Massachusetts : a guide to its places and people, Part 40

Author:
Publication date: 1937
Publisher: Boston : Houghton Mifflin Company
Number of Pages: 802

USA > Massachusetts > Massachusetts : a guide to its places and people > Part 40

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MOTOR TOUR - 7 m.

N. from the village green on Woodbridge St. (State 116).

I. The Skinner Museum (open daily 2-5, free) occupies a small former church across the road from the beautiful Skinner estate (private), with its white house hidden behind formal evergreen trees. An Historical Museum is housed in the church, which, without its present spire, was the Congregational meeting house of Prescott, purchased and moved to its present site during preparations for the flooding of the town of Prescott by the waters of the Quabbin Reservoir.

Retrace State 116 through South Hadley Center.

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2. The Mount Holyoke College Campus of 270 acres, spreading over a naturally beautiful terrain, includes Prospect Hill, an athletic field, tennis courts, ample lawns and farm lands, and two small lakes for canoeing, swimming, and skating. At the Pageant Field, an open-air auditorium, is held the annual May Day Festival.

The lecture halls and dormitories, mainly of red brick in Tudor style, are widely spaced on vivid greensward under fine trees. Outstanding are Mary Lyon Hall, which contains the administrative offices, and Dwight Memorial Art Building (open weekdays 9-5, Sundays 12-1; adm. free), housing a complete collection of the noted engravings of Elbridge Kingsley (1842-1918). The Talcott Arboretum consists of plant houses, a palm house, a horticultural economics house, and a house for aquatics. The Playshop Laboratory is a small, completely equipped modern ex- perimental theater. Mary Lyon's Tombstone on the campus bears her memorable statement: 'There is nothing in the universe that I fear, except that I may not know my duty, or may fail to do it.'

Retrace State 116 to village green; L. from State 116 on State 63.

3. The Pass of Thermopylae, well named, is a narrow rock-bound passage through the foot of Mt. Holyoke near the Connecticut River. Early settlers laboriously constructed it by pouring water on the rock in winter and raking away the frozen gravel that split off.

R. from State 63 on Mt. Holyoke Rd.

4. Titan's Piazza, a volcanic bluff of columnar formation, has been classified as one of the world's major natural phenomena. A short distance from this bluff fossil footprints have been found.

5. The Devil's Football is a magnetic boulder weighing 300 tons. Geolog- ical authorities agree that it was carried here from Sunderland or Deer- field during the glacial period. Its name is derived from the popular legend that Satan kicked it from the Devil's Garden at Amherst Notch several miles away.

R. from Mt. Holyoke Rd. on toll road (small fee).

6. Mt. Holyoke (alt. 995), from which the college takes its name, is a huge wooded mass of trap rock of exceptional beauty, which rises high above the Connecticut River; and from the top, on a clear day, it is possible to see a distance of 70 miles. The hotel on its summit is the third to stand there. In the first one, in 1825, the town planned to entertain Lafayette with a choice of Jamaica rum, St. Croix rum, Holland gin, brandy, cognac, or cherry cordial. Unluckily the Marquis was late in his tour schedule, and had to pass directly through the town without pausing for these refreshments.

SPRINGFIELD The Metropolis of Western Massachusetts

City: Alt. 69, pop. 149,642, sett. 1636, incorp. town 1641, city 1852.

Railroad Station: Union Station, Lyman & Liberty Sts., for N.Y., N.H. & H. R.R., B. & M. R.R., and B. & A. R.R.

Accommodations: Seven hotels.

Information: Chamber of Commerce, 134 Chestnut St .; Automobile Club, 140 Chestnut St .; A.L.A., 1387 Main St.

SPRINGFIELD, the metropolis of western Massachusetts, lies on the east bank of the Connecticut River, holding a strategic position in the traffic of the New England states with New York and the West. Its situation on a series of terraces and in gently rolling country produces an effect of spacious leisure, and imposing architecture and tree-shaded lawns, parks, and boulevards give it an atmosphere of dignity, substance, and comfort. Its diversified industries, superior transportation facilities, large merchandising establishments, and fine residential sections make it an important center of industry, commerce, and finance; and its notable interest in music and the other arts make it an outstanding cultural center.

In 1636 a dozen families made their way to the inviting valley where the Agawam River joins the Connecticut. Their livestock inflicted so much damage on the cornfields of the Indians that they were forced to abandon the settlement. They moved on across the Connecticut River, to a barren terrain demanding heart-breaking labor and promising little reward for toil.

Fortunately, the leader of the group was stout-hearted William Pynchon. With such vigor did he build up the new settlement that even after a board had been elected determination of program and policy was left in his hands. His leadership was not questioned until 1650, when he pub- lished a theological work. The Puritan Fathers detected in the book germs of heresy. To protect the community from infection they admin- istered the antitoxin of denunciation. The services of Pynchon were soon forgotten; he was badgered on all sides, and finally returned to England. His son, John, remained and assumed the management of the town.

In the next year the Springfield community indulged in a witch hunt - a sport more exciting than the battle against heresy. Hugh Parsons was a dyspeptic, of choleric disposition which had not endeared him to his neighbors. His wife was subject to periodic fits, probably epileptic. But such an explanation of their eccentricities was too simple, and the savants

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of the occult brought charges of witchcraft against the couple. Not a few good people were disappointed when the court acquitted the pair.

Twenty peaceful and constructive years followed. In 1675, however, King Philip declared war on the Colony, and Springfield did not escape. The town was almost totally burned. The townspeople pushed recon- struction, building on a larger scale.

Early in the eighteenth century the citizens of Springfield made the river a capital asset. They erected sawmills and gristmills and took their first step away from a complete agricultural economy. The large clay deposits were utilized in the manufacture of brick.

Acute financial depression resulted from the Revolutionary War; farmer and mill-owner were bogged in a morass of debt. Thousands banded themselves together under Daniel Shays, and for six months tramped up and down western Massachusetts in an attempt to prevent the convening of the courts and the entering of judgments against debtors. Although their cause won numerous sympathizers, it failed. Springfield became Shays's Waterloo when an attempt to capture the United States Arsenal was frustrated.

The manufacture of metal goods was given an impetus in 1794 by the passage of a bill in Congress establishing the United States Armory at Springfield. The advent of the railroad, about 1835, stimulated business. At that time the town already had seventy-three mechanic shops, six cotton mills, four printing offices, thirteen warehouses, two card factories, two forges, one rifle factory, one powder mill, six sawmills, four grist mills, three tanneries, two jewelers' tool factories, one sword factory, and one spool factory.

Developments in the manufacture of textiles brought French-Canadians, English, and Scots. Skilled artisans of all races were attracted by the openings in the machine shops. Irish, Italian, Swedish, and German labor was plentiful. Long hours and meager wages were the lot of those whose labor enriched the town. But aside from the general agitation that accom- panied the crisis of 1830, there was no real organization of labor until after the Civil War.

The year 1824 marked the founding of the Springfield Republican by Samuel Bowles. The excellent style of this journal, under the editorship of Dr. J. G. Holland, and the liberal philosophy of its editorials, made the paper almost a national institution. The first newspaper in Springfield, however, was the Massachusetts Gazette and General Advertiser, published in 1782, which failed to survive, posting this notice: 'Those gentlemen who engaged for their papers in grain are once more requested to make immediate payment, as the printers are in much want of that article.' Other papers published during this period were the Hampshire Chronicle, the Hampshire Herald, and the Federal Spy.

In 1847 John Brown of Akron opened the warehouse of Brown and Per- kins, wool merchants. The business enjoyed a fair degree of prosperity, but John Brown was absent from business the greater part of the time, his

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real enthusiasm being centered in the Abolitionist movement. Said Emerson, 'If he kept sheep, it was with a royal mind. And if he traded in wool, he was a merchant prince, not in the amount of wealth, but in the protection of the interests confided to him.' He organized the United States League of Gileadites, which assisted fugitive slaves to escape.

Shortly after his arrival in Springfield, John Brown was visited by Frederick Douglass, Negro orator and scholar, who found him living in a cottage near the shacks occupied by Negroes. 'Plain as was the house on the outside,' wrote Douglass, 'the inside was plainer. Its furniture would have satisfied a Spartan. There was an element of plainness about it which almost suggested destitution. ... The meal was such as a man might relish after following the plow all day, or performing a forced march of a dozen miles over a rough road in frosty weather.' John Brown lived in Springfield for two years, and during this time hundreds of runaway slaves were harbored in the town, then were passed along to the next station of the Underground Railway.

The termination of the war once more allowed the free flow of commerce. An expanding market aided in Springfield's prosperity. Factories were rebuilt and enlarged, the population swelled. Simultaneously labor took its first organized steps toward improving working and living conditions. Following the example of the horse-car drivers, who in 1861 had estab- lished a benevolent association, which was forced by a threatened wage reduction to transform itself into a trade union, workers in many indus- tries began to wage a united battle for the eight-hour day. In 1864 cigar- makers, stonecutters, pianoforte-makers, blacksmiths, carpenters, and tailors were organized to secure higher wages and shorter hours. The Massachusetts Legislature investigated the possibilities of regulating and limiting hours of labor, and eventually the eight-hour day became a real- ity. In the later 1880's all the trade unions in the city participated in the formation of the Central Labor Union. To Bishop N. Saltus, first presi- dent of this federation, belongs a chief share of the credit for its vigorous development.

Since 1890, such large industries have been established as the Van Norman Tool and Machine Company, the United States Envelope Company, the Fiberloid Company, the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Com- pany, and the Milton Bradley Company, makers of toys, games, and school supplies. Motorcycles have been manufactured here since the be- ginning of the century. On the West Springfield side of the river numer- ous industries have located. The Gilbert and Barker Company makes gasoline pumps and oil-burners. Matches, packaging machinery, radios, magnetos, hot-water heaters, air-conditioning equipment, and forgings are also manufactured here.

Between 1910 and 1920 the population increased 117 per cent. Of the present residents of Springfield, about one-fourth are foreign-born. The largest racial group is the Irish, which numbers nearly 6000. The Italians follow with about 4500, Russians with 3800, French-Canadians with

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3700, and Poles with 2400. Scotland, England, Sweden, and Germany each contribute about 1000 to the foreign-born population.

The high percentage of skilled workers among the population has been a strong influence in the social and political life of the city. The general housing situation, for example, is considerably better in Springfield than in most industrial cities of its size. The civic life is heightened by the social clubs, singing societies, and physical culture centers of the various racial groups.

A flood in 1927 caused considerable loss when the Connecticut River over- flowed its banks; but it can hardly be compared to the catastrophe of 1936, when the worst flood in the history of New England inflicted untold suffering on Springfield and caused property losses amounting to millions of dollars. Only efficient organization, prompt action, and many deeds of heroism prevented wholesale loss of human life.

FOOT TOUR - 1.5 m.

NW. from State St. (US 20) on Main St .; L. from Main St. into Court Square Green.

I. The First Church of Christ (Congregational), near the midpoint of the Green in Court Square, was designed in 1819 by Isaac Damon, the fourth structure of the First Parish. Commissioned to design a church 'with a decent plain front' he achieved a building adorned by a portico with Doric columns, triangular pediment, and decorated frieze, and topped by a cupola of three members - none, unfortunately, of open design.

2. The Hampden County Courthouse was built in 1871 after the design of H. H. Richardson, and showed his individualistic adaptation of late Gothic, powerfully handled to express modern function. Remodeling in 1906 has changed the mass and composition and virtually destroyed the Richardsonian elements.

3. The Springfield Municipal Group, on the north side of the Square, con- sists of an office and court building, an auditorium, and a 300-foot cam- panile (open Mon .- Fri. 9-11, 2-4; Sat. 9-11), with an illuminated clock and a carillon of 12 bells. It was designed by Pell and Corbett and dedicated in 1913. The view from the observatory platform (elevator) offers a view of the city against a background of mountain peaks. The group is an impressive civic monument, imposing in its proportions, its classic detail and in the identical Corinthian porticoes which dignify the front of both buildings.

Retrace on Court Square; R. from Court Square Green into Main St .; L. from Main St. into State St .; R. from State St. into Maple St.

4. The Colony Club, 50 Maple St., is the former home of the late D. B. Wesson, manufacturer of firearms. The walls are of pink Milford granite;

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the interior is finished in woods of native and tropical origin, variegated marbles, and satin wall coverings.

L. from Maple St. on Cemetery Ave.

5. In the Springfield Cemetery is a bronze relief by Saint-Gaudens rep- resenting J. G. Holland, author and first editor of the Springfield Re- publican.

Retrace Cemetery Ave .; R. from Cemetery Ave. on Maple St .; straight ahead on Chestnut St.

6. In Merrick Park, corner of State St., is The Puritan, by Saint-Gaudens. R. from Chestnut St. into first drive.

7. The Springfield Museum of Fine Arts (open weekdays except Mon. 1- 4.30; Sun. 2-5), erected in 1933, is of steel with limestone facing, by Tilton and Githens, architects.

8. The George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum (open weekdays except Mon. 1-5; Sun. 2-5) was designed in 1895, in the Italian Renais- sance style, by Renwick, Aspinwall, Renwick and Walter T. Owen. In addition to paintings, it contains an especially fine collection of Chinese porcelain and cloisonné enamels.

9. The Museum of Natural History (open weekdays except Mon. 1-4.30, Sun. 2-5), with limestone facing, was recently rebuilt from the brick museum erected in 1899. It is by Tilton and Githens, and corresponds in style to the new Museum of Fine Arts. Groups of mammals and birds are mounted in reproductions of their natural habitat. An American Indian group illustrates the manufacture of soapstone bowls.

IO. The William Pynchon Memorial Building (open weekdays except Mon. 1-4.30, Sun. 2-5) of Georgian Colonial architecture, was designed by Gardner, Payne, and Gardner, architects, and completed in 1927.

Retrace driveway; R. from driveway into Chestnut St.

II. Christ Church Cathedral (Episcopal) (open) was built in 1876. The pulpit and lectern were carved by Kirchmayer. The windows are by Butler and Payne and by Kemp and Kemp. A window by La Farge pic- tures 'Mary and Magdala at the Tomb.'

Retrace on Chestnut St .; L. from Chestnut St. into State St.

12. The City Library (open weekdays 9-9; Sun. 2-6), erected in 1912, is built of Vermont marble in the Italian Renaissance style; it was designed by Edward L. Tilton. Open stacks give patrons direct access to the books.

13. The Church of the Unity (Unitarian-Universalist), opposite the City Library, was designed by H. H. Richardson. It is notable for its stained- glass windows by Louis Tiffany, a rose window, and 14 memorial windows which include 'Heosphorus the Light-Bearer' by Edward Simmons, 'The Family' by Will H. Low, and 'Rebecca at the Well' by La Farge.

The competition for the Church of the Unity was H. H. Richardson's first real opportunity. The English parish church type was the model set, but the architect's interest already centered upon function. His adapta-

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tion of medieval precedent, fumbling though it was, gave promise of his later brilliance. The proportion and harmony of the interior detail are noteworthy, and the focalization of interest upon the east end of a non- ritualistic church is handled with rare mastery.

14. The Classical High School (open), opposite Elliot St., of yellow brick, was designed by Hartwell and Richardson. It contains a mural painting, 'The Light of Education,' by Robert Reid.

15. The U.S. Armory and Arsenal (open by permission) occupies a site selected by George Washington and Colonel David Mason of Boston. It was established by Congress in 1794, and the first muskets were manu- factured here in 1795. The Civil War brought a great influx of workmen and in 1864 over 3000 men were employed turning out 1000 rifles a day. The Springfield rifle is still made here. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow stopped at the Arsenal on his honeymoon; his wife noticed the resemblance of the tiers of stacked arms to the pipes of an organ, and Longfellow after- ward wrote 'The Arsenal at Springfield.'

The Museum (open weekdays except Sat. 8.30-12, 1-4.30) has an excellent collection of small arms. Of especial importance is the old Blanchard lathe, an invention for turning gunstocks.

16. The High School of Commerce (open), opposite the Arsenal, is of Tudor style and was designed by Kirkham and Parlett. It contains a mural 'Beside the Still Waters' painted by Paul Connoyer.

17. The Site of the Crucial Battle of Shays's Rebellion is marked by a large boulder on Benton Lawn, between St. James Ave. and Federal St. Here the United States soldiers, commanded by General Shepard of Westfield, repulsed Shays's attack on the stores in the Springfield Arsenal in 1786. On the same Green is an Old Brownstone Milestone bearing Masonic sym- bols erected by Joseph Wait of Brookfield in 1763 after he had lost his way in a blizzard at this parting of the Bay Path and Chicopee Road.

18. St. Peter's Episcopal Church (open), Buckingham St. near State St., is of Gothic design, with murals painted by Arthur S. Smith in the style of the 14th century.

SPRINGFIELD MAP INDEX

I. The First Church of Christ

2. Hampden County Courthouse

3. Springfield Municipal Group

4. Colony Club

5. Springfield Cemetery

6. The Puritan

7. Springfield Museum of Fine Arts

8. George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum

9. Museum of Natural History

Io. William Pynchon Memorial Build- ing

II. Christ Church Cathedral

12. City Library

13. Church of the Unity

14. Classical High School

15. United States Armory and Arse- nal

16. High School of Commerce

17. Site of Crucial Battle of Shays's Rebellion

18. St. Peter's Episcopal Church

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MOTOR TOUR - 16 m.

SW . from Main St. on State St .; L. from State St. on Columbus Ave. (US5). 19. Forest Park (open to motorists, low speed rate) is a woodland area of 800 acres. Small ponds contain rare varieties of lotus and water lilies which bloom in July. Porter Lake is a haunt of several species of wild ducks and herons. There are trails, bowling greens, a paddle pool, tennis courts, botanical gardens, and a rose garden. A large Zoo (open daily 10-7) contains many species of animal life, while at the Trailside Museum, a branch of the Springfield Natural History Museum, are exhibits of flora and fauna. An exhibition of sandstone slabs shows fossil footprints of dinosaurs quarried in the Connecticut Valley near Holyoke.

20. Pecousic Villa, on a terrace near Longhill St., is the former home of the late Everett H. Barney, skate manufacturer, by whom a large part of Forest Park was bequeathed and endowed to the city of Springfield.

21. The Site of King Philip's Stockade and the vantage-point from which King Philip is said to have directed and observed the burning of Spring- field in 1675 is in Forest Park. The drive, planted with rhododendrons, swings out on a terrace overlooking the Connecticut River.

L. from Columbus Ave. through South Main Entrance of Forest Park; traverse Forest Park northwesterly; R. from Forest Park into Sumner Ave.

22. Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church, opposite Oakland Ave., is part of a connecting group of buildings of Gothic architecture designed by Allen and Collins, including a community house with its gymnasium, swimming pool and playrooms, an auditorium with well equipped stage, and other facilities. It is surmounted by a tower containing a carillon of 61 bells. The church contains a series of 24 stained-glass windows representing historic personages with the theme 'The Light of Christ in the Life of Civilization,' depicting Lindbergh, Streseman, Kellogg, Briand, and others.

L. from Sumner Ave. on Oakland St.

23. The All Saints' Episcopal Church is a copy of the All Saints' Church in Springfield, England, from which came William Pynchon, founder of the city.

L. from Oakland St. on Allen St.

24. The Drop Forge Plant of the United States Armory (open by permis- sion), known as the 'Watershops,' borders on Massasoit Lake.

R. from Allen St. on Hickory St.

25. Massasoit Lake or Watershops Pond (swimming, boating, canoeing) was formed by damming the Mill River to provide power for the Armory. 26. Springfield College is also known as International Y.M.C.A. College. Founded in 1885 by Dr. Luther H. Gulick, it was first known as the

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School of Christian Workers. It is widely known for training in physical education and for boys' work, with graduates in nearly every part of the world. It was at this college that Professor James Naismith is said to have invented the game of basketball in the winter of 1891. Across Massasoit Lake in a grove is the Freshman Day Camp known as the Pueblo of the Seven Fires (open by arrangement), a roomy lodge for camp work and nature study. Designed like the pueblos in the Southwest, it is decorated with murals in Indian symbolism painted by the Indian artist Wo Peen (Louis Gonzaleus of Santa Fé), also a few murals by Bear Heart (Herman Stoldt).

27. The House of Professor Edgar M. Robinson (private), near Cross Town Boulevard, is a strange architectural whimsy. Straight lines were disre- garded when its bricks, stones, and slates were fashioned into house and garage, and oddest of all are the large pictures of bears, birds, and snakes painted on gable ends and edges, the work of Ernest Thompson Seton.

L. from Hickory St. on Wilbraham Rd.

28. American International College (co-educational), between College and Amaron Sts., was chartered in Lowell, Mass., in 1885, where it was known as the French Protestant College. Moving to Springfield in 1888, it became known in 1894 as the French-American College, and in 1905 the name was changed to its present form. Most of the buildings are of red brick with light gray granite pillars and trim, in the Georgian Colonial style.

R. from Wilbraham Rd. on Amaron St .; R. from Amaron St. on State St. 29. Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company Building (open week- days 9-4; apply front door for guide) is in the Georgian Colonial style, and was built in 1926.

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Massachusetts : a guide to its places and people, Part 40

Author: Publication date: 1937 Publisher: Boston : Houghton Mifflin Company Number of Pages: 802

Author:
Publication date: 1937
Publisher: Boston : Houghton Mifflin Company
Number of Pages: 802