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 ... Read MORE...
  
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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... 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... 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...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 ...Read MORE...
  
  
  
•  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 ...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.... 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 th...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...Read MORE...
  
  
  
•  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....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...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... Read MORE...
  
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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...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... Read MORE...
  
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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...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... 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 ... Read MORE...
  
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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 ... Read MORE...
  
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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... Read MORE...
  
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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 la...Read MORE...
  
  
  
•  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 t...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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  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...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...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 ca...Read MORE...
  
  
  
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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