow them here.
The beginning of the large Polish population in Chicopee was by accident. In the early 'eighties, a New York train stopped at the Springfield station for a short time, and aboard it was a group of six Poles. These men, being weary from their trip, decided to stretch their legs for awhile, and took a short walk around the main streets of Springfield. When they returned to the station, they were dis- mayed to see their train disappearing in the distance, and carrying with it their railroad tickets which they had left on the seats. Unable to speak English and left in a strange town, they were in a quandary as to what to do. The men finally spied a familiar figure in the person of a Catholic priest, who turned out to be Father Healey, of Chicopee.
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He took them back to that town with him and the next day the men went to work in the Dwight mills !
The first Polish settler in Springfield was Kazimir Misulis, who came here in 1893. Mr. Misulis was a laborer, as were the majority of the early Poles here, and came directly from the old country. His first job was working in the Collins coal yard at Spring and Lyman streets, and he stayed there five years. He later worked in the Boston and Albany roundhouse, for the Bartlett Brothers' mason's supply organization, the Springfield Coal and Wood Company, the Fisk Rubber Company, and finally at the Indian Motorcycle, where he stayed for eighteen years before his retirement.
From 1893 until 1908 the Polish influx into Springfield was slow, as most of these people went directly to Chicopee, Chicopee Falls, Holyoke, and other surrounding towns. In 1908, however, a signifi- cant number of Polish people came to Springfield. That year the Boston and Albany Railroad was in the throes of a strike, and a num- ber of Polish families were imported from Worcester to work on the railroad. Some went back to Worcester after the job was com- pleted, but the majority liked Springfield well enough to make it their permanent home, and in 1909 there were about sixty Polish families.
In 1910 the Polish group was numerous enough to start the first organization, a mutual benefit society called the Society of John Sobieski. At this time, too, there was some discussion of bringing a Polish priest here to minister to the spiritual wants of the people. This was of tremendous importance, since the church has always been the center of Polish life, and the Polish priest a leader and adviser in every phase of business, social and spiritual life.
The early Poles traveled to Indian Orchard or Chicopee for wor- ship, and up to 1916 a Polish priest came every year for Easter con- fessions. In 1916, after some debate, a committee was elected to arrange for the organization of a permanent parish. This committee was taken from the Society of John Sobieski and was composed of four men: Martin Debrowski, Kazimir Misulis, Peter Shulc, and Joseph Kowalcyzyk. These men gained an audience with Bishop Thomas Beaven, and the bishop advised them to take a census of Polish residents to determine whether there were enough to justify a parish. The results of the census showed that there were seven hundred Poles in Springfield, and Bishop Beaven promised that a Polish priest would come every Sunday to conduct worship.
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Father Joseph Tomikowski, a pastor of the Immaculate Concep- tion Church of Indian Orchard, was commissioned to come, and it was decided to use the Syrian church on Liberty Street as a temporary place of worship. Services were held there for a year and a half until the attendance became so great that it was impossible to accommodate all who wished to attend. On July 15, 1917, Father Stanley Orle- manski, then assistant pastor at the Immaculate Conception, was appointed resident pastor of the parish, and he immediately entered on the all important work of raising funds for a permanent Polish church in Springfield. At this time there were 1,500 Polish residents.
Through the tireless and patient efforts of Father Orlemanski and several of the leading Polish citizens, enough money was raised to buy land at Leonard, Franklin and Underwood streets. Building opera- tions were delayed in 1918, due to the severity of the winter, but in May of that year the corner stone was laid and the ceremonies were attended by a large number of Polish people, including many of the clergy from surrounding parishes. The local parish was called Our Lady of the Rosary, and a year later a school for Polish children was instituted on the same land, and the Sisters of Nazareth came here to teach.
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