USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Springfield > King's handbook of Springfield, Massachusetts : a series of monographs, historical and descriptive > Part 19
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Male members receive $3 per week during sickness, and females $1 per week. Meetings occur fortnightly in Bicycle Club Hall, 413 Main Street. Officers : Commander, H. A. Prouty; vice-commander, P. A. Deman; orator, E. A. Hendricks ; secretary, Dr. W. F. Andrews ; collector, S. E. Goodyear; treas- urer, F. Merritt Alden.
The Hampden Conference and Benevolent Association represents all the Congregational churches of the county, and especially of Springfield. Contributions are distributed by the association to the various mission-boards, and religious and educational societies, under Congregational management. The office of the treasurer, Rev. L. H. Blake of Westfield, is with the Pyn- chon National Bank in this city. The other officers are: Moderator, Rev. John H. Lockwood of Westfield; scribe, Rev. E. H. Byington of Monson ; treasurer of the Benevolent Association, Charles Marsh; auditors, Henry S. Lee, T. S. Stewart.
The St. Jean Baptiste Benevolent Society, at Indian Orchard, was organized in 1874 for general benevolent work among the local Catholics. Regular meetings are held the first and third Sundays of each month. The membership is confined to Catholics. Officers : President, Louis Rientard ; vice-president, E. F. Tetrault; secretary, E. Lariviere; treasurer, W. F. Demers.
The St. Jean Baptiste Benevolent and Mutual Relief Society is also restricted to Catholics in its membership. Sick members receive $4 per week, for not more than 16 weeks in the same year, however; and, at the death of a member, his friends receive $20. The society also has a fund for the relief of the poor of St. Joseph's Parish. Regular meetings are held the first and third Sundays of each month, in the basement of the Howard-street Church. Officers : President, Eli Deschamp; vice-president, Louis Belan- ger ; recording secretary, Gregoire Valliancourt.
The Union Mutual Beneficial Society was founded by colored people in 1866. Besides attendance in sickness, members receive $3 a week, and $30 is paid for funeral expenses in case of death. Regular meetings are held the first Wednesday evening in each month. Officers : President, Eli S. Baptist ; vice-president, Mrs. Louisa Adams ; secretary, Mrs. Jennie Sawyer.
The Daughters of Cyrus are colored women united to relieve their members in sickness. Besides $2 per week, a sick member receives the care of associates, and at death $15 is paid for funeral expenses. Regular meetings occur the first Wednesday evening in each month, at the Loring- street Church. Officers : President, Mrs. Anna Washington ; vice-president, Mrs. Mary Thompson ; secretary, Mrs. Elizabeth Rhodes.
The Day Nursery was opened June 18, 1883, at 256 Water Street, to care for the small children of those mothers who must work away from home during the day for the support of their families. The importance of
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such a nursery had long been felt by the officers and visitors of the Union Relief Association ; and, as the experiment was known to have proved suc- cessful in other cities, it was determined to try it here. A committee was- appointed to act as managers of the institution, funds were solicited, and a matron engaged. The results of the first five months' work are very encouraging. There have been nearly 500 entries; and, as the nursery becomes better known, mothers are more anxious to take advantage of it. That the institution may not be regarded as purely charitable, a small admission-fee is charged. The children are provided with one meal each day, and a collection of toys is furnished for their amusement. A number of young women kindly devote a part of each afternoon to amusing and instructing the children. Besides caring for the bodily needs of the chil- dren, the nursery aims to exert an ennobling and purifying influence upon them. It endeavors, also, to cultivate in the minds of the parents a desire to make their homes brighter and better for their children's sake. Both mother and child are afforded a glimpse of some higher possibilities in life; and it is hoped, that, as time goes on, the results will justify an enlarge- ment of the work. Officers : President, Mrs. Charles Hall; vice-president, Mrs. Marshall Calkins; secretary and treasurer, Mrs. Albert H. Kirkham; purchasing agent, Mrs. C. D. Hosley; visiting committee, Mrs. A. E. Smith, Miss Stella Warren, Miss Lucy P. Brewer.
The Soldiers' Rest was one of the noblest charities, as well as one of the most successful, ever attempted in the city. At an early stage of the Civil War, it became nowhere more apparent than here, where muskets were being turned out in great quantities, that there would be need of all kinds of relief for the men who took part in the struggle. In 1862 a commission of young men was formed to send supplies and assistance to the front; and in 1863, as soldiers, wounded, injured, and ill, came passing through the city, it was suggested that relief and a resting-place should be afforded them. At once a building of small dimensions was secured on Railroad Row, and fitted up with simple accommodations. This charity, from the start, had the sympathy of the people; and in 1864 a new building, much larger and finer, took the place of the old one, and within its walls many a soldier has received the aid of the best of the Springfield people. This building, after it outlived its original purpose, was disposed of, and is now occupied by the Loring-street (colored) American Methodist Church. It was this Soldiers' Rest that caused the great fair under the presidency of Mrs. James Barnes, by which was raised $18,593 ; and it was part of this fund that provided for the soldiers' monument in the Springfield Cemetery. This organization raised in all about $32,000 ; of which about $17,000 was given in cash to soldiers, and the remainder spent in various aids for their benefit, including the monument. Almost 17,000 soldiers were helped in
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some way by this Rest. The treasurer of the funds from the beginning to the end was Henry S. Lee.
The City Hospital, situated a mile and a half beyond the Armory, on the Boston road, was re-organized in 1879, chiefly through the exertions of Rev. Dr. A. K. Potter, now of Roxbury, who was determined to have some. place where young working-people could be sent while sick, without great expense. The present hospital is good for what it is, but the day cannot be far distant when Springfield will demand as large and well-appointed quarters as her sister cities. The management of the hospital is in the hands of a board of trustees, three of whom must be women, and one of whom must be
CITY K
Cope
The City Hospital, on the Boston Road.
the mayor. They are appointed by the mayor, subject to the approval of the board of aldermen. The physicians of the city contribute their services without charge, and a body of them form a medical staff who relieve each other in attendance on the inmates. The admission to the hospital is not re- stricted; but the terms of compensation are fixed for each individual case, and persons for whose support the city is responsible are admitted as free patients. The matron is Miss Millie H. Jacobs, a graduate of the Massachusetts General Hospital Training-School for Nurses. The board of trustees are the Mayor, ex officio, Henry S. Hyde, Lucinda O. Howard, Rev. David A. Reed, Charles Marsh, Mrs. J. A. Callender, and Mrs. Charles A. Nichols. The members of the medical staff on duty at the hospital are Alfred Lambert, V. L. Owen, William G. Breck, Marshall Calkins, L. S. Brooks, T. F. Breck, S.W. Bowles, S. D. Brooks, George C. McLean, S. F. Pomeroy, F. W. Chapin, Charles D. Brewer.
THE SPRINGFIELD ALMSHOUSE AND CITY FARM.
On Armory Road,
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The Dorcas Chapin Hospital. - Mrs. Dorcas Chapin, widow of Chester W. Chapin, recently signified her desire to make an endowment of $25,000 for a hospital for this city. She says that the endowment of a hospital was a favorite idea with Mr. Chapin ; and often, in driving about town with her, he discussed sites for it and the service which it might be to poor people. He left his purposes in this respect unfulfilled, and Mrs. Chapin is now urgent that they shall be carried out at an early day. It is her desire that only a portion of the fund be used for the erection of plain and economical hospital buildings, and that the rest be reserved as an endowment, and as a nucleus for future gifts and bequests by the charitably disposed. Steps are to be taken immediately to incorporate a board of trustees; and the city is to be asked to turn over the present hospital site and buildings to the same corporation, upon suitable conditions that a hospital shall be main- tained.
The Almshouse and City Farm are situated on the Boston Road, about two miles east of the Armory. The management rests with the Board of Overseers, who elect officers annually to take charge of the institution. Z. F. Chadwick and wife are the present master and matron. The main building is the most imposing object on the plain east of the city. It is built of pressed brick, three stories high, with a French roof, and surrounded with well-kept grounds. The upper part of the house is devoted to those harm- less inmates who do not require the stricter confinement of a lunatic-hospital .. The entire property is valued at about $63,000. The whole number of per- sons annually supported at the almshouse is a little less than 200, of whom about one-eighth are insane. The average cost of support is about $2.50 per week. The overseers of the poor are the Mayor, Chauncey L. Covell, James H. Lewis, F. A. Burt, and Dr. A. R. Rice.
- BURTON MONROE FIRMAN.
KING'S HANDBOOK OF SPRINGFIELD.
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The Cemeteries.
PAST AND PRESENT PLACES OF BURIAL. - SPRINGFIELD, OAK- GROVE, AND CATHOLIC CEMETERIES.
THE OLD BURYING-GROUND was on the bank of the Connecticut River, back of the First Church, - a lane leading to it called "Meeting- house Lane," now Elm Street; and it lay on both sides of this street, on the west side of what is now Water Street. The first recorded burial there was in 1641 ; and the oldest monument is in memory of Mrs. Mary Holyoke, daughter of William Pynchon, the founder of the colony, who was born in England, and whose stone bears this inscription : -
HERE LYETH THE BODY OF
MARI
THE WIFE OF
ELIZUR HOLYOKE WHO DIED OCT. 26, 1657.
She yt lyes here was while she stood A very glory of womanhood Even here was sown most pretious dust Which surely shall rise with the just
William Pynchon was not buried here, for he died in England. But his associates were, like Capt. Elizur Holyoke; Deacon Chapin, a magis- trate with Pynchon and Holyoke; Henry Burt, who was associated with them in affairs of Church and State; Rev. Pelatiah Glover, the second minister of the town, who died in 1692; "the worshipful Major Pynchon ; " and so on with the ministers and magistrates, and all classes of the people, for two hundred years.
This continued the " churchyard " of the old church, and the principal burial-place of the town, until the new cemetery was opened in 1841. Then the railroad came ; and it was necessary to remove this sacred dust, which was done in 1849, with the utmost care and reverence, under the charge of Elijah Blake. Such remains as were not removed by friends were transferred to the new cemetery, and their stones and monuments with
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them; so that there were 2,404 of such remains, and 517 monuments and tablets, which may be found in a portion of the cemetery set apart for them, adjoining Pine Street, where is also a common monument erected for those
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who had no monuments, or whose remains could not be recognized.
The Springfield Cem- etery was opened in 1841. It is in the heart of the city, being only half a mile from the City Hall; Springfield Cemetery Entrance. and yet, from the nature of the grounds, it is quite retired, and peculiarly well adapted to its purpose. It was " Martha's Dingle," a succession of hillsides and ravines, springs and brooks, old trees and tangled bushes ; which, by the art of landscape-gardening, has been converted into graded banks, numerous plateaus, shaded nooks, fountains, with a brook that drains the whole, running like a silver band through the meadow, which furnishes as secluded and pleasant a resting-place for our dead as though
THE OAK-GROVE CEMETERY.
The Receiving-Tomb.
General View.
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it had been sought miles away. Turning out of Maple Street, - a street of choice residences, - and passing up an arch of elms, under the brown-stone entrance, the place is revealed in striking contrast to all around it. One looks up the several ravines, takes in more or less of the grassy meadow, the brook, the fountains, the terraced hillsides, the trees, the shrubbery, and the monuments scattered everywhere, and wonders where else the several roads and paths are to lead him. They will lead him through a considerable continuance of the same characteristics ; and finally, going south, up to a broad plateau, he will come to the most recent burials and the most modern monuments, or, going north, come to the "Methodist Burying-Ground," where interments were first made in 1825, which has been incorporated with this. Originally the cemetery consisted of only twenty acres, but it has been enlarged until now it is double that size. Besides Maple Street, the bounda- ries of the cemetery are Mulberry, Cedar, and Pine Streets.
THE WIFE OF ELIZURHOLVOM WHO DIETE OF TURENN HST
Chce - lyss here las when Food Avery Glory of WOMANCh DOCE! Lucitherewas stone mort er trugse Which surely that file with the hurt
Mary Holyoke Gravestone, Springfield Cemetery.
EAR
laphat Chapin Gravestone.
The cemetery contains an appropriate monument, on Willow Avenue, to the memory of the soldiers and sailors of the late war. It is the figure of a soldier, in bronze, on a white granite pedestal, guarded by four bronze can- non, the gift of the government. This is the " Soldiers' Lot;" and there is a fund that was raised during the war to sustain a "Soldiers' Rest " in the city, the balance of which is still used for the relief of soldiers who are needy, and to bury them when they die.
It contains also an appropriate monument to the memory of Rev. W. B. O. Peabody, D.D., "erected by citizens of Springfield, in grateful recognition of his services in securing for them this beautiful resting-place for their dead." It is a graceful memorial in the shape of a Gothic shrine of light freestone, erected on a knoll near the Maple-street entrance. To him, for
Oppland del.
THE SPRINGFIELD CEMETERY.
The Soldiers' Monument.
One of the Tombs.
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his early suggestions, unremitting supervision, and tender address of con- secration ; to George Eaton, then a citizen of this town, for his untiring assiduity in laying out and ornamenting the grounds; and to the Hon. George Bliss, for his wise counsel, and constant devotion to its interests for more than thirty years, who sleeps himself in the spot he loved so well, - to these pre-eminently are we indebted for this resting-place of our dead. Among the men of widest repu- tation, whose remains rest here, are Samuel Bowles, the editor of " The Springfield Republican ; " Dr. J. G. Holland, the poet, novelist, and editor of “Scrib- ner's Monthly," - whose monu- ment, in Hudson - river blue- stone, bears a bronze portrait relief by Augustus St. Gaudens ; Chester Harding, the portrait- painter; William S. Elwell, his pupil, so long known as "the Crescent- hill artist ;" Chester W. Chapin, the president of the Boston and Albany Railroad, and Congressman; Gen. James W. Ripley, from 1841 to 1854 commandant at the United- States Armory ; and Gen. James W. B. O. Peabody's Monument, Springfield Cemetery. Barnes of the United-States Army; also Hon. William B. Calhoun, lawyer, member of Congress, secretary of state, and mayor of the city ; and Hon. Reuben A. Chapman, Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts; to which list should be added Rev. Daniel Brewer, the third minister of Springfield, who died in 1733, after nearly forty years of service ; and Rev. Samuel Osgood, D.D., the sixth minister, who died in 1862, after forty-eight years of service. Dr. C. C. Chaffee is president of the Cemetery Association, and Frederick H. Harris clerk and treasurer.
The Oak-Grove Cemetery, which was bought in 1881 by the Oak-Grove Cemetery Association, and which was required by the growth of the eastern part of the city, comprises a tract of ninety acres, a considerable portion of which is covered by a pine and oak growth, and has been laid out, under the superintendence of Justin Sackett, into well-arranged paths, and extensive drives, that promise to make it another interesting spot of this kind. Sev- eral pretty ponds and side-hill springs, - so well done that no one would
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suspect their motive power to be from Ludlow Reservoir, -and the natural irregularities of the ground, are used to excellent advantage. This cemetery was opened for burials in April, 1882, and has already received over 100 occu- pants. The grounds are situated on Bay Street, or the old " Bay Path" that led from the river to the Bay, which was once the only road from here to Boston. It lies within two miles of Court Square, the centre of the city, and about a mile beyond the Armory. The improvements are well under way; a chapel of Longmeadow sandstone having been erected, and also a receiving-tomb, immediately in front, on the sandy hillside, facing the Bay- Road entrance. Next season these are to be followed by a well-designed entrance of stone. The Association has these officers : Daniel B. Wesson, president; James Kirkham, treasurer; Gideon Wells, clerk. It may be added that Mr. Wes- son, Mr. Kirkham, and Mr. Sackett also own a tract of more heavily HOLLANCID forested land on the opposite side of the Bay Road, of more than 100 acres, through which they have had roads cut, and propose to maintain it as a wild park, open to the pub- lic, under the name of Edgewood.
Maplewood Ceme- tery, which was organ- OSTAN GILBERT HOLLAND ized 1882, is situated in the eastern part of the city, on the road from Indian - Orchard station to Sixteen Acres. The old part, which contains three- Dr. Holland Monument, Springfield Cemetery. fifths of an acre, was opened Oct. 3, 1816; the new part, adjoining the old, contains one acre, and was opened April 20, 1882, in connection with the old, under the name of the Maplewood Cemetery, the old part having upon that date been voted by the proprietors into the control of the Maplewood Cemetery Association.
Local Burial-grounds. - There are several of these in the city, some of which are not much used now : such as, the Methodist Burying-ground on
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Union Street, the burial-place connected with the Methodist-Episcopal church once located there, which has been incorporated into the Springfield Ceme- tery; the Baptist Burying-ground, on Cherry Street, in the vicinity of which once stood a Baptist church ; another on Sumner Avenue, Long Hill, west-
The Bridge, Springfield Cemetery.
erly of Faith Chapel ; another still on Allen Street, three miles out, on the road to Hampden ; and still another. on Parker Street, between Sixteen Acres and Ludlow Mills.
The Catholic Cemeteries. - There are two Catholic cemeteries. The old one at the junction of Liberty and Armory Streets, containing five or six acres, was opened in 1847; and, being the only one for what is now Springfield and Chicopee, the lots were all taken up long ago, and it is now used only by those who own the lots. In 1871 Bishop O'Reilly, the present bishop of the diocese, purchased a suitable tract of 83 acres between the Boston and Wilbraham roads, 33 miles from the City Hall, which belongs to St. Michael's Church, the cathedral church, but is ample and convenient enough to accommodate all the churches, both here at the centre and at Indian Orchard, and is being rapidly taken up. It is well located, and can easily be enlarged. The only two of their clergy who have died here were. not buried in either cemetery, but under white marble tables at the main entrance to the cathedral. One was Father M. P. Galligher, the revered
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OAK GROVE-CEMETERY
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1
THE PROPOSED OAK-GROVE CEMETERY ENTRANCE.
Richmond & Seabury Architects.
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and beloved old priest, who was in service here from November, 1856, till june, 1879. The other was Father Thomas O. Sullivan, whose service was from February, 1864, to September, 1870. He was an old man when he came here, and had been for many years in missionary service, particularly among the Indians of Maine.
1
" Beautiful twilight at set of sun, Beautiful goal with race well run, Beautiful rest with work well done.
Beautiful graves where grasses creep, Where brown leaves fall, where drifts lie deep Over worn-out hands, - oh, beautiful sleep !"
- SAMUEL GILES BUCKINGHAM.
1
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Parks and Squares. PARKS, SQUARES, FOUNTAINS, STATUES, MONUMENTS, HILLS, AND PONDS.
S PRINGFIELD possesses no large park for the use of its people, prob- ably from the fact, that, by the nature of its position, it is a park-like city. Its first settlement along the bank of the Connecticut River was shaded with elms and maples, a hundred years ago; and although, as the business blocks and the factories spread, the trees have to fall, there are but few sections so compactly built that some street does not intersect them with shade-trees. The hills that rise at a short distance from the river, for the whole length of the Main Street, are naturally, as the city grows farther and farther, occupied for residence, and the planting of trees has never been neglected : so that, viewed from the summit of the Arsenal tower in the grounds of the United-States Armory, the city seems like a piece of wood- land, into which churches and dwellings, and even the brick blocks, have been somehow inveigled; and this impression is even more notably given by views from Long Hill, at the south end, whence the rare beauty of the site of Springfield may be best appreciated. The river here makes a bold sweep eastward; and the city - its spires and towers piercing the tree-tops, and the Arsenal tower, with its ever-flying stars and stripes, presiding eminent over all - embraces the curve, giving its whole fortunate beauty to the gaze of the spectator from "the Storrs lot." The "hills " of the city are really points of a plateau which stretches eastward, at an elevation of about 200 feet above sea-level. The northernmost of these points is Rock Rimmon, near the Chicopee line, -a wooded height occupied by residences, among them the house built by Dr. J. G. Holland nearly 20 years ago, and named " Bright- wood; " which was one of the first examples of the versi-colored cottages which have since become the fashion. Prospect Hill is the name sometimes given to the rising ground at the eastern end of Franklin Street, just north of the Boston and Albany Railroad track. Round Hill, at whose southern end the Memorial Church stands, is an isolated knoll whose grove contains several handsome houses. Armory Hill is the highest point in the city; and other points are Stearns Hill, Ames Hill, Crescent Hill, -- the latter private grounds, which their hospitable owners leave open for the public to drive through, in order that they may enjoy a view of the city. which, though nearer and less embracing, is like that gained from Long Hill. Blake's Hill.
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across Mill River, is notable for its grove of tall pines. Long Hill, still farther south, closes in the amphitheatre of the city's site; and on its slope still stands a great chestnut which is believed to have been an old tree when the Indians had their fort on this commanding point, 200 years ago. All these hills afford charming views of the winding river, the tributary Agawam, the meadows, and the distant hills.
There are now many projects for securing some tract or tracts of land for park purposes; but nothing has yet taken positive shape, except that an elaborate plan has been conceived for the purchase of the ground between the New-York and New-Haven Railroad and the river, south of the old toll- bridge, for a hundred rods or so, which, by the clearance of a number of cheap and noisome tenement-houses, could be made a beautiful spot for the recreation of working-people, who largely occupy the vicinity. Part of this strip is already owned by the city, having been deeded to it by the late Ocran Dickinson in 1851, "to be held and kept open and unobstructed for the free and common use of the same, by all citizens of the Commonwealth, as a way and a landing-place." Another proposal is to buy strips of young wood, mostly pine and oak, bordering the Water-shops Pond, - a beautiful sheet of water on Mill River, caused by the dam of the United-States shops. The whole matter is now in the hands of a Park Commission, organized in 1883, of which John Olmsted is chairman ; and that the cause reports progress to this extent, is very likely due, in some measure, to a former city improve- ment association, which, for a while, kept the matter before the people.
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