History of Monson, Massachusetts, USA

Monson, Massachusetts
Hampden county. Monson was taken from Brimfield in 1760. It lies 73 miles S.W. by W. from Boston and 13 E. from Springfield. Population, 1837, 2,179. This is a pleasant town of variegated surface, good soil and well watered by Chickopee river. It contains a flourishing academy. There are 3 cotton mills in Monson, and other manufactures. The value of cotton goods manufactured in the year ending April 1, 1837, was $67,500.

Monson was once a part of Brimfield.

The Chicopee hounds the town on the north, and a small branch of it affords excellent water power.

The chief manufactures are cotton and woollen goods.

Distance from Springfield, 13 miles ; from Boston, 74.

This town was originally a part of Brimfield. About one ninth of the proprietors of that town settled in this part of the township. The first house east of Springfield was erected more than 140 years ago within the present limits of this town. The name of the man who first planted himself here was Fellis. The general court granted him 200 acres of land, on condition that he would erect and keep a house of entertainment for travellers passing between Springfield and Brookfield. The man continued awhile, but soon returned to Springfield on account of alarm from the Indians. Although he did not entirely fulfil the conditions of the grant, yet he held and sold the land. It afterwards came into the possession of Governor Hutchinson's family. Of the above mentioned proprietors who settled within the present limits of Monson, were Robert Olds, (as early as 1715,) Ezra and Samuel King, Benjamin Munn, John Keep, John Atchenson, Mark Ferry, Daniel Killam, Obadiah Cooley, and Samuel Kilborn. On...

Monson, a post-township of Hampden co., Massachusetts, on the Chickopee river, about 20 miles E. from Springfield, contains a manufacturing village on the New London Willimantic and Palmer railroad. Pop., 2831.

Monson is a very large and beautiful town in the southeasterly part of Hampden County, 80 miles west by southwest of Boston. The Boston and Albany Railroad follows the northern line, having its Palmer station at the middle point; while the New London and Northern Railroad runs conveniently through the midst of the town, north and south, having here three stations.

The boundaries are Palmer on the north, Brimfield and Wales on the east, Wilbraham on the west, and Stafford, in Connecticut, on the south. Its boundary lines are straight, except on the north, and its length north and south is about twice its width. It embraces 54 square miles; its assessed area being 25,504 acres. There are 7,181 acres of forest.

Moon Mountain, in the west, is a handsome eminence, and Peaked Mountain in the southwest rises to the height of 1,278 feet. A narrow valley abounding in rich meadows extends from north to south entirely through the township. Another valley in the southeast sends a tributary...