History of Chester, Massachusetts, USA

Journey back in time to Chester, Massachusetts, USA

• 1760 - Chester is settled
  
  Massachusetts City and Town Incorporation and Settlement Dates
  
  
• 1765 - Chester is incorporated
  
  Massachusetts City and Town Incorporation and Settlement Dates
  
  
• 1845 - CHESTER. [Pop. 1,632. Inc. 1765.]
  A factory village is at the southeastern corner of the township, but the rest of the town is agricultural.
  
  Westfield River runs through Che...Read MORE...
  
  
  
•  1848 - Justice?
  A few days since, Edwin Austen, of Chester, Mass, ran away with the wife and two children of Edwin Wilcox, of the same place. The injured husband purs...Read MORE...
  
  
  
• 1848 - Chester
  This town was incorporated in 1765. The Rev. Aaron Bascom and. Samuel M. Emerson appear to have been the first ministers. Rev. Rufus Pomeroy was settl...Read MORE...
  
  
  
• 
  Riverside Inn, Chester, Mass.
  
  Originally built as a two-story house in 1850, it was initially occupied by Chester Railway station master E.D. Cook, who was once accused and tried for selling intoxicating beverages at the train station. Smith-Lee... Read MORE...
  
  Postcard
  
• 1854 - Chester
  Chester, a post-township of Hampden co. Mass. on the Western railroad 100 miles W. by S. from Boston. Population, 1521.
  A New and Complete Gazetteer of the United States: Giving a Full and Comprehensive Review of the Present Condition, Industry, and Resources of the American Confederacy ... Thomas Baldwin (of Philadelphia.) Joseph Thomas January 1, 1854 Philadelphia : Lippincott, Grambo & Company 1854.
  
  
• 1859
  CHESTER, a township of Hampden co., in the state of Massachusetts, 116 m. SW of Boston. It is generally mountainous, and is drained by branches of Wes...Read MORE...
  
  
  
•  1868 - Hiram Smith, and eccentric old bachelor at Chester, Mass., is having his sepulcher hewn in a large rock in that town.
  He pays a man $700 to do the work, and by the stipulation the cave is to be seven feet long, four wide, and four deep, and after his coffin is put in,...Read MORE...
  
  
  
•  1880 - A New York dispatch says: It is believed a practically inexhaustible supply of emery ore has been discovered near Peekskill.
  The discovery is regarded as one of the greatest importance, from the fact that this metal, in a sufficiently pure state to make it marketable, is fou...Read MORE...
  
  
  
• Chester Massachusetts, 1890
  Chester, noted for its wild and picturesque scenery, occupies the northwest extremity of Hampden County, and has for its bounds, Worthington on the no...Read MORE...
  
  
  
•  1893 - A TRAIN'S FATAL PLUNGE IT GOES THROUGH A BRIDGE IN MASSACHUSETTS
  The Locomotive Got Across Safely, But Four Wagner Cars Plunged Into the Stream - Many Persons Killed or Injured - The Scene at the Wreck.
  
  The Chica...Read MORE...
  
  
  
• 1895 - Chester
  Chester, a post-village of Hampden co., Mass., on a branch of Westfield River, 28 miles by rail W.N.W. of Springfield. It has 2 emery-mills, 2 churche...Read MORE...
  
  
  
• 
  
  Postcard
  
• 
  Railroad Station
  Postcard
  
• 
  Main Street Bridge (Westfield River)
  Postcard
  
• 
  Bird's Eye View of Chester, Mass., Looking North
  Postcard
  
• 
  Main Street, 1910
  Postcard
  
• 
  Old Tannery Dam
  Postcard
  
• 
  The Berkshire Hills, near Chester, Mass., 1912
  Postcard
  
• 
  Main Street looking East, 1912
  Postcard
  
• 1916
  Chester, a post-village of Hampden co., Mass., on a branch of the Westfield River and on the Boston and Albany R., 28 miles WNW. of Springfield. It ha...Read MORE...
  
  
  
• 
  Blue Door Tea Shop
  Postcard
  
• 
  Huntington Road
  Postcard
  
• 
  Grammar School
  Postcard
  
• 
  High School & Library
  Postcard
  
• 1975 - August 2 - 107°F (42°C) at Chester/New Bedford, Massachusetts (state record)
  
  historyorb.com
  
  
• 1981 - January 12 - 35°F, Chester, Massachusetts (state record)
  
  historyorb.com