Metro Center, Springfield, Massachusetts

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Coordinates: 42°06′22″N 72°35′13″W / 42.106°N 72.587°W / 42.106; -72.587
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Springfield's characteristic skyline with Monarch Place and Tower Square comprises the largest buildings in Metro Center.

Metro Center is the original colonial settlement of Springfield, Massachusetts, located beside a bend in the Connecticut River. As of 2019, Metro Center features a majority of Western Massachusetts' most important cultural, business, and civic venues.[1] Metro Center includes Springfield's Central Business District, its Club Quarter, its government center, its convention headquarters, and in recent years, it has become an increasingly popular residential district, especially among young professionals, empty-nesters, and creative types, with a population of approximately 7,000 (2010.)

Metro Center is physically separated from the Connecticut River by Interstate 91 – a 1958 urban renewal project that separated the city from its riverfront.[2][3]

Early history

Main article: History of Springfield, Massachusetts

It is difficult to estimate the origins of human habitation in the Connecticut River Valley, but there are physical signs dating back at least 9,000 years. Various sites indicate millennia of fishing, horticulture, beaver-hunting, and burials. The region was inhabited by several Algonkian-speaking Native American communities, culturally connected but distinguished by the place names they assigned to their respective communities: Agawam (low land), Woronco (in a circular way), Nonotuck (in the midst of the river), Pocumtuck (narrow, swift river), and Sokoki (separated from their neighbors). The modern-day Springfield metropolitan area was inhabited by the Agawam Indians.[4] The Agawam, as well as other groups, belong to the larger cultural category of Alongkian Indians.

In 1634, a devastating plague, probably smallpox, reduced the Native American population of the Connecticut River Valley to a tiny percentage of its previous size. Governor Bradford of Massachusetts writes that in Windsor (notably the site of a trade post, where European diseases often spread to Native populations), "of 1,000 of [the Indians] 150 of them died." With so many dead, "rot[ting] above ground for want of burial," English colonists were emboldened to attempt significant settlement of the region.[5]

Metro Center, purchased from the Native people of Agawam in 1636 by William Pynchon and a group of pioneers, was originally called Agawam Plantation. Eighteen Agawam Indians signed on to the deed, which was witnessed and negotiated with the help of a translator from the East named Ahaughton.[5]

At the time of its founding, Agawam Plantation was the northernmost settlement on the Connecticut River, and belonged to the Connecticut Colony as opposed to the Massachusetts Bay Colony, to which it would later belong. Within less than a decade after its founding in 1636, differences arose between the leaders of Agawam (Springfield) and Newtown (Hartford) over how to relate with the region's Native population. Springfield hoped to pursue peaceful relations with the Natives so as to better facilitate trade and communal farming, whereas Hartford – and many of Connecticut's early settlers – had fought the bloody Pequot War to claim their territory, and thus took a more militant view. This difference of opinion led to Agawam (Springfield) annexing itself to Massachusetts in 1640. At that time, William Pynchon was named magistrate of the settlement, and the town's name was changed to Springfield in Pynchon's honor. (Pynchon was from Springfield, Essex.)[1]

Metro Center Springfield was founded on the Connecticut River, just north of the River's first falls unnavigable by seagoing vessels, (the

Enfield Falls.) Thus, in founding Springfield, the business-minded Pynchon assured that all northern river trade and travel ran through Springfield. In early colonial days, Springfield was the dominant trading post on the Connecticut River. Pynchon and his fellow colonists profited immensely from fur trade with the Agawam Indians, but also used a variety of tactics - from debt to alcohol - to take more and more land until the Agawam were contained to a walled village atop Long Hill.[4] This was a rapid cycle: Native people relied on trading seasonal goods such as furs, so they took out mortgages with land as collateral. The demand for furs led to overhunting, which forced Native people to default and allowed for the colonists to acquire more Native land. Having lost their fields, the rapid overexploitation of the fur trade continued.[6]

In 1675, during

Attack on Springfield
, which burned over 75% of Springfield, which was only Metro Center, including the saw and grist mills. Following the war, thought was given to abandoning the settlement entirely.

In 1777, noting Springfield's location on a major U.S. river, fertile farmland, and close proximity to Boston, Albany, New York City, and Montreal,

Arsenal at Springfield
on a tall bluff overlooking Metro Center. Subsequently, Springfield developed neighborhoods other than Metro Center.

In 1813, the green in the middle of Metro Center was officially named Court Square. Court Square had been the center of public and social life since the times when Native Americans roamed freely through Springfield's streets (pre-King Philip's War,) and continued to be so until the building of Springfield's first train station in the 1830s.

The arrival of the railroad to Springfield in the 1830s brought great wealth to the city, again, due to its location. Goods from New York, Boston, Chicago, and even as far west as San Francisco travelled through Springfield on their ways to coastal distribution centers. Springfield, rather than Hartford, or Northampton, or Greenfield, became Western New England's railroad hub, perhaps due to the presence of the Springfield Armory, but more likely due to the city's growing reputation for ingenuity, and that it served as a nearly equidistant point between Albany and Boston, Providence, and New York.

Culture

Metro Center features the majority of Western Massachusetts' most important cultural institutions. For example, it features the

Connecticut River Valley History Museum, the most extensive compilation of information on the historic valley and its people; and the new Wood Museum of Springfield History, which showcases Springfield as The City of Firsts in the context of American History.[9]

Live entertainment near Court Square

Springfield Symphony Hall at Court Square features famously "perfect acoustics," and frequent performances by the innovative Springfield Symphony Orchestra. It also features traveling performances of Broadway shows. Also, close by, the Community Music School of Springfield, located at 127 State Street, features musical programs during the day and evenings. Across the street, the MassMutual Center features arena-scale rock concerts, conventions, and is home to Springfield's professional sports team, the American Hockey League's Springfield Thunderbirds
.

Within close walking distance are Rascal's, a comedy club at 1 Monarch Place, and Springfield's famous City Stage playhouse – a tiny modern playhouse that produces a range of works from philosophical modern plays, to Shakespeare, to children's entertainment.

The Club Quarter

Main article: Club Quarter

The area surrounding

Basketball Hall of Fame
also feature live music, Las Vegas-style shows and several sports bars.

Urban fabric

Even by urban

Basketball Hall of Fame
complex, Springfield's largest tourist draw.

Legislature skyline height limit

From 1908 until 1971, Springfield was subject to a skyline height limit – imposed by the Massachusetts State Legislature – of 125 feet, and thus Springfield has a relatively lower skyline than comparable cities of its population and economic and cultural importance. This trait is now looked on as a positive by developers at the Urban Land Institute, who have written "Metro Center now stands out from its peers, most of which long ago demolished the human-scale architecture that made their downtowns livable." During Springfield's resurgence in the new millennium, prominent architects – like

TRO Jung Brannen, who are building the $110 million, 2012 adaptive reuse of Springfield's original Technical High School – adapted to Springfield's human-scale to create monumental buildings rather than attempting to "achieve monumentalism through over-scaling," as has happened in other cities.[10]

Transportation

In 2012, Springfield's 1926 Union Station will receive a $75 million renovation

Springfield Hartford New Haven rail line, which will reportedly reach speeds up to 110 mph,[12] making it the United States' first true "high-speed" train; and the $80 million, northbound Knowledge Corridor Intercity Commuter Rail, which will connect Springfield with its northern neighbors along the Connecticut River (e.g. Northampton, Massachusetts) and terminate in Brattleboro, Vermont. Ultimately, this renovation of the old Montrealer line will take passengers to Montreal, Quebec, Canada.[13][14]

While billions of dollars are funding Springfield's north–south rail expansion, a more modest, combined $25 million recently improved Springfield's two main thoroughfares, Main Street and State Street. Both now feature artistic crosswalks and ornate streetlights, which add to the eclectic and increasingly whimsical atmosphere of Metro Center.[15] The 2011 Greater Springfield tornado reversed much of Main Street's progress.

Interstate 91's placement inhibiting economic growth

Metro Center provides quick access to

Basketball Hall of Fame complex, preventing foot traffic and resulting in untold losses of tourist dollars among other losses.[16][17] In 2010, Boston's Urban Land Institute proposed a vision for Springfield's riverfront; however, as of 2011, Interstate 91 remains a physical barrier between Springfield, the Connecticut River, and the Basketball Hall of Fame.[18]

The position of I-91 and its blockage of the Connecticut River – along with the cement covering of the Mill River – are challenges that Springfield officials say they plan on addressing in upcoming years.[19]

Recent academic papers have documented negative economic and sociological effects of I-91's placement in Springfield – it has fragmented three neighborhoods, inhibited the economic growth of Springfield's most valuable land – on the Riverfront and around the Basketball Hall of Fame – and essentially made the river inaccessible to people as a place for recreation and tourism. Recent city planning polls rate Springfield's I-91 among the worst urban planning decisions made by an American city.

Basketball Hall of Fame
.

Buildings

Residential real estate

Metro Center's housing stock was, for centuries, Springfield's most prized. As of 2011, it is fast regaining that status among people attracted to urban living without the expense – bohemians, artists, empty-nesters, and LGBT residents have constituted the first wave of Metro Center's recolonization, which began only during the new millennium. Housing stock consists of various architectural styles, from detached Victorian houses and attached red-brick row-houses in the

art deco apartment building, (Pearl Street Luxury Condos.) Rental properties include the adaptive re-use of the former Milton Bradley toy factory, now called Stockbridge Court, as well as the adaptive re-use of the former YMCA building, 122 Chestnut Street. Major construction projects like the $101 million adaptive re-use of Springfield's original Technical High School for Massachusetts' Data Center;[21] the $57 million Moshe Safdie-designed, architecturally award-winning Federal Courthouse; and Baystate Health's $300 million "Hospital of the Future," have all contributed to Metro Center's resurgence.[22]

The

H.H. Richardson's first works in the Richardsonian Romanesque style, the current Hispanic Baptist Church.[23] Early each Fall, the neighborhood hosts a large arts festival, "The Mattoon Street Arts Festival."[24]

Civic

Metro Center features Springfield's and Western Massachusetts' most prominent civic institutions, including the

campanile that towers over Court Square. Other prominent civic buildings include "starchitect" Moshe Safdie's new, $57 million, architecturally award-winning Federal Courthouse on State Street,[25] and Massachusetts' new $110 million Data Center, an adaptive re-use of Springfield's original Technical High School.[26] The Springfield School Board recently moved into modern, $11 million renovated office space 1550 Main Street.[27]

Libraries, colleges, and universities

The City of Springfield's palatial Public Library is located in Metro Center. It features the second largest library circulation in New England (behind Boston's). Metro Center also features three higher learning institutions: Cambridge College at Tower Square, the University of Massachusetts Amherst's Urban Design Center at Court Square, and Springfield Technical Community College, which enrolls over 6500 students.

Corporate and professional

Metro Center is the central business district of

Health New England, Peoples' United Bank, United Personnel staffing, numerous attorneys, architects, accountants, other professionals, and hundreds of businesses. As of May 2011, Metro Center also features the headquarters of Massachusetts' third largest company, Baystate Health
.

Springfield Armory Museum
Museum Quadrangle
Mass Mutual Center

Parks

Metro Center features seven prominent parks:

brutalist architectural style – one of the more original looking city parks in the United States, arguably; and Connecticut River Walk Park, a walkway and bikeway that was devastated by the 2011 Greater Springfield tornado, and which previous to it, was rarely used due to Interstate 91
physically blocking Springfielders' access to it. Regardless, if one can make it there, it affords beautiful views of the river, valley, skyline, and mountains surrounding them all.

References

  1. ^ a b Zimmerman/Volk Associates, Residential Market Potential, Downtown Springfield, for City of Springfield, December 2006
  2. ^ "Interstate 91-Massachusetts". www.bostonroads.com. Retrieved 27 May 2018.
  3. ^ City of Springfield, Mass.: Metro Center Archived 2011-10-05 at the Wayback Machine. Springfieldcityhall.com (2010-06-02). Retrieved on 2013-08-21.
  4. ^
    OCLC 187873637
    . Docket Dissertation Abstracts International The Humanities and Social Sciences, Vol.68(07). Retrieved 12 May 2019.
  5. ^ a b Wright, Henry Andrew (1949). The Story of Western Massachusetts.
  6. ISBN 1-55849-485-5
    .
  7. ^ Barrows, Charles (1911). The Story of Springfield in Massachusetts for the Young. The Connecticut Valley Historical Society.
  8. ^ Springfield Armory National Historic Site – Springfield Armory National Historic Site. Nps.gov (2013-08-02). Retrieved on 2013-08-21.
  9. ^ Springfield Museums. Springfield Museums. Retrieved on 2013-08-21.
  10. ^ "WAN:: United States Federal Courthouse by Safdie Architects in Springfield, Massachusetts, United States". www.worldarchitecturenews.com. Archived from the original on 18 September 2012. Retrieved 27 May 2018.
  11. ^ http://www.springfieldcityhall.com/planning/fileadmin/Planning_files/rfqs/Union_Station_In_the_News/04-10-11-Project_Hops.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  12. ^ Conn. seeks funds for rail work on Hartford-to-Springfield line (document)- The New Haven Register – Serving New Haven, Connecticut Archived 2012-04-19 at the Wayback Machine. Nhregister.com (2011-04-07). Retrieved on 2013-08-21.
  13. ^ New Haven – Hartford – Springfield Rail Project. Nhhsrail.com. Retrieved on 2013-08-21.
  14. ^ New Haven-Hartford-Springfield Rail Archived 2011-09-17 at the Wayback Machine. Crcog.org. Retrieved on 2013-08-21.
  15. ^ City of Springfield, Mass.: Transportation and Infrastructure Improvements Archived 2011-07-16 at the Wayback Machine. Springfieldcityhall.com (2009-02-19). Retrieved on 2013-08-21.
  16. ^ http://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1004&context=larp_grad_research&sei-redir=1#search="91+north+end+umass+cut+off" [bare URL PDF]
  17. ^ http://www.springfieldcityhall.com/planning/fileadmin/Planning_files/1200_Hall_of_Fame_Building_Plans/Springfield_TAP_Presentation_FINAL_diagrams.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  18. ^ City of Springfield, Mass.: Riverfront Archived 2011-09-22 at the Wayback Machine. Springfieldcityhall.com. Retrieved on 2013-08-21.
  19. ^ "Big Dig-Springfield? I-91 in city needs major rehab that could turn into a reimagining". 10 October 2012. Retrieved 27 May 2018.
  20. ^ Best / Worst use of waterfront – USA Northeast. UrbanPlanet. Retrieved on 2013-08-21.
  21. ^ Demolition of former Springfield Tech High School under way (photos and video). masslive.com. Retrieved on 2013-08-21.
  22. ^ "Local". Retrieved June 10, 2011.[dead link]
  23. ^ North Congregational Church, Springfield (1873) | Historic Buildings of Massachusetts. Mass.historicbuildingsct.com (2009-07-27). Retrieved on 2013-08-21.
  24. ^ Welcome! | Mattoon Street Arts Festival Springfield, Mass. Mattoonfestival.org. Retrieved on 2013-08-21.
  25. ^ "Safdie Architects". www.msafdie.com. Retrieved 27 May 2018.
  26. ^ Springfield, Massachusetts. MassLive.com (2011-11-01). Retrieved on 2013-08-21.
  27. ^ 1550 Main Street, Springfield Archived 2011-06-07 at the Wayback Machine. MassDevelopment (2009-09-29). Retrieved on 2013-08-21.

42°06′22″N 72°35′13″W / 42.106°N 72.587°W / 42.106; -72.587

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