History of North Adams, Massachusetts, USA

Journey back in time to North Adams, Massachusetts, USA

• 1737 - North Adams is settled
  
  Massachusetts City and Town Incorporation and Settlement Dates
  
  
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  Drury High School
  
  The school was built in 1843 through a $3,000 grant in the will of Nathan Drury. In 1851 the school became a free, public high school. In 1867 the original building was torn down and replaced with a new building.
  The Dru, 1898 yearbook, Drury High School
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  The Eclipse Mills
  
  Harvey Arnold with his brother Oliver and his friend Nathanial Blinn built the Eclipse Mill in the 1830s and began manufacturing cotton goods. The three owned Eclipse and Slater mill by the mid-1830s. Things went bad for the company during a financial depression when the company fell heavily in debt. John F. Arnold, the youngest brother, helped his two brothers out of debt. In 1843, the three Arnold brothers combined three mills into one which was called Eclipse... Read MORE...
  
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•  1846 - Fifty factory girls recently went sleighing in North Adams, Massachusetts. Only think of FIFTY emancipated working girls on a spree!
  
  The Sun
  Baltimore, Maryland
  January 23, 1846
  
  
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  West Portal, Hoosac Tunnel, North Adams, Mass.
  
  The Hoosac Tunnel goes all the way back to 1819 when it was originally proposed as a portion of a canal system running from Boston to Albany. hoosactunnel.net
  
  THE HOOSAC TUNNEL IS A railway that burrows almost five miles through the Hoosac Mountain Range in western Massachusetts from the towns of North Adams on its west side, to Florida, Massachusetts to the east. Construction began on this large project in 1851 and finished in 1875. Over... Read MORE...
  
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• 1854 - North Adams
  North Adams, a post-village of Adams township, Berkshire co., Massachusetts, on the Hoosick river, at the northern terminus of the Pitsfield and North Adams railroad, 20 miles N. by E. from Pitsfield, and by rail road 171 miles W. by N. from Boston. It is one of the largest manufacturing villages in...Read MORE...
  
  
  
•  1868 - The operatives in the cotton and woolen mills in North Adams, Massachusetts, work eleven hours per day, and the average wages is six dollars per week.
  
  The New Orleans Crescent
  New Orleans, Louisiana
  November 20, 1868
  
  
•  1870 - 75 Chinamen
  CHICAGO, June 12. - A gang of seventy-five Chinamen arrived here from San Francisco, en route to North Adams, Massachusetts, to be employed in a boot and shoe factory, the first ever sent East, and are under the direction of Koopmanschap.
  The Atlanta Constitution
  Atlanta, Georgia
  June 14, 1870
  
  
•  1871 - Should have said Yes?
  An aged woman in North Adams, Massachusetts, relates that many years ago, while attending a social dance, a young mechanic asked for her hand for one of the dances. She indignantly refused, feeling very much mortified that he should make such an offer. Years have passed, and she has filled an honora...Read MORE...
  
  
  
•  1875 - Fatal Accident.
  EDWARD McCRAW, foreman of a gang in the Little Tunnel at North Adams, Mass., was crushed to death on Thursday night while shackling corn.
  
  The New Hampshire Patriot
  Concord, New Hampshire
  November 24, 1875
  
  
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  Natural Bridge, North Adams
  Picturesque America... Oliver Bell Bunce, William Cullen Bryant
  New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1872-1874.
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•  1877 - Only 68 Chinese shoemakers remain at North Adams, Massachusetts.
  
  The Indianapolis News
  Indianapolis, Indiana
  May 5, 1877
  
  
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  Dr. Brown Sanatorium, 1910
  
  The Berkshire Hills Sanitarium was founded in 1877 by Dr. W. E. Brown and Son in North Adams, Massachusetts. The large, single building facility was founded as a specialized treatment center for cancer...
  
  Dr. Wallace E. Brown, of Berkshire Hills, boasted cancer treatment "without resorting to surgical procedure," in reference to the Nichol Escharotic Method... The method was quickly regarded as ineffective, and it was phased out by the late 1950's.
  
  Around... Read MORE...
  
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• 1878 - North Adams is incorporated
  
  Massachusetts City and Town Incorporation and Settlement Dates
  
  
• 1878 - North Adams, founded in 1878, its parent town was Adams
  
  ma-vitalrecords.org/ MA/ Berkshire/ index.shtml
  
  
•  1879 - Chinamen in a Riot - Scene in a North Adams Shoe Shop - Fighting with American Workmen.
  NORTH ADAMS, Mass., July 3. - About 10 o'clock this morning, Elmer Hewett, a pegger in the Chinese work-room, at Sampson's shoe shop, was struck on the back with a shoe-last by a Chinaman. Retaliating, he struck the Chinaman in the face with his fist, knocking him to the floor, senseless, and afterw...Read MORE...
  
  
  
•  1880 - Nitro-Glycerine Works Explodes
  The Mosbray nitro-glycerine works at North Adams, Massachusetts, have been blown up three times. They have had ten superintendents, eight of whom were killed by explosion, one blinded, and the last is in charge and waiting his turn.
  The Indianapolis News
  Indianapolis, Indiana
  October 13, 1880
  
  
•  1880 - The Water Responsible
  Some time ago a mysterious epidemic broke out at North Adams, Massachusetts, and for several weeks everybody was wondering what it could be caused by. The pious were a good deal disposed to hold that it was some sort of a judgment. The Kearneyites thought that it was the natural retribution for empl...Read MORE...
  
  
  
•  1882 - DEATH ON THE RAIL. RAILROAD WORKMEN KILLED AND INJURED IN MASSACHUSETTS.
  North Adams, Mass., Oct. 21. - A terrible accident to a caboose containing working men belonging to the North Adams freight yard occurred this morning in which 27 men were injured, several of them fatally. About 6:30 o'clock this morning Engineer CHARLES WELLS and Fireman JOSEPH BOSLEY left the Nort...Read MORE...
  
  
  
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  Hospital, No. Adams, Mass.
  
  The hospital opened March 2, 1884 and the original building was expanded over time. A completely new hospital building on the same campus opened in 1955. wikipedia
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  Notre Dame Church, 1907
  
  In 1871, Father Charles Crevier came to North Adams to start what would become the Notre Dame du Sacre Coeur parish. The site was purchased by Father Crevier and Samuel Vadnais from T.F Loftus in 1872. The church was completed in 1885 at an approximate cost of $70,000.
  historicnorthadams.com
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• North Adams Massachusetts, 1890
  North Adams is a flourishing manufacturing town on the Hoosac River, in the northern part of Berkshire County. The junction of the Housatonic Railroad, running south through the county, with the Fitchburg Railroad at North Adams is 143 miles (by the latter road) northwest of Boston. The other statio...Read MORE...
  
  
  
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  B. & M. Station
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  State Normal School Dormitory & President's Residence, 1910
  
  Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts was founded as the State Normal School at North Adams by an act of the Massachusetts legislature in 1894. Normal schools were created specifically to train future teachers for the growing population of children across the United States. library.mcla.edu
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• 1895 - North Adams is incorporated as a city
  
  Massachusetts City and Town Incorporation and Settlement Dates
  
  
• 1895 - North Adams
  North Ad'ams, a post-village in North Adams town ship, Berkshire co., Mass., on the Hoosac River, near the W. end of the great Hoosac Tunnel, 20 miles N.N.E. of Pittsfield, and about 36 miles E. of Albany, N.Y. It is 5 miles N.E. of Greylock, the highest mountain in the state, and is surrounded by h...Read MORE...
  
  
  
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  Richmond Hotel
  
  ...In the late 1890’s, under the leadership of Clinton Q. Richmond, the original hotel was demolished and replaced with a spectacular brick edifice with a stone facade. At the intersection of Main and State Streets, the building curved. Inside, a marble staircase led up to the second floor lobby. And at the same time that the Sullivan brothers were building the Empire Theater, C.Q. was building a theater of his own, entered through a passage that fronted on the hotel’s Main ... Read MORE...
  
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  Y.M.C.A. Building, 1907
  
  On September 13, 1886, a group of 16 men, all prominent in the business life of the young city of North Adams, met in the Good Templar's Hall to form the YMCA. It was not until October 16, 1895 that the organization became official.
  North Adams Museum of History & Science
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  G.A.R. Hall
  
  The two-story brick building was erected in 1896 to house Charles D. Sanford Post of the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization of Civil War veterans. According to a history of North Adam and vicinity published by the Transcript in 1898, ‘no G.A.R. post in the state had prouder quarters’.
  North Adams Museum of History & Science
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  Public Library, North Adams, Mass.
  
  In 1896, the Honorable Albert C. Houghton, 1st mayor of North Adams, purchased the former Sanford Blackinton residence and gave it to the city for a public library as a memorial to his brother Andrew Jackson Houghton. Mr. Houghton also donated $10,000 to make the building suitable for use as a library.
  naplibrary.libguides.com
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•  1898 - MILK DEALER KILLED. Charles Davis Thrown From His Wagon and His Skull Fractured.
  North Adams, Mass., Aug. 30 - Charles Davis, aged 41, a milk dealer, was thrown from his wagon, when his horse ran away today, and died three hours later from a fractured skull. He leaves a widow and three children.
  Boston Journal
  Boston, Massachusetts
  August 31, 1898
  
  
•  1899 - VACATION AT AN END. The President and Party Leave Adams, Mass., for the Nation's Capitol.
  NORTH ADAMS, Mass., June 26. - The President [McKinley] was met at 2:30 o'clock on Church street, by Sanford Post G. A. R. and a band, and was taken to a reviewing stand in Monument square, and from which he saw a pretty parade of 2000 school children and citizens of the city. After the parade had p...Read MORE...
  
  
  
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  The Hoosac Range and Bird's Eye View, North Adams, Mass.
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  Berkshire Hotel
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  Main Street, Looking North. North Adams, Mass.
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  Post Office, North Adams, Mass.
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  Monument Square. North Adams, Mass.
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• 1903 - Benefit Basket Ball
  A close game of basket ball was played at the Y.M.C.A. gymnasium Saturday night by the Climbers and the Y.M.C.A. team for the benefit of Edward Feige of the association, who sustained a serious injury to his leg in a football game last fall. There was good attendance, but how much was made is not ye...Read MORE...
  
  
  
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  Elks Home
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• 1906
  North Adams, a city of Berkshire co., Mass., on the Hoosac River, near the W. end of the Hoosac Tunnel, 36 miles E. of Albany, N.Y., on the Boston and Maine and on the Boston and Albany Rs. It is 5 miles NE. of Greylock, the highest mountain in the state, and is surrounded by high hills and beautifu...Read MORE...
  
  
  
•  1907 - PANIC IN THEATER AUDIENCE - EXPLOSION AT NORTH ADAMS.
  Many Rush for the Doors at Empire Theater When Picture Machine Takes Fire - One Woman Trampled on and Others Hysterical - Fire Quickly Put Out.
  
  The moving picture machine in the balcony of the Empire theater at North Adams exploded shortly after 9 o'clock last night, while an audience of some 400...Read MORE...
  
  
  
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  Church Street looking East, 1908
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  City Hall, 1908
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  Old Home Week, 1909
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  State Street from Summer Street, 1909
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  Bird's Eye View
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  Waterhouse & Howard Mill, 1910
  
  John H. Waterhouse was, with Theodore Howard, a member of the manufacturing firm of Waterhouse and Howard which, in 1905 leased the Eagle Mill in North Adams and operated it as a wollen mill.
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  Bank Street, 1913
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  M.E. Church and Soldiers' Monument
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  Windsor Lake
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  Baptist Church and Soldiers' Monument
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  New Drury High School, 1924
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•  1927 - Flood
  ...Northwestern Massachusetts also felt the flood. Property loss was estimated at more than $1,000,000 in North Adams alone. The national guard was called out there after 20 houses had been swept away by the overflowing Hoosac River...
  The Oelwein Daily Register
  Iowa
  November 4, 1927
  
  
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  E. Trudeau's Dairy bottle
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• North Adams is the wettest city in Massachusetts, averaging 109 days of precipitation each year.
  
  National Weather Service