USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Springfield > Historical address delivered before the citizens of Springfield in Massachusetts at the public celebration, May 26, 1911, of the two hundred and seventy-fifth anniversary of the settlement; with five appendices, viz: Meaning of Indian local names, The cartography of Springfield, Old place names in Springfield, Unrecorded deed of Nippumsuit, Unrecorded deed of Paupsunnuck > Part 4
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CLAY PITS, THE. North of Round Hill. 1 B 396; 2 B 236; C 141. For brickmaking in Springfield see Pynchon's letter to Gov. Winthrop, N. E. Hist.
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& Gen. Reg. 4th series vol. 6 p. 375. Mary Lewis married the brickmaker in 1645.
CLOSE ROAD. See Pent Road.
COAL PITS, THE. At Plainfield near Deep Dingle, 2 I C 76.
COLD SPRING. In that portion of the Great Bottom where are now located the Gilbert and Barker Manufacturing Company and the Boston and Albany Railroad there was a spring of cold water. I B. 236. Its waters soon mingled with those of a small brook which rose north of Tubbs Hill and in the 60's of the last century, and doubtless long before, supplied with some pressure the old blacksmith shop on the Westfield road at Ramapogue. Church street was until a few decades ago Cold Spring Road. 1 B 236, 238, 286, 295, 302; C 429. Maps D I N.
COLD SPRING. Near the Chicopee and Ludlow line. Co. Ct. Rec. p. 53; 2 LG. 362. Perhaps the same as Haying Well.
COLD SPRING BOTTOM. That portion of the Great Bottom in which lay the Cold Spring. The curving bed of an old outlet of the Agawam. I remember it about 1860 (probably in the spring) as being full of water nearly to Shad Lane. B 418; E 324; F 364.
COLLINS DEPOT. WILBRAHAM. See Peck's Wilbraham p. 216.
COMMON. WEST SPRINGFIELD. Only in West Springfield, of all the towns comprising old Springfield, has this word been in use as describing, like Boston Common, that part of the old common lands, which has remained reserved for the use of the public. The tract intended is spoken of as the Common by the various writers in Bagg's West Springfield (1874) but with modern affectation is now sometimes called the Park. 1 B 346.
COLTON'S CAUSEY. COLTON'S BRIDGE. 2 L G 368.
COMMON FIELD. The Common Field and the General Field as applied to the land in West Springfield used in connection with the home lots of the Main street on the east side, are convertible terms. This land included the Great Bottom and extended from the Agawam to Ramapogue. Within it there could be private inclosures. (See Pikle). The phrase was applied to land in other localities; Longmeadow, and Chicopee Plain, and the Plain- field. 1 B 400, 401. Various provisions were made as to fencing and the dates where the fields should lie open after the proprietors had gathered their crops. I B 207-208; 334-6, 339. The word "common" in this connection denoted not community of ownership but of fencing. 1 B 280, 290.
(1 B 236; 2 B 70)
COMMONS. The lands bought of the Indians, or which, being of no value to them, were appropriated as within the charter limits, and those forfeited by the local Indians for their part in King Phillip's war, were known as the
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APPENDIX C
Commons. The first Division of these lands took place in 1636, in which each citizen received his share in the Home lots on Main street with Wet Meadow and Woodlots opposite (See Map in Burt's Records) and also in the planting ground across the river. The Second Division was of lands lying back of the first grants on the west side, (2 B 90) and the Third Division was near the Black Pond and Cold Spring (1 B 236; 2 B 70) and in part opposite Longmeadow (1 B 196). When the tenure of the town lands as held by the Crown became endangered (see Allotments) the Town made another and wholesale division of the most easterly and most westerly common lands in order to avoid a forfeiture. (2 B 171; also Allotments) The north-south lines used in this set of allotments thenceforth marked the boundaries be- tween the Inward and Outward Commons. On the east the line between the Inward and Outward Commons ran southerly from the Chicopee river marked by Newbury Ditch, through World's End to Enfield bounds and northerly from the Chicopee in substantially the same course and is now the line between Springfield and Wilbraham and Springfield and Hampden. On the west, in the Town of Agawam the boundary was determined by a monument which stood at a point shown on Map N as an angle in the parish line near the head of one of the branches of Three Mile brook. At the north the present town of West Springfield was so far settled as not to be included in the division; but the limits of Holyoke were so included, from John Riley's northward. On the east the layout was in three Divisions, especially so- called, with defined limits, not given in the vote; but they were in fact, the first or northern division lying north of Chicopee river, the second or middle division and the third or lower division adjoining Enfield bounds, the line between the two latter being substantially that of the present Springfield- Wilbraham main road through Sixteen Acres; but it should be noted that owing to surveyor's errors there was a strip of surplus land between these two divisions. On the west side there were but two Divisions. The lower lay next Suffield bounds and at the north was defined by a line running westerly from the above mentioned monument to a marked rock in the east face of the trap about 800 feet south of the house built by Holland on the mountainside and west of Liswell Hill. The line between the Inward and Outward commons in Agawam was established by a Committee in 1716 and a ditch dug the whole distance to Suffield bounds. The allotments of the outward commons in the town were made in 1746. (Ex rel. James W. Moore, who has made a full plan of the same.) The northern Division was equivalent to the present city of Holyoke. A 607, 611; B 302; D 265; Burt's Records and later records in the office of the City Clerk. The subject is well treated in Peck's Wilbraham pp. 11, 38, 47, 143. See also Noon's Ludlow p. 210. For common of pasture see 2 B 102, 202.
COMO, LAKE. When, about 1870, Armory Hill began to be a residence section for down town business people, the ears of divers persons, particu- larly those interested in the advancement of real estate, were not pleased with so humble a name as Goose Pond for the pretty sheet of water making a feature of the landscape at the junction of the Boston and Wilbraham roads and upon the return of Theodore L. Haynes from travel in Italy to his new mansion on the corner of State and Thompson streets, the pond was rechristened Lake Como. Maps M (Index map) P.
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APPENDIX C
CONNECTICUT. The word is seldom used in the early records for the stream which the fathers preferred to designate as the "Great River"; but it occurs in the original Indian deed. A 21; 1 B 168, 302.
CONTINENTAL FIELDS. The plain at the junction of Armory and Carew streets. It seems to include land from Carew Street northerly to the Chicopee line. The name points to a camping place of the regular troops (not militia) in the Revolution but I know of no evidence. I was informed by William Mattoon (born 1810), who once owned a portion of the land, that the spot was a camping place of the insurgents in Shays Rebellion and family tradi- tion is to the same effect. A good spring of water was at hand. L. 238.
COOLEY BROOK. LONGMEADOW. C 117; D 536; H 717. Another in Chicopee, a source of the water supply.
COOPER'S HILL. AGAWAM. The rise from the Agawam on the south side below Lieutenant Cooper's house near Half Way Hill. Lieutenant Cooper was one of the first to settle in this precinct of Springfield. His death of sacrifice is commemorated on the monument at the foot of Mill street at a spot selected by Jacob T. Bowne and myself, although it is possible that the attack may have been made more to the south. His descendants can still be found in this vicinity. 2 B 64, 66; D 355.
COVE. See Great Cove.
COW PASTURE. LUDLOW. See Noon's Ludlow p. 51.
COW PEN MEADOW SWAMP. WILBRAHAM. On Faculty street about one third of a mile west of the Academy boarding house. From a spring nearby the Wilbraham Spring water is marketed in Springfield. Peck's Wilbraham p. 444.
CRANBERRY POND. LONGMEADOW (?) 3 IC 85; 2 LG 394
CRANK, THE. HOLYOKE. The turn of the boundary line where East- hampton (formerly Northampton) appears on the map to have encroached on Holyoke. 2 I C 6, 7, 17; 2 LG 433. "See how this river comes crank- ing in". Shakespeare.
CRESCENT HILL. The unbroken and sinuous curve of the upper level extending from the Springfield Cemetery to the valley of Mill river, at which it breaks down, as it is shown on Maps H R, has received three names for its several parts; Sterns Hill on the north, Ames Hill in the middle and Crescent Hill on the south; or it would be better to say that the original Ames Hill has been partially deleted by the two later divisions. To the north lies Armory Hill and to the south across the valley, Blake's Hill and Long or Fort Hill; then Pecowsic Hill. North of the valley of Garden Brook we have the isolated Round Hill and far to the north east, Hog Hill. All except Round Hill are comprehended in the term "the Great Hill", so much used in the old records. The names Ames Hill, Sterns Hill and Crescent Hill
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APPENDIX C
originated in the nineteenth century before 1860. For two centuries, the best residences were on the Main street; then Bliss street became fashiona- ble; then Howard, Water, Maple and Chestnut. Rev. Wmn. B. O. Peabody, writing of his removal from the present No. 136 State st. to No. 160 Maple St., says, "I set against the increased distance from town a clear view of the sky, which I think is better than the finest landscape". As a site for a residence Crescent Hill has for years been considered in a class by itself. It contains scarce a half dozen houses, without room for more; but for those who are perforce excluded it is one of those happy compensations of the universe that if they cannot spend their earthly life on Crescent Hill they can at least go to heaven when they die. Map N.
CROOKED POINT. Clearly not on the Connecticut as might hastily be . inferred; but it is a short distance north of Round Hill. It is perhaps so called by a view of the surface where or near where End brook and the upper town brook unite. I B 336, 396; 2 B 236; AB 42, 64, 89, 97, 131. B 414. I 703. C 78 mentions "the field commonly called Crooked Point". New- field was west of Crooked Point. C 221.
CROOK. "The Crook" in the Agawam river made the northerly boundary of House meadow. D 561. Map D. See a map of 1803 in the State archives reproduced in Wrights' Maps. See also Noddle. In Yorkshire, England, is "the crook of Lune, " the subject of one of Turner's pictures.
CROW HILL. WEST SPRINGFIELD. Early nineteenth century and perhaps before it. It is the region of the junction of Cayenne and Piper streets. Springfield Republican Sept. 30, 1914, p. 15.
CROWFOOT BROOK. CHICOPEE. The first of the northern tributaries of the Chicopee river. Named from an early settler, through whose land it passed. 2 B 30. Maps C G R. See Powder Mill brook. A change was made in a part of its course. B 321. Maps C, R, etc. Wrongly placed on A.
DARK ISLAND. DARK ISLAND SWAMP. LUDLOW. The swamps of modern days were often ponds in other days. This swamp became extinct by the construction of the reservoir of the Springfield waterworks in 1874-5. In the swamp was an island of five or six acres thickly studded with large white pine, a dark covert, well adapted for an Indian rendezvous. Map I.
DARBY BROOK. DERBY BROOK. WEST SPRINGFIELD. The small stream entering the Connecticut at the foot of the hill near the "old white church". Except in such isolated cases the broad pronunciation of e, as in clerk, has disappeared in New England but remains in this word. The stream was named for Joseph Derby. For this and other brooks to the north in Chicopee plain see I B 438; 2 B 327; B 25; D 501, 514. See also Bedortha's brook; Barker's brook; Riley's brook; Terry's gutter. Maps I T. For Darby's plain see 2 I C 131.
DARBY'S DINGLE. AGAWAM. On the line between the inward and out- ward commons. 2 I C 202.
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APPENDIX C
DARBY DINGLE. DARBY DINGLE BROOK. The valley of a tribu- tary of End brook between Atwater road and the Glendale street railway. The brook is shown on Map T. See 2 LG 458.
DARTMOUTH COLLEGE, ROAD TOWARDS. A highway was laid out under this name in 1802 by the County Court whose records describe it as "the road from Somers in Connecticut through Hampden County towards Dartmouth College". It begins in Somers at Brown's bridge near the East Longmeadow line and passes through that town and Sixteen Acres to Put- nams (Putts) bridge. For a part of the way it is identical with Parker street. Co. Ct. Rec. 253. In the West Springfield Map A Riverdale street is labeled "Hanover and Dartmouth College."
DAY'S HOLLOW. AGAWAM. The valley of the most north western brook in town. 2 I C 202. See Block brook.
DEEP DINGLE. DEEP DINGLE BROOK. DINGLE BROOK. SPRING- FIELD AND CHICOPEE. At the upper end of Plainfield. The brook rises west of the old Catholic cemetery in Chicopee and on Map I is called Stebbins brook; Dingle brook of Map K enters the Connecticut in the rear of the club house of the Bosch-Magneto Company. Deep Dingle to-day presents a scene of woodland wildness remarkable as being near and betwixt two populous cities. Four dingles open on the north and three on the south. John Olmstead and Geo. M. Atwater once purchased this tract with the purpose of presenting it to Springfield for a park but the intent was abandoned after the opening of Forest Park. D 370; K 802.
DEEP GUTTER. DEEP DINGLE. DEEP GUTTER BROOK. AGAWAM. The brook, later called White's brook, enters the Agawam opposite Ash- kanunksuck (g. v.). 3 I C 58, 270. Map D.
DEEP SWAMP. WEST SPRINGFIELD. A nameless brook, called in an Indian deed Tawtum Squassick brook, rises near the junction of Rogers avenue and Dewey streets and makes its entrance into the Westfield river on the easterly side of the trap ridge on which lies Paucatuck cemetery. Easterly and south- easterly of the cemetery the low land on the brook made a swamp which early bore this name now obsolete. Here seems to have been the timber swamp of 1 B 348. In its extension northerly it included the Fitch farm of Map I. The early grantees were the Taylors, father and son; of this old family was "Aunt" Anne Taylor who died about 1840. The inscription on her tomb stone in the Paucatuck cemetery was "Her web of life is wove at last." She was a kindly soul upon whom the school children depended for their drink of water at the noontime recess. The schoolhouse stood opposite on the west side of the Albany turnpike as it turned westerly over the bridge. Its successor of about 1850 was to the north in the point as shown on Map I. The school was for Paucatuck and Tattom, as it is to-day. (History of Springfield for the Young p. 117) I B 341; 2 B 29, 299; C 327; D 427, 532; E. 327; F. 179; H. 464. See Tattom; also Bagg's West Springfield p. 82. For the Indian deed see Appendix E.
DIMMOCK POND. For the Dimmock house, near by, See Map B.
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APPENDIX C
DIPPING HOLE ROAD. Map C. See Peggy's Dipping Hole.
DIRTY GUTTER. Map A shows Stone Pit brook and Garden brook as rising in a swamp at Dirty Gutter (misprinted Dirk's Gutter in Wright's Maps) which name is to-day in use for the upper waters of Stone Pit brook where it crosses the Bay road at the end of the decline from the eastern slope of Goose Pond hill. 1 B 347; 2 B 138, 248, 308; I 324.
DIRTY GUTTER. AGAWAM. Near the Suffield bounds. 2 B 263.
DIRTY GUTTER. "On the right hand of the way going to Wachogue". 2 B. 256.
DITCH MEADOW. 2 B 271. A transcription error for Dutch Meadow in 3 I C 199.
DIVISIONS. A descriptive term; for which see Commons and Allotments.
DORCHESTER DINGLE. LONGMEADOW. A "dingle or slough" on a southern tributary of Pecowsic brook north of Converse road. B 219 3 LG 354.
DORCHESTER GUTTER. In traversing the Plumtree road from Allen street (Hampden road) to Sixteen Acres two streams are crossed; the first being Dorchester Gutter at a point not far from its entrance into the South Branch. Upon following the first named stream, which is Dorchester Gutter, to its source one finds himself again at the Hampden road and discovers that the road runs along the narrow watershed that formerly divided the swamps at the head of Entry Dingle from the head of Dorchester Gutter, this being, of course the watershed between the valley of Pecowsic brook and the valley of Mill river. The waters for some distance from the road on both sides are now dried up but the land levels and old channels are still in evidence. This gutter seems to have derived its name from Anthony Dorchester, an early grantee. I B 236; 2 B 216, 282. Map C. Obsolescent.
DOUBLE DITCH. A famous fishing place for shad on the Connecticut near the foot of the present Clyde street. Shad fishing hereabouts practi- cally ceased about 1878. In 1885 only 47 shad were taken above the Enfield dam according to evidence reported in the Republican of March 27, 1886. With the extinction of the fishery, shad with the fine native flavor have dis- appeared from Springfield markets. The fishhouse is shown on Maps B C G. The origin of the name is unknown. Ditches were used for drainage and boundary and at least one ancient record mentions a ditch with a hedge in the old English fashion. Remains of ancient ditches still exist. A very good example may be seen in Forest Park near the Dickinson street boundary. Standing in the ditch, and plainly of a later date, is a hemlock probably a century old if not more. See also Commons. For the shad and salmon fishery in the Chicopee see 2 B. 131.
DRY BROOK. WEST SPRINGFIELD. 2 I C 151, 181, 228, 257, 294, 304.
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APPENDIX C
DUTCH MEADOW. A comparison of the grants to Cornelius Williams and Simon Lobdell or Lobden, together with the description of this locality in the deed C 591 makes the identification complete. Above the birchen plain of the deed (See Birchen Bend) the valley of erosion presents a narrow meadow which roughly corresponds in quantity to the measure of land in the deed, and to the "northwest" is the "high hill", now the imposing site of the solitary residence of P. B. Moore. The Athol division of the Boston and Albany railroad either incloses or crosses the meadow on the south. I B 386, 2 B 235, 281; C 594; E 250, 377. 3 I C 199. The last reference is erroneously, "Ditch meadow" in the transcription from the records in the city clerk's office. In 2 I C 275 Cornelius, supposedly Cornelius Williams, is said to have been a Dutchman; hence probably the origin of the name.
EAST BRANCH. The South Branch of Mill River. 1 B 230.
EIGHT MILE GUTTER. WILBRAHAM. This old valley of erosion, now dry for most of its length, crosses the Boston road a half mile east of the Springfield-Wilbraham line at the foot of the hill at the top of which the highway passes over the railroad. It is indicated as a brook on Maps I R V In October 1914 I followed the gutter to its source. The walk takes one through a swamp; above this under Stoney Hill is a pool to which leads a deer path; the valley then opens into a space filled with the black alder, the berries gleaming red in the October sun. A turn to the east brings one after some distance to what would be the head of the gutter but here it connects with a ditch the origin of which is explained under Nine Mile Pond. In Eight Mile Gutter we have a good example of what the early inhabitants, expressed by the word "gutter". A gutter was not a stream, nor the narrow channel of a stream; but was a small shallow valley of erosion, usually con- taining the small stream which had created it. Terry's gutter is an example of an old channel. If the sides of the valley were higher and the valley of erosion larger, it was called a dingle. See Deep Dingle; Thompson's Dingle. B. 321.
ELBOWS, THE. This tract adjoined Springfield on the east. See Temple's Palmer; Peck's Wilbraham pp. 74, 95; Stebbins' Wilbraham p. 76. Map D.
ELEVEN MILE BROOK. Near the Wilbraham-Monson line. 1 I C 4. See Twelve Mile brook.
ELY BROOK. CHICOPEE. 2 B 246-7, 303, 309. C6. Map I. Now a part of the sewer system.
ELY'S BRIDGE. LONGMEADOW. 2 B 301; 2 I C 163.
END BROOK. The brook which entered, and as yet, as a part of the sewer system, does enter, the Connecticut at the northerly end of Hampden Park. The word applies more specifically to the water course above its union with the brook flowing out of the Wet Meadow and partially encircling Round hill. In the plain above Round hill it was often called Three Corner meadow brook and Plain brook and the upper stream has sometimes been called North End brook. West of Chestnut street it is now covered but is open
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APPENDIX C
in the grounds of the Springfield Hospital. It takes its rise near Liberty Street as shown on Map W. It forms and flows through the Van Horn reservoir, which bears the name of a Dutch family that appeared here in the early eighteenth century. The name indicates their origin at Hoorn on the Zuyder Zee, and after a citizen of that place, Cape Horn is named. The progenitors in Springfield were Christian and Born, and the surname of the latter is found as Van Hooren. About 1820 a family of the name resided in Paucatuck in West Springfield. Its head, called locally "Crazy Van Horn", being insane, was kept fastened to his bed post and with his clanking chain and screaming at passers by, was the terror of children. The family is still represented in Springfield and Chicopee by that name, and it would seem from Warren's genealogies (2 B 650) that there must be many descend- ants in the female lines. 1 B 156, 230; 2 B 236, 242, 244; Co. Ct. Rec. 59; also the maps.
ENTRY BROOK. See Entry Dingle.
ENTRY DINGLE. It opens out of the valley of Pecowsic brook and crosses the Springfield-East Longmeadow road between Belmont Avenue and Ruskin street. In July 1915 the view down the wide dingle from this point was full of beauty,-dark pines of great size on the left of the back ground and the chestnuts in full bloom on the north bank. The watercourse, now dry at the upper end, can be traced to Little Wachogue and its defined head located in the swale, soon to be obliterated, between Powell and Ells- worth streets. The upper drainage area, as also that of Dorchester Gutter (q. v.) was in the wet meadows and swamps north of the hill at Little Wachogue. The locality at the head of the stream was called Entry. The meaning is obscure. The word means a way of passage to a place either within or out of doors. It might also be applied to land recovered by writ of entry. 2 B 233, 270, 273; B 235, 287. Maps D C.
ENTRY MEADOW. The meadow at the northern foot of Wachogue hill off Allen street. 3 LG 400.
EQUIVALENT LANDS. WILBRAHAM. This may have some connection with the difficulties connected with the settlement of Brimfield as narrated by Holland in his Hist. West. Mass. C 139; D 235.
FACING HILLS. Heights in Ludlow which for fine views face several points of the compass. Facing Hills Rock is on the western side. Maps INT. Noon's Ludlow p. 26.
FALLS WOODS. HOLYOKE. Opposite the falls. 2 I C 250, 267. The term was also applied to woods on the east side in South Hadley.
FARM MEADOW. AGAWAM. "Over the first brook." 2 I C 16, 233; 3 I C 285.
FEDERAL HILL. An old name for Armory hill in the days of the Federal party when the contrast between Federalism and Democracy was more emphasized than now. Poets and Poetry of Springfield p. 11; 2 LG 404.
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APPENDIX C
FEDERAL LANE. WILBRAHAM. See Peck's Wilbraham p. 26.
FEDERAL SQUARE. That part of the grounds of the U. S. Armory lying between Federal and Magazine streets. The houses shown on early maps were removed about the middle of the nineteenth century, one of them now being the Day Nursery at 23 Pendleton avenue. In one of them lived the family of Dale whence went Lieutenant John B. Dale, second in command of the expedition to the Jordan sent by the government in 1847. For his un- timely death in Syria after his valuable labors were finished see Lynch's "Dead Sea and the Jordan" p. 507. He left children but his line is now extinct. Map K. See Franklin Square.
FEEDING HILLS. The low lying hills in Agawam between East street and West street (formerly known as "Front street" and "Back street") of the locality now called Feeding Hills. 2 I C 144. Here in the Outward Commons roamed the young cattle and cows that were not milked; others pastured at the foot of the Manchconis mountains, sometimes in charge of a herdsman. 2 B 298; D 497; F 195; 2 LG 422. On Map N the two prominent elevations appear as Mt. Pisgah and Liswell Hill. The name was formerly used for the fourth Parish of West Springfield. For the parish line between the Inward and Outward Commons see Map N.
FERRY. The upper ferry was at the foot of Ferry Lane, now Cypress street, on the east side; and on the west side at the Hay Place, at the foot of Ferry street, now East School street. The lower ferry was at the Lower Wharf, or York Street. 1 B 260; Maps D E; Green's History of Springfield p. 135; History of Springfield for the Young p. 121. See also Burt's Ferry. For the demise of the lower ferry see Whitman vs Porter 107 Mass. Reports p. 522. In Chicopee, Jones' ferry was at the foot of the present Mckinstry street. In Agawam, a ferry is mentioned in C 370. The lower ferry, at least, was free for troopers on trooping occasions. 1 B 261.
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