Rock Valley, sometimes referred to as West Holyoke,[Query- "Rock Valley Improvement League, Inc."], Massachusetts Corp. Card Search
Corporation Cards of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Secretary of the Commonwealth. "West Holyoke Improvement League, Inc...Oct. 11, 1955– Name chg. to Rock Valley Improvement League, Inc." 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 to the west of the city center, approximately from downtown, bordering Easthampton,

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

, Westfield, and West Springfield. Rock Valley is historically Holyoke's second oldest village after Elmwood, with its eponymous

burial ground A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a buri ...

dating to around 1777, and families having settled in the area as early as 1745. Predating the construction of the Hadley Falls Dam, it originated as the western section of the 3rd parish ("Ireland Parish") of West Springfield. Today the neighborhood contains several historic

Federal Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to: Politics General *Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies *Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or ...

and Colonial homesteads, in addition to many modern developments adjacent to agricultural and wetland tracts. Even into the 20th century the area retained an agrarian character, but was met with concern by residents who believed their neighborhood to be falling behind the progress made by the rest of the city during its sudden industrial growth. In 1921, the West Holyoke Improvement Association was founded by a number of concerned for the purpose of representing the interests of the neighborhood before the city government. Renamed the Rock Valley Improvement League in 1955, among the issues they lobbied for was the electrification of streets lights in the area, construction of a community center, and development of new playgrounds for children. The association would hold many neighborhood dinners and events for a number of years as well, and having achieved many of the aforementioned goals fell into relative obscurity. In 1930 the area briefly gained international attention when a former supply route to Westfield built by soldiers of the

104th Infantry 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

was dedicated in Massachusetts as the Apremont Highway in a joint ceremony between Holyoke and Westfield. The 104th was the first American military unit to receive a foreign decoration for valor and the first foreign recipients of the French

Croix de Guerre The ''Croix de Guerre'' (, ''Cross of War'') is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was first awa ...

, for liberating

Apremont-la-Forêt Apremont-la-Forêt () is a commune in the Meuse department in the Grand Est region in northeastern France. Population See also *Communes of the Meuse department *Parc naturel régional de Lorraine Lorraine Regional Natural Park (French: ''P ...

in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

References

Neighborhoods in Holyoke, Massachusetts {{HampdenCountyMA-geo-stub

Further reading

References