USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Hampden county, 1636-1936, Volume II > Part 35
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and preferred to lose that portion of the township rather than lose the central government, and West Springfield found itself, by Act of the General Court, made into a separate town in 1774. This was some- thing they had not desired or worked for, but in the interests of peace it was thrust on them and they immediately rose to their responsibilities.
The territory thus set off included a stretch from Mt. Tom on the north to the Connecticut State line on the south, a distance of about twenty-five miles, and having an average width of more than six miles west from the river. It was one of the finest farming areas in the region and until after 1812 its population exceeded that of Spring- field. In the year immediately preceding the organization of the town two companies of minute men had been formed and were regularly drilling on the common. This common or "green" was a busy place and has played a vital part in the life of the town. The eastern end, nearest the river, was often used as a shipyard. The schooner "Trial" and the sloop "West Springfield," both about sixty tons, and sloop "Hampshire" of ninety tons, were all built there and sailed down the river. The old meetinghouse, which not only sheltered Sabbath wor- ship, but was the scene of so many turbulent town meetings, was on the common, as well as a clapboarded schoolhouse of two stories. It is perhaps best known and will be longest remembered for its beau- tiful elm trees. Some of these were set out by Heman Day, and one in particular, which came to be known as "The Big Elm," is associated with his name. He brought it out of the West Springfield meadows on his shoulders and set it out on his twenty-first birthday, January 27, 1776, and enjoyed its luxuriant growth for sixty-one years. When it was a hundred years old it measured twenty-seven feet in circum- ference and its branches had a spread of one hundred and twelve feet.
Going eastward from the common to the river and the old ferry was "Shad Lane," so-called because of the great supply of shad there. According to the local West Springfield chronicler, Sewall White, a single man could take with a scoop net a thousand in a day, and he records seeing one hundred fine salmon lying together on the bank of Heman Day's and Tilly Merrick's fishing place, one of them weighing forty-two pounds. On another occasion, using the roe of a shad for bait, he had in a single morning thrown on the shore, while standing in a fish boat, eight fine bass. The largest he had ever
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caught weighed twelve pounds, but a neighbor captured one that weighed twenty-two pounds.
One day in Shad Lane, when Jonathan Parsons was driving his two yokes of oxen and a horse, attached to a load of stalks, two horsemen overtook him with the order to turn out for General Washington, whose coach was making for Springfield ferry. Parsons refused, prob- ably doubting the couriers' word, and declared he had as good a right to the road as the general. While the coach was waiting for the boat Parsons overtook it and heard the general say: "That man was right. He had as good a right to the road as I had."
When the news of the British attack on Lexington reached West Springfield the minute men were ready and made an immediate response. Both companies marched to Boston and on return from their short service the majority of the men reenlisted and served for various periods in several localities during the war. Captain Levi Ely's company of West Springfield men was a part of Colonel Brown's Berkshire regiment, taking part in the disastrous affair at Stone Arabia, where both Colonel Brown and Captain Ely were slain.
Tradition says that during the Revolution the common was the temporary camping ground of two British armies. One was that of General Amherst and his force of 7,000 men, who are said to have encamped there for two days' and nights' rest, while on their way to Canada. The other was that of General Burgoyne's captive army on its retreat from Canada to Boston. The Hessian prisoners reached West Springfield on October 29, marching in rain, snow and hail. Some of them were received into the homes of the people and were objects of prolonged and curious scrutiny, it even being suspected that a small admission fee was charged those who came from a distance to inspect the foreign prisoners. General Riedesel was the guest of Dr. Joseph Lathrop. He did not speak English and the parson did not know German, so they conversed in Latin. When the troops moved on, about a dozen of the Hessians remained behind and took up their former occupations as farmers, cobbler, miller, mason and weavers. One was a physician and afterward followed his profession in Bland- ford and Chester. Dr. Brewer was called over from Springfield to attend some of the Germans and as the paymaster's chest was empty he was given the chest itself in payment.
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Within a few years after the close of the war and before the town had recovered from the conflict, the common was the training ground of another force of men. These, irritated by heavy taxes and depre- ciated currency, sought to overthrow the authority of the State gov- ernment, to abolish the courts, and to administer the laws according to their own ill-conceived notions of justice and right. One of the leaders of the insurgent forces was Luke Day and a numerous follow- ing came from among the inhabitants of the town. The prime mover was Daniel Shays, of Pelham, whose men were known by the sprigs of hemlock they wore on their hats. The period was one of great excitement for plans were made to capture the government arsenal at Springfield. Captain Day insisted on divulging the secret of the proposed attack to Parson Lathrop, whose judgment he valued highly. In return he received this rebuff: "Captain Day, your army is defi- cient of good, true and trusty officers. You are engaged in a bad cause, and your men know it. I advise you to disband and let them return peacefully to their homes, for as sure as you advance on the public stores, 'tis as certain that you will meet with sore defeat." But Day did not take this good advice and his four hundred men and boy soldiers, in the intervals of drilling, became a nuisance in the town, even spreading such a feeling of panic by their petty depredations that some families left their homes. Shays sent a messenger to inform Captain Day that the attack on the arsenal would take place on Janu- ary 25, 1787. Day sent back a message to the effect that he could not reach that destination until the following day, but this message was intercepted, so that when Shays made his famous attack, Captain Day and his forces were held back by the militia on guard at the river crossing. After Shays' defeat, General Shepard, who had command at the arsenal, sent a strong detachment against Day's horde and quickly drove them from the town. The citizens, in anticipation of a battle, had nearly all fled toward Tatham and Amostown, but Day and his men showed no inclination to fight and retreated at once up the river.
This ended the uprising, the excitement soon subsided and the people returned to their homes and their work. The next big project which interested them was building a bridge across the Connecticut.
For a century and a half the inhabitants of the old town had been separated by the river, which in freshet time swept over the meadows.
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Crossing by the three ferries was often dangerous, sometimes impos- sible. A bridge had been talked of and delayed for years. Some said they might as well think of bridging the Atlantic Ocean. Others said that if a bridge was built it would never stand. Finally, after much hesitation, the seemingly ponderous job was undertaken. Two abut- ments and five piers had to be embedded in the river, and by men without previous experience or the use of modern appliances. Pile driving was done by horsepower, as steam hammers were not then known to the world. A large floating platform was constructed and anchored in the river near the site chosen for a pier. On it was fixed the necessary machinery for raising the hammer. This was operated by a horse winding a rope around a drum or cylinder. This horse "swung around the circle" from morning until night, day after day, from spring to early winter. On the platform was a stable used as a shelter at night, for he slept "on the bosom of the deep" until his work was finished. The site of the bridge did not occupy the place of any ferry, nor was it within fifty rods of any road or highway. It was 1,234 feet long, thirty feet wide, and was forty feet above low water mark. It was uncovered and painted red.
The bridge was opened for travel with an imposing dedication. When the procession reached the bridge it was greeted with the national salute of seventeen guns fired three times. The 3,000 people present gave three rousing cheers and all the bells nearby were rung. There was music and a prayer and sermon by Reverend Dr. Lathrop. During the construction several of the workmen were injured by an accident and one was killed. Two "icebreakers," piers with sloping up-stream sides, were built to the north, designed to break up the immense sheets of ice which might injure the bridge in the springtime. In spite of this protection the bridge showed signs of weakening in a few years and on July 14, 1814, the first span crumpled and went down while a Pennsylvania wagon heavily loaded with army supplies was crossing. A curious detail of this bridge was that the passers went up and down with the curve of each of the six spans.
The bridge long known as "The Old Toll Bridge" was constructed in 1816 by Captain Isaac Damon, of Northampton. It was partially carried off by the spring freshet of 1818 and the lost portion supplied in 1820. A lottery furnished the money for this structure. An advertisement at the time read : "Who will complain of Hard Times
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when $1,500 may be had for $3. The Drawing is near at Hand." Tolls were charged on the bridge until July 1, 1872, when it was made free by an Act of the Legislature.
The most important of West Springfield's villages is Mittineague, an Indian name meaning "swift water," which lies about a mile to the west of the town center. In the hollow along the stream are a number of paper mills. Here, in 1850, was organized a Congrega- tional church. Two years later the unused meetinghouse of the Methodists was moved from its original site to Mittineague and became the home of the new Congregational society. Another out- skirt is Tatham on the extreme western borders of the town. This community claims the oldest and most beautiful white oak tree to be found in New England. In early times the highway passed close by its trunk and a sharp eye can still trace its path. Over this route Burgoyne's army marched and the tree is known as the Burgoyne oak. It has a circumference of twenty-nine feet and an immense spread of branches. Its age is estimated at over five hundred years and it still stands on what was originally a Pynchon grant to the Smith family, early settlers of the region.
Amostown is a locality near the geographical center of the town and Ashleyville in the northern part has some fine farms and market gardens bordering on the Connecticut. Its name came from one of its early prominent families.
The hamlet which grew up near the end of the toll bridge per- petuated an old family in its name of Merrick. At one time it had a post-office of its own and the extensive works of the Springfield Glazed Paper Company, which was incorporated in 1873, did much to build it up.
Bear's Den is located on the Paucatuck, or Black Brook, in the western part of the town. The road to it makes a steep descent into an irregular glen and in the gloomy depths of the ravine a little stream tumbles over the rocks in a charming cascade. In a hole in the rocky hillside was a real live bear as late as 1891, but unlike the one that gave his name to the place, this one was shut behind a lattice of strong iron bars. Not far away is the famous Massasoit Spring, whose water is as cold as if it came from the regions of eternal ice. This was a favorite drive for refreshment on a Sunday afternoon in the
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'nineties, or for dinner at the old Massasoit Springs House. Now only the foundation remains and the ruins of the bear's den, but the pretty cascade and spring are still there and supply the West Spring- field Reservoir.
The site taken by the government for the West Springfield Post- Office was formerly the home of "Squire" Lathrop, son of Dr. Lathrop, the minister. The house was built sometime before 1750 and had a huge central chimney and eight fireplaces. In the attic was an immense wooden wheel, which appeared as if built in when the house was constructed. It was at least six feet in diameter and mounted on strong beams, so that it was readily turned by a crank. It was used for drawing water from a well which was located directly below it. This house was supposed by some to be the Parson Lathrop house, but a letter found by a great-grandson of his states that the parsonage faced the commons about opposite the original church and was torn down in 1840.
The Passionist Monastery building, owned by the Catholic order of that name, is located on Monastery Avenue, off Riverdale Street. This fine building, standing on a pleasing height, is used as a retreat house and thousands of western Massachusetts residents have passed through its doors for week-end retreats. Its chapel and other rooms are well appointed and up-to-date.
The West Springfield Library was built in 1915 as a gift to the town from the Carnegie Foundation. It had open shelves, and was completely furnished and ready for the 15,000 books. The records show that in 1884 ninety-nine persons patronized the library, then housed in a small room in the town hall. In 1894 it was removed to a larger room on the second floor of the town hall, but the stairs proved a barrier to rapid growth. Special gifts to the library included a fund for nature books in memory of Daniel Granger White, former libra- rian, who was a lover of flowers; a fund for the purchase of Bohe- mian books given by Josephine Porkoney, who was born in Austria, but lived in West Springfield for thirty years, and gifts from Mrs. Martha Ludington and Mrs. Lillian Williamson.
The town's one hundred and fiftieth anniversary was celebrated in June, 1924. It started with a band concert on the common and mark- ers placed on the site of the first church and the first schoolhouse were dedicated. Exercises were held at the library and at the Day House
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and there was dancing on a central roadway. The day following was especially for the children and included an historical pageant at the Eastern States Exposition grounds. An anniversary ball was held at the town hall in the evening. The last day's celebration included the industrial and civic parade, a cavalcade to Brush Hill to dedicate a marker in memory of Justin Morgan, of Morgan horse fame, and a motorboat parade on the river which had played such a large part in West Springfield history.
Justin Morgan, a farmer and singingmaster, lived in West Spring- field between 1747 and 1788. From this town he went to Vermont, taking with him a mare and her colt, which furnished the start of the famous Morgan horses. The United States Department of Agricul- ture has established at Middlebury, Vermont, the United States Mor- gan Horse Farm, which furnishes mounts for the national cavalry as well as for individual riders.
Dr. Mahlon Loomis, of West Springfield, proved his theory of wireless telegraphy in 1866. He was anxious that his own country should reap the benefits and honors of his discovery and urged Con- gress to take action, but it was just after the Civil War and other matters absorbed their attention. In 1870 he organized the Loomis Aerial Telegraph Company, Inc., and the papers were signed by President Grant. The project never got much farther and Mr. Loomis died in 1886 without realizing his dreams.
Among the many interesting place names in West Springfield are Cayenne, off Morgan Road, named by Henry Pepper; Arrisslittle in Mittineague (arriss means stubblefield in England) ; Nonesuch Meadow, a peat meadow west of Brush Hill; Rum Road, where years ago Moses Ashley lost a barrel of rum when driving up a steep hill; and the Seatin' Lot in Agawam Meadow, where an impor- tant discussion on seating the meetinghouse took place.
The Agawam Canal Company built their first dam in 1836 and a second dam a few years later. In 1839 Wells and Edward South- worth built the first paper mill in the town. Their original agree- ment forbade them to build on the property any chemical laboratory, powder mills, furnace or forge, or "other works obnoxious or unsafe." They were also forbidden to maintain a livery stable or tavern or any place to sell liquor. The first mill was a frame structure which
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was destroyed by fire in 1879. A brick mill at once took its place and has since been built around and added to.
The Mittineague Paper Company was incorporated in February, 1892, largely through the efforts of Horace A. Moses, who had been superintendent of Agawam No. 1 mill. Mr. Moses, whose former home was Ticonderoga, New York, soon had his new company a leader in manufacturing fine papers, and various other lines were started, such as artists' papers, boards and fancy covers.
The Mittineague and Woronoco companies merged into the Strathmore Paper Company in 1911 and eventually had seventy-five definite products on its list.
A little known event in the papermaking world was the successful attempt to create paper from the life-everlasting plant. Its spon- sors figured that women and children could easily gather this flower which grew wild on the waste lands of New England and it could be substituted for rags, which they feared would grow scarce and expensive.
When the population of Springfield was no more than 20,000 people, a small company was established to manufacture a new device called a gas machine. From that humble beginning rose the huge and busy plant of the Gilbert and Barker Company, now located in West Springfield, a plant known throughout the country and abroad for its modern gasoline pumps, storage tanks, measuring devices and a host of other specialties.
It was C. N. Gilbert, who came from the West to Springfield, in 1865, with the novel idea of organizing a gas machine company to produce illuminating gas for commercial and domestic consumption. Although something entirely new and, therefore, a risky venture, Gil- bert succeeded in interesting local capital, with the result that the first New England portable gas machine company got under way. Shortly before the outbreak of the Civil War, J. F. Barker had come to the city and taken a position as a mechanical engineer at the United States Armory. He early evinced an interest in the new company and was offered a job, which he accepted.
Barker went into this work with open eyes. He knew the dan- gers present in those early gasmaking machines. While at the armory he had taken charge of one and had received a severe shock in an accident which came close to blowing up part of the place.
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Illuminating gas was still a new and dangerous toy at this time. It had been discovered in 1785, and London, England, had been lit up by it as early as 1815. Yet there had been little development of the gas industry until Drake's invention, in 1850, of a machine for pro- ducing gas from benzole, which in turn was distilled from coal tar by an expensive process.
The first machine manufactured by the New England Portable Gas Machine Company, as it was then called, was a strange affair, working on the principle of gravity. It was located in the attic and there generated gas. This gas, after it had a chance to unite with air, fell by its own weight through pipes to the chandeliers below. In a short time this contrivance was succeeded by another equally as odd. In this second machine the gas was generated in the cellar and forced up by a meter weight invention.
These gas machines were apt to have sudden explosions and caused a great deal of damage. Insurance companies or underwriters would have nothing to do with it, or if they did the rates they charged were almost prohibitive. The early story of the Gilbert and Barker Company is one long and constant campaign to convince the under- writers that gas machines were safe enough to warrant ordinary rates of insurance.
The first home of the New England Portable Gas Machine Com- pany was in the front half of a basement in which was located the Lamb Knitting Machine Company. The whole factory occupied no more space than two good sized rooms and the payroll figures would hardly suffice for one of the company stenographers today.
This brick building was at the corner of Spring and Lyman streets, a region which differed a great deal from what it is now. Along the grade near St. James Avenue and the Boston & Albany tracks ran Garden Brook and at the spot where was located the Converse Coal Company there was a dam formed by Nettleton Pond. Part of the overflow from the dam crossed on Lyman Street diagonally to Worth- ington and on to Main, flowing beneath a rude plank walk, and here an angler with patience might pull out a fair sized trout. Between Dwight and Chestnut streets a vertical flume and circular saw had been built by Emerson Wight, which received its power from the water and supplied the railroad with wood. At the same time the remainder of the water provided power for the New England Port-
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able Gas Machine Company, this water being carried directly by a flume across Spring Street.
It was not long before the Lamb Knitting Machine Company moved to Chicopee Falls and the gas company took over the whole three floors. For a time the very existence of the company was pre- carious, since there was not sufficient business to anywhere near fill the three stories. There were other discouraging obstacles. Men with sufficient technical experience were hard to get. The public mind had not been attuned to gas consumption, and was wary because of the frequent explosive accidents which had happened. The company was afforded a breathing spell, however, when petroleum, which had been discovered in 1860, was placed on the market. It was almost immediately obvious that gasoline could be substituted for benzole in the manufacture of the gas and at a greatly reduced cost. In addi- tion, the use of gas furnaces in connection with gas machines widened the company's field somewhat and the immediate crisis was over.
For some time Mr. Barker tried various experiments for greater safety without success, but finally hit on the idea of placing the gen- erator in an underground vault or pit, lined with brick, and far enough away from the building so the gasoline could evaporate with- out danger. A new machine was built on the basis of this idea. It is not generally known that Hiram S. Maxim, who had come to this city from Maine as a draftsman, made the original drawings of this new machine which was to revolutionize the industry. Later, Maxim, after repeated rebuffs by the military authorities of the United States Government, gave his famous invention, the Maxim gun, to the Brit- ish Government and was knighted for it by King Edward, and he later gained the Legion of Honor for his smokeless powder discovery.
The association that Mr. Barker formerly had with the armory now stood him in good stead. Through it he was able to secure the installation of one of the new and improved machines at the Water- shops and its complete success was enough to send him to Washington in possession of a letter from Colonel Benton. He there proved that the new machine was a necessity for the public service and welfare and through much effort was finally able to take out patents on the inventions.
From this point the company enjoyed a new lease of life. It was reorganized into the Springfield Gas Machine Company with the
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same men at its head and business increased rapidly. There was, however, the same stumbling block which had been present before- the insurance companies were unconvinced as to its safety despite the turn that affairs had taken and refused to underwrite the new machine. The United States Board of Underwriters not only designated a pro- hibitive premium, but considered seriously a motion not to allow the assuming of any risks where a gas machine was in use. A measure such as this would, of course, mean the doom of the company and Mr. Barker, with characteristic energy, quickly rose to the occasion and finally obtained permission to address the board.
One by one he ran through his arguments without having visibly impressed the insurance group and strangely enough his last argument, and the one that saved the day, was that if naphtha were used in gas machines it would not be used as an adulterant. The board, although reluctantly, admitted that perhaps it had taken the wrong view of the matter after all.
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