Ludlow is a
New England
New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...
town in
Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 21,002 as of the 2020
census
A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...
, and it is considered part of the Springfield
Metropolitan Statistical Area. Located just northeast of
Springfield across the
Chicopee River, it is one of the city's
suburbs. It has a sizable and visible Portuguese and Polish community.
History
The Indigenous people along the
Chicopee River, including modern-day Ludlow, were
Algonquian speaking peoples. Though records are incomplete, the first inhabitants were likely the
Nipmuc
The Nipmuc or Nipmuck people are an Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands, who historically spoke an Eastern Algonquian languages, Eastern Algonquian language, probably the Loup language. Their historic territory Nippenet, meaning 'the f ...
or
Pocomtuc tribes. During
King Philip’s War (1675–1676), British settlers forced a band of Indigenous people, led by Roaring Thunder, to jump to the water of the
Chicopee River to escape their attackers (this place has since been called Indian Leap).
Although plans were drawn up for settlement as early as 1685, within the original boundaries of
Springfield, Massachusetts
Springfield is the most populous city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States, and its county seat. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers: the western Westfield River, the ea ...
, the British first settled in Ludlow in 1751 as Stony Hill Parish. However, the town was later renamed Ludlow and incorporated as a separate entity in 1774, just before the breakout of the
American Revolution
The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...
.
[Noon, Alfred. The History of Ludlow, Massachusetts. Springfield, MA: Higginson Book Company, 1912.] For much of its early history the town was agrarian and today many of Ludlow's street names are derived from the names of these farming families (e.g. Chapin Street, Miller Street, Alden Street, Fuller Street). Ludlow was home to many sawmills and gristmills, utilizing the power from several sources of water nearby, the Chicopee River, Broad Brook, Higher Brook, and Stony Brook. Before the
Civil War
A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...
, the town began to develop into a
mill town
A mill town, also known as factory town or mill village, is typically a settlement that developed around one or more List of types of mill#Manufacturing facilities, mills or factories, often cotton mills or factories producing textiles.
Europe
...
. This included the manufacturing of glass bottles by the many glassware companies, including John Sikes. Then Governor of
Massachusetts Bay Colony
The Massachusetts Bay Colony (1628–1691), more formally the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, was an English settlement on the east coast of North America around Massachusetts Bay, one of the several colonies later reorganized as the Province of M ...
,
Thomas Hutchinson renamed the town from the District of Stony Hill to Ludlow. The town of Ludlow was possibly named after
Roger Ludlow, one of the founders of the
Connecticut Colony
The Connecticut Colony, originally known as the Connecticut River Colony, was an English colony in New England which later became the state of Connecticut. It was organized on March 3, 1636, as a settlement for a Puritans, Puritan congregation o ...
or named after
Ludlow
Ludlow ( ) is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire (district), Shropshire, England. It is located south of Shrewsbury and north of Hereford, on the A49 road (Great Britain), A49 road which bypasses the town. The town is near the conf ...
, a town in England.
In 1868, the largest mill was opened and operated by the Ludlow Company (The
Ludlow Clock Tower is depicted on the town seal), who produced jute yarns, twine, and webbing. This company helped shape the town by providing housing, a library, schools, playgrounds, and even a clubhouse for the increasingly diverse community.
In the 20th century, this company moved to
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
and is now known as Ludlow Jute and Specialties of Mumbai.
In the early 20th century Ludlow developed from a mill town into 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 ...
of
Springfield, Massachusetts
Springfield is the most populous city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States, and its county seat. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers: the western Westfield River, the ea ...
, with a trolley line running over the bridge from
Indian Orchard. Ludlow also had two railroads that traversed the town: the
Springfield, Athol and North-eastern Railroad and the Hamden Railroad. The Hamden Railroad was closed and Interstate 90 was constructed over its former tracks. The Springfield, Athol, and Northeastern Railroad was reduced in length in the late 1930s as a result of the creation of
Quabbin Reservoir. The train station for this line was at the corner of Winsor Street and Sewall Street and was the last station from
Boston
Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
when the railroad closed in the 1950s. The train station was demolished in 1960. In 1981, the
Stony Brook Power Plant was constructed in the town providing 517
Megawatts
The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named in honor o ...
of electricity to 24 municipalities. In 1983, the plant became the first
combined-cycle power plant in Massachusetts.
Ludlow's population boomed in the 1950s with the creation of Interstate 90, known in Massachusetts as the
Massachusetts Turnpike.
John F. Thompson, who was Speaker of the House of Representatives in the
Massachusetts General Court
The Massachusetts General Court, formally the General Court of Massachusetts, is the State legislature (United States), state legislature of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts located in the state capital of Boston. Th ...
at the time, was influential in gaining an exit on the Turnpike for Ludlow (now Exit 54, formerly 7) and subsequently the Turnpike influenced the growth of Ludlow as a
suburb
A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...
of Springfield. Since the 1950s, the development of numerous
subdivisions has added to Ludlow's growth.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which are land and (3.83%) is water. Ludlow is bordered by
Chicopee on the west,
Granby on the north,
Belchertown on the northeast,
Palmer on the east,
Wilbraham on the south, and
Springfield on the southwest.
Demographics
As of the
2000 United States census, there were 21,209 people living in the town. The population density was . The racial makeup of the city was 95.78%
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
, 2.19%
African American
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
, 0.27%
Native American, 0.68%
Asian, 0.03%
Pacific Islander
Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...
, and 1.09% from
other races.
Hispanic
The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...
or
Latino of any race were 6.47% of the population.
Culture
Portuguese-Americans make up 21% of the population of the town. The Portuguese church Our Lady of Fatima puts on an annual Festa, which is one of the most significant cultural events for Portuguese-Americans in the country. Ludlow is also home to many who are of Polish and French Canadian descent.
Soccer
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...
is an extremely popular sport in Ludlow. The town's high school soccer team is the most dominant in Western Mass and has been ranked in the top 20 high school programs nationally by the NSCAA and has won many state championships as well, including the most recent one in 2018. The town is also home to the amateur
Gremio Lusitano, and the
Western Mass Pioneers and
Western Mass Lady Pioneers professional
soccer
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...
teams. The Pioneers play in the
USL Second Division
The USL Second Division (commonly referred to as USL-2) was a professional men's soccer league in the United States, operated by United Soccer Leagues (USL). It was at the third tier of soccer in the United States, behind Major League Soccer ...
while the Lady Pioneers compete in the
USL W-League. Both teams play their home games at
Lusitano Stadium in Ludlow. In 1996, the
National Soccer Hall of Fame
The National Soccer Hall of Fame is a public-private partnership among FC Dallas, the City of Frisco, Frisco Independent School District, and the U.S. Soccer Federation, and currently located in Toyota Stadium (Texas), Toyota Stadium in Frisco, T ...
added Ludlow to its soccer history display.
Government
Ludlow is governed by a
representative town meeting
A representative town meeting, also called "limited town meeting", is a form of municipal legislature particularly common in Connecticut and Massachusetts, and permitted in Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire.
Representative town meetings function ...
, its legislative body, and an executive body made up of a five-person
Board of Selectmen
The select board or board of selectmen is commonly the Executive (government), executive arm of the government of New England towns in the United States. The board typically consists of three or five members, with or without staggered terms. Three ...
and a town administrator. Fifteen town meeting representatives are elected to three-year terms from each of the town's six precincts. An additional twenty representatives at-large come from the Board of Selectmen, moderator, town clerk, treasurer, collector, counsel, highway surveyor, and the chair of any board or commission established in the town. From incorporation until 1930, the town was governed by an
open town meeting and Board of Selectmen.
Education
The town is served by two public elementary schools, East Street School and Harris Brook Elementary School. Previously students attended elementary school based on their residence, but starting with the 2009–2010 school year a reorganization plan took effect in which preschool,
Kindergarten
Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cen ...
and
First Grade attend East Street, and grades 2–5 attend Harris Brook. There is one public middle school, Paul R. Baird Middle School, and
Ludlow High School is the town's only public high school.
The town also features St. John the Baptist, a private school serving grades K–8 affiliated with St. Elizabeth Parish. The nearest
vocational high school is Pathfinder High School in
Palmer.
The nearest
community colleges
A community college is a type of undergraduate higher education institution, generally leading to an associate degree, certificate, or diploma. The term can have different meanings in different countries: many community colleges have an open en ...
are
Springfield Technical Community College and
Holyoke Community College. The nearest
state universities are the
University of Massachusetts Amherst
The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) is a public land-grant research university in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Massachusetts system and was founded in 1863 as the ...
and
Westfield State University
Westfield State University (commonly known as Westfield State) is a public university in Westfield, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1839 by Horace Mann as the first public coeducational college in America.
History
In 1839, Horace Mann founded ...
. The nearest private colleges from the center of Ludlow are
Western New England University,
American International College
American International College (AIC) is a private university in Springfield, Massachusetts.
History
American International College was originally established on July 18, 1885 by Calvin E. Amaron who sought to create an institution of higher ...
, and
Springfield College
Springfield College is a private university in Springfield, Massachusetts, United States. The institution's mission, called the Humanism, Humanics philosophy, calls for educating students in spirit, mind, and body for leadership in service ...
, all in Springfield, as well as
Our Lady of the Elms College in Chicopee.
Transportation
Ludlow is located at exit 54 on I-90, known as the Massachusetts Turnpike.
State Highway 21 connects Ludlow to Springfield and Belchertown, and there are local bus routes to Springfield.
Bradley International Airport
Bradley International Airport – historically known as Bradley Field – is a public international airport in Windsor Locks, Connecticut, Windsor Locks, Connecticut, United States. Owned and operated by the Connecticut Airport Authority, Con ...
is 23 miles away and
Logan International Airport
General Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport — also known as Boston Logan International Airport — is an international airport located mostly in East Boston and partially in Winthrop, Massachusetts, United States. Covering , it has ...
is 77 miles away in Boston. There are bus stops along Center St., Winsor St. and East St. that connect Ludlow to Springfield.
The town once had a train station and almost featured two railroads. The first railroad was the
Springfield, Athol and North-eastern Railroad which connected between Boston and New York. There was a spur of the railroad going to Athol but was cut off by the formation of the
Quabbin Reservoir in the late 1930s. Ludlow was the last stop until 1960 when the train station shut down. The train later shut down shortly thereafter. The second railroad was an unopened bypass for the Springfield and Albany Railroad called the Hampden Bypass. It was built in the 1910s but the funding collapsed and never opened. The at grade was later used as the
Massachusetts Turnpike from the Chicopee border to the Minnechaog Mountain curve about where Miller and East streets are today and continued onto Palmer. Several of the concrete structures still remain in the less populated areas of Ludlow.
*
Chester W. Chapin (1798–1883), businessman and a
Massachusetts state representative
*
Nicole Fiorentino (born 1979), bass guitarist for the band
Smashing Pumpkins
The Smashing Pumpkins (also simply known as Smashing Pumpkins) are an American alternative rock band formed in Chicago in 1988 by frontman and guitarist Billy Corgan, guitarist James Iha, bassist D'arcy Wretzky and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin. ...
*
Gabriel Gonzaga (born 1979), UFC fighter
*
Dean Lombardi (born 1958), former general manager of the
Los Angeles Kings
The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles. The Kings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference. ...
and the
San Jose Sharks
The San Jose Sharks are a professional ice hockey team based in San Jose, California. The Sharks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Con ...
of the
NHL
The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...
*
Tom Matera (born 1981), World Wrestling Entertainment star, known as Antonio Thomas
*
William D. Mullins (1931–1986), member of the
Massachusetts House of Representatives
The Massachusetts House of Representatives is the lower house of the Massachusetts General Court, the State legislature (United States), state legislature of Massachusetts. It is composed of 160 members elected from 14 counties each divided into ...
and baseball player
*
Mike Mushok (born 1970), guitarist from the rock band
Staind
Staind ( ) is an American rock band from Springfield, Massachusetts, formed in 1995. The original lineup consisted of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Aaron Lewis, lead guitarist Mike Mushok, bassist and backing vocalist Johnny April, and ...
* Gretchen Palmer (born 1961), actress
*
Fred Pereira (born 1954), professional soccer player
*
Elisha K. Root (1808–1865), industrialist and inventor of the die-casting technique
*
John F. Thompson (1920–1965),
Massachusetts state representative who served as House Speaker
See also
*
List of mill towns in Massachusetts
References
{{authority control
1774 establishments in the Province of Massachusetts Bay
Populated places established in 1774
Towns in Hampden County, Massachusetts
Massachusetts populated places on the Connecticut River
Springfield metropolitan area, Massachusetts
Towns in Massachusetts