Holyoke Collection, 1794 ‐ Present 1794 – Present Day [bulk: 1870‐1950] 200 boxes (234 linear ft.) Collection number: MS 201 ABSTRACT The Holyoke Collection reflects the diverse history of this immigrant, industrial city. While the collection has only a small amount of personal papers, there is much that documents the city’s rich ethnic communities, their social lives as well as their work lives. The records of numerous clubs and businesses as well as hundreds of photographs tell the story of the city and its people, especially from the 1870s through the 1950s. From the Rand family account book of 1794 to the St. Patrick’s Day Parade Souvenir books of the 1970s, the history of the city of Holyoke and its people is well documented by this collection. Terms of Access and Use: The collection is open for research. HISTORICAL SKETCH Holyoke was founded on 19th century water power technology, and populated by immigrants from its beginnings in 1847. Before Europeans arrived, Native Americans depended on the river. The river served for centuries as a natural and generally peaceful boundary between Algonquin peoples on the east side and Iroquois tribes, such as Mohawks, to the west. The Iroquois nation had expanded to the north from the southern Appalachians, home of the Iroquois‐ related Cherokee Indians. Colonial explorers travelled up the river into this area from Hartford, Connecticut in 1640, soon after English Puritans founded Boston. Elizur Holyoke and Roland Thomas led surveys of Springfieldʹs boundaries, which then extended to Hadley and Northampton on both sides of the river. The first European settlers were fur traders and planters. The fertile valley exported corn and lumber. Violence erupted in the valley in1675 between colonists and Native peoples. Settlers established a small farming village in 1660 on the Connecticut Riverʹs west bank where Holyoke now sits. The area, first called Ireland Parish after its original Irish settler John Riley, was originally an offshoot of Springfield. Here the river drops sixty feet in elevation. By 1783 local people used the power of these ʺHadley Fallsʺ to run a sawmill and gristmill. During the 1790s a ramp with winches and a canal carried river boats around the falls. Investors from Boston recognized the huge potential for water power in the Hadley Falls. They chose the site for the greatest planned textile manufacturing center in New England, and in 1847 they devised the plan. They had already amassed riches in cloth and trade, and had built Lowell and Lawrence into the first major industrial cities outside Boston. In 1847 these men bought 1,100 acres of land from local families. Then they took over ownership of the Hadley Falls Company, the first cotton mill built in Ireland Parish. The first of the fifty‐four planned cotton mills was built. Construction began on a dam across the river and a system of water power canals drawing water from behind the dam. In 1850 Ireland Parish was renamed Holyoke. WISTARIAHURST MUSEUM HOLYOKE COLLECTION FINDING AID In 1859 the Holyoke Water Power Company bought out the Hadley Falls Company and carried development forward. Holyoke became famous for high‐quality paper, woolens, thread, silk, cotton, and industrial machinery. These successful industries needed. The cityʹs population rose from 4,600 in 1855 to 35,600 in 1890, as industrial growth peaked and laborers came from Ireland, Canada, Germany, Poland and elsewhere. Holyokeʹs water power canal system, the largest in New England, carried water from the river to drive the turbines in the mills. From 1847 to 1893 workers dug the 4 112 mile canal system using picks and shovels! In order to power the mills, a dam across the Connecticut River was needed to force water into the cityʹs system of canals. The first attempt to dam the river began in 1847. Construction took a year. The 1000‐foot‐Iong timber structure broke and washed downriver as soon as it was completed. The telegraph to the Boston Investors read: ʺYour old dam has gone to hell by way of Willimansett.ʺ In 1849 five hundred laborers completed a second and stronger wooden dam, which held. The present stone dam was built in the 1890s, replacing the older wooden dam, and began service in 1900. Over a thousand feet long and thirty feet high, it is filled with cemented stone rubble and faced with granite blocks from Vinal Haven, Maine and local quarries. The stone dam has had major repairs once, after the flood in 1936, which sent 14 feet of water over its top. Otherwise the dam has functioned unchanged since its construction. Holyokeʹs fame as ʺpaper cityʺ arose in the 1880s when it became the worldʹs largest producer of fine writing papers. In 1899, 16 mills formed the American Writing Paper Company, a price‐controlling trust, or coalition. Parsons Paper Company was the first established paper mill in 1853 and was the last mill in Holyoke to manufacture paper, closing in 2004. The mills ran 24 hours, 7 days a week, with two shifts. Hand labor was done by women while men ran the machinery. Eagle Lodge, the national papermakerʹs union, was founded in Holyoke in 1884 to address grievances about wages and hours. There are still several ʺpaper convertingʺ companies manipulating paper that is made elsewhere. Lyman Mills, named for a Boston investor, opened in 1854, made quality cotton fabrics, and employed 1500 people at its peak in the 1890s. It closed in 1927 as textile industries moved south. The Skinner Silk Mills, in operation from 1874 to 1963, produced silk thread, bridal satin and silk and nylon for parachutes used in World War II. Germania Mills opened in 1865 to make heavy woolens for overcoats and suits. Their reputation was built on fashionable woolens, but innovations in home and auto heating swayed fashions to lighter suits and coats. The mill closed in the 1960s. Farr Alpaca used llama wool to develop Holyokeʹs largest textile company. In 1910 its 4,000 employees produced mohair and cashmere cloth. The companyʹs security rested on its manufacture of quality alpaca wool linings and its adaptation to changing fashions, but it finally closed in the 1930s. Holyoke mills excelled in the manufacturing of high‐quality spool thread for sewing. The Hadley Company produced the first American thread during the 1860s that was good enough to challenge English products. The Merrick Thread Company achieved such success that other American companies during the 1880s attempted to undersell them by forming a ʺthread trust,ʺ or combination of companies large enough to influence prices. In 1920 the city of Holyoke contained: 17,557 workers earning $12 million/year; Railroad freight tonnage second only to Boston; 10 banks worth $32 million; Turbines producing 30,000 horsepower; the lowest electric rates in New England. In a single day, Holyoke .produced: 2 million envelops, 150 miles of cloth, 500 tons writing paper, and 100,000 miles of thread Business, labor organizations and civic groups played an important role in the lives of the cityʹs residents, creating the backbone for Holyokeʹs economic and social growth. Residents enjoyed sports and recreation, despite 6 day work weeks and 12 hour shifts. Volleyball was invented in Holyoke in 1895. Several local men founded professional baseball clubs. Many churches, schools and mills had teams. Bicycle racing was a Page 2 WISTARIAHURST MUSEUM HOLYOKE COLLECTION FINDING AID popular pastime. Valley Arena, known for its boxing and big band music, was a popular night spot during the 1940s and 1950s. Mountain Park, a few miles out of town, offered family entertainment until it closed in 1988. Its classic Merry‐Go‐Round now has a downtown home at Heritage Park. Irish immigration, starting with the Irish potato famine in 1847, continued in large numbers for several decades. Because 1847 marked the initial construction of the dam and city, the labor force in Holyoke was largely made up of immigrants from the start. The Irish managed to secure many of the more skilled and lucrative positions in the paper mills. They advanced into positions of control in politics and the fire and police departments. 1859: French‐Canadians were first recruited to fill labor shortages, triggering immigration that peaked between 1875 and 1900. French‐Canadians, arriving later than the Irish, filled the ranks of lower‐paid textile workers. Many Irish young people heeded parental advice and chose lives outside Holyokeʹs factories in the 1950s. French‐Canadians filled the openings, enjoying some upward mobility near the end of the industrial era. Immigrants from England, Scotland and Germany were drawn to the mills in Holyoke. 1890: Holyoke had a population of 36,600, with 48% foreign‐born. 1917: The population rose to 62,210, and by the 1900s Russians, Jews and Italians were coming to the city. Many Polish immigrants earned enough money in the mills to buy farmland in the valley. African‐Americans moved to the city during World War I. 1960: Puerto Rican families began moving to Holyoke, beginning the most recent influx of new residents. Some early migrants stayed after working seasonal agricultural jobs. Farm jobs were fast disappearing, along with factory work. Available housing attracted families displaced by urban renewal in Springfield in the 1960s. Today Latinos compose almost one third of Holyokeʹs population and three quarters of the public school student body. SCOPE AND CONTENTS OF THE COLLECTION Documents related to the activities of the Holyoke Street Railroad (1855‐1954) and its subsidiary, the Mt. Tom Railroad, form an important part of this collection. Of particular significance are the records pertaining to the development and maintenance of Mountain Park, one of several “trolley‐car amusement parks” built adjacent to American cities just before and after the start of the twentieth century.