Articles

Fourth of July Through the Years

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(Photo Courtesy of Dale Johnston)

The Fourth of July celebrations this year included not only the traditional fireworks, but also popcorn, face painting, a trampoline, fried dough, and musical performances, all put on at the Michael E. Smith Middle School on the evening of the third. The excitement attracted a sufficient crowd of people for the enthusiastic applause and cheering after the fireworks to be heard several streets away.

This exuberant celebration has a long history in South Hadley, although it was not always tradition: Sophie Eastman, in her book Old South Hadley, briefly decries the “noisy demonstrations” the holiday had fallen to and tells us how the day was originally celebrated with sermons and patriotic songs intended to remind everyone about the heroism and suffering of the soldiers in the Revolutionary War, which were then followed by a good dinner for the town. Accounts differ as to whether the holiday was first celebrated in South Hadley in 1776 when the Declaration was signed or 1783 when it became a national holiday—it didn’t become a legal holiday until 1941.

By 1882 the sermons had fallen by the wayside and the celebrations were done by local organizations rather than by the town. The festivities that year included a parade, a concert, a ball game, and a dance as well as the ever-present fireworks. Eastman was right to consider the celebrations noisy—while the particular elements of the festivities changed from year to year, they were always loud and always included fireworks. Irene Cronin recounts an anecdote whereby the fireworks were even used as a demolition tool. A clothing company had posted a sign which was locally reviled on an island in the river and refused to remove it. Some local boys took blasting powder, kerosene, and a long fuse and placed them underneath the sign late at night on July third, which they then lit the morning of the fourth, destroying the sign. Although a $100 reward was posted for information leading to their arrest, they were never caught.

While this incident did not lead to any damage or loss of life, there were other incidents with fireworks that did, and Massachusetts eventually banned the sale of fireworks. Instead of everyone shooting off fireworks every which way, firework displays by professionals became common, as we had here the night of the third. While our other amusements have again changed—I can’t recall the last time I heard of a celebratory game of quoits as part of a Fourth of July celebration—we still have the fireworks.

(Irene Cronin recounted her story in the 1993 Hampshire Weekend Gazette in the article “Feting the 4th in the Past.”)

Sophie Eastman–A Historian and a Mystery

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It is very, very difficult to find any information regarding the life of Sophie Eastman. Her manuscript, published in 1912 and popular in certain historical circles, is about the only glimpse we have into her rich and varied life experiences. “In Old South Hadley (MA)” is a well written and succinct account of South Hadley history from its founding up until the mid eighteen hundreds. The 334 page history is a careful study of both broad and sweeping historical events as well as minuscule details of daily life right down to dish washing methods and the installation of drinking pumps in the center of town. Beautiful photographs taken by Eastman herself and copies of illustrations by artists in South Hadley accompany the text. I suggest setting aside an entire afternoon if you plan on reading her fascinating portal into life in Old South Hadley. The manuscript is descriptive, full of incredible detail, and quite exhaustively researched. From the founding of South Hadley before the Revolutionary War to the early days of Mt. Holyoke College to Thanksgiving Day traditions “In Old South Hadley (MA)” is well worth the time spent. Eastman’s literary tone lends a personal nature to her work in that she weaves historical fact with personal narrative and quirky stories about past residents of the town.

But who is Sophie Eastman? That is a more difficult question to answer. Her biographical facts are well known: daughter of prominent merchant Charles Eastman and sister to George and Julie Eastman. Born 1839 and died in the early 20th century. Educated at Wheaton College and professor at Mt. Holyoke College when it was still a seminary for young women. She is also known for her poem written in celebration of the South Hadley sesqui-centennial as well as a 17 page work entitled “The Early Days of Mt. Holyoke College.” She insisted on starting and ending her classes on the Mt. Holyoke with a prayer and was a permanent fixture on campus throughout her life. Not much else is known about Sophie Eastman. The categorical silence about her personal life serves to spark curiosity rather than dampen it. What was her personal life like? Did she carry on a romance with anyone? What were her feelings on marriage and women’s rights? Why did she feel it was important to record the history of her town? What did she teach at Mt. Holyoke College?

It is a little sad, actually, that we do not know more about this amazing woman who has played such a large part in recording South Hadley’s history. Much about her can be inferred from what we do know. The fact that she was college educated and went on to teach at Mt. Holyoke College during a time when women had to fight for the right to graduate high school speaks volumes about her strength of character and commitment to education. Her involvement in the seminal days of Mt. Holyoke gives us a picture of a strong and pioneering woman. The accomplishments in historical recording let us know that she had a strong passion for history and the importance of recording the past for future generations.

What we do know about Sophie Eastman is that she produced an amazingly interesting and accurate historical representation of life in South Hadley before the turn of the twentieth century. Her manuscript serves to both inform and entertain readers and her incisive commentary gives us a small picture of her opinions and world view. The text is available for perusal in the Gaylord Library collection.

An online copy of the text can be found here: http://openlibrary.org/books/OL13524070M/In_o_ld_South_Hadley

Enjoy!

This is the House that Jack Built

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If you have ever walked down Woodbridge Street in South Hadley, you may have noticed a peculiar inscription on the chimney of one of the houses stating, “This is the House that Jack Built.” This “house that Jack built” is the Croysdale Inn located at 21 Woodbridge Street.

The inn was built by John (Jack) Parfitt, a Holyoke builder, in the spring of 1911. “Jack” constructed the inn for his two sisters, Frances and Isabella, so that they could expand their business, Ye Old English Tea Rooms. The sisters began their business in the spring of 1909 in a small red building located near the village common. The business quickly became popular, especially with the Mount Holyoke College girls. In need of more space, the sisters moved the tea rooms into a nearby house just a year later, which shortly proved unable to accommodate the increasing business. The following spring, their brother constructed the spacious Croysdale Inn (named after a family ancestor) so that the tea rooms could expand.

Upon the completion of the Croysdale Inn, the many people who helped plan and construct the inn decided to engrave on the north chimney, “This is the House that Jack Built” to capture the heart and effort put in to its establishment. Whether coincidence or not, I cannot help but think that the inscription also serves as a nod to the popular British nursery rhyme by the same name. Regardless of who or what the dedication was truly meant to honor, the inn has become best known by those words rather than by its given name.

The substantial three story building originally had a gray colored stucco exterior with dark green trimmings. The first floor, decorated in gold and brown was comprised of four dining rooms, a large kitchen, and a wide piazza at the back which was used to serve afternoon tea. The three smaller dining rooms were called the English, Dutch, and Japanese rooms, and they were designed to accommodate small parties. The north dining room ran the length of the building and was used for larger parties. According to Irene Cronin, who had written a piece on the building in the Hampshire Weekend Gazette in 1995, “The inn catered to parties, private lunches, and dinners and was noted for its home cooking.” Frances and Isabella not only ran their business on the first floor of the inn, but they lived upstairs in one of the many bedrooms on the second and third floors.

The sisters operated the tea room for 18 years until they decided to close the business and divide the building into apartments. They remained in the house for a few more years while Frances worked at Mount Holyoke College as secretary to the treasurer. In 1937 they turned the house over to the Home Owners Loan Corp. The property then went through several owners until it was purchased and renovated by Mount Holyoke College in 1959.

Today, the apartments continue to house faculty of Mount Holyoke College.

Like the nursery rhyme that tells a cumulative tale of people and things indirectly related to the house of a man named Jack, “The House that Jack Built” has a long history in South Hadley that undoubtedly will continue to grow.

Croysdale Inn. If you look closely, you can see the dedication on the chimney, "This is the House that Jack Built."

Special thanks to Irene Cronin for her information on the building through her article “Inn was ‘the house that Jack built’” published in the Hampshire Weekend Gazette 1995.

“So grew the botanic garden”

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With spring well under way, flowers blooming profusely, and my thesis on native plants almost completed, the history of the botanic gardens at Mount Holyoke College is a topic well-suited for the time. Though landscaping presumably would have occurred throughout the history of the College, the botanic gardens began with the work of Professor Lydia Shattuck.  Mrs. Asa Kinney, a retired professor at Mount Holyoke whose letters and essays the Library has in its archives, was interested in the gardens and she provides the following account.

“The botanical garden, later known as the Clara Leigh Dwight Garden, was started by Miss Lydia Shattuck, who taught botany and was head of the Botany Department from 1851 to 1889” and who started the garden for academic purposes. She “wished to bring the wild plants nearer her classes so they could watch their behavior when at work,” and the garden grew out of her dedication. According to Mrs. Kinney, “This early garden was made up of a number of formal beds of various shapes and sizes and covered an area about thirty by one hundred feet. Here Miss Shattuck assembled a large number of native plants, mostly herbaceous perennials, but there were a few small growing, woody specimens such as spicebush, barberry, striped maple, Rhododendron, shad bush, and sassafras. Some of these plants set out by Miss Shattuck are still growing where she planted them over sixty years ago.” Mrs. Kinney was especially impressed with the sassafras, white hellebore, white trillium, and yellow ladyslipper Miss Shattuck had planted and which still flourished at the time of Mrs. Kinney’s retirement in 1939.

Besides these well-known native plants, the early garden provided some new specimens, including a plant that “resembled the False Miterwork, Tiarella cordifolia, but differed from it in many ways.” Because Mrs. Kinney “found no such plant listed in the botany,” she “sent a specimen to the New York Botanical Garden where they had a man working on the family Saxifragaceae to which this plant belonged.” Fascinatingly, he did not find a record of such a plant, and “he recorded it, as a new species of Tiarella, calling it Tiarella hybrida and it was described under that name in the Bulletin of the New York Botanical Garden.” After researching this plant briefly online, it appears that the species did not continue, and this is not unexpected. Shortly after discussing the new species, Mrs. Kinney writes, “I was not able to propagate the plant either by seed or division and no new plants appeared around the parent plant. In a few years it died and I have never seen another plant like it.” A short-lived discovery, sadly.

Over the years, the garden expanded, and Mount Holyoke wished to find a patron to provide funding for the increase. One potential candidate was a Mr. John Dwight, “a retired New York businessman who…owned Mount Holyoke and spent his summers at the Mountain House, on top of the mountain” (emphasis mine). He became a regular visitor over the summers, and often came with his “second wife Clara Leigh, who was much interested in botany and enjoyed visiting the garden and studying the various plants found there.” According to Mrs. Kinney, “They came in a coach drawn by a span of beautiful black horses and driven by a liveried coachman.” Because “Miss Hooker thought that so long as the garden had no name, it might please Mr. Dwight and make him feel that he had a personal interest in the garden,” the College named it the Clara Leigh Dwight Garden. In the summer of 1899, the gardeners arranged the plants in one bed to spell out “Dwight.” “This seemed to please Mr. Dwight very much and when ever he had guests he always brought them to see the Dwight Garden bed,” so the bed continued as long as he lived. When the College proposed that he fund the greenhouses desired, Miss Hooker went to New York, and upon her return, she said, “I went to New York to get a ten thousand dollar greenhouse and came back with a hundred thousand dollar Art Building.” Dwight Hall remained the art building until 1971 and still stands today.

Consequently, the greenhouses needed a different patron, or rather, patrons. “The present range of greenhouses was the result of the generosity of a number of people, the largest gift was ten thousand dollars from Mr. and Mrs. James Talcott of the New York for which the houses were named, Mr. Talcott choosing the name Talcott Arboretum.” Thanks to this generous gift, the Greenhouses were constructed over, according to Mrs. Kinney, a five-year-period. However, “When the houses were ready for use, it seemed like an almost impossible task to get plants enough to fill them, as we only had fifty dollars for the purchase of plants.” The purchase of four large exotics drained that fund, but “Soon other plants began to arrive” including “a large palm tree from Dr. Read of Holyoke, a large date palm from Mr. Kellogg of Granby, a wagonload of plants from Prof. White of the State College green house in Amherst, a wagon load from Mr. Canning of the Smith College green houses, a large shipment from Mr. Cameron of the green houses at the Harvard botanical garden, a number of boxes from Mr. Nash of the New York Botanical Garden.” I conclude Mrs. Kinney’s account of the botanical gardens with “The friends of the College had solved the plant problem.”

The Census: Moving Forward After Mailing It Back

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A tagline for the Census this year is “We Can’t Move Forward Until You Mail It Back.” To celebrate this, I have decided to provide a little perspective, by way of the Census of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts 1905, of the ways we have already moved forward.

Thus, in 1905:

  • A total of 940 people responded as “Heads of Family” in South Hadley—785 men (84%) and 155 women (16%). In relation to these “Heads of Family,” 722 women labeled themselves as “wives,” but a category for “husbands” did not exist. 6 women were “matrons,” and presumably due to the College, 572 women were “students.” Interestingly, 4 women responded as being in “other relationships,” not including grandmothers, in-laws, daughters, granddaughters, guests, aunts, nieces, inmates, servants, or assistants. Also of interest, only one person listed themselves as a stepfather to the head of the family, and only 7 people were stepchildren.
  • Of the South Hadley citizens “Native Born” (3,806), 2,689 were from Massachusetts (71%), with the second largest category being from New York (8%). Of the citizens “Foreign Born,” (1,248), 352 were Canadian French (28%), 250 were Irish (20%), and 194 were from Germany (15%).
  • 4 South Hadley residents registered as “colored” and 3 as “Chinese.” The only other categories were white, Japanese, and Indian.
  • Occupations in ‘Trade and Transportation’ included: 9) draymen, hackman, teamsters, etc., 10) hostlers, and 11) hucksters and peddlers. For those as unfamiliar with some of these terms as I am, draymen drove wagons without sides (and may still be used by brewery companies for parades), and husksters are “retailers of small articles, esp. a peddler of fruits and vegetables; hawker” (Dictionary.com).
  • A section was provided for “Defective Social and Physical Condition” which included “paupers” and “feeble-minded.” Paupers were defined as “all persons from disease, accident, intemperance, misfortune, and any other cause have become dependant upon public charity” and “feeble-minded” was assumed to be obvious, since it was not defined.
  • Massachusetts held the fifth place in the production of silk and silk goods, following after New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, and Connecticut.
  • The average salary for South Hadley was $1,517.00, which was higher than Northampton ($1,051.64), Amherst ($968.06), and Springfield ($1,261.94).
  • 34.59% of the Agricultural Products & Property in South Hadley comprised of “Dairy products,” followed by “Hay, straw and fodder” (19.48%) and “Vegetables” (12.30%).
  • Inland fisheries in South Hadley generated a $235 value—from bass, eels, perch, pickerel, pout (horned), and trout (the greatest at $150).

To find out more about statistics and data of Massachusetts in 1905, as always, please consult our archives. All the information above can be found in four volumes of the Census: I) Populations and Social Statistics, II) Occupations and Defective Conditions, III) Manufacture and Trade, and IV) Agriculture, the Fisheries, Commerce.