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The Shoreline of Holyoke along the Connecticut River

The Shoreline of Holyoke – Easthampton border to Holyoke Canoe Club

This area is all private land. It is walkable if you can get out to the dirt beaches.

The Shoreline of Holyoke – Holyoke Canoe Club to Brookwood Road

This area is all private land. It is walkable if you can get out to the dirt beaches.

The Shoreline of Holyoke – Brookwood Road to Log Cove

From Jones Point Park one can walk either north to the Dinosaur Tracks or south to Log Cove.

The Shoreline of Holyoke – Log Cove to Interstate 391

Here one can get in at McNulty Park and either walk north to Jones Point Park or walk south to Pulaski Park. Likewise, one can get in under the Vietnam Veterans Bridge and walk north to the large Holyoke Dam or walk south to the first millrace behind Valley Paper. Farther advance is very hard since each mill has a millrace blocking your way.

The Shoreline of Holyoke – Interstate 391 to Holyoke Rows

The best intake area is at Springdale Park. A walk north is possible but the sewage plant stops one at some point. A walk south is not possible since there are homes here.

The Shoreline of Holyoke – Holyoke Rows to West Springfield Border

From Holyoke Rows a walk south is possible through the Land of Providence on trustee land to the southern border of Holyoke.

Community Field

Anniversary Field link

Holyoke Community Field

As for Community Field, it was the hope of the city to develop this land into the sports complex of Holyoke. Most of Community Field was purchased before 1923 and was called that name.

In 1926 Day Brook was placed underground. Thus Elmwood Park would lose its brook and its rustic feel. Now the Elmwood Park would become and desirable location for the sports complex. It was closer to the schools downtown.

Since Community Field was placed onto the backburner, the land was not developed for a while due to lack of funds. The park had been dedicated on October 31, 1925 but it had to wait to be developed.

There was an attempt at a large baseball stadium in the mid to late 1920s and work was done on the grading around the perimeter. But money was hard to come by for this organization. On October 7 1929 they sold the grounds to the city.

WPA Project

Wading Pool

It was finally developed into a recreational area in 1934. For example a wading pool was added that year and in the wintertime that pool transformed into an ice rink. This was done by the Works Progress Administration.

Later Works

In 1936 and 1937 a gravel road was added to the top of Anniversary Hill Park. (The road had been started in 1932 but did not go very far.) In 1936 one hundred trees are added. 500 feet of cinder walks are put in. n 1939 a shelter house and a baseball diamond were added.

Ice skating would happen in the winter at Community Field.

Playground

The playground at the Community Field was drastically changed in 1889.

Dinosaur Tracks

Landscaping of the grounds around the dinosaur tracks is done.

Vandalism

Crystal Springs

The wading pool has water from Day Brook. Day Brook passed near to the Jarvis Avenue landfill. In 1953 a new wading pool was added. In 1954 the roadway was drastically improved and the name was changed to Community Park. In 1956 hiking trails are added. In 1958 a new softball field is added.

In 1961 the parks department offers Holyoke Junior Community College 45 acres within Community Field. (Obviously, never taken up.)

Sledding and Tobogganing at Community

Ralph Sacks Recreation Area

STORY

[Sanborn map analysis do not help on these parks.]

links

159 Chestnut Street

At 159 Chestnut Street one can learn about the Newton family, the Holyoke Gentlemen’s Club, and the Holyoke Day Nursery.

James Newton (HOUSES) owned this house until 1915. (LOCATION) Two years later the Holyoke Day Nursery moved into the house and are still here. This is a Second Empire building with an Italianate carriage home in back. James Newton and his brothers built and ran many of the mills around Holyoke from the 1860s to the 1890s. In 1907 James Newton had built a new home for his family on Pinehurst Road.

The Holyoke Club House was here for a few years beginning in 1911 and had built the hall that runs from the house to the carriage house in 1915. The hall had a restaurant. The carriage house was converted into a pool hall. See the 1915 Sanborn map for the drastic changes.

In 1916 a day care or nursery was started in a house near the old Providence Hospital. It was started by the Saint Agnes Guild (with the help of Reverend Daniel Tully) on the Saint Jerome campus but within a couple of years moved here to Chestnut Street (in 1918). It was at first called the Saint Agnes Home. It was later called the Holyoke Day Nursery. This is about the tenth nursery in Massachusetts’ history with the first being in Boston. There were very many children in the nursery so the former restaurant was changed to a cafeteria. A playroom and classrooms were added.

Sanborn map analysis:

Sanborn 1884 map

Sanborn 1889 map

Sanborn 1895 map

Sanborn 1915 map

Sanborn 1949 map

Sanborn 1956 map