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Massachusetts Central Railroad (defunct)
The Central Massachusetts Railroad was a railroad in Massachusetts. The eastern terminus of the line was at North Cambridge Junction where it split off from the Middlesex Central Branch of the Boston and Lowell Railroad in North Cambridge and through which it had access to North Station in Boston. From there, the route ran 98.77 miles west through the modern-day towns of Belmont, Waltham, Weston, Wayland, Sudbury, Hudson, Bolton, Berlin, Clinton, West Boylston, Holden, Rutland, Oakham, Barre, New Braintree, Hardwick, Ware, Palmer, Belchertown, Amherst, and Hadley to its western terminal junction at N. O. Tower in Northampton with the Connecticut River Railroad. History Inception (1868–1883) In the late 1860s citizens in the towns of Sudbury, Wayland, and Weston petitioned the General Court of Massachusetts to build a railroad through their towns. On February 21, 1868 the state chartered the Wayland and Sudbury Branch Railroad to run 6.75 miles from Mill Village ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boston And Maine Railroad
The Boston and Maine Railroad was a U.S. Class I railroad in northern New England. Originally chartered in 1835, it became part of what was the Pan Am Railways network in 1983 (most of which was purchased by CSX in 2022). At the end of 1970, B&M operated on of track, not including Springfield Terminal. That year it reported 2,744 million ton-miles of revenue freight and 92 million passenger-miles. History The Andover and Wilmington Railroad was incorporated March 15, 1833, to build a branch from the Boston and Lowell Railroad at Wilmington, Massachusetts, north to Andover, Massachusetts. The line opened to Andover on August 8, 1836. The name was changed to the Andover and Haverhill Railroad on April 18, 1837, reflecting plans to build further to Haverhill, Massachusetts (opened later that year), and yet further to Portland, Maine, with renaming to the Boston and Portland Railroad on April 3, 1839, opening to the New Hampshire state line in 1840. The Boston and Maine Railroad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Berlin, Massachusetts
Berlin ( ) is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The town was first settled in 1665 and incorporated in 1812, and is governed under the open town meeting system. It is located northeast of Worcester and west of Boston. The population was 3,158 at the 2020 census. History Berlin was first settled in 1665. It was named "Berlin" as a district in 1784, and incorporated as a town in 1812. The pronunciation (which unlike the German city emphasizes the first syllable) is believed to date from 1784. Berlin lies in a low range of hills between the Nashua River and Assabet River valleys. Incorporated in 1812, the town was a residential and agricultural community, growing mixed hay grains and raising cattle. For a period after the Civil War, Berlin was home to a large shoe factory, and shoe manufacturing and lumbering provided non-agrarian jobs. The town soon moved into specialty market gardening, sending 41,000 bunches of asparagus to market in 1885, growing ho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hadley, Massachusetts
Hadley (, ) is a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 5,325 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The area around the Hampshire and Mountain Farms Malls along Route 9 is a major shopping destination for the surrounding communities. History Early Hadley was first settled in 1659 and was officially incorporated in 1661. The former Norwottuck was renamed for Hadleigh, Suffolk. Its settlers were primarily a discontented group of families from the Puritan colonies of Hartford and Wethersfield, Connecticut, who petitioned to start a new colony up north after some controversy over doctrine in the local church. The settlement was led by John Russell. The first settler inside of Hadley was Nathaniel Dickinson, who surveyed the streets of what is now Hadley, Hatfield, and Amherst. At the time, Hadley encompassed a wide radius of land on both sides of the Connecticut River (but mostly on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amherst, Massachusetts
Amherst () is a New England town, town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Connecticut River valley. As of the 2020 census, the population was 39,263, making it the highest populated municipality in Hampshire County (although the county seat is Northampton, Massachusetts, Northampton). The town is home to Amherst College, Hampshire College, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst, three of the Five College Consortium, Five Colleges. The name of the town is pronounced without the ''h'' ("AM-erst") by natives and long-time residents, giving rise to the local saying, "only the 'h' is silent", in reference both to the pronunciation and to the town's politically active populace. Amherst has three census-designated places: Amherst Center, Massachusetts, Amherst Center, North Amherst, Massachusetts, North Amherst, and South Amherst, Massachusetts, South Amherst. Amherst is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield metropolitan area, Massachusetts, Metr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Belchertown, Massachusetts
Belchertown (previously known as Cold Spring and Belcher's Town) is a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 15,350 at the 2020 census. The town includes the census-designated place of Belchertown. Belchertown was formerly the home of the Belchertown State School. The land on which the school sat is, as of 2016, being redeveloped for mixed uses including residential, commercial and recreational. This includes the Lampson Brook Farm, used for community and sustainable agriculture, outdoor recreation, and wildlife preservation. History In 1716, the Equivalent Lands were sold by Connecticut Colony to residents who reside in present-day Connecticut and Massachusetts. Some of these lands were granted to Jonathan Belcher, the future Royal Governor of Massachusetts. Belchertown was first settled in 1731 and was officially incorporated in 1761 as Cold Spring, later the name ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Palmer, Massachusetts
Palmer is a city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 12,448 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. Palmer adopted a home rule charter in 2004 with a council-manager form of government. Palmer is one of thirteen Massachusetts municipalities that have city forms of government but retain "The town of" in their official names. The villages of Bondsville, Thorndike, Depot Village, and Three Rivers are located in Palmer. History Palmer is composed of four separate and distinct villages: Depot Village, typically referred to simply as "Palmer" (named for the ornate Union Station railroad terminal designed by architect Henry Hobson Richardson), Thorndike, Three Rivers, and Bondsville. The villages began to develop their distinctive characters in the 18th century, and by the 19th century two rail lines and a trolley line opened the town to population growth. Today, each village has its own pos ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ware, Massachusetts
Ware is a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 10,066 as of 2020. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The census-designated place of Ware, comprising the main settlement of the town, is in the southeastern corner of the town. The area's students are served by Ware Junior Senior High School. History Ware was first settled on Equivalent Lands in 1717 John Warner Barber; Dorr; 1841. and was officially incorporated in 1775. It is named after the town of in [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hardwick, Massachusetts
Hardwick is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States, about west of the city of Worcester. It had a population of 2,667 at the 2020 census. It includes the villages of Hardwick, Gilbertville, Wheelwright and Old Furnace. History Hardwick was first settled in 1737 and was officially incorporated in 1739, named in honor of Philip Yorke, Lord Hardwicke, an English nobleman. In 1762, General Timothy Ruggles, one of the leading Tories of New England, introduced the Hardwick Fair, now the oldest annual fair in the United States. During the late 1800s, Hardwick experienced an expansion of its manufacturing industry, textile and paper mills, both of which left the area by the 1930s. The town has retained its agricultural roots, a long-standing tradition in the region. Hardwick is the home of Eagle Hill School, founded in 1967. Geography and transportation According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which is land and , or 5.51%, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New Braintree, Massachusetts
New Braintree is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 996 at the 2020 census. History Before being settled by re-located residents of Braintree, Massachusetts, New Braintree was occupied by various Native American groups for at least 9,000 years."Our History" New Braintree, Massachusetts web page. Accessed 17 July 2020. In 1669, the town of Braintree, located southeast of Boston, voted that each household would be granted an equal interest in the 6000 acres purchased to the west, to be known as "Braintree Farms". The town's lands were formerly a part of the . In ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barre, Massachusetts
Barre ( ) is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 5,530 at the 2020 census. History Originally called the Northwest District of Rutland, it was first settled by Europeans in 1720. The town was incorporated as a district on June 17, 1774, as Hutchinson after Thomas Hutchinson, colonial governor of Massachusetts. Eventually, along with 41 other districts in the state, they were all incorporated on August 23, 1775 by the Massachusetts Court. The next year on November 7, 1776, it was renamed Barre in honor of Colonel Isaac Barré, an Irish-born MP who was a champion of American Independence. Starting in the 1800s, the Boston, Barre and Gardner Railroad provided rail service to the town. "This township was originally known as Rutland, West District; but prior to 1770 its name was changed to "Hutchinson", in honor of the Hon. Thomas Hutchinson who was Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts in 1765, became acting Governor in 1769, and Governo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oakham, Massachusetts
Oakham is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 1,851 at the 2020 census. History Oakham was first settled by British colonists in 1749 as part of Rutland, and was officially incorporated in 1762. It was originally named Oakhampton, but the name was changed for an unknown reason. The village of Coldbrook Springs was a part of Oakham, near the Barre line, established on the site of a natural iron spring. A railroad depot was built in nearby in the 1830s and the village eventually included a hotel, tavern, medicinal spa, and a number of houses. The area is part of the Ware River Watershed and now part of the Massachusetts state forest, having been cleared of all structures as a part of the Quabbin Reservoir Aqueduct system. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which is land and , or 1.90%, is water. Oakham is bordered by Barre to the northwest, Rutland to the northeast, Paxton to the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rutland, Massachusetts
Rutland is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 9,049 at the 2020 census. Rutland is the geographic center of Massachusetts; a tree, the Central Tree, located on Central Tree Road, marks the general spot. History The town was first settled by Europeans in 1666 and was originally called "Naquag," a name which came from Nipmuc. Officially incorporated in 1713, the Town of Rutland was made up of Barre, Hubbardston, Oakham, Princeton, and the northern half of Paxton. In Northern Rutland there are prison camps used during the Revolutionary War used for captured Hessian mercenaries hired by the British. The town's most famous citizen is Rufus Putnam, who was George Washington's chief engineer in the American Revolutionary War. He held various town offices in Rutland and served as Representative to the General Court. Later, he led a group of Revolutionary War veterans west to settle in the Northwest Territory and Putnam became known as the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
