History of Wilbraham, Massachusetts, USA

The cannons were captured from the British at Fort Ticonderoga and Crown Point. They were transported from Lake Champlain to Dorchester Heights, Massachusetts and used by George Washington's army on March 17, 1776 (Evacuation Day) to free Boston from British control during the American Revolutionary War.

General Henry Knox Trail - Historic Marker reads:
"Through this place passed General Henry Knox in the winter of 1775-1776 to deliver to General George Washington at Cambridge the train of artillery from Fort Ticonderoga used to force the British army to evacuate Boston."

Wilbraham, Massachusetts
Hampden county. The people of this pleasant town are principally employed in agricultural pursuits and are remarkable for equality of property. This town is watered by the Chickopee and several of its small tributaries. The surface is agreeably diversified by hills and valleys, and the soil is well adapted to agricultural and horticultural pursuits. The products of Wilbraham are numerous; among others, the weight of 2,292 fleeces of wool, sheared in this town in 1837, was 6,110 pounds, valued at $3,669. There are some manufactures in the town of boots, shoes, leather, straw bonnets, palm-leaf hats, wagons, &c.

The "Wesleyan Academy," in Wilbraham, is an institution of great value, and in high reputation. It has considerable funds, and about 240 scholars attend throughout the year. Scholars are received at this seminary from ten years of age and upwards. The annual cost to a scholar, for board and tuition, is from $80 to $90. This institution was...

Wilbraham was once a part of Springfield, and was called Springfield Mountains till its incorporation.

This town is hounded on the north by the Chicopee, and is watered by several small streams.

It is chiefly an agricultural town.

Distance from Springfield, 10 miles; from Boston, 83.

Wilbraham, a post-village in Hampden co., Massachusetts, about 3 miles from the Western railroad, and 10 miles E. from Spring field. It contains 2 or 3 churches, and the Wesleyan Academy, an institution of high repute, founded in 1824. Population of the township, 2127.

The newly erected dormitory of Wesleyan Academy, at Wilbraham, was destroyed by fire on Tuesday evening. It was nearly completed, and was to have been finally taken possession of to-day, (Wednesday.) It was 284 feet in length by 44 feet in width, with a wing running back 140 feet. It cost $70,000, and was insured for $20,000 at one of the Springfield offices. The fire was discovered at about 7½ o'clock, and proceeded from a large pile of shavings stored beneath the main tower, and is supposed to have been the result of spontaneous combustion.

Wilbraham occupies a central position in the eastern section of Hampden County, and is 89 miles southwest of Boston. The Boston and Albany Railroad has a station at North Wilbraham in the northeast part of the town. This village and Wilbraham (centre) are the post-offices; and the other villages are Glendale and West Wilbraham.

Ludlow forms the boundary on the north; Palmer and Monson, on the east; Hampden, on the south; and Springfield, on the west. The assessed area is 12,901 acres; and of this 3,403 acres are woodland. The underlying rock is calcareous gneiss and upper conglomerate. A range of hills, entering near the middle of the southern side, extends northeastward past the centre. The local scenery is remarkably beautiful; the land spreading out into winding glades and valleys, or rising into picturesque eminences, from or near which small streamlets flow in various directions through the territory. The Chicopee River washes the entire northern border, and Mill River has its ...