SPRINGFIELD, a city of Massachusetts, U.S.A., at the intersection of Federal highways 5 and 20, on the east bank of the Connecticut river, 6 m. from the southern boundary of the State; a port of entry and the county seat of Hampden county. It is served by the Boston and Albany, the Boston and Maine and the New York, New Haven and Hartford railways. Pop. (1920) 129,614 (24% foreign-born white) ; 193o Federal census 149,900, to which the contiguous cities and towns add over 75;000. Four bridges cross the river, including the Hampden county memorial bridge, a massive structure of steel and con crete, 8o ft. wide, built to commemorate the patriotic service of the county's citizens, and dedicated in 1923. The area of the city is 38.53 square miles. It has many buildings of architectural importance, and since 1921 its development has been guided by an official planning board. The new Union Railroad station, opened in 1926, is one of the most commodious and complete in New England. The court-house, two churches and other build ings were designed by H. H. Richardson. Facing a public park is the fine "Municipal Group" (designed by Pell and Corbett) which was dedicated in 1913, replacing the city hall erected in 1854 and completely destroyed by fire in 1905. It consists of twin buildings (one an auditorium and the other an administration building; each 115 ft. wide, with a portico formed by ten Corin thian columns 41 ft. high) on either side of a campanile 30o ft. high, which contains a carillon of 12 bells. The city's parks cover 1,268 acres. Forest park has an area of 757 ac., and in cludes a zoological garden and fine collections of lotus plants. The Art museum (1894-96) contains the valuable collections of George Walter Vincent Smith. Near it is the Science museum (organized 1859) ; the city library, which has 376,800 volumes and an annual circulation of II volumes per caput of the entire population; and the William Pynchon memorial building (dedi cated 1927), the home of the Connecticut Valley Historical Society. In Merrick park, adjoining the library, stands St. Gaudens's statue of "The Puritan." The public-school system includes commercial, technical and classical high schools, a kinder garten training school, vocational and continuation schools. The American International college (1885) and the International Young Men's Christian Association college (1886) are in Spring field. There are 77 churches in the city, and it is the see of a Roman Catholic and a Protestant Episcopal bishop. The Spring field Republican (Independent), a morning newspaper estab lished in 1824 by Samuel Bowles, is still owned by the Bowles family. The city operates under a bicameral form of government. The assessed valuation for 1927 was $314,151,780.
There has been a U.S. arsenal in Springfield since the Revolu tion, when it was established by the Continental Congress; and an armory since 1794, when Congress authorized the building of the Government's first gun factory on a hill near the present railroad station which had been selected by Washington for the purpose in 1789. Here 800,000 of the famous Springfield muskets
were made during the Civil War, and it is still the principal manu factory of small arms for the U.S. army. The Smith and Wesson revolver factory, the Rolls-Royce automobile works, and a plant of the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company, are among the commercial manufacturing establishments of special interest. Springfield is noted for the diversity of its industries, which make nearly 1,5oo different products, and employ chiefly skilled mechanics. The aggregate output in 1927 (exclusive of the Government arsenal) was 103,921,502. The largest groups were electrical machinery, apparatus and supplies; motor vehicles, bodies and parts ; foundry and machine shop products; printing and publishing; bread and other bakery products, paper goods, and confectionery. Springfield is the transportation centre, both by rail and by highway, of western Massachusetts, and a fine airport is under construction. The railroad terminal post-office at the Union station (one of the three maintained in New England) sorts and forwards over 1,200 carloads of mail each month. A mail order house sends some 5oo tons of catalogues to Springfield by freight, to be mailed on to individual addresses. The city's trade area has a population of 700,00o. Two of the largest insurance companies of America have their home offices in Springfield. Bank clearings in 1927 amounted to Springfield was founded in 1636 by a dozen families from Roxbury, under the leadership of William Pynchon (159o-1662), one of the original patentees of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, who left Roxbury because he was dissatisfied with its govern ment, hoping to put his own theories into effect in a new colony. The town was incorporated in 1641, and named after Pynchon's birthplace in Essex, England. For several years he ruled it with the power of an autocrat, but in 1652 he was removed from the magistracy in consequence of a tract in which he attacked the Calvinistic doctrine of the Atonement, and returned to England. In King Phillip's War Springfield was a centre of hostilities. After the establishment of the arsenal in 1777 it was an important military supply depot of the Continental army. During Shays's Rebellion there was a riot here in Sept. 1786, and on Jan. 25, 1787, the insurgents, led by Shays, attacked the arsenal, but were dispersed by the militia. Industrial development began with the establishment of the Government armory which brought in skilled workmen and attracted other enterprises. In nine years the population increased 5o%. A second impetus was given by the completion of the Boston and Albany railroad in 1839. By 185o the town had a population of 11,766, and in 1852 it was chartered as a city.