Day Brook is about 2.5 miles long from the top of Crafts Hill to its end at the Connecticut River. The segment from Norwood Terrace to just past MacKenzie Field was placed underground from 1925 to 1926. This is 4883 feet long or about 0.9 miles. It is not yet know when the next segment from just past MacKenzie Field to the Connecticut River was placed under ground.
The Day Brook project cost $20,560.86 in 1925. The Day Brook project cost $126,094.66 in 1926. The two year project was thus $146,655.52. That would be about $6 million in 2023 money.
The diameter of the lines were 36, 42, 51, and 54 inches which is very wide for sewer lines.
1925 information from the Holyoke annual municipal register.
1926 information from the Holyoke annual municipal register.
The Holy Mother of Rosary Church was chartered in March of 1897. Its first mass was in October of 1898.
The initial thoughts of having a new parish were from 1896. Land was purchased on Bell Street on January 5 1897. Plans were formulated on Jan 11 of that year. The first pastor was named on Jan 17 of 1897. Masses and ceremonies were held at the Daniel Twarog house at 21 Chicopee Street. There was a ceremony for the installation of the church bell on September 29 1901.
At first Independent Polish Roman Catholic Church of Holy Mother of the Rosary was used as the name but on June 7 1911 the name was changed to Holy Mother of Rosary Polish National Catholic Church.
In 1917 a building behind the present rectory was bought and used as a social hall.
Polish National School
The parish school hall had its cornerstone blessed on June 20 1937 and dedicated on September 26 1937. The School of Christian Living was started Oct 31 1954.
first pastor and then bishop – Walenty Peter Gawrychowski – FINDAGRAVE
pastor Rev Robert M Nemkovich from February of 1968 onwards
Holy Mother of Rosary Church had a fire on April 9 1933.
The Chicopee Almshouse has an interesting story HERE at starting at page 7. This was on the land that is now at and near the northeast corner of Ondrick Drive and East Street extending to Crestwood Street..
Ira Olney died Feb 28 1857 at the Town Farm at the Chicopee Almshouse. She died at a pest house there of small pox and was buried onsite.
Then Harvey Reed died Dec 20 1859 at the Town Farm at the Chicopee Almshouse. He died at a pest house there of small pox and was buried onsite.
Only three burial happened at the Town Farm at the Chicopee Almshouse. It is not know if the burials are still there. The other burial was a child but I cannot find a record of that burial.
Holyoke Richardsonian Train Station is bounded by Lyman, Bower, Mosher, and Canal Streets. This is an outside sidewalk tour.
Connecticut River Railroad Passenger Station was built in 1884 and finished in 1885. (The first day of use was February 1 1885.) Henry Hobson Richardson designed this station. The station is 154 feet long and 38 feet wide. The overhang of the porch is 15.5 feet. The outdoor pillars are of yellow pine. The dark brown trim in the architecture is of Longmeadow brownstone. The light masonry is of Milford granite. There is curbing around the perimeter of the grounds and this is up to 8 feet high at the maximum. It is cut from Dummerston Vermont granite.
Inside any wood finishing is of oak. The floors are pine. Any masonry trim plus the fountain is of Knoxville marble. The stairwells have oak balustrades.
As a passenger walked out of the train station toward Bowers Street they would have seen in the 1920s the Immaculate Conception Church in the distance down Ely Street. What a site that would have been! This walking tour brings you back to what life would have been like from 1885 to 1965 when this train station was active. It would have brought many immigrants into Holyoke. The station was surrounded by some very active streets.
Within the lot of the railroad station there is a Boston and Maine Railroad Express Office. It was built between 1896 to 1910 since it does not appear on the Sanborn map of 1895 but does appear on the 1911 Richards map.
stop 1 – Bowers Street
Of great interest is that the Three Star Theatre was across the street from the station. Read a little about it at the LINK. Also across Bowers Street was a line of stores and houses.
The American House was at the end of Bowers (officially at 96-98-100 Lyman Street) from at least 1887 to 1895 (in 1894 it was called the Daley Hotel). Alex Terren (Therrien) was the proprietor. The Lenox Stag Hotel was across the street for the entire block in at least the 1910s.
The most fascinating fact about the Bowers Street land is that when it was graded from 1868 to 1870 many Native American burials were found. Mosher and Bowers MAP.
stop 2 – Potvin Tenement Houses
Across the station alongside Lyman Street many apartment buildings were constructed. Behind these structures there was a street that is not there any more called Potvin Street and then the 2nd of three trolley barns for the Holyoke Street Railway. TROLLEY
The tenement houses across Lyman were all built in the same style and by the same owner. Gilbert Potvin (FINDAGRAVE) had the Lynch Construction Company built 13 tenement houses along Lyman here and in a row onto the adjacent streets to form a long series. All were attached to the closest one by an elevated walkway on each floor. These wooden walkways lasted from the construction in 1880 until at least 1895. (They were on three Sanborn maps but not that in 1915 – at that point windows are in their place) Each building was 4 stories high and had the same dimensions.
stop 3 – Connecticut River Line Railroad Bridge
You can see the Connecticut River Line Railroad Bridge built in 1927 and completed in 1928. In the distance to the northwest is the Whiting Paper Mill and the Boatlock Station.
stop 4 – Juncture of North Canal and Main Streets
Now on to Canal Street and the Second Level Canal. The Lyman Mill dominates this section of Canal Street. You can read a great deal about the Second Level Canal at this LINK.
On the eastern side of Canal Street there was in order left to right a fire station, the Holyoke Water Power Company, and the Second Baptist Church.
The administration building of the Holyoke Water Power Company is on this city block of Canal Street. It was built in 1871 as a Second Empire style building. In the early 1880s the French roof was raised off of the 1 story building and a second floor added. In the late 1880s a side and back addition were made.
The Second Baptist Church was built here in 1855 as a meeting house. In 1863 a fire destroyed the meeting house. In the new church, exterior was clad in brick and the steeple was 50 feet high. It was dedicated April 20 1865. Another Second Baptist Church was built on Appleton Street. LINK The cornerstone was laid August 9 1884 and the church was dedicated October 20 1885. This Second Baptist Church at the juncture of Main and Canal was to remain part of the church system as a mission church.
The parish of the Holy Rosary Church met at the Second Baptist Church during 1886 and 1887. The Rosary Church was built on Mosher Street in 1888. The life of the Second Baptist Church at Main and Canal since by 1895 it had been removed. The church was removed in the 1880s or 1890s so that a building that faced onto Mosher Street could be expanded.
stop 5 – Hotel Monat
This building on Mosher Street was built in 1884. It was three floors high and had stores on the ground floor (fruit, barber, and a bar) and a chemical company on the second floor. By 1895 it now had a hotel on the upper stories and was called the Norris House. The Hotel Monat came into this building and expanded it backwards. By 1949 the Hotel Monat had two restaurants – 4 Main and 2 Mosher. The establishment was owned by Henry Monat.
Across the street from the Monat was the Robert Russell building. This area would become an auto repair shop in the 1910s with wood buildings and then masonry buildings. At the southwest corner of Mosher and Bower Streets, there was a railroad turntable.
Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church is a neo-Gothic church on Chestnut Street in Springfield. This is in the Liberty Heights neighborhood of the city. Its campus included a rectory, churchyard, convent, and school. PARISH LINK
Church
The original Sacred Heart Church was done June 14 1874. James J McDermott was the founder of this wonderful church. James had been ordained August 11 1866. The first mass was in 1874 at the Chapel of the Sacred Heart which was on Everett Street.
Sacred Heart Church that you see here now was started in October 21 1888 (cornerstone lain) and finished in 1896. The plans were made by James Murphy. It was consecrated on October 18 1896. The church is made of Longmeadow Sandstone. The church has 27 stained glass window that were made in Munich Germany. The metallic turrets were added in 1998. The organ is a Steere and Turner make from 1874. It was made for the Sacred Heart Chapel Church in that year. In 1896 they moved it from the chapel to the church. Steere and Turner is a Springfield based company.
External LINK to the history of the church campus.
Richards map 1894
Churchyard
Father McDermott was buried alongside the church in 1891 – FINDAGRAVE. He had gone to Paris France to deal with tuberculosis but died there. The memorial gravestone is a John Donohue design. FINDAGRAVE
Sacerdos in Eternum
Ave in pace Sacerdos Rari exempli Fide Fortis Spe Laetus Caritate Fervens Tui Immemor de Aliis Sollicitus Mitis et Constans Rectus et Prudens
[Hail in Peace, Priest, Rare Example of Faith, Strong in Hope, Joyful in Charity, Fervent in Thyself, Unmindful of Others, Concerned, Gentle and Constant, Upright and Prudent.]
Convent
From 1877 the nuns would occupy the former rectory. In 1882 a convent was built. The nuns were from the order of the Notre Dame. There was a garden in the back of the convent during the early 1900s. It had a garden house called a summer house.
The newest convent is from 1953. The nuns have a chapel of their own. Nowadays the Monsignor Farland Center is here. This is an education center.
School
The school was at 27 Everett Street and was ready in August of 1877. In the beginning it was called the Convent School of Notre Dame. The church would be for a while on the ground floor and the school on the second floor. The third floor was a social hall. The cellar was for fraternal groups. The school was served by the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur who also served the girls’ schools in Chicopee and Holyoke. They only served girls. In 1881 a high school system started. Boys were allowed into the elementary school only by 1908 but then that system was changed in 1925 since there was no room for them. After the 1970s the boys were allowed back into the school. When the school was razed, the statue that was in the front hallway of the school plus its corner stone and cross were saved.
In 1925 a new school was erected on the back side of the old school. The new school was a John Donohue design. It would be both a high and an elementary school.
In September of 1970 Sacred Heart High School joined with the Notre Dame High School of Chicopee in a joint school. They took on the name of Notre Dame but stayed in Springfield at this location. The high school school closed for good by 1976. The elementary school lasted much longer only closing in 2002.
POSTCARD look at the church and the back of the school.
In 1872 the house that would become the rectory was built and occupied by a Luther Fisk. After the death of McDermott, Reverend Thomas Smythe took over. The first rectory was at 35 Everett Street and McDermott lived there from 1874 to 1877.
