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English colonists moving up the Connecticut River settled in
Hatfield about 1660 on land that had been purchased from the nearby
Native American Indian village of Norwottuck. The location was
desirable because of the large amounts of relatively flat, rich, and
stone-free agriculture land and the small waterfall which could
power a mill on what became known as the Mill River. For a decade
the settlement was legally part of the Town of Hadley, but in 1670
Hatfield separated from Hadley and built its own meeting house which
served as the center of government and the Congregational Church.
During King Philip’s War in 1675-76 between the colonists of New
England and the Native American Indians, the settlement on Main
Street was surrounded by a stockade, many men from Hatfield fought
in campaigns up and down the valley and fought off three attacks on
the village.
During the eighteenth century the town prospered and the growing
population of the western and northern regions of the town
eventually separated to become the Towns of Williamsburg and Whately.
Enterprising Hatfield farmers fattened cattle that were sold to
markets in larger towns and cities. The reputation of Hatfield beef
was sufficient to cause General Washington to station an officer in
Hubbard’s Tavern to purchase meat for the troops in the Continental
Army. In addition to agriculture, the waterfall on the Mill River
powered a grist mill and a saw mill, while the Running Gutter Brook
powered a linseed oil mill.
In
the early nineteenth century broom corn became a major cash crop and
the handicraft production of corn brooms took place in many homes.
The building of the first railroad through the town in 1846 brought
in many Irish and French Canadians, the first significant numbers of
people who were not of English ancestry. Many of these people began
their years in Hatfield working as farm hands or making corn brooms
and their descendants eventually founded St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic
Church.
In
the second half of the nineteenth century tobacco became the major
cash crop and in the early twentieth century onions, asparagus, and
potatoes were also grown in quantity. To meet the need for the
considerable labor these crops required, immigrants from Eastern
Europe, particularly Poles, were encouraged to settle in the Town.
Eventually the Poles founded Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church and
Slovak families founded Holy Trinity Lutheran Church.
The
appearance of the town changed as successful farmers and
entrepreneurs built stately homes on Main Street, small farmers and
recent immigrants built more modest houses throughout the town,
fields were dotted with the barns used to dry tobacco, several large
tobacco sorting shops were built, and a succession of small mills
were built near the waterfall. At various times during the
nineteenth and twentieth century the falls powered a grist mill, a
saw mill, a wood-working shop, a button shop, a gun factory, a spark
plug factory, and a large machine shop. Neighborhoods of homes and
retail businesses grew up around the mills as well as the railroad
depots in West Hatfield and North Hatfield.
Hatfield was known for more than its agriculture and industry. In
the nineteenth century the town was home of several notable
philanthropists. Oliver Smith, who had made a fortune as an
investor in agriculture and land, endowed the Smith Agricultural and
Industrial School and the Smith Charities, both of which still play
a major role in the region. A generation later Sophia Smith endowed
both Smith Academy, which still serves as Hatfield’s high school,
and Smith College, one of the premier women’s colleges in the United
States. And Caleb Cooley Dickinson endowed the Cooley Dickinson
Hospital.
In
more recent years Hatfield has retained its relatively small size
and rural appearance. Much of the land is still dedicated to the
production of corn, potatoes, and vegetables for market. But as
agriculture has become more mechanized fewer people in town work in
the fields. Since the building of Route I-91 in the 1960s,
increasing numbers of people who live in Hatfield commute to jobs in
neighboring communities. The small factories on the Mill River are
now closed, but they have been replaced by several assembly and
distribution centers and retail businesses located close to I-91.
Although many residents now work outside the town and have ties to
other communities, there continues to be a strong sense of
identification with Hatfield which retains its town meeting form of
government and its own independent school system. As the signs
along the roads leading into town say, Hatfield enters the new
century, proud of its past and optimistic about its future.
- Courtesy of the Hatfield Historical Commission
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