USA > Massachusetts > Hampshire County > Northampton > The Northampton book; chapters from 300 years in the life of a New England town, 1654-1954 > Part 32
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Notwithstanding her many calamities, Northampton has grown from a small settlement of "rugged pioneers" to a thriving city of prosperous citizens. Throughout the history of the floods and fires, the hurricane and the tornado, Northampton has had one of the greatest things for which to be thankful-the forward- looking attitude of her residents. The willingness to start over again and the acceptance by her citizens of responsibility for the progress of their city has characterized the history of Northamp- ton in times of distress as well as in periods of comparative quiet.
Chapter Forty-Two
Hotels and Taverns
By NANCY BOWKER BROWNELL
T HE history of Northampton and that of her inns and taverns began almost simultaneously. John Webb, keeper of the town's first ordinary, was among the twenty-odd farmers who settled on the fertile land of Nonotuck in 1654. Only 4 years later, at the first Court ever held in Northampton, "the towne fyndinge a necessity for someone to keepe an ordinary for entertayning strangers, they [the Commissioners ] made a choyce of John Webb for that service and a licence was granted him . . . '
John Webb ran his tavern from his home which was located near the present site of Rahar's Inn. Webb's tavern was the social center where Northampton's founders gathered to exchange gos- sip and receive news from the few travelers who came by horse and cart. Northampton's first military organization or "Train Band" was started in 1659, the same year John Webb received his license. Train Bands, to which all the town's able bodied men be- longed, usually drilled on the tavern green during their frequent Training Days. John Webb and his successors were host to many convivial gatherings on Training Day.
The town ordinary was also used as a meeting place for the early Courts until the first Court House was built in 1737. Thus, John Webb's tavern was probably the meeting place of the Court which licensed Joseph Parsons, Selectman and Cornet of the Hampshire Troop, to succeed John Webb as keeper of the ordi- nary in 1661. Joseph conducted his tavern from his home, still standing on Bridge Street, which now serves as the headquarters for the Northampton Historical Society. Citizens of Northamp- ton have the rare opportunity of visiting one of its earliest taverns. Henry Woodward was appointed keeper of the ordinary in 1665.
During this period, the Court initiated the practice of allowing a few reliable citizens to sell cider wine and strong liquor in much the same manner as our modern package store. Lieutenant Wil-
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liam Clarke, ranking officer of the first Training Band, and David Wilton, one of the County Court Judges, received this type of license. The care the Court took to license only its most re- spectable and prominent citizens, is indicated by the fact that the last three men, Woodward, Wilton, and Clarke were among the "Seven Pillars" who helped Eleazar Mather to found the First Church.
Although the Court did not allow more than one ordinary at a time until 1701 when both Nathaniel Dwight and John Parsons, Jr., were granted licenses, drunkenness seems to have become a problem. In 1704, the town decided to allow only one tavern and, in 1705, they decided to have none. The severity of this experi- ment in temperance was greatly minimized because the town con- tinued to allow an appointed retailer to sell liquor in bottles. This ruling of no taverns must have inconvenienced the members of the Court most of all. Perhaps the loss of their comfortable meet- ing place hastened their decision to license two tavern keepers in 1706, Nathaniel Dwight and Ebenezer Pomeroy.
During the 18th century, the story of Northampton's inns and the story of the Pomeroy family are inseparable. Medad Pomeroy, the first Northampton Pomeroy, came to town in 1660. He bought John Webb's blacksmith tools, married the daughter of Henry Woodward, prospered and acquired land extending from the present site of St. Mary's Church to Center Street. Medad's son Ebenezer inherited all this land and ran the tavern licensed in 1706 in the old Pomeroy homestead where St. Mary's Church now stands. Ebenezer divided the land between his sons, Lieu- tenant Daniel and Colonel Seth Pomeroy. Colonel Seth, the fa- mous Colonial soldier, ran an ordinary from his home which was located on the present site of the Draper Hotel. These two taverns established by a son and a grandson of Medad Pomeroy became the two Northampton inns destined to overshadow the other local hostelries for the next hundred years.
The Pomeroy tavern located on the site of St. Mary's Church was known as the Red Tavern. When Daniel Pomeroy, son of Daniel and grandson of Ebenezer, took over the running of the Red Tavern in 1771, it was a two-storied wooden building with large, low-ceilinged rooms and huge fireplaces. In the years pre- ceding the Revolution, the tavern became a Patriot's headquarters and the scene of many clandestine meetings. During the Revolu-
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tion the Red Tavern, already hampered by the absence of its soldier landlord, Captain Daniel Pomeroy, was visited by small- pox. A Colonel Hoisington came down with Northampton's first case of the disease while staying at the Red Tavern. Among the several persons who died of smallpox was the Reverend John Hooker. In the years following the war, Captain Daniel's inn be- came a focal point for the Democrats and the young people while the other Pomeroy tavern, now being run by his cousin, Asahel, became a meeting place for the Whigs. The fortunes of the Red Tavern slowly declined with the growing importance of Asahel's tavern until 1827, when the old Red Tavern was bought by Cap- tain Isaac Damons and torn down.
Captain Damons, the town's leading architect and a clever busi- ness man, decided to build a large inn on the site of the old Red Tavern. The inn was built in 1828 and named the Mansion House. This first Mansion House was a four-story building with graceful porticos on the front and the side, and an observatory on the top which commanded a fine view of the town and surrounding coun- tryside. Captain Damons' shrewd decision to build an inn on the Red Tavern site, was prompted by the plans for the Connecticut River to New Haven Canal. The Canal opened in 1835 with great fanfare of church bells, cannons, and cheering crowds. During the Canal's twelve-year existence, the Mansion House served many Canal Boat passengers. The coming of Northampton's first rail- road in 1845 displaced the Canal but brought more passengers to the Mansion House and its chief rival, Warner's Coffee House. The Round Hill School for Boys (1823-1838) and the Howe and Mills Law School (1823-1829) were a boon to Northampton taverns as the parents of their students became guests of the local inns. The several water-cure treatment establishments, which were popular here around the middle of the century, attracted further visitors. In 1863, a revival of interest in the lead mines brought another small influx of outsiders to Northampton inns. Both the Warner House and the Mansion House thrived and be- came famous during this period.
In the course of its 45-year existence, the Mansion House en- tertained a wealth of famous guests. In 1833, Henry Clay stopped there. In 1847, when Daniel Webster came to Northampton to argue the Oliver Smith case, he stayed at the Mansion House. Daniel Webster is supposed to have placed the landlord, Captain
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Jonathan Brewster, in a grave dilemma by requesting something stronger than water to quench his thirst. Since Captain Brewster kept a strict temperance house, he was torn between his desire to keep his celebrated guest and his principles. His principles must have suffered because Daniel Webster stayed on at the Mansion House throughout the trial. Washington Irving, President Martin Van Buren, and Harriet Beecher Stowe all enjoyed Mansion House hospitality. In 1873, the Mansion House was sold to Rev- erend P. T. Riley and torn down to make way for St. Mary's Church.
We return now to trace the fortunes of the other Pomeroy inn located on the site of the present Draper Hotel. In 1777, at the death of his father, Colonel Seth Pomeroy, Asahel ended his serv- ice as a Revolutionary soldier and started running the family tavern. Under his forceful personality and activity as a leader in town affairs, the inn flourished. The portrait of Asahel Pomeroy by Ralph Earl, which hangs in the Reference Room of the Forbes Library, has preserved the majestic appearance which so im- pressed his contemporaries.
In 1792, Asahel's tavern was completely destroyed by fire and the new inn which Asahel built in 1794 was probably the first building in Northampton erected for the express purpose of be- ing a tavern. The new inn had four huge fireplaces and a large hall which was put to immediate use by Northampton's first dancing school. While the new tavern was being built, the first stagecoaches came to Northampton, one from Springfield to Brattleboro and one to and from Boston. As the place of ex- change for passengers, Northampton and particularly her taverns, thrived.
In 1806, Asahel Pomeroy's tavern together with the Red Tav- ern profited from an unfortunate event in Northampton's history, the hanging of Halligan and Dailey on Hospital Hill. In a bill presented to the town for the hanging, sandwiched between charges for the rope and gallows, the following item occurs: "To cash paid Mr. Asahel Pomeroy for dinner for clergymen, $8.00." All the taverns must have done a brisk business among the 15,000 people who are supposed to have crowded into Northampton for the execution of these two Irishmen. The Catholic priest, Father Cheverus, who came from Boston to console these two doomed men, was refused lodging by every Northampton landlord. Hear-
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ing of this, Joseph Clarke, of Pleasant Street, sent word to Father Cheverus that he was welcome at his home.
A year after this episode, Asahel Pomeroy sold his inn. So great was his Whig fervor that he included a stipulation in his adver- tisement offering the tavern for sale that "no Democrat need apply." Colonel Charles Chapman bought it and he and his two successors ran it until 182 1 when it was sold to Oliver Warner.
Under Oliver Warner, Warner's Coffee House became one of the most famous New England hostelries. Stage coach travel in- creased until 6 or 8 coaches a day were arriving in front of War- ner House. When Court was in session, the judges, lawyers, and jurors stayed at the inn. Oliver Warner himself was prominent in town and state affairs as selectman, senator, and representative. Northampton became a summer resort and many southern gentle- men became Mansion House and Warner House guests. Lafayette spoke from one of the balconies added to the inn by Oliver War- ner. Mr. Warner lost several of his famous guests to his next door neighbor Judge Joseph Lyman. Ralph Waldo Emerson and Horace Greeley were among the notable contemporaries enter- tained by Judge Lyman, and Mr. Warner is said to have com- plained of the difficulty of keeping a profitable tavern next door to the hospitable Judge. After Oliver Warner's death in 1853, Warner's Coffee House was sold to Lewis and Strong and then to William Marsh who owned it until 1870 when it was com- pletely destroyed by fire.
During the years when the Mansion House and the Warner House flourished, Northampton supported some twenty-odd other inns and taverns. Among these was the Round Hill Hotel made famous by Jenny Lind and her husband who spent their three months' honeymoon there. As Jenny Lind stood at the sum- mit of Round Hill she described the scene below her as the "Paradise of America" and Paradise Pond was named.
When Northampton entered the last quarter of the 19th cen- tury, the old Mansion House was being torn down to make way for the new Catholic church. Warner's Coffee House had burned and the brick building which now houses the Draper Hotel was being erected by the Fitch brothers. It was first named Fitch House, then Mansion House, and finally the Draper Hotel. It ran as a hotel until 1902 when it became a boarding house. In 1909 it was sold to Charles H. Bowker who reopened it as a hotel and it has continued as a hotel ever since.
The Mill River flood swept through Haydenville in 1874
The WAVES marched in Northampton 1942-1945
Official White House portraits of President and Mrs. Coolidge, by Howard Chandler Christy, in Forbes Library
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In 1897, Richard Rahar opened Rahar's Inn on Old South Street. One of the inn's most exciting moments occurred in 1909 when the world was waiting to hear the outcome of Peary's expedition to the North Pole. The first word from Peary was to come to Herbert Bridgeman, editor of the Brooklyn Eagle, who was stay- ing at Rahar's Inn at the time. Because Mr. Bridgeman was called away from the inn, the telegram that "Peary had safely reached the North Pole" rested unopened in Rahar's safe for several hours before Mr. Bridgeman returned and telephoned the news to New York.
By the turn of the century, Northampton had become an edu- cational center. The enrollment of Smith College had passed the 1000 mark. The Mary A. Burnham School and the Clarke Insti- tute for the Deaf were bringing students and their parents to eat and sleep in Northampton hotels. Beside the schools, the McCal- lum and other silk mills, the Hampton Company, and Pro-Phy- Lac-Tic Company were all contributing to the prosperity of Northampton inns and taverns. The first World War gave fresh impetus to the general business boom and then, in 1919, the Eight- eenth Amendment was passed. In Northampton, as elsewhere, this was the death knell to many of her taverns and reveille for a goodly number of speakeasies. Rahar's and the Draper were among those which weathered the drought as hotels and eating places.
In 1923, Northampton's growing need for a large modern hotel prompted a group of her citizens to form an organization to achieve this. The late Karl B. Ullman was elected chairman of the Board of Directors of the Corporation for the New Hotel Project. Smith College had a keen interest in this project and President William Allan Neilson was a member of the Board. The com- munity responded enthusiastically to the drive for subscribers and the Hotel Northampton was opened in 1927 under the manage- ment of Lewis N. Wiggins. For a new hotel to survive Prohibition and the Depression and declare its first dividend in 1936 was a triumph given headline coverage in the Daily Hampshire Gazette.
At the time Mr. Wiggins took over the management of the Hotel, he bought the adjoining building which he converted into Wiggins' Old Tavern. The ground floor of the old building, which is about 125 years old, was actually used as an inn until about 1900. Mr. Wiggins added bricks, paneling, boards, doors, and a wide assortment of utensils taken from old houses to re-
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produce the atmosphere of an early Colonial ordinary. The sign which hangs at the entrance was actually used by an innkeeper ancestor of Mr. Wiggins. Wiggins' Old Tavern has been a con- tinued source of enjoyment to Northampton natives and the many visitors it has attracted.
In 1933, Prohibition was repealed and License Boards all over the country were deluged with requests. Mr. John Curran, who served on Northampton's Board for over 20 years, remembers 80 applications for licenses. Women ventured into the taverns with Repeal and Northampton innkeepers soon discovered the hazards as well as the pleasures of catering to a college town. The ever- present risk of trying to determine whether or not their student customers were over or under twenty-one and the surprise visits of state inspectors to enforce the law against selling liquor to minors, became, and still are the constant headache of all North- ampton landlords.
During the second World War, Northampton was proud to have one of her hotels, like many others across the nation, chosen to house members of the country's Armed Services. The United States Navy selected Smith College as the training center for WAVE officers. The Hotel Northampton was completely taken over by the Navy to house those WAVES not billeted in the three dormitories Smith College placed at their disposal. Mr. Wig- gins fed the entire WAVE contingent breakfast, luncheon, and dinner during their two-and-a-half year stay in Northampton. Three times a day, Northampton citizens watched with pride while columns of smartly uniformed WAVES marched to and from the Hotel.
The Draper Hotel, the Hotel Northampton, and Rahar's Inn are among the 23 licensed inns and taverns operating in North- ampton today. The Draper Hotel is owned by a New York cor- poration whose president is Mr. Samuel Harrison and is man- aged by Mr. Walter Kehren. The Hotel Northampton is leased from its stockholders by the Schine Corporation, which owns a hotel chain. Wiggins' Old Tavern is owned by the Schine Cor- poration and the Hotel and the Tavern are under the same man- agement. Rahar's Inn is owned and managed by Mr. Charles J. McCarthy. Northampton natives and visitors will be very fortu- nate if the Northampton hostelries of the future fulfill the promise of those of her past.
Chapter Forty-Three
Northampton State Hospital 1858-1952
By PRISCILLA BARTLETT HILL
O N August 12, 1851 the State Commissioners first visited Northampton in their search for a suitable location for the third hospital for the insane in Massachusetts. Not until 1855 did the necessity for another hospital of this type be- come a matter of public interest. The hospitals at Worcester and Taunton had become seriously overcrowded, population in West- ern Massachusetts had steadily increased in the previous few years, transportation had made this section of the state more accessible, and on September 4 of that year the Commissioners announced that Northampton had been selected as the appropriate site. On October 26, 1855, 172 acres of land were purchased for $13,000. On December 19 a contract was made with Robert J. Mayer and Charles Tufts of Boston. Samuel S. Standley was named resident Commissioner and Superintendent in behalf of the State, and work was started on March 15, 1856. On July 4 of that year, in connection with the city's celebration of the 80th anniversary of our National Independence, the cornerstone of the building was laid. By December 15 the roof had been covered and work con- tinued until completion in the spring of 1858, at an approximate cost of $300,000.
A "Kirkbride" type of institution, named after Dr. Thomas Kirkbride of the Pennsylvania State Hospital at Philadelphia, it consisted of one large building, as opposed to the Gheel, or cot- tage type of institution. It was built in the "Elizabethan" style of architecture, of brick construction. The main building is 5 12 feet long and is surmounted by a cupola "in which is an observatory from which the most magnificent prospect in the Connecticut Valley can be obtained." At each end of this building, a wing 84 feet long extends, and from the center portion a branch extends
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105 feet to the rear. The entire building is very irregular in out- line with 74 angular points giving as many different sides, thus affording ample means for light and the circulation of fresh air. The main building is 4 stories high and was planned for a spacious rotunda on the main floor, and on upper floors the superintend- ent's home and offices. The wings are 3 stories high, each sur- mounted by a cupola, and were planned for 250 rooms to accom- modate as many patients.
Dr. William Henry Prince was appointed Superintendent of the Northampton Lunatic Hospital on August 25, 1857. He took full charge of completing the building and on July 1, 1858 the first patient, a woman, was admitted. By October I of that year, 220 patients had been admitted, five-sixths of the number origi- nally planned for. Dr. Prince was assisted by 5 trustees and a staff of 5 salaried employees-an assistant physician, a clerk, a treas- urer, an engineer, and a farmer.
The importance of outdoor exercise was emphasized from the beginning. Airing courts were provided and male patients helped in landscaping the grounds, in clearing the fields and with the gardening after the first few years. In 1863 the first attempts were made at occupational therapy with such tasks as the making of corn brooms, mattresses, and baskets.
Weekly religious services were required in the by-laws of the hospital. "Indeed is not the proposition both plausible and reason- able that such an institution should be made a microcosm in itself -a little world within which men and women shall find as many as possible of those sources of rational enjoyment to which they were formerly accustomed ... if men are enabled to act like ra- tional beings, is not the probability that they will think like ra- tional beings greatly enhanced?" It was soon evident that the patients received great benefit from the religious services and other forms of assembly were gradually undertaken until 1866, lectures, readings, "hops in the rotunda" and "fireworks on the Fourth" had also been given for the benefit of all but a few of the very ill patients.
Dr. Prince served as superintendent until his resignation on April 30, 1864. Dr. Cyrus K. Bartlett, the assistant physician since 1859, was acting superintendent until the appointment of Dr. Pliny Earle, on July 1, 1864, who had been recommended by Dorothea Dix. Miss Dix had made several visits to the hospital
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prior to this time and felt that Dr. Earle would be the suitable per- son for the position. Dr. Earle served as superintendent for 21 years, until October 1, 1885. At this time there were 7 trustees, 77 employees and 476 patients. Dr. Edward B. Nims, assistant physician since 1869, followed Dr. Earle, serving until June 1, 1897, a total of 28 years. In this year there were 98 employees and 522 patients. Dr. John A. Houston, assistant physician since Sep- tember 1889, was appointed superintendent on July 1, 1897 and remained with the hospital for a total of 40 years, until his retire- ment on July 30, 1929.
From 1872 until 1892 the average daily number of patients in the hospital was 469. There was a steady increase in the patient population until in 1903 the average was 657. A new infirmary for women was opened in 1903 and an infirmary for men in 1905. These two additions helped to ease the overcrowded wards of the original building. With an increase in the number of patients there was a corresponding increase in the number of employees, 85 in 1893, 135 in 1903.
In 1899 the title of the institution was changed to the North- ampton Insane Hospital and a Legislative act of 1903 changed that title to the Northampton State Hospital, a change most appreci- ated by the patients and their friends.
From 1905, when the two infirmaries were added, to 1928 there was a steady increase in the patient population. During these years the trustees and superintendent had consistently emphasized the necessity of larger quarters, either in a separate hospital situ- ated in Berkshire County, or by an enlargement of this institution. Many patients whose homes were in this district-the 4 western counties of the state, containing one-eighth of the state's popula- tion-had been transferred to other state hospitals to help relieve the over-crowded conditions here.
With the growth of the hospital in 1928 to 1559 patients and 2 19 employees, the advantages of a small hospital had been lost, and efforts were centered upon enlarging the present hospital. Since 1869 land had gradually been acquired on ground opposite the main hospital and in 1928 the first two buildings were erected there, the nucleus of what is now known as the Memorial Group. A third ward building was added in 1932; a new heating plant for the entire hospital was completed in 1935; a new laundry, a fourth ward building, a cafeteria to serve all patients in the group
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and a tunnel connecting the group with the main hospital were also constructed at that time. New homes had been built for the nurses, the male attendants, and the married couples, which im- proved employee morale.
Small dining rooms on the various wards were served from the original kitchen until February 1938, when a new kitchen and the "Olander cafeteria" were constructed as a WPA project. In 1940 a new home for the superintendent was built; the former superintendent's home in the main building was remodelled into a modern surgery and infirmary for employees. A pathologist was added to the staff in 1937, and the laboratory was moved to larger quarters in 1940.
Dr. Theodore A. Hoch served the hospital as superintendent from February 1, 1930 until his death on August 4, 1932. Dr. Ed- ward W. Whitney, assistant physician since 1917, was appointed to the superintendency on November 8, 1933 and served until his death on February 16, 1935. Dr. Arthur N. Ball, Assistant to the Commissioner of Mental Diseases, who had first served the hospital as interne, then as assistant physician from 1912 to 192 1, was chosen to be the seventh superintendent and began his duties on May 11, 1935.
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