History Of Hampshire County, Massachusetts
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History Of Hampshire County, Massachusetts
Hampshire County is a historical and judicial county located in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. Following the dissolution of the county government in 1999, county affairs were managed by the Hampshire Council of Governments, which itself ceased operations in 2019, due to a "fundamentally flawed, unsustainable operational model". As of the 2020 census, the population was 162,308. Its most populous municipality is Amherst, its largest town in terms of landmass is Belchertown, and its traditional county seat is Northampton. The county is named after the county Hampshire, in England. Hampshire County is part of the Springfield, MA Metropolitan Statistical Area. Together with Hampden County, Hampshire County municipalities belong to the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission. History Hampshire County was constituted in 1662 from previously unorganized territory comprising the entire western part of Massachusetts Bay Colony. It included the original towns of Springfield, Northampton ...
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List Of Counties In Massachusetts
The U.S. state of Massachusetts has 14 counties, though eight of these fourteen county governments were abolished between 1997 and 2000. The counties in the southeastern portion of the state retain county-level local government (Barnstable, Bristol, Dukes, Norfolk, Plymouth) or, in one case, (Nantucket County) consolidated city-county government. Vestigial judicial and law enforcement districts still follow county boundaries even in the counties whose county-level government has been disestablished, and the counties are still generally recognized as geographic entities if not political ones. Three counties (Hampshire, Barnstable, and Franklin) have formed new county regional compacts to serve as a form of regional governance. Abolitions of some county governments Mismanagement of Middlesex County's public hospital in the mid-1990s left that county on the brink of insolvency, and in 1997 the Massachusetts legislature stepped in by assuming all assets and obligations of the coun ...
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Springfield, MA
Springfield is a city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States, and the seat of Hampden County. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers: the western Westfield River, the eastern Chicopee River, and the eastern Mill River. At the 2020 census, the city's population was 155,929, making it the third-largest city in Massachusetts, the fourth-most populous city in New England after Boston, Worcester, and Providence, and the 12th-most populous in the Northeastern United States. Metropolitan Springfield, as one of two metropolitan areas in Massachusetts (the other being Greater Boston), had a population of 699,162 in 2020. Springfield was founded in 1636, the first Springfield in the New World. In the late 1700s, during the American Revolution, Springfield was designated by George Washington as the site of the Springfield Armory because of its central location. Subsequently it was the site of Shays' Reb ...
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Pioneer Valley
The Pioneer Valley is the colloquial and promotional name for the portion of the Connecticut River Valley that is in Massachusetts in the United States. It is generally taken to comprise the three counties of Hampden, Hampshire, and Franklin. The lower Pioneer Valley corresponds to the Springfield, Massachusetts metropolitan area, the region's urban center, and the seat of Hampden County. The upper Pioneer Valley region includes the smaller cities of Northampton and Greenfield, the county seats of Hampshire and Franklin counties, respectively. Historically the northern part of the Valley was an agricultural region, known for growing Connecticut shade tobacco and other specialty crops like Hadley asparagus; however, since the late 19th century its economy has become increasingly a knowledge economy, due to the prominence of the Five Colleges in Hampshire County. Similarly the Springfield- Chicopee-Holyoke economies transformed from volume producers of goods such as pa ...
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Somers, CT
Somers is a town in Tolland County, Connecticut. The population was 10,255 at the 2020 census. The town center is listed by the U.S. Census Bureau as a census-designated place (CDP). In 2007, ''Money Magazine'' listed Somers 53rd on its "100 Best Places to Live", based on "economic opportunity, good schools, safe streets, things to do and a real sense of community." Bordering Massachusetts, Somers is considered part of the city of Springfield, Massachusetts NECTA. Somers is southeast of Springfield and considered more oriented toward it than the city of Hartford, which lies to the southwest. History Somers was originally part of the Agawam Plantation in the 17th century. Agawam Plantation became Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1641 and in 1682, the Enfield Parish broke off from the Springfield settlement. In 1689, the first settler, Benjamin Jones, came to Somers in what was then East Enfield about a half mile from the current town center, it was only a summer house and in the ...
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Warren, MA
Warren is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 4,975 at the 2020 census. The town contains the villages of Warren and West Warren. History Warren was first settled in 1664 and was officially incorporated on January 16, 1741 as the town of Western.Sylvia Buck, ''Warren, Town in the Making, 1741-1991'' Originally a part of Quaboag Plantation, the town now known as Warren was part of Brookfield for 68 years until it was renamed Western. Warren includes land petitioned from both the Quaboag Plantation and the "Kingsfield", which included parts of Palmer and Brimfield. On March 13, 1834, the town was renamed Warren in honor of General Joseph Warren, who died at the Battle of Bunker Hill during the American Revolutionary War. The need to rename the town came about due to confusion of the name "Western" with the town of Weston, Massachusetts. According to the ''History of Warren Massachusetts'' by Olney I. Darling, Western was renamed Warr ...
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Brookfield, MA
Brookfield is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Brookfield was first settled by Europeans in 1660. The population was 3,439 at the 2020 census. History Brookfield was first settled by Europeans in 1660 and was officially incorporated in 1718. The town was settled by men from Ipswich as part of the Quaboag Plantation lands. In August 1675, King Philip's War reached central Massachusetts. Brookfield, one of the most isolated settlements in the colony, was attacked by Nipmuck forces. After an ambush the town was besieged. For two days the townsfolk, consisting of 80 people, sought shelter in the garrison house while the rest of the town was completely destroyed. The settlement lay abandoned for twelve years. During the winter of 1776, General Henry Knox passed through the town with cannon from Fort Ticonderoga to end the Siege of Boston. A marker along Route 9 commemorates his route. Bathsheba Spooner In March 1778, Joshua Spooner, a wealthy farmer in ...
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Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capital is Hartford and its most populous city is Bridgeport. Historically the state is part of New England as well as the tri-state area with New York and New Jersey. The state is named for the Connecticut River which approximately bisects the state. The word "Connecticut" is derived from various anglicized spellings of "Quinnetuket”, a Mohegan-Pequot word for "long tidal river". Connecticut's first European settlers were Dutchmen who established a small, short-lived settlement called House of Hope in Hartford at the confluence of the Park and Connecticut Rivers. Half of Connecticut was initially claimed by the Dutch colony New Netherland, which included much of the land between the Connecticut and Delaware Rivers, although the firs ...
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Enfield, CT
Enfield is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States, first settled by John and Robert Pease of Salem, Massachusetts Bay Colony. The population was 42,141 at the 2020 census. It is bordered by Longmeadow, Massachusetts, and East Longmeadow, Massachusetts East Longmeadow is a town in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States situated in the Pioneer Valley region of Western Massachusetts. It had a population of 16,430 at the 2020 census. East Longmeadow is southeast of downtown Springfield, pa ..., to the north, Somers to the east, East Windsor, Connecticut, East Windsor and Ellington, Connecticut, Ellington to the south, and the Connecticut River (towns of Suffield, Connecticut, Suffield and Windsor Locks, Connecticut, Windsor Locks) to the west. History Enfield was originally inhabited by the Podunk tribe, and contained their two villages of Scitico and Nameroke. Though land grants were first granted in 1674, no one attempted to settle what is known as Enfield ...
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Suffield, CT
Suffield is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. It was once within the boundaries of Massachusetts. The town is located in the Connecticut River Valley with the town of Enfield neighboring to the east. As of the 2020 census, the population was 15,752. The town center is a census-designated place listed as Suffield Depot in U.S. Census records. Bordering Massachusetts, Suffield is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts NECTA. Suffield is only from Springfield, and is more oriented toward it than toward Connecticut's capital of Hartford, which lies to the south. History Originally known as Southfield—pronounced "Suffield," on May 20, 1674, the committee for the settling of the town petitioned: The petition was granted by the Massachusetts Bay court on June 8, 1674. Suffield was incorporated as a town in March 1682. Also, on early 17th and 18th century maps, Suffield was alternatively spelled as Suthfield. Suffield and the surrounding area were part ...
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Southwick, MA
Southwick is a town in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 9,232 at the 2020 census, down from 9,502 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. History Southwick was originally inhabited by either the Matitacooke, Mayawaug or Woronoake Native American tribes. Early history In the mid-17th century, pioneering English explorers moving up the Connecticut River Valley in search of fertile farmlands and game discovered the area and settled Southwick. It became a farming community, defined as the Southern ''(South-)'' village ''(-wick)'' part of the town of Westfield, Massachusetts. Early on, it was nicknamed "Poverty Plains" because the land was thought to be infertile. Its first residential home was built by Samuel Fowler and his wife Naomi Noble on what is now College Highway (US 202 and MA 10), about a quarter-mile north of the current town center. In colonial times, church attendance was man ...
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Worcester County, Massachusetts
Worcester County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 862,111, making it the second-most populous county in Massachusetts while also being the largest in area. The largest city and traditional county seat, shire town is the Worcester, Massachusetts, city of Worcester. Worcester County is included in the Worcester, MA-Connecticut, CT Metropolitan Statistical Area as well as the Boston-Worcester-Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, MA-Rhode Island, RI-New Hampshire, NH-CT Greater Boston, Combined Statistical Area. History Worcester County was formed from the eastern portion of colonial Hampshire County, Massachusetts, Hampshire County, the western portion of the original Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Middlesex County and the extreme western portion of the original Suffolk County, Massachusetts, Suffolk County. When the government of Worcester County was established on ...
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Berkshire County, Massachusetts
Berkshire County (pronounced ) is a county on the western edge of the U.S. state of Massachusetts. As of the 2020 census, the population was 129,026. Its largest city and traditional county seat is Pittsfield. The county was founded in 1761. The Berkshire Hills are centered on Berkshire County. Residents are known as Berkshirites. It exists today only as a historical geographic region, and has no county government, with the exception of the retirement board for former county workers, and certain offices such as the sheriff and registry of deeds. Law and government Of the fourteen Massachusetts counties, Berkshire County is one of eight that exists today only as a historical geographic region; it has limited county government. Berkshire County government was abolished effective July 1, 2000. Most former county functions were assumed by state agencies, and there is no county council or commission.
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