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 5
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FIELD BROOK. CHICOPEE. A tributary of Chicopee river. Map A etc. FIELD'S HILL. EAST LONGMEADOW. The southern-central highlands of the town. 3 LG 335 etc.
FILER'S BROOK. See Fyler's Brook.
FISHING FALLS. Equivalent to Great Falls in I 572.
FIVE CORNER MEADOW. LONGMEADOW OR EAST LONGMEADOW. It was east of the meeting place of the two branches of Longmeadowv brook. 2 B 282.
FIVE MILE POND. This name is used in the plural in E 98. From its general use in the singular one might infer that there was in the early days only one pond but this is decidedly contraindicated by an examination of the locality, which shows that there were from the first two separate kettle- holes. The larger pond is now bisected by the railroad. The smaller of the
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original two was not long since called Hughes Pond from an owner and now appears on Map Y as Mona Lake, an attempt at a name by real estate speculators who also have tried their hand at changing the larger sheet of water to Lake Lorraine. 1 B 239; Map C; Emerson's Geology of Old Hamp- shire p. 660 and the glacial map in the same.
FLAGG'S HILLOCK. FLAGG'S HILL. In his History of Springfield for the Young p. 16 the writer has ventured to assign this name to the highest detached elevation in the city. Its northern slope abuts the Boston & Albany railroad at the 95th milestone. The north-south trend of the nearby Indian trail (Bay path) enabled the traveller to avoid the swamps lying east of Winchester Square and the hill itself afforded such a view of the valley as an Indian would not neglect. Doubtless the aborigines had a name for the' hill but it is forever lost. The small pond opposite (2 B 271) is likewise name- less. Here is the watershed between Chicopee and Mill rivers. The summer- house which has often proved a comfort to visitors was erected by George A. Flagg. Map R. The hill is apparently mentioned in 3 I C 288.
FLORIDA. This name was used in the eighteenth century to denote a region lying between State Street and St. James avenue and apparently extending somewhat northerly from the avenue. In the layout of "Skip- muck road" (St. James avenue) in 1770 it is spelled "Floriday", which probably indicates its usual pronunciation. The layout passed the north- east corner of Ingersoll's ditch; in fact Thomas Ingersoll, an important land owner, conveyed the tract of this name to James Bowdoin of Boston in 1728. The origin of the names Florida street and Bowdoin street thus become obvious. "Florida" and the "Road towards Dartmouth College" (q. v.) indicate contemporary interest in things for those days more remote than now. Thomas Ingersoll was a large buyer of the Allotments aside from his owner- ship of the tract extending north and easterly from Squaw Tree Dingle on which tract five of his descendants now reside. For another descendant see Ingersoll's Grove. E 192; Town records for March 23, 1770.
FOOTPATH. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries a common name for an undeveloped road. The footpaths to Wachuet, Ramapogue, Windsor, to Wollamanseep from Scanungamuck, Pequit Path, Moheague Path, and others were Indian trails, some of them later becoming highways. In 1638 a public foot path with stiles was established in Springfield along the river bank at the rear of the Main street home lots but, alas, the right has been absorbed by private interests, except so far as belongs to the space between high and low water in a navigable river. 1 B 163, 234, 288, 389.
FORT. The Pynchon Fort is the name often given to the house and strong- hold built by Maj. John Pynchon and demolished in 1831. There is a fine sketch of it in the margin of Map E and another in D. Map B has an en- graving of it. The pen and ink sketches are commonly attributed to Rev. Wm. B. O. Peabody; in fact all of the work on E is known to be his. A fanciful sketch of the surroundings of the Fort appears in King's Handbook p. 15. Dr. Joseph C. Pynchon, whose childhood was spent at this house, informed me that one of the walls was cracked so that snow came into his
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chamber. Upon the demolition of the "fort", which was really only a strong house, unless for the "flanker" constructed by John Pynchon, the wooden annex, which Judge Henry Morris, perhaps on the authority of his father, Oliver B. Morris, believed to have been part of the original house on the same spot occupied by William Pynchon, was removed to Cross street. To it I took the artist who was making sketches for King's Handbook and his drawing is accurate except for the fanciful rural back ground. This wooden building was demolished about 30 years ago by Milton Bradley who then presented through me to the Connecticut Valley Historical Society a box made at Mr. Bradley's order from the wood of the house and containing two of the ancient hinges and some wrought nails taken from it, the hinges being like those shown in King's Handbook. For Milton Bradley see the Handbook p. 150. For a description of the Fort while it existed see George Bliss's address at the dedication of the Town Hall, 1824. See also 2 B 33. For a drawing by Dr. Peabody see Chapin's Old Inhabitants p. 306. In 2 B 98 there is mention of the Indian Fort in Westfield.
FORT HILL. That portion of the high level on which the Indian fort was located, being at the spot now occupied as the residence of the Vincentian fathers. The fort is erroneously located on the map in the Report of the Park Commissioners for 1906. Long Hill is the modern equivalent but apparently the term was first applied to the slope leading up Fort Hill. I B 299, 314; C 458, 698; D 150.
FORT LOT. AGAWAM. Mention of the Fort Lot in D 28 indicates either the site of an Indian Fort or else that the original structure of 1635 in House Meadow was called a fort.
FOUR MILE POND. This still exists, somewhat shrunken and surrounded by woods, on the north side of the Boston road on land of the Carpenters. Its outlet is not now easily traced but its waters apparently sink away into the swamp, thus becoming the headwaters of Poor Brook. From a deed of 1835 it may be inferred there has been a subsidence of a foot since that date. I B 347, 389; C 594. Maps B CD L N.
FRANKLIN SQUARE. Reference to Map F. (subplan) shows that there was once contemplated for the U. S. Armory grounds a street effect somewhat like that effected by setting back the south fence east of Federal street under the administration of Col. Benton, resulting in "Benton Lawn". This change was probably for a time a fact but the street lines were eventually contracted. The iron fence was constructed of scrap iron, ordinarily sold by the government, and discarded cannon, the suggestion proceeding from the paymaster Maj. Edward Ingersoll. Maj. Ingersoll diary records under date of May 21, 1852, that he then began excavating for the fence. There is an absurd error in the report of the description of this fence in the remarks attributed to the writer in Papers and Proceedings of the Connecticut Valley Historical Society Vol. 3 p. 229. In Map E the government square west of Federal street is marked Franklin Square in letters so marvellously small as to be legible only with a very powerful glass. An engraving of Franklin Square looking east, is in Barber's Historical Collections for Massachusetts p. 294. There is a
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view of the Square from the opposite direction in Jacob Abbott's Marco Paul at the Springfield Armory, a once popular book for juveniles. See Federal Square.
FRESHWATER RIVER. Although mainly in Enfield, once reckoned a part of Springfield, the name is frequently found in early records and is of importance to East Longmeadow inasmuch as both its sources are in that town. 2 B 314. Maps F I. For Freshwater brook see 2 LG 453.
FROG POND, THE. LONGMEADOW. East of the buryground. 2 LG. 343.
FROST'S POND. Changes in the surface incidental to building operations etc. produced a deepening of the water of the Wet Meadow or Hassocky Marsh which about 1840, bore this name. The pond was in an area loosely bounded by East Court and Market streets and Harrison avenue. It was a favorite skating place and Charles R. Bunker (born 1828) yet feels the effect of a fall on its ice. Charles H. Hunt (born 1830) still survives the effects of any falls he may have had there. Henry B. Rice, (born 1821)* informs me that the land belonged to Dr. Joshua Frost for whom see Papers and Proc. of Conn. Valley Hist. Soc. Vol. II p. 159. The setback of water in the Wet Meadow as time went on was the source of increasing annoyance. 2 B 189 and citations under Town brook.
FYLER'S BROOK. AGAWAM. Miscalled Philo brook on some maps but in fact named from an early settler in Suffield. D 497. Map D. See Stoney River.
GALLOWS PLACE. Mentioned in Co. Ct. Rec. p. 46 and described as being at the top of "a sand hill" by the milestone. The milestone can still be seen within the Armory fence and opposite the High School of Commerce. It was erected to mark the 96th mile from Boston; by the railroad the 96th. mile is near Skip Bridge. The only words now decipherable on the stone are "Mile from Boston". Upon Dec. 13, 1770 William Shaw was executed on this spot for the murder of Edward East. The circumstances so far as known, are given in Papers and Proceedings of the Connecticut Valley Historical Society Vol. I p. 33. A copy of the Sermon by Rev. Moses Baldwin preached on the occasion and spot in the presence of the condemned I have placed with the Conn. Valley Historical Society. As a part of the large assembly then met to witness the awful spectacle, the preacher mentions his "Reverend Fathers and Brethren in the ministry."
GARDEN BROOK. It is well described in King's Handbook of Springfield p. 71 by Heman Smith, a civil engineer, and resident of West Springfield and Springfield from his birth in 1812. Tributaries of the brook on the south are the brook from Kibbe Hollow, now covered, the brook from Squaw Tree Dingle and that from Ingersoll Grove. The lowest tributary on the north rises at Armory street, opposite Grover, and passes under Nursery street. The next is the brook running out of the quondam Vineland (q. v.) and beyond
* Since the above was written these three aged citizens have died, all in 1915.
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is the stream from the Lombard Reservoir. The headwaters of the brook are the swamp at the head of Dirty Gutter. 1 B 249, 363, 401; 2 B 277; D 172. Maps A D E H P.
GENERAL FIELD. See Common Field.
GLOVER'S POND. Found only on Map E. Its relation to other points on the map indicates a location north of Oak Grove Cemetery. In the rear of the factory of the Westinghouse Company is a large kettlehole bisected by the old tracks of the Athol railroad in which there is yet some water. Tradition, however, coming through a single individual is that the pond was at or near to or east of Skip bridge and was drained away by the cut made for the tracks of the Boston and Albany railroad. The pond is mentioned in a grant of 1742. 2 IC 100; see also 2 IC 95.
GOOSE POND. This pond, whose name is familiar in the early records, became extinct in the eighth decade of the nineteenth century at which time it was Goose Pond alias Lake Como. (q. v.) It lay close to State street at the north side of Winchester Park, a pretty sheet of water lively with skaters in the season. Like Five Mile Pond it was really double but was usually spoken of in the singular. If distinguished, the two were mentioned as Big Goose and Little Goose. "Goosey" has passed out of sight but in its day it was a pleasure to the eye and a merry playground for the boys and girls. It extended northeast to Andrew street. In the more ancient records it is some- times called "Swan Pond". 1 B 347; 2 B 300, 313. Maps A. I. P. The relation to existing streets is shown on the Index map of L. Called the Great pond in 1 B 188.
GOOSE POND. AGAWAM. In the northwest part of the town at the head- water of a small brook flowing under Block Bridge (q. v.) Extinct.
GOOSE POND HILL. This occurs but once in the records and there can be no doubt that the reference is to the sand hill crossed by the Bay Road at Oak Grove Cemetery and rising to its apex within the enclosure. It sloped gradually down almost to if not quite to the edge of the pond, as can yet be seen, although street improvements have reduced much of the land to a level. An observer on the hill or at the pond could see the opposite feature. 2 B 284. See Hill.
GOOSEBERRY SWAMP. GOOSEBERRY. WEST SPRINGFIELD. This swamp and the locality afterward called from it simply Gooseberry, lay south or southeast of Nonesuch. 2 B 295, 318, 320; E 425; 2 I C 186, 200, 227; 3 I C 48.
GOAT ROCK. WILBRAHAM. A perpendicular ledge of about 30 feet at the south end of the North Mountain, a half mile east of McCray's Corner from which point Goat Rock is conspicuous when there is no foliage.
GORE, The LONGMEADOW and HAMPDEN. Map A.
GRAPE BROOK is in Enfield. 1 B 230; C 345; 2 I C 106.
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GRAPE HOLLOW. Not far from Loon Pond. 3 I C 41.
GRAPE PLACE, THE. CHICOPEE. On the flat above the bridge at the center. The name survives in Grape street which led to a ford at this point. Maps C D E.
GRAPE SWAMP. On Longmeadow brook. 1 B 260, 261, 325; B 270.
GRASSY GUTTER. GRASS GUTTER. LONGMEADOW. Opens northerly from Longmeadow brook and is traceable as far as the road between that town and East Longmeadow. 3 I C 23. Maps F I.
GREAT BAR, THE. CHICOPEE. Below the Grape Place. 2 L G. 356.
GREAT BOTTOM. WEST SPRINGFIELD. The bottom lands stretched from about the present outlet of the Agawam river to a point north of the existing dike. The old bed or bottom of the Connecticut and various old beds of the Agawam are easily traced. The silting up of the Agawam channels has tended to produce ponds. See Black pond and Turtle pond. See also Ball's bottom, Cold Spring bottom and Ramapogue. The Great bottom was in the General Field. C 146, 552, 553. D 227.
GREAT COVE and LITTLE COVE. LUDLOW. In the Chicopee river below the Springfield-Ludlow bridge at Ludlow, as the old locality of Putts Bridge (q. v.) is now called. Noon's Ludlow p. 27.
GREAT DINGLE, THE. LONGMEADOW. E 383.
GREAT FALLS. The falls of the Connecticut at Holyoke, comprising the Upper and the Lower Falls. 1 B 382, 384; 2 B 182-3. Map A. See Patucket.
GREAT FIELD, THE. WEST SPRINGFIELD. The land opposite the Town Plot of Springfield. D. 423.
GREAT ISLAND, THE. At the mouth of the Chicopee river. B 198; E 310.
GREAT HILL, THE. By this term, sometimes merely as "the Hill," the early usage intends the highest or 200 foot level, particularly at its brow on the edge of the great pine plains that mark this level and this not only opposite the Town Plat in the present Springfield, but in the whole circuit on both sides of the Great River and the Chicopee river. The phrase occurs in numberless grants and deeds. For the geological history of the Great Hill see Emerson's Geology of Old Hampshire; and, briefly, History of Springfield for the Young. Chap. I. 1 B 240, 289, 400; 2 B 231, 235, 284, 297, 300, 306, 373, 691; A B 159, 176.
GREAT MOUNTAINS. See Springfield Mountains.
GREAT PLAIN, THE. WEST SPRINGFIELD. The plain adjoining Bear Hole on the southeast. The road between Smith and Taylor in 2 B 326 is the one
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running from Paucatuck cemetery northward past the Smith farm men- tioned in Hist. of Springfield for the Young p. 16 .- For Springfield see 1 B 187. 2 B C 143. Another in Agawam. 2 I C 233.
GREAT POND. Same as Goose pond. 1 B 188.
GREAT POND. WEST SPRINGFIELD. Frequently used in the records and although the later usage seems to intend Ashley's pond in Holyoke, the earlier apparently refers to a large pond now extinct by artificial drainage which lay back of the present Ashleyville cemetery extending south nearly to Morgan road. Its limits can yet be traced by the depression of the land. Geologically it belongs with Ramapogue, the Wet Meadow and the Great Pond once existing in Longmeadow and yet indicated in the pondy meadows west of the Main street. These depressions into which water ran from the Great Hill, (q. v.) were created by the river in its retreat to its present bed. In contrast, Black pond and Turtle pond were perhaps vestiges of the old chan- nels of the Agawam. Near Morgan road on the Cartter farm the artificial drainage channel can be seen as it passes through the bed of clay which once held back the water. According to Ethan Brooks, born 1832, the tradition is that the adjoining landowners, presumably in the eighteenth century, united in the drainage. Mr. Brooks says that the last mention of the locality as a pond, so far as he knows, was in his boyhood by an old man, Richard Bagg, Sr., who said that the pond ought to be drained and even now it is necessary occasionally to clear out the runways which connect on the south with the brook flowing through Chicopee Plain. 1 B 287, 316, etc; 2 B 258, 285, 304, 310, 311; B 233, 240; C 503, 602; D 514, 601; K 56, 601; I 414, O 297; 3 I C 364. See Three Mile Pond; also Bagg's West Springfield p. 114.
GREAT POND. LONGMEADOW. The location of the Great Pond in Mas- sacksic was in the meadows near the seat of the Coltons. The deed in G 526 conveys "a tract of land called the Great Pond" in Longmeadow, perhaps indicating that the pond was then extinct or shrunken. From B 295 it appears that there were two ponds under the hill in the meadow of which one was the Great pond. 1 B 329; 2 B 320; H 29; K 56.
GREAT POND. AGAWAM. At the head of Muddy brook and now called Leonard's pond. To the north was a smaller pond. 2 B 258, 285.
GREAT RIVER, THE. The common and popular name for the Connecticut for the first century of the settlement and long after. See Connecticut.
GREAT SWAMP. CHICOPEE. North of Chicopee Center in the river low- lands. C 417, 564.
GUT CANSO MEADOW. EAST LONGMEADOW. In the lowlands east of Baptist village and between Boat Swamp brook and the Hampden line. In the meadow was an island. 2 LG 353, 355.
GUTTER. A general term; explained under Eight Mile Gutter.
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HAILE'S MEADOW. At the headwaters of Longmeadow brook at the East Longmeadow line. 2 I C 38, 224. Map I.
HALFWAY HILL. AGAWAM. The rise to the higher level on the south of the Springfield-Agawam bridge and described as being five rods from the bridge. Co. Ct. Rec. 155. 3 L G 366.
HAMPDEN. County and town were named for John Hampden, the English patriot. See also South Wilbraham.
HAMPDEN PARK. Opened September 28-30, 1857. This has played a great part in the life of Springfield and the county agricultural fairs, horse . races, balloon ascensions and circuses. In 1860 the public observance of the Fourth of July took place on the park and among the attractions was one Sweet who walked on a rope from the east side of the river to the opposite shore blindfolded and returned walking backwards. The writer remembers that the rope was fastened to trees, that it sagged heavily and that small boats followed the performer to insure his safety. Sweet carried a balancing pole. In the transactions of the Hampden County Agricultural Society for 1857, one reads :- "This extensive enclosure, level and possessing a soil peculiarly adapted to the growth of the elm and other indigenous shade trees and protected upon the river side by a strong embankment, will remain forever as a monument to the taste and wealth of the farmers of Hampden county and the citizens of Springfield." The decline of agriculture in the county in its relative importance to manufactures and the enforcement of stringent laws against race track betting have lost to the public its old use of the park, although Springfield still sees the return to its inclosure of the travelling circus. The ownership has passed into the hands of the adjoining railroad. See a pamphlet entitled the "Springfield Horse Shows", (1867) and Johnson's Natural History by Goodrich Vol. I p. 612. See Three Corner Meadow. Of the Maps consult L in particular.
HARMON'S FOLLY. I I C 5.
HARMON'S GROVE. WILBRAHAM. Peck's Wilbraham p. 387.
HARMON'S HILL. LONGMEADOW. The elevation south of Converse street and east of Burbank road.
HASSOCKY MARSH. HASSEKY MEADOW. A hassock is a tufted clump of matted vegetation and this was the characteristic of at least some of the Wet meadow on the east of Main street. 1 B 154, 156, 162, 166, 291. His- tory of Springfield for the Young p. 122. The term is used in our earliest document, the Articles of Settlement. See Henry Morris' Anniversary Address. See also Wet meadow. Excavations on State street at Willow street show layer upon layer of alternating sand and muck, 4-18 inches in thickness.
HAYING WELL. A spring in the northern part of Chicopee. 1 B 363. See Cold spring.
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HAYPLACE, THE. WEST SPRINGFIELD. A place for deposit of hay in transit from the fields on the west side to the barns on the east side. It was at the foot of Ferry street, now School street, at which the highway was 5 rods wide. I B 238-9, 257 et passim.
HAYTI. Early nineteenth century and later. A tract of land extending from State street to Bay road (and perhaps beyond) and westerly from Goose pond to Thompson street. Practically identical with the land marked "Josiah Flagg" on Map G. It was diversified by yellow pine trees and negro cabins, not least in importance of which was that one of "old Samanth", the wife of Reuben Sands, a powerful negress whom two constables were needed to hold when drunk. Her cabin stood on what is now the north corner of the schoolhouse yard at Bay and Sherman streets. Her daughter Mary was as distinctive a piece of negro individuality as ever lived on the Hill, showing Indian blood and temperament, perhaps, but a kind heart went with her high top boots. A son of Samanth (George) killed his brother Horace in defense of his mother and Oliver B. Morris, his attorney, won fame by the verdict for the defendant. In the eastern part of Hayti lived "Aunt Jinny", a popular negress who sold cakes and beer to travellers on the Boston road. Map H. Papers and Proceedings of the Conn. Valley Hist. Society Vol. 4 p. 195. The only house places to-day associated with this negro settlement are that of Henry P. Mason, a nephew of Primus P. Mason, founder of the Home for Aged Men, No. 280 Bay street, and that of the family of Lyman Mason, brother of Primus, at 107 Monroe street. See Horse Burying Ground.
HEARTHSTONE QUARRY BROOK. CHICOPEE. A respectable brook but not shown on any map, although its valley appears on Maps R T. It enters the Chicopee from the northwest a quarter of a mile below the bridge at Chicopee Falls. Its deep dingle near the river discloses a laminated clay stone and a sand stone impregnated with iron. Reg. Deeds. Bk. 72 p. 369 (1825). Probably the name is much earlier.
HIGHER BROOK. CHICOPEE. I B 47; B 411; K 101. Maps A and I in particular.
HIGHER WADING PLACE. CHICOPEE. At Skipmuck. 2 LG. 363.
HIGHER WIGWAM. 1 B 224. See below.
HIGHER WIGWAMS. WEST SPRINGFIELD. Oliver B. Morris in his address on the 200th anniversary says: "There was a cluster of wigwams in and near the valley of the Pecowsic brook and another on the banks of the Agawam, near the place where the highway now crosses the river". (Bridge Street). James W. Moore, civil engineer, of Agawam, says that the bridge is west of the ancient ford, the approach to which on the south is still in existence; also that about 1000 feet from the river an elevation that is not overflowed in the spring floods. Papers and Proc. of Conn. Valley Hist. Soc. Vol. I p. 317. The locality was on the left bank of the Agawam and south of the road that crossed that stream. A B 233; B 34, 223, 253; E 56; F 152.
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One deed bounds the land of the Higher Wigwams easterly on the river. The wigwams were probably on the 60 foot level as drawn on Map R. The name seems to have become obsolete in the eighteenth century.
HILL. Theelevations of land in that part of England from which the Puritans came are so few and low that the fathers were inclined to magnify such as they found here. The Wilbraham hills became mountains and the sand ridges which stretched north and south were hills. So was the Chestnut- Maple street terrace. The ridge running through some of the homelots, perhaps three or four feet high, is yet discernible at Holyoke, Auburn, Bliss and Howard Streets. It was voted to build the second meeting house of the First Church "on the hill", a short distance west of the first one, and when the work was begun the "hill" was removed. 2 B 126, 130, 446; D 171. It supplies, however, the elevation of the Court house as seen from State street.
HILL, THE. In Springfield "the hill" is and has been a term designating that part of the 200 foot level bounded north by the edge of the valley of Garden brook, west by the brow of the Great Hill, (q. v.) south by the section known as the Watershops and running for an indefinite distance east, as far, at least as the valley of Stone pit brook. It includes the McKnight District and Armory Hill. More specifically, to those living on the Hill at no great distance from the U. S. Armory, going "up on the Hill" or "over on the Hill", means going to the commercial center at the junction of State and Walnut streets. Barber's Historical Collections for Mass. p. 294.
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