The Highlands is a neighborhood in

Holyoke, Massachusetts Holyoke is a city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States, that lies between the western bank of the Connecticut River and the Mount Tom Range. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 38,238. Located north of Springfield ...

located northwest of the city center, adjacent to the downtown. Originally a series of farms and estates, it was first known as Manchester Grounds, as the area's land was reportedly purchased by a company of landowners from

Manchester, New Hampshire Manchester is a city in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. It is the most populous city in New Hampshire. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 115,644. Manchester is, along with Nashua, one of two seats of New Hamp ...

soon after Holyoke was first chartered, in 1852. However while this name persisted for much of the 19th century, these holders would default on their estates by 1856. The area was further divided into new building lots in the 1870s and saw considerable development as a

streetcar suburb A streetcar suburb is a residential community whose growth and development was strongly shaped by the use of streetcar lines as a primary means of transportation. Such suburbs developed in the United States in the years before the automobile, when ...

when the

Holyoke Street Railway The Holyoke Street Railway (HSR) was an interurban streetcar and bus system operating in Holyoke, Massachusetts as well as surrounding communities with connections in Amherst, Belchertown, Chicopee, Easthampton, Granby, Northampton, Pelham ...

completed an extension to the area in 1886. Another early name for the section between Lincoln and Hampden streets was Money Hole Hill, a name also used by Mary Doyle Curran in her portrayal of the neighborhood in her novel ''The Parish and the Hill''. By 1897 the neighborhood had been christened its present name for its higher elevation at the foot of the

Mount Tom Range The Mount Tom Range is a traprock mountain range located in the Connecticut River Valley of Massachusetts. It is part of the Metacomet Ridge that extends from Long Island Sound near New Haven, Connecticut, north through the Connecticut River Valle ...

. Today the neighborhood contains many historic Victorian houses and about of predominantly residential zoning with some commercial development, as well as the Kennedy and Morgan Street Parks.

References

External link

* Geography of Hampden County, Massachusetts Neighborhoods in Holyoke, Massachusetts Streetcar suburbs {{HampdenCountyMA-geo-stub