The Brightwood neighborhood of

Springfield, Massachusetts 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 ...

is located in the northwest corner of the city, along the

Connecticut River The Connecticut River is the longest river in the New England region of the United States, flowing roughly southward for through four states. It rises 300 yards (270 m) south of the U.S. border with Quebec, Canada, and discharges at Long Island ...

; however, it is separated from the rest of Springfield by the

Interstate 91 Interstate 91 (I-91) is an Interstate Highway in the New England region of the United States. It provides the primary north–south thoroughfare in the western part of the region. The Interstate generally follows the course of the Connecti ...

elevated highway. Many recent academic papers at the

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricultural college, it ...

' School of Urban Design have focused on the detrimental physical and sociological effects that Interstate 91 has had on the Brightwood neighborhood, and on Springfield in general. Much of Brightwood was destroyed during the 1936 and 1938 Connecticut River Floods, thus it features housing stock from the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...

rebuilding period. Geographically, Brightwood is the second smallest of the Springfield's seventeen neighborhoods. It contains 234 acres of land, plus streets and railroads. Its boundaries are well defined: the Chicopee city line to the north; Clinton Street to the south; the B & M Railroad to the east; and the

to the west. Its demographics have changed exponentially during the last two Censuses. It is now over 80% Puerto Rican, and a center of Springfield's Puerto Rican community.

References

{{SpringfieldMA Neighborhoods in Springfield, Massachusetts