A 2,000-Mile Journey to Main Street: The Arrival of Natural Gas in Wilbraham

New England’s relationship with gas as an energy source began long before natural gas ever reached its soil. In the mid-nineteenth century, gaslights transformed urban life in cities like Boston, Providence, and Springfield, replacing dim oil lamps with reliable light. But this early gas was not drawn from distant wells; it was manufactured locally, first from rosin and later from coal. Factories and gasworks dotted the region, feeding growing cities with the flickering light that characterized the Victorian age.

The gas main on Main Street. 1963 Merrick History

The Springfield Gas Light Company was one such early utility. Incorporated in 1847, five years before Springfield became a city, it was entrusted with illuminating the night along Main and State Streets. The contract required that lamps burn faithfully “except when the sun is above the horizon,” a reminder of how precious dependable lighting was to a community still living largely in darkness. For more than a century, Springfield’s gas supply was manufactured on site, first from rosin until 1850, and then from coal and oil well into the twentieth century. Not until 1951 did the company fully convert to true natural gas.

That change, however, set the stage for a milestone in Wilbraham’s modern history.

On Tuesday, November 3, 1959, natural gas finally reached Wilbraham, its arrival marking the end of a 2,000-mile journey from the gas fields of Texas. For the first time, the town could take advantage of this cleaner, more efficient fuel sweeping across New England.

The Springfield Gas Light Company extended its mains into Wilbraham by laying an initial two-mile pipeline beginning at the Ludlow Putts Bridge. From there, the line followed Stony Hill Road to Boston Road, then turned east toward Brainard Road. It was a modest start, but it was also the opening chapter of a rapid expansion that helped shape Wilbraham’s development in the decades to come.

By the end of 1962, Wilbraham’s underground grid had grown to 14 miles of main, a network that touched both established neighborhoods and the new subdivisions emerging across town. To support this growing demand, Springfield Gas Light established three separate entry points for natural gas service:

1. 1961 – Springfield Street Entrance: The second main connection into Wilbraham strengthened service to the northern end of town.

2. 1962 – East Longmeadow Road to Stony Hill Road: A third entry soon followed, tying into Main Street by way of both Tinkham Road and Soule Road. This improvement greatly increased capacity and ensured fuel reliability, critical for a town experiencing rapid residential and commercial growth.

   
   

These new pathways made natural gas accessible to Wilbraham’s expanding business district along Boston Road, as well as to the new homes rising in the southern part of town during the early 1960s.

Work continued steadily. Around 1963, several major installations improved both capacity and distribution:

• A 12-inch main was laid from the high school driveway on Main Street south to approximately 771 Main Street, where it also connected with the 6-inch main on Tinkham Road.

• Approximately 1,200 feet of 8-inch main was installed on Springfield Street, running west to Stony Hill Road.

• The company completed the 8-inch main on Stony Hill Road, linking it to the existing main on Boston Road.

Together, these upgrades formed a strong backbone for Wilbraham’s gas supply, designed for both immediate demand and future expansion.

The coming of natural gas to Wilbraham was part of a much larger transformation taking place across New England. For over a century, the region relied on manufactured gas produced in local plants. But by the mid-twentieth century, a vast interstate pipeline network, stretching from Texas, the Southwest, and later Canada, began replacing those plants with cleaner, more abundant natural gas.

Wilbraham’s shift from manufactured to natural gas came later than the region’s earliest adopters, but it arrived at a moment when the town was expanding rapidly. Homes, schools, and businesses built in the post-war years were designed with modern utilities in mind. Natural gas heating, appliances, and industrial use helped drive Wilbraham’s transition from a rural farming community into a thriving suburban town.

Today, the pipelines that first reached Wilbraham in 1959 are hidden from sight, but they represent a turning point in both local and regional history. They connect the town to an energy system that began with flickering rosin lamps in the 1840s, matured through the coal-gas era, and finally embraced the natural gas that modern New England depends on.

For Wilbraham, the arrival of natural gas was more than a technical achievement; it symbolized progress, modernization, and a new level of connection to the wider world. The quiet hum of energy surging through underground mains became yet another part in the story of how this historic town stepped confidently into the twentieth century.