Pynchon ruled the colony autocratically until , when he returned to England, following condemnation by the Massachusetts General Court for a book attacking the Calvinist doctrine of atonement.
Though the town survived the war that is considered to be one of the bloodiest conflicts per capita in U. Springfield became home to an arsenal of the well-known Springfield muskets, and served as a critical source of arms during the American Revolution. The Armory , built in , now serves as a national historic site.
It became a principal manufacturer of small arms and later developed the Springfield and Garand rifles, though it eventually closed in the s. From a farming town to a manufacturing town, Springfield ultimately became an industrial town. Enjoying the benefits of abundant waterpower and the connection by railroad to Boston, in Springfield was producing paper, railroad coaches, locomotives, and even ice skates.
Though its production changed throughout the decades, its main sources of income now are healthcare, insurance, and other miscellaneous services. Many of the city's earlier settlers came to the plantation from Boston on foot, which usually involved a two-week trek that covered miles.
This statue of Miles Morgan, an early settler, was erected as a tribute by a fifth-generation descendant of his. Courtesy of Ramon Blood. The congestion of a busy city is clearly visible in this photograph, c.
Midway between New York and Boston and on the road between New York and Canada, Springfield is ideally located for travel in all directions. From its fur-trading and agricultural beginnings, Springfield gradually grew into a thriving industrial community. In the eighteenth century, the power of the Connecticut River was harnessed.
Mills of all varieties grew up and a skilled labor force came into being. Because of the area's location and technological advancements, particularly in metal crafts, the United States Armory was located here in , resulting in further industrial development.
In the nineteenth century, Springfield became a major railroad center and experienced another industrial boom. The city grew, and such industries as printing, machine manufacture, insurance, and finance took hold and prospered. As affluence increased, it became a gracious city with a noted educational system. If you are being blocked from reading Subscriber Exclusive content, first confirm you are logged in using the account with which you subscribed.
If you are still experiencing issues, please describe the problem below and we will be happy to assist you. Happy th birthday , Springfield. If you disregard the dinosaurs who left their tracks million years ago, the Native Americans who occupied the Connecticut River Valley for more than 10, years, and just concentrate on the history of Springfield, you still have to add a couple years before Springfield's birth to understand how it all began. In , John Oldham, the first white man to explore the upper reaches of the Connecticut River, reported back to his sponsors in Boston that a rich land, populated by friendly Indians who had furs to trade, existed in the western wilds of Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Three years later, in May , William Pynchon, of Roxbury, and his band of Puritan followers sailed a ship they borrowed from Governor Winthrop up the river, bypassing existing trading posts in Connecticut, to settle the area now known as Springfield. On the banks of the river, at the head of the fur trade, the new residents began bartering with the Indians traveling in their dugout canoes or along the wooded paths.
Members of the tribe who lived in a palisade fort at the current site of Longhill Street sold the land to Pynchon for 18 hoes, 18 fathoms of wampum, 18 coats, 18 hatchets and 18 knives.
The deal also included hunting and fishing rights and the use of planting areas. The Indians, who could neither read nor write, signed the deeds with their marks; an arrow, a canoe, a bow and a feather.
Springfield, named for William Pynchon's home in England, began to grow as a trading post in the wilderness, and also began a long tradition as a community of "firsts. This was 46 years before the famous Salem trials. Hugh was found innocent, Mary was acquitted of witchcraft but sentenced to be hanged for the death of her child. She died in prison. The first book to be banned in Boston and burned on the town common was written by Springfield founder William Pynchon, who left the settlement in to return to England after his book on religion, "The Meritorious Price of Our Redemption," was condemned by the General Court.
John Pynchon, son of the founder, replaced his father and began moving Springfield away from the diminishing fur trade and into agricultural pursuits. In , he launched the first cattle drive in America, prodding a herd from Springfield to Boston along the old Bay Path Trail.
His father, William, had been the first commercial meat packer in the new world, putting up barrels of salt pork and exporting them in For nearly 50 years, the Springfield settlers lived in relative harmony with their Indian neighbors, but all that changed in with the start of King Philip's War, which nearly spelled the end for the river settlement. The war started in eastern Massachusetts by King Philip Metacomet the son of Chief Massasoit, and spread throughout New England as other tribes joined the conflict, including the Agawams and their allies who attacked Springfield from their fort on Long Hill.
John Pynchon was in Hadley protecting the northern settlements and Springfield was nearly defenseless. Two of the handful of men left in town, Thomas Miller and Thomas Cooper, rode out to check the Indian fort. They were ambushed while crossing the Mill River.
Miller was killed instantly, but a wounded Cooper raced back to town, gave the alarm and died. The townspeople made it into three fortified houses just as the Indians swooped into the settlement, burning it to the ground. Springfield was nearly abandoned following the October raid, but most decided to stay. The war raged on and became the bloodiest war per capita in American history. It ended with the death of Philip in a Rhode Island swamp in August With the Indian threat reduced, Springfield's citizens began to spread out in search of more land in the surrounding area.
For more than half of the 18th century fighting sporadically broke out along the Connecticut Valley towns as the French and their Indian allies launched attacks and forays.
From the sacking of Deerfield in to the final British victory in , Springfield served as a staging area for troops coming and going from the battlefields of Canada, New York and New England. The colonial troops fought beside the British and defeated the French. The men of Springfield and the other colonies learned the art of war and that the great European powers were not invincible.
These skills would come in handy a dozen years later when revolution was in the air. On Sept. This same rider was familiar with the route having brought the news of the Boston Tea Party to Philadelphia in December He was a silversmith from Boston named Paul Revere. Revere was busy with other duties on the night of April 18, , so another rider, Israel Bissell carried the Lexington alarm to Springfield on that night signaling the start of the American Revolution.
They were waiting to escort Gen. George Washington to his new command outside Boston. Springfield soldiers would fight throughout the war and Washington would return in October as President Washington to inspect the federal arsenal which had been established here during the war and would transform the community over the next century.
Shortly after the Revolution, the Springfield arsenal was the site of Shays' Rebellion. Revolutionary War hero Daniel Shays, of Pelham, led a group of disgruntled war veterans who were being thrown into debtors prisons in an attack on the arsenal on Jan.
William Shepard, of Westfield, who had fought with Shays at Saratoga, commanded the troops guarding the arsenal. A few cannon shots dispersed the rebels and the first threat to the new government of the United States was quelled in the streets of Springfield.
Springfield is well known for its firsts but also has the distinction of freeing the last slave in Massachusetts. Slavery had existed since the early settlement and several residents, including the Pynchons owned slaves, but the cruel institution was outlawed by court decision upholding the state Constitution. A man from New York came to town in to seize an escaped slave named Jenny who had lived in Springfield for several years. The people of Springfield rallied to Jenny's aid and raised enough money to buy her freedom from the New Yorker.
Springfield citizens became leaders in the abolition movement which began with the founding of the American Colonization Society in and the sending of arms to Kansas to support abolitionist John Brown in Brown had been a resident of Springfield during the late s.
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