USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Springfield > The genesis of Springfield : the development of the town > Part 2
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John Pynchon's account books show numerous payments for stone brought from Small Brook, which was nearly five miles from the town; a tedious and expensive journey with a lumbering oxcart. In time an outcropping ledge of sand- stone was found near Benton street at a place called the Stone Pit. To make this available, the Middle Causeway (State Street) was extended to it, the extension being known as Stone Pit Road and now upper State Street.
There was of course an inexhaustible supply of stone to be had from the river bed and banks at Enfield Rapids, but it was not of a fire-resistant quality, and so did not fill the cry- ing need for material for fireplaces, hearths and chimneys. Moreover, its carriage was a most arduous upstream journey. The very nature of such freight meant heavy weight which in turn meant heavy scows. Nevertheless, through dire necessity, its use was increasingly resorted to. The return of the Continental Ferry at Springfield for 1778 includes a charge of 84 pounds for bringing up "fourteen boat loads of stone at 120 shillings per load."
The "great river," - the Connecticut, was a most impor- tant feature of the settlement. Before wheeled vehicles became common, the river, rather than the town street, was the common highway. Until that street was extended south across the marsh, the only way of reaching the corn mill on. Mill River was by water.
After the Indians had gathered their crops from the fields in the Agawam meadows, the cattle of the English were put over for pasturage, followed in acorn time by the swine. Such transportation must have been in cumbersome scows,
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but for their personal use the settlers provided canoes of the pattern used by the local natives. These were made from hollowed out logs and there was such a scarcity of trees suitable for this use that their cutting was restricted by drastic town orders. There is but one recorded mention of a birchbark canoe here and that one obviously was brought in from the north as in this vicinity the canoe-birch seems not to have grown to a size sufficient for such construction.
Quite early a primitive foot bridge and path gave access to the corn mill but the first major town improvement was the extension of Main Street to the south beyond the corner of York Street, when in March 1643 a bridge and a corduroy road were built across the brook and marsh to provide a cart- way to the mill. This was called the Lower Causeway, and led to the present Locust Street. As early as 1638 it was realized that some access must be had to the wood lots east of the town street and it was proposed to lay out a road much along the line of the present Harrison Avenue, but on account of the steep hill encountered after crossing the marsh, the idea seems to have been abandoned. In 1648, however, some such outlet was found to be imperative and a toll road was built across the marsh, which was known as the Middle Causeway, and later became State Street. This was also a corduroy road, and today when a deep trench is dug in that part of State Street between Main and Willow, the logs of the old road of 1648 are often encountered, some six feet below the present surface. When this road was later extended up the hill to join the Bay Path, it bore abruptly to the south beyond Maple Street, to avoid the steep grade, continuing easterly via the ravine still existing between State and High Streets, and meeting the present State Street line beyond the hill crest. Still later the line of the road approximated the line of the Armory fence, the present roadway being fairly modern.
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Bay Path
Stone Pit Rood
SPRINGFIELD IN THE
John Ladd's Tonnery 1674
Squaw Tree Dingle
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY FROM DATA OF HARRY ANDREW WRIGHT Harold H. Howe Del Jan. 1936 2000
800 1000
Copyright All Rights Reserved
PINE BARRENS
INTERSPERSED
WITH UNIMPROVABLE SWAMPS
Garden Brook
420 g h08
THE
WOOD
Skunks Misery
LOTS
Thompsons Dingle
Way to Indians Lower Wading Place at Chicopee
Upper Causeway
MASSOCKY Se
-- MARSH
=
Middle Causeway
House of Correction 1662
O
MILL RIVER
Whart Lanel
The Brow of
the Hill
ROU
Hill
Training Field
Way to
Lower Ferry
TOO
CONNECTICUT
RIVER
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yanuobunuents of how
9.
Street
Town
Lower Causeway
ARMORY
ST.
FACTORY ST.
SPRINGFIELD
1827
Jan 1936 FROM A SURVEY MADE FOR THE TOWN BY JOSEPHASHLEY Harold H Howe Del
500 1000
2000
Copyright- All Rights Reserved
Brook
PING ST.
Franklin
5
Square
Armory
PLEASANT ST.
CENTRAL ST.
7 MILL ST.
STATE ST.
UNION ST.
NORTH
ST.
CHESTNUT ST.
MAPLE
ST.
Mill River
ST.
BRIDGE ST.|CHESTNUT ST.
COURT ST.
ELM ST.
ST.
Town Brook
Broo
Round
Mill
FERRY ST.
North End
Brook
Plain
BRIDGE!
SOUTH
CONNECTICUT
RIVER
ST.
Showing the development of the Bay Path into Mill and Pine Streets.
Ha !!
MILL ST.
Town Brook
MAIN
MAIN
WATER ST
WALNUT ST.
Garden
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In 1662 a road was projected to the House of Correction, then being built at the southeast corner of Maple and Temple Strets, and continuing on to Thompson's Dingle at Avon Place and that became Maple Street. Not long after, a third corduroy road, the Upper Causeway, was built across the marsh. This became Carew Street. In 1710 a road was laid out across the wood lots from the Middle Causeway (State Street) to the Upper Causeway (Carew Street) which is now Chestnut Street, and that completed the road work of the first hundred years on the east side of the Connecticut. Many changes have of course been made to these roads. Main Street is at least six feet higher than then, and as late as 1898 the level of Court Square was raised five feet, result- ing in the death of many of the fine old elm trees.
From the east, down the line of the Boston & Albany Railroad, came Garden Brook as far as Spring Street; then turning obliquely south to the corner of Chestnut and Worth- ington it followed the north line of Worthington Street as far as where Poli's Theater now stands. There it turned north, continuing beyond Round Hill and so into the river. A simi- lar brook came from the ravine known as Skunk's Misery, where the High School of Commerce stands, and followed the line of Temple and Stockbridge Streets to Main, where it turned south and came into the Connecticut just south of York Street. Eventually these two brooks were connected, in the following way. Very early, each lot owner was required to dig a ditch on the east side of the street opposite his home- lot, so as to drain the marsh, which in time thus became meadowland. In 1660 this ditch was continued easterly along the line of Worthington Street to meet Garden Brook, so that the stream coming down from the east thereafter flowed both north and south parallel to Main Street, and the southerly branch was, down to modern times, known as the Town Brook. For nearly two hundred years this was the
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Town water supply. The writer well remembers his father telling him of catching trout in this brook while standing on the east side of Main Street, about where the Union Trust Company is, and that was not very long before the Civil War. Eventually, as the space on the desirable west side of Main Street was built up, piles were driven into the marsh adjacent to the east side of the street and small stores and houses were built on these, with little bridges across the brook. Today, this brook is in a sewer under the Main Street easterly side- walk.
Here William Pynchon lived the life of a country gentle- man. A devoted family cared for his personal needs, while a corps of indentured servants carried on the details of his varied business affairs. Many who later became prosperous citizens of the community began life here under contract of service to him. From quotations in his book, the "Meritori- ous Price of Our Redemption" it is apparent that he had here a library adequate for his personal pleasure and chosen work. His close companion, the Reverend George Moxon, was a person of education and culture who shared his liberal views.
From the first, the Settlement was an enterprise planned to be, and in fact was, conducted as a one man affair. As long as William Pynchon remained, it was under his direct ยท control. The town was nearly independent of outside help. It was a community of masons, carpenters, coopers, glass makers, nearly all of the basic trades being represented. By 1646 the great need for a blacksmith was realized and even- tually one was provided in the person of John Stewart, who had been captured by Cromwell's army at the battle of Dunbar in Scotland, in 1650. He was one of the iron workers who were deported to New England and bound out to serve a certain time to pay for his passage, this John Stewart's time being bought by John Pynchon. He continued to serve
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the town even after his term had expired and was the village smith for the rest of his life. His home was on the west side of Main Street, just south of the present Pynchon Street.
In 1652, William Pynchon returned to England, accom- panied by his wife. His exit was so quietly made that it pos- sibly was with the connivance of the authorities who may have feared the outcome of the controversy they had ini- tiated with one of his standing and resources.
The reason generally ascribed for his going was a fear of persecution due to the publication of his controversial book, the "Meritorious Price of Our Redemption," but there seem to have been other reasons. His business had grown to such proportions that a resident manager in England would be of distinct advantage, and that position he could most ably fill, while his son was well qualified to carry on at the producing end. Moreover, such residence in England would give to him the peace and opportunity for study and cultural pursuits which he craved and which had been so long denied him dur- ing his voluntary exile in America. At this time, this was possible in England because the political conditions which led to his exile had so changed when Cromwell came into power.
There is ground for suspicion that in his own mind, his sojourn was to be of a temporary nature, with the thought of leaving to time the quieting of criticism of his liberal ideas. In 1652, apparently while living in England, he published his second book, "The Jewes Synagogue," the title page of which reads, "by William Pynchon of Springfield in New England," indicating that he even then considered America his real abiding place.
Against this theory is the argument that before leaving, he disposed of all his property in New England. It is true that on April 17, 1651, he deeded his mill property to his son and two sons-in-law. On the same day he executed a deed of gift,
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for the benefit of the inhabitants of the town, of the great tract between the Chicopee river and Willimanset Brook, which he had bought from the Indian, Nippumsuit, on April 20, 1641. On September 24, of the same year, 1651, he con- veyed to his son, John, all remaining lands and buildings in Springfield and along the river.
It is possible that these transfers were due to a fear of confiscation of his property, but in any event he was merely following a custom of the family and of the times. In the 17th century, a traveler, anticipating a long journey or a hazardous voyage, commonly conveyed his property to his family, by will or deed, possibly expecting it would be retrieved if he survived. John Pynchon, long before his death, passed his property on to his sons, and later generations of the family did likewise.
Certain facts, however, suggest that even before the advent of his book, he had been arranging his affairs for a long journey to England. A notation on the British Museum copy of the "Meritorius Price," indicate that it was pub- lished June 2, 1650. It was received in Boston, "a few days," prior to October 16, 1650.
On April 22 and 29, 1650, through agents in England, Pynchon had contracted with Hugh Dudley, James Wells and Edward Foster all of Barnet, in Hertfordshire, to come to New England and serve him for five years from the date of their arrival, which came to be July 2, 1650. On September 9, 1650, he assigned the Dudley and Wells contracts to Henry Smith, and on the same date, Foster was assigned to Elizur Holyoke. It is of course possible that in this entire procedure, he was merely using his facilities to secure servants for others and that his original agreements were actually on behalf of his two sons-in-law.
It is more significant that on October 15, 1650, he assigned
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to Benjamin Cooley the three and a half years remaining to him of Samuel Terry's time.
The weight of the evidence indicates that William Pynchon originally planned but a temporary stay abroad. Possibly he found that his representation of the business in England was even more desirable and necessary than he had anticipated. Certainly he found England under Cromwell a pleasanter home than was New England under the bigoted rulers who had come into power.
He first settled at Hackney, in Middlesex. Today, this is one of the slum districts of northeast London, but in the 17th century it was a suburb of the city, made up of the fine homes of wealthy London merchants. There he lived for a year or more and evidently he found satisfaction in English life, for, on December 5, 1653, he bought from Andrew King, mer- chant, of London, and Mary King, his wife, property at Wraysbury, by the Thames, in Buckinghamshire. This prop- erty had in part been in the occupation and tenure of this Andrew King and in part of Thomas Blatt. The conveyance quieted also an interest or claim had by "William Sharrow of London, gentleman, James Sharrow, late of the Middle Temple, London, gentleman, deceased, brother of William Sharrow, and John Sharrow, gentleman, deceased, late father of William and James Sharrow." The property as described, included the usual buildings and appurtenances, as well as gardens and a "part thereof planted with fruit trees and used for an orchard and one dovehouse lately built."
It is significant that the year and month when Pynchon seemingly decided to remain permanently in England and so bought this estate, was the year and month when Cromwell became dictator.
There Pynchon's wife died, October 10, 1657, and there he lived until he died, October 29, 1662, and was buried in the adjacent churchyard.
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At Wraysbury he was joined by Henry Smith, who left his wife, Ann, a capable Pynchon daughter, to settle his New England affairs, having on October 17, 1652, given her power of attorney to so do. Acting under this power, on August 18, 1654, she conveyed to her brother, John Pynchon, the Smith third interest in the mill property, and practically all of Henry Smith's real estate holdings, whereupon she too departed for Wraysbury.
Why William Pynchon chose that obscure town is un- known. It has been said, on evidence impossible to substan- tiate at this time, that it had been his earlier home and that it was from there that he had emigrated to America. How- ever, Springfield certainly was the ancestral seat of the fam- ily and it is of record that he was living there as late as 1620. In the Church of All Saints' at Springfield, is a record on a wooden board, indicating that in 1624 he was a warden of that church, but there is nothing to show when, or by what authority that record was made. Thus the question must rest until additional evidence is produced.
Under John Pynchon, Springfield became more demo- cratic and more prosperous. In 1660 he built the brick house which was garrisoned during King Philip's war, and proved the salvation of the settlers at the time of the assault on Springfield on October 5, 1675.
John Pynchon continued the friendly relations of his father with the Indians and in 1666, to put an end to various and continuing disagreements between the settlers and the Indians, he bought out the rights which they had reserved in the original agreement of 1636 to some bits of land on the west side of the river. As part of the compensation he built for them on Long Hill, where Dr. Kilroy later had his home, a stockaded village after the Indian manner, where they lived until finally driven from the valley after their futile
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attempt to burn and destroy the town. This was one of the first Indian reservations in America.
For years the townspeople had been hampered and handi- capped from lack of an adequate grist mill. Far too often the boisterous waters of the Mill River washed away the sluices, leaving the primitive mill inoperative. Eventually John Pynchon yielded to persistent entreaties and. built a more modern mill on the Town Brook, just south of York Street. There, however, the water supply proved inadequate and in 1666, a return was made to "the old mill stream." Complete new water works and an adequate mill were con- structed which served satisfactorily until destroyed by the Indians in 1675.
The first local Community Chest was organized in 1667 when Deacon Chapin and two others were asked to take charge of a fund of three or four pounds for the benefit of the needy through the winter. In 1711 a Frenchman, called John Mallefield, an itinerant peddler passing through here, was sick and died, and in appreciation of the care given him, left his property to the poor of the town. The inventory of his estate shows an amazing assortment of goods running from jew's-harps to books, and if we are to judge from the quantities of the different books, one called "Sighs From Hell" was apparently the best seller in those days. The trustees appointed to settle the estate were ordered to turn the merchandise into money and loan out the whole fund at interest, which was done for a time, but through inattention and neglect the principal was soon dissipated. It is interest- - ing to again note what compound interest does to money, for if this $800 had been properly administered and accounted for at 6% compound interest, without depletion, the poor of Springfield would today have a fund of $373,000,000 to draw on, with an annual inconre of over $22,000,000.
In 1667 John Pynchon built the saw mill on Mill River,
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above his father's original corn mill, and below the corn mill, he established in 1697 the first blast furnace in this part of New England, using iron ore from the south side of the Chicopee River just east of the present dam at Chicopee Falls. The success of this furnace and its continuous exist- ence over the years was one of the determining factors which led to the establishment at Springfield, of the Continental Armory, by Washington and Knox in 1777. After John Pynchon's death, others built a furnace by the Chicopee River, near the source of ore supply, and this was the genesis of the Belcher & Taylor Agricultural Tool Company of mod- ern times.
John Pynchon carried on here and became a great indus- trialist and greatly extended the fur trade. Trading posts and factors were established at Westfield, Hadley and North- ampton. In 1663, in partnership with Major William Hathorne, ancestor of Nathaniel Hawthorne, he was operat- ing at Fort Aurania (Albany) and Ausatinneag (Housatonic). In the spring of 1675, Timothy Cooper succeeded at Albany. The details and ethics of the fur trade as developed by the Pynchons were the prototype of the policies of the great Hudson Bay Company which has been in continuous exist- ence for 250 years.
In 1652, a part interest was bought in the 200 ton ship Mayflower of Boston. Other ships were bought or built at Springfield or Hartford; the Desire, the John's Adventure, the ketch Northern Venture. These voyaged to the West Indies with pork, beef, wool and corn and returned with mo- lasses, sugar, potatoes, tobacco and fruits. Furs were shipped to England in exchange for cloths and other manufacturedgoods.
After John Pynchon's death, in 1703, the town continued in a prosaic way, but saw many of the picturesque incidents of the times. Sir Jeffrey Amherst was here in 1758, fresh from his triumphs at Louisburg and en route to the relief of
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Ticonderoga during the French and Indian wars. In 1776 General Knox crossed the river at Cypress Street and passed through Main and up State Street with the cannon brought from Ticonderoga for the relief of Boston. In November 1777 the Hessian soldiers of Burgoyne's army, captured at Saratoga the previous month, marched down Main Street on their way to internment at Cambridge. With these sol- diers was the wife of the German general, Riedesel, riding in the same calash in which she had followed her husband to what was expected to be a glorious victory.
One of the captured soldiers writing home said, - "Spring- field is an exceedingly lively little village with very pretty houses. It is true the houses lie from fifty to one hundred paces apart, but this space is either a yard or a garden, which is separated from the street by a fence. The gardens also contain statues. (Sic)* This place is a veritable magazine for the storage of weapons for the Americans, and it has also a small but very well built armory or arsenal. We here saw various parks of artillery with their trains and among other things, twelve entirely new four pounders of French make. The store or magazine houses are filled from top to bottom and workmen of all trades are seen in all the houses engaged in the manufacture of ammunition, wagons, guns, etc. We saw here wagons which could not have been better made in England. Order prevailed everywhere; an old man with a large gray overcoat attracted our attention by his scoldings and the noise that he made. We ascertained that he was Master-General of Ordnance."
Each of our country's wars has brought some prosperity and increase of population to Springfield. This was true even of King Philip's war. In spite of the ruin and devastation
* So far as is known, the text of this letter now exists only in the printed English version. It suggests a possible misreading or an imperfect translation and a sus- picion that in the original German, the word rendered as "statues," might have been meant for outbuildings or summer houses.
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wrought by the natives, some of the garrison soldiers sent here at the time became permanent settlers. Stragglers from Burgoyne's captured army deserted and founded families here, notably the Worthys of West Springfield.
In 1776 Washington asked the Continental Congress that an armory be established at Hartford but the Congress ordered it to be at Brookfield. After consideration of both of the proposed sites, General Knox expressed a decided prefer- ence for Springfield, whereupon Washington instructed him to ignore the Congressional orders and to proceed with the work at Springfield, because of the special facilities which the town afforded.
Artisans of all sorts were recruited and sent here; gun makers, saddlers, shoe makers, carpenters, tinsmiths. They were enlisted in the Continental service and the foremen were commissioned as officers. For years the place was a teeming hive of the highest grade of mechanics and after the war many of these remained.
The first operations were in the barn in the rear of a build- ing known as the Hitchcock House which was on Main Street where Emery Street now is. Later the town training field was leased and eventually bought, and this became the pres- ent Armory grounds.
Here were shod the horses of Armand's Flying Corps. Shoes were set on the horse of General Stark. Cannon were cast. Field pieces were constructed complete. Captured guns were repaired. Dr. Charles Pynchon, great, great grandson of William, the founder, was in charge of the military hos- pital. The extent of the operations was amazing.
With the years, the verdant alluvial meadows of West Springfield became increasingly attractive in contrast with the sterile lands of the town proper, so much so that the west side became the important part and was known as Spring- field, while the old town was called East Springfield. So
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great became the intercourse and traffic that in 1805 the first toll bridge was built, uncovered and painted red. In 1814 it succumbed to the weight of a heavily laden army transport and was entirely destroyed. Succeeding this, was the covered toll bridge of 1816, which served until the pres- ent Memorial Bridge was built.
Encouraged by its growth and prosperity, about 1827, the village seemed to throw off its swaddling clothes and become a town. A brick town hall was built. It still stands, at the corner of State and Market Streets. On a lane which became School Street (north east corner of High Street) was built the first High School. Joseph Ashley made in colors, an elaborate map of the town, including the territory from Longmeadow to Hadley, Chicopee then being a part of Springfield. This showed not only the roads and streets, but indicated the houses, with the owners' names. It was made in sections, joined together with hooks and eyes. In its old wooden case it is today a valued part of the equipment of the City Engineer's office.
Samuel Bowles, who had come from Hartford in 1824 to establish the Republican, secured a small reproduction of this map from which he published a wall map. It created quite a furore in the community and this "interloper" was accused by his rivals of commercializing town property for his personal benefit.
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