USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Springfield > King's handbook of Springfield, Massachusetts : a series of monographs, historical and descriptive > Part 23
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The Odd Fellows, though of recent origin in Springfield, have taken a remarkable hold upon the city. Their first footing in America was gained at Baltimore, Md., in 1819; a lodge was instituted at Boston the next year, and the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts was formed in 1823. But it was 21 years later before any steps were taken to institute a lodge in Springfield ; and up to that time there was, as far as is known, but one Odd Fellow in the town, ---- the late Dr. James Swan. Hampden Lodge, the 27th in the
1.0.0.5
-1844
1883-
The Second Court-House (now Odd-Fellows' Hall), Court Square.
State in the order of institution, was organized Feb. 7, 1844, with six charter members, of whom the only survivor is Col. James M. Thompson, though he is not now identified with the order. The late Addison Ware, then chief clerk in the Western Railroad office, was the first Noble Grand; and Col. Thompson was the next officer. The first meeting-place was an upper room on Main Street, now occupied by Metcalf & Luther as part of their furni- ture warehouse. The lodge prospered moderately, and soon removed to Stockbridge Hall, at the corner of Main and Stockbridge Streets. Here it remained till January, 1847, when, to gain more room, it removed to Burt's Hall nearly across the way. Agawam Encampment was organized the same month, with 15 members, eight of whom lived in Springfield, and seven in
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Westfield. Col. Thompson was the Chief Patriarch. Both bodies flour- ished for a year or two longer ; but, from causes partly local and partly com- mon with the brotherhood throughout the country, there was no increase from 1850 to 1860, if not, indeed, a positive falling-off. Interest revived during the war, and has since been steadily maintained. The two bodies meanwhile moved to the old Masonic Hall on State Street, and later to the upper floor of Foot's Block, at the corner of Main and State Streets. Hampden Lodge had reached a membership of 146, when De Soto Lodge was formed, March 9, 1871, with about 25 members, mostly from the parent body. De Soto's meeting-place was, as now, the upper part of the Institu- tion for Savings Building, at the corner of Main and State Streets; and here it was finally joined by the other bodies. About 25 members of De Soto Lodge formed a new organization, Amity, Sept. 15, 1875, and met in a hall in the Third National Bank Building; but that was soon absorbed by the Evans House, and Amity Lodge thereupon removed to the old home. The growth of Odd Fellowship in Springfield, in the last half-dozen years, has been very marked, and still shows no signs of abating. 'Hampden Lodge now numbers nearly 575 members, De Soto 515, and Amity about 250; while a lodge of Daughters of Rebekah, called Morning Star, has a membership of 201. Hampden Lodge bought the old court-house property in 1882, and handsomely fitted it up for the uses of the order. All the bodies now have their home there, save De Soto Lodge, which has expen- sively refitted its old quarters in the Savings Institution Building. In the chapter on "Charities and Hospitals" is a notice of the Odd Fellows' Mutual Relief Association.
The Knights of Pythias. - This order has had a history of vicissitudes in Springfield. A lodge, called Myrtus, was instituted July 2, 1869, and met in Gilmore's Block. It was the second lodge in the State; the first estab- lished being one at Fall River, one of whose members introduced the order to Springfield. The lodge prospered for a time; and in December, 1870, a new lodge, called Massasoit No. 53, was established, and occupied the same rooms. This sapped the vitality of the parent lodge, and probably fanned the flames of dissension already started. Massasoit Lodge died in 1872, and Myrtus Lodge ceased to exist the following year. Massasoit Lodge was re-established Jan. 29, 1879, with about a dozen members, most of whom were new men; and it met for a time in Amity Hall, in the Third National Bank Block. Later it removed to Grand-Army Hall, in the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Building; and when the veterans removed into the Savings-Bank Building, Massasoit Lodge followed them, and there it now meets regularly. The lodge is moderately prosperous. An endowment rank was established in March, 1882; and the present membership is about 75. A uniformed division, named the Warwick, has been organized the past summer, and is the only uniformed division in Massachusetts.
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Grand Army of the Republic. - The E. K. Wilcox Post No. 16 was organized Aug. 9, 1867, with 10 members, and Gen. (late postmaster) Horace C. Lee as commander. It took its name from Capt. Wilcox, a gal- lant officer of the Twenty-seventh Massachusetts Regiment, who was killed while leading a desperate charge at Cold Harbor. The post steadily grew in numbers and prosperity for some years, but during the hard times follow- ing the panic of 1873-74 the membership was reduced from about 300 to 75. But in the last four years there has been a great revival of interest in the local post, in common with the rest of the country; and under the com- mandership of Major S. B. Spooner, and his successor J. O. Smith, the membership increased to about 400. During the latter's administration, the post was also largely prospered in money affairs, and now has over $5,000 invested as its relief-fund. The post has spent several thousand dollars in charity, and has borne on its roll the names of between 600 and 700 vet- erans, among them many men prominent in the city's business and official life. Of the 150 posts in the State, only three exceed it in membership. Its commanders have been, in their order : Horace C. Lee, L. A. Tift, H. M. Phillips, J. L. Rice, S. C. Warriner, E. A. Newell, A. H. Smith, J. L. Knight, S. B. Spooner, J. O. Smith, and E. W. Lathrop. The post met for some time in Gilmore's Block, and, later, occupied quarters in the Massachusetts Mutual Life-Insurance Building, now used by the Springfield Bicycle Club. In 1883 it became located at Institute Hall, in the building of the Springfield Savings Institution, at the corner of Main and State Streets.
Other Secret Societies include a division of the Ancient Order of Hiber- nians, whose headquarters are in the First National Bank Building. It was organized in June, 1882, and has about 100 members. Thomas E. King is the president. There is also a division at Indian Orchard, which has a membership of about 40. It was organized May 10, 1877, and has long met in a room in the Indian Leap Hotel. Germania Lodge of the Harugari is a flourishing body of about 85 members. It formerly met in the Third Na- tional Bank Block, but is now located on the third floor of Foot's Block, at the corner of Main and West-State Streets. Court Massasoit, Independent Order of Foresters, also met originally in Amity Hall. Its present quarters are in the old Masonic Hall, at the corner of State and Market Streets. It was organized May 10, 1878. Equity Council of the Royal Arcanum was formed May 29, 1878. It meets in the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insur- ance Building.
Good Templars. - Crescent Lodge of Good Templars, the senior tem- perance organization of the city, was instituted in March, 1872, with a charter membership of about 25. At the burning of the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Building the following winter, it lost all its property, except the charter, which was saved by a member at the risk of his life.
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Until the coming-on of the business depression, the growth of the lodge was very rapid; its own membership rising to some 400, while offshoot lodges were established on Armory Hill and at the Water-shops, raising the membership to some 700 in the city. The two latter bodies finally suc- cumbed to the financial stress, the members returning to the parent lodge. Crescent has now a membership of about 150, and has for some years met in the old Masonic Hall, at the corner of State and Market Streets, on Tuesday evenings. Silver Star Lodge was formed in February, 1881, by a withdrawing faction from Crescent, with some outsiders, and started with about 20 charter members. It has grown steadily to its present number of about 130. Its meetings were held in Temple of Honor Hall, in Foot's Block, till the removal of Wilcox Grand Army Post to its present quarters, when Silver Star occupied the former hall of that organization in the Life Insurance Building, where it now meets on Wednesday evenings.
Catholic Temperance Societies. - Though Father Mathew visited Springfield in 1848, his work here was confined to the pledging of single individuals to temperance; and it was some seven years later before the first Father Mathew Total Abstinence Society was formed, and that soon died. Another society was organized in 1866, flourished for a while, grew to a membership of 100 or more, and died about 1872 because of misunder- standing concerning the appropriation of its mutual-benefit fund. This fea- ture has been eliminated from the present flourishing organizations, which have received additional strength from the active co-operation of the priests. The society of the Sacred Heart Parish was organized July 9, 1877, and now numbers 135. It meets every Sunday, at 4.30 P.M., and has these officers : president, Edward Dowling; treasurer, J. J. Leonard; secretaries, M. J. Leonard and P. J. Griffin. The Father Mathew Society of the Cathedral Parish was organized Sept. 14, 1877, and has about 65 members and these officers : president, T. S. Walsh ; secretaries, C. F. McKechnie and W. S. Fitzgibbon. It meets every other Sunday. The Springfield Cadets of the Cathedral were organized July 14, 1883. W. W. Ward is captain, and J. E. Ryan and J. E. Shea are the lieutenants, and the membership is 35. The Sacred Heart Cadets were organized Oct. 25, 1883. There are 56 members ; and S. E. Leonard is captain, and C. J. Shea and J. T. Donovan are the lieutenants. The St. James Cadets of the same parish were formed Oct. 28, 1883. Thomas Hanley is captain, and Thomas Moriarty and T. E. Sullivan are the lieutenants. The membership is 40.
Other Temperance Societies are numerous. They include Massasoit Temple of Honor, which meets Monday evenings in Foot's Block; Hope Temple of Honor, of Indian Orchard, which meets Tuesday nights ; the Temple of Honor and Temperance, which meets Monday evenings ; Enter- prise Section of Cadets of Honor and Temperance, a juvenile branch of the
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Temple; Golden Star Commandery of the Golden Cross, which meets on the second and fourth Fridays of each month; Friendship Lodge of Sons of Temperance, which was organized in 1883, with 54 members, and meets Monday evenings in Kinsman's Block; Liquid Light Division of Sons of Temperance, whose meeting night is Friday; and the Springfield Reform Club, whose headquarters are the old Masonic Hall. A withdrawing faction formed the Reynolds Red Ribbon Reform Club in the autumn of 1883.
The City Guard, Company B, Second Regiment M.V.M., was organized in August, 1842, and served for three years during the Rebellion as Com- pany F, Tenth Regiment. It was in the Sixth Army Corps, and took part in these engagements with the Army of the Potomac: Williamsburg, May 5, 1862; Fair Oaks, May 31, 1862; Glendale, June 25, 1862; Malvern Hill, July 1, 1862; Fredericksburg, Dec. 11-13, 1862; St. Mary's Heights, May 3, 1863 ; Salem Heights, May 3, 1863; Fredericksburg, June 10, 1863 ; Get- tysburg, July 2 and 3, 1863 ; Rappahannock Station, Nov. 7, 1863; Wilder- ness, May 5-7, 1864; Spottsylvania, May 12, 1864; Spottsylvania Court- house, May 18, 1864; Cold Harbor, June 3, 1864; Petersburg, June 18, 1864. More than 50 commissioned officers were furnished from its ranks for active service in the war. The City Guard was long considered one of the leading companies in the State ; and, at the reception given by the city of Boston to the Prince of Wales, it was chosen to represent Western Massachusetts. Its first captain was John B. Wyman, who was killed at Vicksburg while colonel of an Illinois regiment; and other captains before the war were Horace C. Lee, - afterwards colonel of the Twenty-seventh Massachusetts Volunteers, and brigadier-general, - Ex-mayor William L. Smith, and John Taylor. Hosea C. Lombard was its first captain in the war, and was succeeded by George W. Bigelow. Its commanders since the war have been Robert J. Hamilton - afterward lieutenant-colonel Second Battalion M.V.M., and now city marshal-and John L. Knight. The present officers are: captain, Frederick S. Southmayd ; first lieutenant, Henry McDonald ; second lieu- tenant, Thomas F. Cordis.
The Peabody Guard, Company G, Second Regiment M.V.M., was or- ganized Aug. 29, 1868, by members of Post 16, G.A.R., who named it in honor of Col. Everett Peabody, who was killed at the battle of Pittsburg Landing. Its first officers were : Major S. B. Spooner, captain ; Col. H. G. Gilmore, first lieutenant ; Col. (now mayor) H. M. Phillips, second lieuten- ant; Joseph K. Newell, first sergeant. Its successive captains have been : H. M. Phillips, F. Edward Gray, A. H. G. Lewis, G. F. Sessions, and H. M. Coney. Major George F. Sessions has recently been again elected captain, and John J. Leonard is the present first lieutenant. At this date (Jan. I, 1884), there is no second lieutenant. The company is proud of its marksmanship; and in 1883 its team won the first prize in the State
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match, against 37 competitors. Milan W. Bull, of the American team in the 1883 international match in England, is a private in this company.
Base Ball is just now a dormant institution in Springfield. The game has always had many admirers here, and at different times has aroused, even among business-men, an interest which has almost bordered on a furor ; but for three years back there has been no professional club in the city, and the amateur organizations have been mostly confined to young lads. Yet Springfield has been counted a "good base-ball town," and, when the popular fancy has run that way, has supported the sport in princely fashion. Sixteen or eighteen years ago, in the days when scores often ran up to thirty for each side, Springfield had three famous nines of amateurs. The Mutuals, who could beat any thing else in the State except the Harvard-college team, are remembered by many of the growing generation. Their predecessors, the Smith & Wesson team, and the Young Pioneers, were made up of young men who wound up their base-ball career more than a decade ago, and some of them are now staid and influential business or professional men. The Young Pioneers were the most aristocratic company, but they finally dwin- dled into a consolidation with the Hampdens of Chicopee, and as such waged many memorable contests. Professional base-ball in Springfield had its origin at the beginning of 1878 : its history was brief, and its glory still briefer. The interest in the game grew steadily through the summer of 1878; and the next spring a club which was expected to beat any thing in the then National Association was formed. Some of the best-known and most skilful ball-players in the country were members of this club. They were paid large salaries, and for a while bade fair to realize the high hopes enter- tained of them. Excitement ran high for a time; but internal quarrels destroyed the efficiency of the club, and during the season of 1880 it was disbanded. It seemed then that no new endeavor would ever be made to form a professional ball-club here, but there are indications that at least a semi-professional nine may be organized the coming spring.
The Hampden-park Association is an organization of business and pro- fessional men who own the park which gives them name, and direct the yearly meetings of the National Trotting Association in this city. The first of these trotting-meetings was held on Federal Square in 1853, and the profits were given to the Hampden Agricultural Society on condition that it should buy a suitable park. Accordingly this tract of 60 acres, part of the farms of Festus Stebbins and Horatio Sargeant, was bought for $250 an acre, and named in 1857; and over $10,000 was spent in improvements the first year. The second national horse-show was held on the park in 1857, the third in 1858, and the fourth in 1860. The first exhibition of the New-England Agricultural Society was held on these grounds in 1864. Seats to accommodate 3,000 spectators were built in 1867, at a cost of over
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$12,000. At one time the property with its improvements was valued at $90,000 ; but it was sold in 1878, under a foreclosure of a $24,000-mortgage- for $18,000. The Hampden-park Association bought it soon after, and- spent $5,000 in improving the tracks and buildings. Though the park is most closely identified with the big circuit races held each summer, it has long been the chief gathering-place in cases of large out-door displays. The professional and other base-ball games have been played upon it; the big circuses, like Barnum and Forepaugh, have of late years regularly been held there ; so have the meetings of the bicycle-clubs ; and many thousands have, on various occasions, been gathered to witness displays of fireworks. Hampden Park was for several weeks the camp of the Tenth Regiment before it went to the front; and once, before the war, the muster of the State militia was held upon it. The capital stock of the Hampden-park Assccia- tion is $25,000. William H. Wright is the president; H. H. Harris of Chicopee the secretary; and George M. Stearns, Charles O. Russell, and James Kirkham are trustees.
The Public Halls, other than those already mentioned in this chapter, are : Gill's Hall, in Gill's Art Building, at the corner of Main and Bridge Streets, - a neat little room, much sought by quiet and fashionable dancing- parties, and for semi-private lectures and concerts. Hampden Hall, 419 Main Street, in the "Springfield Republican " Block, built in 1878, occupies the site of the building bearing the same name which was for many years the city's only place of dramatic entertainment. It seats 350 persons, and was much used for church-sociables and musical rehearsals, but is now occupied by Hinman's business-school. Central Hall, in Kibbe's Union Block, 383 Main Street, at the corner of Harrison Avenue, was long the meeting-place of the Second Adventists, but is now occupied by Dr. Cones's health-move- ment establishment. Gilmore's Hall, 418 Main Street, in the block adjoining the Opera House, has been the quarters of the German Turnverein for many years, and has sheltered one or two newly formed and homeless churches. It is also much used for dances, and it seats 600. Franklin Hall, at 28 Pyn- chon Street, with a seating capacity of 500, is now occupied by the Second Advent Society. It is the upper part of what was, till 1870, the meeting- house of the Trinity Methodist Church. Union Hall in the Belmont-house Block, 528 Main Street, now occupied largely for the social gatherings of the German Schützen Gesellschaft, was occasionally used before the war for public concerts, and is still much frequented by dancing-parties. The Old Town Hall at the corner of State and Market Streets, once a popular place for social gatherings, is now the meeting-place of the Third Baptist (colored) Church. The Hill has two halls for dancing and other social purposes, - Gunn's Hall at the corner of State and Walnut Streets, and Beacon Hall
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adjacent on State Street. The meeting-place for the Water-shops section is Lincoln Hall, at the corner of Mill and Walnut Streets, with a seating capacity of 500 persons. The dances held here each winter attract numbers of young people from even distant parts of the city. The Peabody Guard Armory in Shaw's Block, 322} Main Street, and the drill-room of the City Guard in what was once Sovereign's Hall, III Bridge Street, are also much used for dancing. The public meeting-place of Ward Eight, or Indian Orchard, is Wight's Hall, built in 1875. This serves for all the public purposes of the village, - dances, political meetings, church-fairs, and theat- rical performances.
The City Hall is on Court Street at the west corner of Court Square. The corner-stone was laid in 1853, under Caleb Rice, the first mayor of the city, and on land deeded to the city by Chester W. Chapin. The super- structure was begun the next year, under the mayoralty of P. B. Tyler, then a manufacturer of cotton-presses on the hill ; and it was finished, clock, bell, and all, in 1855, just as the mayoralty of Eliphalet Trask was drawing to a close. The hall in this building, which has been described in the chap- ter on the public buildings, is, and has been for years, a popular place for all kinds of entertainments and gatherings. Its seating capacity is 2,300.
St. Michael's Hall on Elliott Street, near State, will seat 1,200 persons. It is the hall of the St. Michael's Cathedral parish, and is in the parochial school building, and was dedicated in 1882. It has a good-sized stage, well equipped with scenery ; and several creditable dramatic performances have been given there by the dramatic club of the parish, which contains some clever amateur actors.
Sacred Heart Church Hall is a good-sized and well-appointed hall in the convent-building on Everett Street. In this, and in St. Michael's Hall, now practically centre all the social entertainments of the Irish Catholic popula- tion of Springfield.
- CHARLES MARTYN PRYNNE.
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Newspapers and periodicals.
EARLY JOURNALISM. - "THE REPUBLICAN."-"THE UNION."-" THE NEWS." -" THE DEMOCRAT." - LATER PERIODICALS.
T "HE newspapers of Springfield are her creditable heralds abroad. They exhibit, in an exceptionally thorough and intelligent way, the most at- tractive New-England civilization; for in Western Massachusetts, of which this city is the centre, one of the finest phases of American life has its choice exhibition. The American who would show the best that our new country has reached would take an Englishman up through the fertile Con- necticut Valley, and among the hills of Berkshire. Towns were here founded in austere piety, and the land has been steadily cultivated with splendid patience until the region literally blossoms as the rose. The spirit of manufacturing enterprise has labored for a generation and more in com- pany with a catholic literary growth that has appropriated a culture of which no country need be ashamed. This is not the place in which to speak of the colleges, seminaries, and schools, that are famous the world over. The late Dr. J. G. Holland, in a chapter of his history, places the newspaper "foremost of the agencies now moulding, swaying, educating, impelling, and leading the American mind."
That was in 1855. In the 28 years since, this "foremost agency " has so visibly broadened its field, that a great profession has taken its recog- nized place to command a wider influence than any of what were once known as the learned callings. Modern journalism owes much to Springfield, and to that pioneer in its higher development, the late Samuel Bowles. He made the daily newspaper an indispensable factor of the region, its faithful map, and honored guide, philosopher, and friend. Nowhere in the world are newspapers more generally read, and everywhere the constituency reached from Springfield is the envy of journalists.
Let us see how this local development of newspaper influence has come about. The first settled among Western Massachusetts towns, so Spring- field was the first to publish a newspaper. " The Massachusetts Gazette, or The General Advertiser," begun here in May, 1784, was a pretty direct offshoot from the ancient " Worcester Spy." Its publishers were Anthony Haswell, who had run " The Spy" for a year, and Elisha Babcock, a paper- maker. Two years later Haswell had retired, and Babcock sold out the establishment to Brooks & Russell. John Russell, a brother of Major
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Benjamin Russell, well known in Boston journalism, was the real editor, and changed the name of his sheet to "The Hampshire Herald and Weekly Advertiser." It lived until 1787, when Russell issued from his office, near what is now Ferry Street, "The Hampshire Chronicle." The following year Isaiah Thomas, founder of "The Worcester Spy," bought out "The Chronicle," and put an apprentice of his, Mr. Weld, in charge of it. Their office was on the corner of Elm and Main Streets; and in 1790 Thomas had retired, and Mr. Weld was editor and proprietor of "The Hampshire and Berkshire Chronicle,"-the admission of another county to the name of the paper no doubt evidencing its growth in circulation, for Berkshire County had been incorporated 29 years before. Edward Grey bought out the paper in 1793.
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