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 8
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RIDING PLACE. CHICOPEE. A ford. 2 B 514; also town vecords for March 23, 1770. See Wading Place.
RIDGE HILL. CHICOPEE. 3 IC 289; 2 LG 404. Erroneously transcribed Bridge Hill in the first reference in the Registry of Deeds.
RIGLE. B 310. The English Dialect Dict. defines rigol as a small gutter or water channel.
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RILEY'S BROOK. JOHN RILEY'S BROOK. HOLYOKE. Enters the Connecticut at the Holyoke-Springfield line. John Riley was the first settler of Holyoke. See Burt's Records; also Hall's Irish Pioneers in Papers and Proceedings of the Conn. Valley Hist. Soc. Vol. 2 p. 175. Map. D. On some maps a tannery on the river road has given its name to the brook, which should not be. The name of this brook occurs frequently in Burt's Records and sometimes (2 B 191) as John Riley's brook.
ROCKRIMMON. CHICOPEE. A sandstone rock on the bank of the Con- necticut below the West Springfield bridge and about 1600 rods from the north end of Round Hill in Springfield. At low water (May 29, 1915) it appears as an outcrop of sandstone shale in which is embedded a stratum of hard sandstone, the ledge being near or over 300 feet in length extending from the water 8-10 feet above low water mark. At this point the bank bows to the west, reversing the larger curve of the stream and here the water seldom freezes, as I am informed; so that the locality is dangerous for skaters. The bluff of sand and clay approaches the shores so that the view from the river of rock and bluff together may have impressed the imagination of some observer who took the name from Judges xx and xxi. George M. Atwater, pioneer and first president of the Springfield Street Railway was the first to build his mansion, of hospitable memory, on the bluff and from the rock borrowed the name for his large estate, so that, the rock being now forgotten, the name is generally supposed to belong to the Brightwood heights. The name is now also that of a drawing room car of the street railway. Maps BGH I, but Map C indicates only the bluff. In the days of shad fishery the term was much in use; for here was a fish house above the fishery at Double Ditch.
ROCKRIMMON BROOK CHICOPEE. Having cut through the bluff in a deep valley of erosion, the brook enters the Connecticut at Rockrimmon and is well named, for in low water it flows over the rock in a series of small cascades.
ROCK VALLEY. HOLYOKE. Map T.
ROCKY DUNDY. ROCKY DUNDER. HAMPDEN. Not obsolete as stated in Stebbins' Wilbraham. The name applies to the mountainous region of the easterly slope south of the village of Hampden and extending into Stafford. "Dunder", from "dunner", dis a reverberating sound and the soubriquet may refer to the sound of thunder (German "donner") among these hills or of the huntsmen's guns, or of the stream tumbling rocks upon each other in a freshet. A locality named Dunder is mentioned by Scott in The Black Dwarf. See the English Dialect Dictionary. A "dunnerin glen" or a "dunnerin brae" is one that gives out a peculiar sound of hollowness as a conveyance goes over it.
ROCO'S LOT. Roco was a negro who dwelt on Poor brook previous to 1728. E 269.
ROUND CEDAR SWAMP. WILBRAHAM. 2 B 280.
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ROUND HILL. Occurs in the records frequently from an early date. I B 157, 231, etc. A 79. Geologically it is a part of the Great hill as left by the river in washing away the sand intervening. It is remarkable that the well defined elevation at the opposite end of the Main street should never have gotten itself a name. Henry B. Rice (born 1821) informs me that as late as 1840 Round Hill was a hunting ground for squirrels and such game birds as partridges.
ROUND MEADOW. 2 IC 247.
ROUND POND. AGAWAM. Near the Middle Meadow Pond.
ROUND POND. LONGMEADOW. Not on any map but it lies near to and south of Converse road (see map W) west of Haile's meadow and about half a mile west of the East Longmeadow line. It may be the pond of similar name on Map A but the latter is not clearly decipherable even with a glass. The kettlehole, in which there is now but a small body of water, has a bear- ing on Professor Emerson's theory of the deflection of the Connecticut river and its reentrance in Longmeadow into its present channel. 2 LG 254; Emerson's Geology of Old Hampshire p. 665.
RUM POND. WEST SPRINGFIELD. At the north end of Chicopee plain. A part of the depression, filled with water may yet (April 1916) be seen on the east side of Riverdale street about 15 rods north of the Ashleyville cemetery. The shifting of the highway to the east has resulted in filling a portion of the pond, so that the roadbed now forms its west bank. Tradition says that the name is derived from an accident occurring to Moses Ashley from whose conveyance an hogshead of rum rolled off and into the pond. Ex. rel. Ethan Brooks, octogenarian. 2 B 326.
RUMRILL'S POND. Artificially. made by ponding the Cemetery brook at the present Avon place. At the factory wool cards were at first manu- factured; then gold chains by James M. Rumrill. A favorite skating place. Maps H K.
SANDY HILL. CHICOPEE. At the Center opposite the bridge. 2 IC 23.
SANDY PLAIN. WEST SPRINGFIELD. The plain above Mittineague. E 387-8.
SAWMILL BROOK. AGAWAM. 2 B 251 etc. 2 IC 3. Wright's Indian Deeds p 64.
SCANTIC. SCANTUCK. HAMPDEN. This rises in Stafford and after a a circuit in Massachusetts seeks the state of its birth. The good lands upon the stream after it emerges from the "Great Hills" made a locality called by its name and so marked on Map Q. The name has since retreated within the "Great Hills" themselves and now applies to the locality in Hampden lying up the stream and two miles away from the village, in fact, somewhat below the locality formerly known as Burt's Mills. 2 B 179, 223, 258; B 89.
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Maps Q S T. Scantic falls, where Pequit path crosses the river, are north of Somersville. Ex. rel. Harry A. Wright.
SCHEME LOTS. SCHEME LAND. The earliest land grants were called Allotments (q. v.) as were those in 1684; but in 1740, 1754 and 1762 lands in the Commons were granted by lot according to a definite plan and were thenceforth known as Scheme Lots. Some of these lots were on Carew street, on old Skipmuck road from the North End; others in the region of Hancock street and Eastern Avenue; others in Chicopee, e. g. on the Will- amansett road near Hearth Stone Quarry brook. These lots were of 10 acres each and lay in tiers. Hancock street was laid out by the compass nearly due north and south and known for a time as "the road between the ten acre lots". Eastern avenue is parallel with it. For an unsuccessful search after the original plan of the Scheme Lots see the report to the city solicitor by Henry Bliss. Esq. December 27, 1882 on file in the records of the City Clerk and Mr. Bliss' copy deposited by me with the Conn. Valley Hist. Society. D 348; O 303; 2 IC 17. Reg. of Deeds bk. 129, p. 513. Town records for March 25, 1755.
SCONUNGANUCK. SQUANUNGANUCK. CHICOPEE. Aside from William Pynchon, whose records are scant in this particular, the best authori- ties on the spelling of the earliest Indian place names are John Pynchon and Elizur Holyoke. Holyoke writes "Squanunganuck", indifferently doubling the first n; but later writs "Schenunganuck". In after years his son John adopts "Schonnunganuck". The word was used by the English to designate land on the south side of the Chicopee at the falls, called by them Sconun- ganuck Falls. 1 B 234; 2 B 138, 190, 265, 289, 307, etc. 3 IC 283. Co. Ct. Rec. 6; 2 LG 425. Holland's Hist. West. Mass. Vol. 2 p. 45. See also Cabot- ville.
SCRUBBY PLAIN. LONGMEADOW. B 321; 2 IC 44.
SHAD LANE. WEST SPRINGFIELD. Main Street extending northerly from the Toll bridge. Bagg's West Springfield p. 134. For the shad fisheries see Double Ditch; also Papers and Proceedings of Conn. Valley Hist. Soc. Vol. I p. 16.
SHEEP PASTURE, THE. At Round Hill. K 627.
SHINGLE SWAMP. LUDLOW. See Noon's Ludlow,
SHORT LOTS, THE. LONGMEADOW. B 129.
SIKES GUTTER. Opens into the valley of the South Branch at Little Wachuet. 2 IC 67; 3 IC 287.
SILVER STREAM. WEST SPRINGFIELD. A brook entering the Agawam a short distance above Mittineague and east of Block brook. Its head was originally at the northerly point of the bend in Westfield street, where indeed today is the head of the dry gutter. The greater convenience of passing
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around the stream head evidently produced the bend. Thence the brook flowed through the alder swamps lying between the present Silver and Ashley streets. 2 B 293, 297; C 1; E 277; 2 IC 110. Map T. In 1867 Adin W. Bangs caught 32 trout in an hour and a half in the lower part of the stream.
SILVER STREAM PLAIN. WEST SPRINGFIELD. The plain about Silver Stream head. C 638.
SIXTEEN ACRES. The locality centering at the junction of the Wilbra- ham road and Parker street has that name since the seventeenth century. It appears in the records soon after the grant to Rowland Thomas in. 1651. A meadow of that number of acres was below the falls and mill privilege. I B 220, 221, 251; 2 B 256; D 291; K 96. To the east of Sixteen Acres lies World's End and to the south-east, Necessity and Small Brook.
SIXTEEN ACRE BROOK. AB 208; B 22.
SIXTEEN ACRES BRANCH. SIXTEEN ACRE BROOK. The south branch of Mill river. AB 208; B 22; 3 IC 131.
SIXTEEN ACRES PATH. SIXTEEN ACRES ROAD. 2 IC 22, 57. SKIP. See Skipmuck.
SKIP BRIDGE. i. e. Skipmuck Bridge. A Springfield colloquialism for the St. James Avenue bridge over the Boston & Albany railroad on the road to Skipmuck; sometimes called Dry Bridge. Obsolescent.
SKIPMUCK. SKIPMAUG. SKEEPNUCK. CHICOPEE. The latter is the spelling of John Pynchon in his minute on the deed of Nippumsuit to William Pynchon a facsimile of which is in the Springfield City Library. The two suffixes are synonymous, meaning "fishing place". As a locality for settlement in early grants the word designates the lowland or meadow lying on both sides of the Chicopee river at the present Chicopee Falls, but above Sconunganuck or the falls themselves. As used by the whites, the north and south bounds were the highlands, the east bounds were the inclos- ing hills just above the wading place and the west bound, if the word bound- ary can be used for a thing so indefinite, was east of the neck or sharp bend of the river. The entire area south of the river was bisected by Poor brook upon which were the earliest settlements, those of Jeremy Horton and James Warriner. The locality is well indicated on Maps C I. 1 B 248 et passim. In 1708 there was a fort at Skipmuck which was attacked by Indians and five persons slain. N. E. Hist. and Gen. Reg. vol. 9 p. 162.
SKIPMUCK BROOK. CHICOPEE. See Poor brook. B 268, 270. On Map D this name is applied to Field brook of Maps C N etc.
SKIPMUCK FIELDS. CHICOPEE. 2 B 282.
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APPENDIX C
SKIPMUCK OLD PATH. In the town records of Springfield for March 23, 1770 this term designates the highway now known as St. James Ave and, previously to the adoption of this name in the 70's, as Factory street, referring to the factory at Chicopee Factories i. e. Chicopee Falls. In 1663 a way to Skipmuck was authorized which should leave the Bay road "at the slough" (Dirty Gutter?). The road from Carew street and the road over the hill were both known as Skipmuck road. The change to St. James Avenue was made in connection with the development of McKnight District (q. v.) See Lake Como.
SKIPMUCK RIVER. Chicopee river. 2 B 261, 316.
SKUNK'S MISERY. The dingle of Card Factory brook extending easterly through the grounds of the Wesson Hospital to Walnut street including the site of the High School of Commerce. King's Handbook of Springfield p. 66; Papers and Proceedings of the Conn. Valley Hist. Society vol. 4 p. 192. The name can be traced at least to the early nineteenth century and, although remembered, is not now in use.
SLABBERY POND. SLOBBERY POND. CHICOPEE. The meaning of the word is "sloppy, dirty, wet or mussy".
"This threatens those who on long journeys go That they shall meet the shabby rain or snow". Bunyan's Divine Emblemns.
3 IC 100; Co. Ct. Rec. (1770) 125, 201. Maps A D G. On Map A it is marked as containing 60 acres. The best representation of the pond in its recent condition is on Map T. There is water at the south east corner of Slobbery pond road and the road running south and many swamps in the vicinity. By Map A. it is due south from Slipe pond.
SLIPE POND. CHICOPEE. The word is old English for a narrow strip, as a slip in a meeting house or a slipe of land as in 2 B 246, 2 LG 450. Other explanations are possible. The whole region is pondy. Near to and south of the road east from Fairview is a pond and further on beyond the ridge is a great depression that once was a large pond and now contains water at the South Hadley line. Maps A D G. On Map A it is marked as containing 50 acres and extending into South Hadley. The map of Hampshire (1854) shows slips of ponds extending north.
SLOUGH POND. CHICOPEE. Probably one of the three neighboring ponds near the north line. See Slipe pond. See 3 IC 116, 118.
SMALL BROOK. A locality named from a tributary of the South Branch beyond Little Wachogue. The name is old but is not obsolete as the name of the brook. 1 B 302; 2 B 257, 282; D 193. Maps A D Q.
SMALL LOTS, THE. LONGMEADOW. 1 B 325; 2 B 242; B 272; H 244; I 352.
AGAWAM. B 272; H 244; I 352.
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APPENDIX C
SMOOTH POND. CHICOPEE. 3 IC 119. Co. Ct. Rec. (1770) p. 125. Maps A D. Wrongly located on one map. Correct on Map T. The layout of Slabbery pond road mentions a ridge as dividing Smooth from Slabbery pond.
SODOM. WILBRAHAM. A hamlet on the main road from Springfield to Palmer near the Palmer line on a tributary to the northern branch of Twelve Mile brook. Map I shows it to have had in 1855 a blacksmith shop and a store. Stebbins' Wilbraham p. 280.
SOUTH BRANCH, THE. The South Branch of Mill River.
SOUTH WILBRAHAM. The south parish of Wilbraham. It was made a town in 1878 under the name of Hampden; the advocates of this name carried the day within the town as against the name of Dayton etc. In the legis- lature the name of Hampden was opposed by the chairman of the judiciary committee, afterwards Chief-Justice, on the very reasonable ground of con- fusion with the name of the county; but William Pynchon, farmer, living in the Plainfield (g. v.) in an enthusiastic eulogy of John Hampden, carried the House for the choice of the town. This is said to be the only occasion on which Mr. Pynchon spoke during the session. He was Chief Marshal on the 250th anniversary of Springfield.
SPECTACLE PONDS. WILBRAHAM. The origin of the name is evident to any passenger on the Boston & Albany railroad. Map I etc. For the geology of the ponds in the Springfield plain see Emerson's Geology of Old Hampshire.
SPRING PIECES, THE. At PACOWSIC. The word means "strips of land". In Cambridge, England there is a playground called; Christ's Pieces, belong- ing to Christ College. A spring piece at Sixteen acres is mentioned in D 193. 2 B 301.
SPRINGFIELD. For the origin of the name see all the histories; it has been carried west by settlers, e. g. in the Cherry Valley, N. Y. In the home parish of Springfield, in Chelmsford, England is a postoffice called Springfield Hill. All Saints Church, so far as it goes, is a duplication of the church in the English parish of which William Pynchon was and was drawn from plans made by Guy Kirkham when commissioned by the writer to go there and make a drawing, with measurements, of the lychgate.
SPRINGFIELD ELBOWS. See Elbows.
SPRINGFIELD MOUNTAINS. WILBRAHAM and HAMPDEN. The range lying east of the main street of Wilbraham and Hampden and applied to the precinct of Wilbraham before its incorporation.
"On Springfield Mountains there did dwell, A likely youth who was known full well".
For the entire ballad see Poets and Poetry of Springfield p. 23. See also Manchconis Mountains. The mountains were also called the Great Hills. B 89.
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APPENDIX C
SPRUCE GUTTER. E. LONGMEADOW. West of Boat Swamp brook. 2 LG. 353.
SPUNKY HOLLOW. CHICOPEE. It lies on the road from Chicopee Falls to Indian Orchard, at the foot of the first descent after leaving the bridge and on the left bank of the river. Middle nineteenth century or carlier. Ex. rel. Charles F. Spaulding.
SQUAW TREE DINGLE. The dingle opening out of Garden brook valley and having its head at the junction of St. James ave. and Bay street. Except at the head, which is owned by the United States, it is being gradually filled. Bowdoin Street runs on its eastern and Magazine street on its western verge. 2 B IIO, 120, 252, 274; AB 45; C 280. Maps GH NP. The name became obsolete in the nineteenth century. 2 LG 407.
STEBBINS BROOK. See Deep Dingle Brook. Map I.
STERNS HILL. It is bounded south and east by the Springfield Cemetery, west by Central street and north by Thompson's Dingle. The brick house, No. 48 Madison avenue, afterward removed easterly to make room for the great mansion of Charles L. Goodhue, now occupying the center, was in the middle nineteenth century the residence of Henry Sterns, Treasurer of the Springfield Institution for Savings. Of his three daughters, two joined the Roman Catholic communion and made their permanent abode in the Eternal City. See Chapin's Old Inhabitants of Springfield p. 365. In Stearns Park and Sterns Hill, once known as Sterns woods, the spelling should be distin- guished.
STILL BROOK. AGAWAM. A branch of Muddy brook. So called from a gin distillery.
STINKING HOLE BASK. AGAWAM. An enlargement of the stream shown on the maps as the southern branch of Worthington brook at the point crossed by a rude bridge on the land lately of James H. Boyle, being near lots 23 and 44 in the plan recorded in the Book of Plans Vol. 3 p. 50. A bubbling spring of water inpregnated, probably with sulphide of iron, seems to have made this a favorite place for bathing. For "bask" see Bask pond. This name is lost to tradition but with the aid of Frank J. Pomeroy and James W. Moore I have been able to identify the spot. D 82, 295.
STONE PIT. The old pit from which the early settlers quarried, using Log Path for access, lay at the present No. 67 Benton street, south of the house of Mr. Marsh now standing there. I 324. Town Rec. Aug. 18, 1809; 2 LG 406; 2 LG 469 (1825).
STONE PIT BROOK. Rising on the north side of Bay road, east of Goose Pond hill and Oakgrove cemetery, it flows southerly under the name of Dirty gutter and, crossing State street west of the almshouse at a point once known as Parsons' Dam, pursues its course past the old Stone pit to the Water Shops pond. Late maps assign the name of Carlisle brook but
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the family of Carlisle is a comparatively late resident, having removed from Chester to this locality in the early nineteenth century. The layout of a way in 1771 calls the stream Parsons' brook. 2 B 274; Co. Ct. Rec. 46. A northern branch is mentioned in AB 256. 2 B 313, 314. Maps C G I K. See Red Brook.
STONE PIT ROAD. Probably the equivalent of the Log Path extended to Stone Pit. 2 IC 96.
STONEY BROOK. LUDLOW and CHICOPEE. It cuts the northeast corner of the latter. 1 B 341, 347; 2 B 166, 223, 253, 363; IC 245. Another stream called Stoney River has its head waters in Agawam, and its mouth at the hamlet of Stoney Brook in Suffield. The eastern branch appears in the early records both as Stoney brook and Fyler's brook. Sargeant Fyler was an early settler of Windsor which formerly included Suffield, once con- sidered a part of this colony. The western branch, rising in Feeding Hills at West street, is called in old records Muddy brook and later Still brook, from a distillery on its banks, whose ownership by a member in the first tem- perance movement seriously disturbed the peace of the Methodist church in Feeding Hills. Philo brook of late maps is a corruption of Fyler's brook. I B 328, 384; 2 B 220. Maps D N.
STONEY HILL. WILBRAHAM and LUDLOW. From a point near the Chico- pee river near Nine Mile pond it stretches south for a mile as shown on Map R. 2 B 294. In I IC 4 it is said that at the north end of Stoney Hill by Chicopee river rosin was first made by Capt. German. See also Noon's Ludlow p. 48. Another in East Longmeadow. 2 LG 448.
STONEY HILL. The settlement at Ludlow was so called before the in- corporation of the town. Holland's West. Mass. Vol. 2 p. 83. See also 2 IC 7, 245.
SUCKER SWAMP. SUCKEY SWAMP. WEST SPRINGFIELD. Extinct. It lay to the east and west of Boulevard street between Westfield street and King's Highway. In the Spring it was common to fish here for suckers that came up from the river at Mittineague by a brook now nearly extinct but still traceable east of the railroad station and perhaps indicated on Map I. 2 B 303; D 129; 2 LG 452. Ex. rel. Talcott A. Rogers, octogenarian.
SWAN POND. See Goose Pond. Swans were not uncommon in New England in early times for which see Morris's Birds of Springfield and Vicinity. Thomas Morton, in his New English Canaan, (Amsterdam 1637) Writes :- "And first of the swanne, because shee is the biggest of all the fowles of that country. There are of them in Merrimack River, and in other parts of the country, great store at the seasons of the years". 1 B 342; 2 IC 121.
SWING FERRY. Between Holyoke and Chicopee. Map D.
TANNERY BROOK. HOLYOKE. See Riley's Brook.
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APPENDIX C
TARKILN BROOK. AGAWAM. Map N. etc.
TARKILN DINGLE. LONGMEADOW. 2 LG 352.
TARKILN PLACE. On the Bay path about seven miles east of Main street. 2 B 218.
.
TATHAM. TAWTUM. TATTOM. WEST SPRINGFIELD. Occurs first as Tawtum in an unrecorded deed of 1663 given by Paupsunnuck, a squaw, to John Pynchon and his associates Robert Ashley and George Colton of lands in Westfield and in which for the protection of himself and others Pynchon included certain lands in West Springfield, Paucatuck, Tawtum Squassick and Ashkanuncksuck: It might appear from any printed copy of the deed that Tattom lay further from Paucatuck than Ashkanuncksuck; but the latter having been omitted in the drafting was inserted with a caret either carelessly or in the most convenient place. The word next occurs in a deed of 1678 (A 2) in the place name "Tattom Squassoks". The early grantees of land at Tattom were the Millers (Lazarus, Obadiah etc.) and this family, still seated there, are as much "lords of the manor" as were the Taylors at Deep Swamp or the Smiths at Paucatuck. A comparison of the early deeds indicates that by this word was intended land bounded west by the ridge of secondary trap through which is made the deep cut for the Boston & Albany railroad; northerly by Deep Swamp and south westerly by Ashkanuncksuck; that is to say, land centering around the school house, next to which is now the Miller farm. A brook mentioned in the first Indian deed as Tattom Squassick brook and which rises near the junction of Dewey street and Rogers Avenue, has long since been nameless. From the fact that by one of the deeds Tattom lay west of the brook and was bounded on the west by land of Benjamin Smith, ancestor of the writer, in whom a small portion yet remains, strongly indicates this place name as referring to the trap ridge between Tattom and Paucatuck which is so decided a physical characteristic. The modern spelling has probably sprung from the supposi- tion that the word is of English origin, and akin to Hingham, Waltham etc. In later years the boundaries of Tatham in usage have extended in almost all directions and seem to reach nearly to Mittineague. A 2; C. 10, 282, 351, 352, 368, 376, 638; E 198, 503, 504; F 179-80; H 120, 125; I 92, 123; K 28.
TEN ACRE LOTS, THE. SPRINGFIELD and WEST SPRINGFIELD. 2 LG 452, 492. See Scheme Lots.
TEN MILE BROOK. WILBRAHAM. 2 LG 347. See Twelve Mile brook. TERRY'S GUTTER. WEST SPRINGFIELD. Referred to in K 63 and 40 rods south of Riley's brook and in E 24 as near Brush hill. See E 42; G 323; H 190. The gutter remains, apparently unchanged. Its head is a short dis- tance north of Highland Road.
TOWER HILL. The site of the U. S. Arsenal. Map H.
TOWN BRIDGE. The bridge over Mill river at the South End. 1 B 17, 53, 296.
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APPENDIX C
TOWN BROOK. The waters of Garden brook after entering the Wet Meadow pursued partly a southerly and partly a northerly course, entering the Connecticut in the vicinity of York street and by Three Corner Meadow brook. How well defined originally was either stream in its course through the meadow the evidence is not sufficient to show. An early record speaks of "the ditch " on the east side of the Main street. Perhaps it is not remarkable that in so level a tract as the Wet Meadow the flow should be both north and south. One of the old city engineers describes the brook in King's Handbook p. 71. The following is from an unpublished letter of Annie Brown Adams, daughter of John Brown, the abolitionist, dated May 19, 1908: "When we moved to Springfield we boarded at first for a few days at the Massasoit House; then went to live in a new house that was situated on the right hand side of Franklin street on the left bank of Town's Brook, a small stream that had a culvert bridge, the width of the street, across it. Father rented the house and it was a good one. I cannot remember any houses between there and the foot of Armory Hill which was in plain sight. A man named Green owned some vacant lots just across the stream on the opposite side of the street. I remember seeing him drive a poor man from off them who had a load of wood on his back and was going across that way to his home in the evening after his work was done, as it was a shorter way to go. I was very indignant and told father. He said that "Mr. Green had a legal right to order the man not to cross his lot, but it was not kind to do so". I B 162, 253, 380; 2 B 60, 62, 242; C 199. Green's Springfield p. 50. Maps C H. etc. The north part of the Town brook anciently had no name before its union with End Brook but was known as the brook that ran out of the meadow or out of the Wet Meadow. 2 B 242. The above reference is to Samuel S. Green who disinherited his son and gave his estate to the Church of the Unity. The will was sustained after a vigorous contest. For Town brook in Indian Orchard see Pool brook.
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