Chicopee ( CHIK-ə-pee) is a city located on the Connecticut River in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 55,560, making it the second-largest city in western Massachusetts after Springfield. Chicopee is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The communities of Chicopee Center (Cabotville), Chicopee Falls, Willimansett, Fairview, Aldenville, Burnett Road, Smith Highlands and Westover are located within the city.

One of the ventures of the Boston Associates, Chicopee is a city built around several smaller former mill communities on its namesake, the Chicopee River. During the 19th century, the city was home to the first American producer of friction matches as well as a variety of other industries, including the Ames Manufacturing Company, an early pioneer in machining lathes, building upon the work of Springfield’s Thomas Blanchard, and the largest producer of swords and cutlasses for the Union Army during the Civil War. By the start of the 20th century, the city was home to a number of industrial plants, including those of the Fisk Tire Company, one of the largest tire makers of that time, and some of the earliest sporting goods factories of A. G. Spalding.

Today the city is home to a variety of specialty manufacturers, as well as Westover Air Reserve Base, the largest Air Force Reserve Base of the United States, built in 1940 with the emergence of World War II. Chicopee today goes by the nickname the “Crossroads of New England” as part of a business-development marketing campaign, one that West Springfield also uses. The name reflects the city’s location among a number of metropolitan areas and its transportation network. Four interstate highways run through its boundaries, including I-90, I-91, I-291, and I-391, as well as state routes such as Route 33, 116, and 141.

History

Nayasett (Cabotville and Chicopee Falls)

In 1636, William Pynchon purchased land from the Agawam Indians on the east side of the Connecticut River. He moved from the Town of Roxbury to Springfield to found the first settlement in the area that comprises the territory of today’s Chicopee Center (Cabotville). Both Cabotville and the Falls were developed as manufacturing centers (villages).

According to local historian Charles J. Seaver, the area above the falls was first settled in 1660. The land purchased from the Indians was divided into districts. Nayasett (Nipmuc for “at the small point/angle”) was the name given to the area of what are now Chicopee Center and Chicopee Falls. The settlement in the upper district was at Skipmuck (possibly based on Nipmuc Skipmaug, meaning “chief fishing place” or Shipmuck, meaning “big watery place”), a place above the falls on the south side of the river.

Colonists built a sawmill as the first industrial site along the river. The mill was built at Skenungonuck (Nipmuc for “green fields”) Falls (now Chicopee Falls) in 1678 by Japhet Chapin, John Hitchcock and Nathaniel Foote.

In 1786, what was called Factory Village began to develop when two acres of land was leased to 10 local men, with the understanding that they would build an iron foundry within two years. This was accomplished and the business flourished.

In 1823, Jonathan Dwight purchased the water privilege at Skenungonuck Falls in Chicopee. He built a textile mill and five years later, it operated 14,000 spindles and nearly 500 looms, making it the second-largest operation in the state. It processed cotton from the Deep South, becoming part of the extended slave economy and King Cotton. By 1831, settlers had developed two giant dams, two waterpower canals, and two manufacturing communities on the Chicopee River.

Before and after the partition, eight Chicopee River companies gained product recognition around the globe: Ames, Belcher, Lamb, Dwight, Stevens, Spalding, Fisk, and Duryea. Below the falls, in the bend of the river at a place called Factory Village, an important chapter of the region’s industrial history was played out.

Partition from Springfield

In 1716, Upper Chicopee, Lower Chicopee and Skipmunk were divided into Springfield’s fourth, fifth and sixth precincts, respectively.

In the late 1740s, a discussion took place among members of the First Church of Springfield over whether the town should build a new meetinghouse out of brick, which would be more expensive yet durable, or timber, which would be relatively inexpensive. Residents of what is now Chicopee tended to support a timber meetinghouse, due to the time-consuming four to eight mile journey that visiting the meetinghouse would require. In 1749, residents in Springfield’s fourth, fifth and sixth precincts petitioned the Massachusetts General Court to form their own parish, with their own church and meetinghouse. Facing opposition from Springfield, the petition was rejected by the General Court. In 1750, the petition was filed again by Japhet Chapin, signed by 49 residents of what are now Chicopee and Holyoke, and was approved by the General Court. This created Springfield’s Fifth Parish. The boundaries of the new parish were laid out on June 11, 1751. The first service took place on July 21, 1751. This marked the earliest move toward political separation by Chicopee and Holyoke from Springfield.

In 1844, Springfield’s Second Parish, now containing only Chicopee, petitioned the General Court to separate as its own municipality. Once again opposed by Springfield’s First Parish, their petition was rejected. In 1848, Springfield began to seek a city charter. Second Parish residents tended to oppose a city charter on the grounds of increased expenditures. In response, 700 residents of Chicopee’s neighborhoods of Cabotville, Chicopee Falls, Chicopee Street and Willimansett signed a petition to form their own municipality.

The General Court approved Chicopee’s Act of Incorporation on April 25, 1848. Governor George N. Briggs signed the act on April 29, 1848, creating the Town of Chicopee. Chicopee’s first municipal elections took place at Chicopee’s first town meeting on May 17, 1848 at 1:00 p.m. When electing State Representatives and State Senators, the Town of Chicopee would be treated as a district of Springfield until after the 1850 U.S. census.

Incorporation as a City

On April 18, 1890, the community was granted a charter as a city by the Massachusetts General Court. George Sylvester Taylor (1822–1910) became Chicopee’s first mayor on January 5, 1891.

Westover Field was created by a war-readiness appropriation signed by president Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1939. The site used to be tobacco crop fields east of and part of Fairview, east of Aldenview, and northern Willimansett. It was assigned to the United States Army Air Corps Northeast Air District. It was renamed Westover Air Force Base in 1948 after that Air Force’s creation as a separate service. In 1974 SAC leadership turned the base over to the Air Force Reserve.

In 1991, St. Stanislaus Bishop and Martyr Church, located on Front Street, was proclaimed a minor basilica by Pope John Paul II.

Various industries

Chicopee adopted the motto “Industriae Variae”, which means “Various Industries”. Chicopee’s industries included cotton mills, woolen mills, textiles, brass and iron foundries, paper making, footwear factories, for leather boots and shoes, the first friction matches, and ship building. In nearby South Hadley Canal, the firearms company Crescent-Davis specialized in producing double-barrel shotguns.

The Ames Manufacturing Company made many machines and bronze cannons, and more swords than any other American manufacturer at the time. Ames cast a number of bronze statues, including Thomas Ball’s monumental equestrian statue of President George Washington, installed in Boston’s Public Garden. Ames was a major provider of cannon to the Union army during the Civil War. The Stevens Arms plant (later Savage) was responsible for most of the No. 4 Enfields manufactured for the British under Lend-Lease. Chicopee was home to production of the first gasoline-powered automobile made in the United States, the Duryea.

Bicycles

During the late nineteenth century, Chicopee Falls became a major manufacturing center of bicycles. The town was the site of at least two bicycle factories: The Overman Wheel Company (1882 to about 1899), and the Spalding sporting goods company.

Albert H. Overman moved his bicycle production from Hartford, Connecticut, to Chicopee Falls in 1883. The Overman company benefited from the surging popularity of the safety bicycle during the bicycle boom of the 1890s. At its height in 1894, Overman’s factory employed over 1,200 workers. The boom eventually went bust, as overproduction drove the price of bicycles down. By 1901 the Overman firm was out of business.

Library

In 1853, Chicopee became the first Massachusetts municipality west of Worcester County to form a locally funded public library. The Chicopee Public Library was formed by a donation to the city by the Cabotville Institute.

Education

College of Our Lady of the Elms

The College of Our Lady of the Elms is a four-year liberal arts college offering thirty-three academic majors. It was first founded in 1897 as a girls’ preparatory academy in Pittsfield, the Academy of Our Lady of the Elms. In 1899, it moved to Chicopee as St. Joseph’s Normal College. A charter for the school to operate as a women’s liberal arts college was approved in 1928, and the name was changed to the College of Our Lady of the Elms. It began admitting men in 1998.

Private elementary

Chicopee has a multitude of Catholic schools that are operated under the Diocese of Springfield. These schools include: Saint Joan of Arc School which serves Saint Rose de Lima Church on Grattan Street; and Saint Stanislaus School which serves the St. Stanislaus Bishop & Martyr’s Parish Bishop and Martyr on Front Street.

Within the past decade, a number of private elementary schools and their associated parishes have closed. These include Assumption School which served the former Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary parish, Saint Patrick’s School which served the former Saint Patrick’s parish (closure of this parish is currently in dispute), Holy Name School which served Holy Name of Jesus parish, Mount Carmel School which served the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary parish, and Saint George School which served Saint George’s parish that merged with Saint Rose de Lima / Saint Joan of Arc School.

Private secondary

Holyoke Catholic High School was founded in 1963 at the campus of the former Saint Jerome High School in Holyoke. In 2002 it relocated to the campus of Saint Hyacinth Seminary in Granby. It moved to its Holyoke location in September 2008, and 2015 it merged with Cathedral High School to form a new regional Catholic school that was completed in 2016 as Pope Francis High School in Springfield.

In 2019 Paulo Freire Social Justice Charter School moved from Holyoke to occupy the building that was left vacant when Pope Francis moved to its new building a couple years earlier.

Demographics

As of the census of 2010, Chicopee was 3.1% black, 1.6% Asian, 18.5% Hispanic or Latino of any race, 75% white

As of the census of 2000, there were 54,653 people, 23,117 households, and 14,147 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,389.7 inhabitants per square mile (922.7/km²). There were 24,424 housing units at an average density of 1,067.9 per square mile (412.3/km). The racial makeup of the city was 89.82% White, 2.28% African American, 0.20% Native American, 0.87% Asian, 0.10% Pacific Islander, 4.90% from other races, and 1.84% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 8.76% of the population (12.8% Puerto Rican, 0.5% Dominican, 0.4% Mexican, 0.2% Colombian). Chicopee is the second largest municipality in western Massachusetts, after Springfield (defining western Massachusetts as Hampden, Hampshire, Franklin, and Berkshire counties).

There were 23,117 households, out of which 26.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.6% were married couples living together, 14.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 38.8% were non-families. 32.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 14.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.32 and the average family size was 2.96.

In the city, the population was spread out, with 22.6% under the age of 18, 8.5% from 18 to 24, 28.8% from 25 to 44, 22.5% from 45 to 64, and 17.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females, there were 90.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.1 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $35,672, and the median income for a family was $44,136. Males had a median income of $35,585 versus $25,975 for females. The per capita income for the city was $18,646. About 9.6% of families and 12.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 19.5% of those under age 18 and 9.3% of those age 65 or over.