Springfield: History

Connecticut River Supports Farming Settlement

In 1636 fur trader William Pynchon led a group of settlers westward from Boston to a site on the west bank of the Connecticut River in western Massachusetts. The fledgling community, named Agawam, soon retreated to the river's east bank to escape raids by the native Sokoki tribe, who resented the damage done to their corn by the settlers' livestock. In 1640 the town was renamed Springfield in honor of Pynchon's English birthplace. The town was burned in 1675 during King Philip's War but was soon rebuilt.

Springfield grew as a farming and mercantile site, depending upon the Connecticut River for water, transportation, and industrial power. In 1776 General George Washington selected Springfield as the site for a national arsenal, which was built in 1777. The town then became an important source of supplies for the American Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. The arsenal's first weapon was a musket. Following the war, Daniel Shays, leader of Shays's Rebellion, led an unsuccessful attempt to seize the arsenal in 1787. In 1794 the federal government established the arsenal as the Springfield Armory.

The Springfield Armory and later the arrival of the railroad did much to boost the city's economic prosperity. Skilled artisans, including metal workers and inventors, flocked to the city, attracted by work in the Armory and its suppliers. By the mid-nineteenth century, Springfield and the Pioneer Valley (named for the early English settlers) had developed a diverse industrial base. The Western Railroad began running between Springfield and Worcester, MA, in 1839. The G. & C. Merriam Company published its first Merriam-Webster Dictionary in Springfield in 1847. Smith & Wesson established a manufacturing facility in the city in 1857, successfully producing the first self-primed metallic ammunition. Three years later Milton Bradley, a manufacturer of games, was founded in Springfield. Other products manufactured in the city included clothing, paper, machinery, and swords.

Industry Joins Armory in Local Economy

During the Civil War era, abolitionist John Brown lived in Springfield and made it an important stop on the Underground Railroad that aided slaves fleeing the South. The Springfield Armory supplied Springfield rifles for the Union Army during the Civil War. These rifles were also used in the Franco-Prussian War. Poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow visited the Armory on his honeymoon and described the stacks of rifles in the poem "The Arsenal at Springfield."

James Naismith, the father of basketball, set down the rules of the game in Springfield in 1891. In 1893 Charles and Frank Duryea invented what is often regarded as the first gasoline-powered automobile in the United States. The Duryeas' first car was a two-cycle, one-cylinder model. Two years later the brothers founded the first automobile company in the nation, the Duryea Motor Wagon Company. A Duryea vehicle won the country's first automobile race, held that year in Chicago. George Hendee invented the motorcycle in 1901 in Springfield. It was inventions such as these and the industries they engendered that brought about what historians call "the second colonization of New England." Huge numbers of immigrants arrived on the country's eastern shores and moved westward in search of work. In Springfield, as elsewhere, the Irish came first to build the railroads and canals. They were followed by the French-Canadians, who sought work in the textile mills. Later arrivals included the Germans, Scots, Italians, Jews, Russians, Poles, Portuguese, Greeks, African Americans, and Hispanics.

During World War I, the Springfield Armory again played an important role in the country's defense, supplying the Springfield rifles which were the infantryman's stock issue. By the Second World War, the Armory was supplying Ga-rand semiautomatic rifles for the U.S. Army and Marine Corps. The Indian Motorcycle Company closed its doors in 1953, but its fame as the builder of the first U.S. motorcycles lives on in the Indian Motorcycle Museum. Though the Springfield Armory was deactivated in 1968, the city is still home to a number of small arms manufacturers who continue the craft, including Smith & Wesson and Dan Wesson Arms. The Armory itself has been designated a national historic site.

Springfield elected its first female mayor, Mary Hurley, in 1990. A decade later, in 2002, Charles Ryan was reelected mayor of Springfield. Having served in this capacity from 1962 to 1967, Ryan promises to improve the city's economy by capitalizing on his past experience, reestablishing friendly and efficient relations between the city government and Springfield's people and businesses, and developing the area's capacity for entrepreneurship and technology.

Historical Information: Connecticut Valley Historical Museum, 194 State St., Springfield, MA 01103; telephone (413)263-6800; toll-free (800)625-7738; email info@springfieldmuseums.org