Forest Park is a Victorian garden district located in

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, th ...

, developed between 1880 and 1920. It is the city's most populous neighborhood, and surrounds the 735-acre

Forest Park A forest park is a park whose main theme is its forest of trees. Forest parks are found both in the mountains and in the urban environment. Examples Chile * Forest Park, Santiago China * Gongqing Forest Park, Shanghai * Mufushan National Forest ...

, for which the neighborhood is named. The Forest Park neighborhood has nature and recreation within walking distance. To the west,

I-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 ...

separates Forest Park from the Connecticut River. A 195-acre section of the neighborhood was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1982 as the Forest Park Heights Historic District. The 600-house Forest Park Heights Historic District was developed between 1890 and 1910, and includes gracious

Colonial Revival The Colonial Revival architectural style seeks to revive elements of American colonial architecture. The beginnings of the Colonial Revival style are often attributed to the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, which reawakened Americans to the archit ...

Tudor Revival Tudor Revival architecture (also known as mock Tudor in the UK) first manifested itself in domestic architecture in the United Kingdom in the latter half of the 19th century. Based on revival of aspects that were perceived as Tudor architecture ...

, Queen Anne, and Shingle Style homes. This neighborhood was named one of the Northeast's "Best Old House Neighborhoods" by ''

This Old House ''This Old House'' is an American home improvement media brand with television shows, a magazine, and a websiteThisOldHouse.com. The brand is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut. The television series airs on the American television netwo ...

'' in 2010. East of the park is the Trafton Road area with Colonials and Tudors dating from the 1920s. Further east in this tree-filled neighborhood are pockets of

American Craftsman American Craftsman is an American domestic architectural style, inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement, which included interior design, landscape design, applied arts, and decorative arts, beginning in the last years of the 19th century. Its ...

style houses and more Colonials. Within the park for which the neighborhood is named are a zoo, walking and hiking trails, promenades, playgrounds, lakes and ponds, a formal rose garden, the Barney Carriage House, sculptures, baseball diamonds, basketball courts, tennis courts, bocce courts, lawn bowling fields, and a hockey arena, Cyr Arena. During the winter holiday season, the park features a lighting display, Bright Nights, a 2.6-mile trail of large, intricate, animated lighting displays. The 18-hole Franconia Municipal Golf Course is also in the neighborhood. Georgetown, on the Longmeadow town line, is the neighborhood's largest condominium complex, and there are smaller condo complexes in the area. Forest Park also contains a branch library, the Jewish Community Center, and a commercial district known as the "X," at the intersection of Sumner Avenue, Belmont Avenue, and Dickinson Street.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Neighborhoods in Springfield, Massachusetts Historic districts in Hampden County, Massachusetts History of Springfield, Massachusetts Geography of Springfield, Massachusetts National Register of Historic Places in Springfield, Massachusetts Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts

See also

References