I can guess what you are thinking, Lake George, the one that is located in upstate New York, but the lake I am referring to is located in Wales, Massachusetts. This small lake of ninety-three acres is situated in southeastern Hampden County. The lake itself started as a pond called Big Pond or Moulton Pond, as it was known in colonial times. After the Village of South Brimfield separated from the Town of Brimfield in 1828, the Town of Wales was established. At some point in t

The title of this research is a collection of names, locations, and references that we may or may not hear today. Many old local history books and town records refer to these old names, places, and references. Listed in alphabetical order, we will discover many things about the communities that make up Wilbraham and Hampden today. Some of these names, places, and references go back as far as the 1640s and up until the early twentieth century. For researchers of local history,

What is now the town of Wilbraham and Hampden was once a part of the settlement of Springfield Plantation. William Pynchon and his associates purchased this land and more, known then as "Agawam", in 1636. In 1640, the name was officially changed to Springfield after Pynchon's home village, now a suburb of Chelmsford in Essex, England. The lands making up the Town of Springfield were approximately twenty-five square miles, extending from the Connecticut River east to the prese

Wilbraham was home to at least two known private family cemeteries. In the late 18th century, three primary types of burial sites were common: land adjoining a church (often referred to as the “churchyard” or occasionally as a cemetery or burial ground), private family plots located on a family’s property (referred to as “burying grounds”), and public spaces unaffiliated with any specific denomination. These public spaces, though also sometimes called “burying grounds,” were

Before we get into the history of the Bay Path, we need to know a little background about this area we call the Connecticut River Valley. The settlement of Agawam Plantation, later referred to as the Springfield settlement, was established before the Bay Path, the northern route, was used by the Colonists to traverse back and forth from the Massachusetts Bay Colony to the Springfield settlement. This path was created after the Springfield settlement was established, most like

The Town of Wilbraham was incorporated on June 15, 1763, and split into two parishes, the North and South, on June 20, 1782. Later, these parishes were referred to as Wilbraham and South Wilbraham. Much of its early manufacturing was established on the Scantic River in the south, while in the north was along Twelve Mile Brook. The Scantic River has furnished power for manufacturing since the first sawmill and gristmills were built on its banks in 1772 by Lewis Langdon. The

Saturday, November 9, 1805, about the middle of the afternoon on a cloudy day, a horse was noticed grazing in a mowing lot of John Bliss, the grandson of Abel Bliss. The house can be seen today and is located at 182 Mountain Road, along with the mowing lot at the rear of 142 Mountain Road. John Bliss's mowing lot as seen today, viewed from the vicinity of the "High Road", the Old 1732 Bay Path. At about 3:00 PM, a neighbor notified John that his horse was supposedly at large

On May 20, 1941, the Office of Civilian Defense, United States Federal Emergency War Agency, was established by Executive Order 8757 to coordinate state and federal measures for the protection of civilians in case of a war emergency. Its two branches supervised protective functions such as blackouts and special fire protection, and "war services" functions such as child care, health, housing, and transportation. It also created the Civil Air Patrol. This agency was replaced u

Most people could not imagine that a trolley line came through Wilbraham. One would think that they were reserved only for the large cities. This being true, it was also very common to have these systems reaching out beyond city limits, to small communities as well. There was a very large network of trolley systems throughout the country, especially after the 1900s. In March of 1870, the first horse-drawn trolley, running on rails, appeared in the city of Springfield. By 1890

This house, located at 48 Beebe Road in Wilbraham, was built in 1785 and was originally occupied by Daniel Chappel, although he didn’t live here for long. The next family, Nathan and Mary Mack, lived here from around 1790 to 1810, and their daughter earned a place in local folklore in this house. According to the story that was passed down through generations of the Mack family, Mary, the wife of Nathan Mack, was looking out the door at her daughter sitting in the grass, pl

Born in Monson on January 28, 1852, to Albert and Orpha Bishop Bliss, young Ethelbert joined his father in farm work following the family's move to Wilbraham in 1870 from Monson, Massachusetts. In 1873, the 21-year-old Ethelbert married Abbie Cross, and by April of 1875, the couple had their first child, Walter Marshall Bliss. Their second child, August 1877, was Hattie Estella Bliss, and their third child, March 1882, was Dora A. Bliss. The farm to which the Blisses moved ha

In the summer of 1730, our first settler, Nathaniel Hitchcock, came out to the “Mountains,” or “Outward Commons” of Springfield, cleared two acres of ground, and erected a log hut on the west side of the West Road (603 Main Street). The following spring, May of 1731, he and his family settled here permanently. Over the next few years, other families started to settle in this area. During the first ten years, 1731 to January 1, 1741, thirty-eight children were born here, and

On May 26, 1741, the Worthy Mr. Noah Mirick (Merrick) accepted his nomination as the first minister of the fourth precinct of Springfield, a place called “Springfield Mountain” in the Outward Commons. He was born in West Springfield on August 6, 1711, and was the son of James and Sarah (Hitchcock) Mirick. Noah Merrick, while attending Yale College in New Haven, Connecticut, was a boarder of Reverend Phineas Fiske of Haddam, Connecticut. There he met his daughter; Abigail who

My first 23 years of life were spent growing up in this home. I have had many wonderful memories and believe the love of local history embedded itself within me during that time. Some of my fondest memories would be looking out my bedroom window at the church and listening to the sweet music of its bells on Sunday morning, or watching a thunderstorm from the second-floor porch and seeing the lightning light up the old Collins mill house and barn. The neighborhood is full of

It took two different railroad companies to connect the City of Boston to the Town of Springfield, thus connecting the Town of Wilbraham in between. The first was the Boston and Worcester Railroad (B&W), chartered and incorporated in 1831. Construction began in August of 1832, and the first train running on that line was on July 4, 1835. This was the very first railroad in Massachusetts. The second railroad was the Western Railroad, which was chartered and incorporated in 183

Another large North Wilbraham business was the Cutler Company, a grain and milling business that was first established in Ashland, Massachusetts, in 1839 by Simeon Newton Cutler. Cutler ran the mills and, in 1844, was joined by his son Henry, grinding all the corn from the local farmers. They even expanded the operation to buy corn from the West. All seemed prosperous until 1867, when Simeon Newton Cutler suddenly died. To add to this misfortune, an arsonist burned down the m

The Society was incorporated in 1963 as a non-profit organization by a group of concerned townspeople. Their purpose was to form a permanent local group to preserve artifacts and memorabilia relating to the people and history of Wilbraham. The operation of our organization is funded entirely by the dues, gifts, and activities of our membership, which is open to all interested persons from Wilbraham and other communities. The Old Meeting House, which is now our museum and head

Gordon Bliss, son of Levi, graduated from Dartmouth College in 1797. He spent two years completing his legal studies and had just been admitted to the Massachusetts Bar early in 1799 when he came back home to Wilbraham for a short rest. Gordon’s Mother, Martha, spared no effort to make Gordon’s brief stay as happy as his success had made her. When he arrived home, the young people gathered around the hearth in the Blisses’ house to listen to Gordon’s stories of Hanover and Bo

Jonah Beebe was born on 14 April 1750 in East Haddam, Connecticut Colony, British Colonial America. He married Ruth Dowley on 14 April 1772, in Lyme, Connecticut Colony, British Colonial America. At some point in time, he and his wife moved to the newly formed South Parish of Wilbraham and built a beautiful federal-period home in 1783 on the East Road (now 421Glendale Road, Hampden). They were the parents of at least 6 sons and 2 daughters. Jonah also built a schoolhouse jus

Since the early to mid-1800s, there has always been discussion about building a Town Hall. It has appeared on the Town Warrant during the years of 1838, 1840, and 1844. The 1840 Town Warrant stated building a Town House on the Green near the home of John Adams. This spot would today be located at 678 Main Street, where to Children's Museum now stands. During those early times, the town was divided into the North and South Parishes, and of course, parish rivalry always block