The Enfield Falls Canal in Windsor Locks Connecticut is the first in geographical order of the six navigational canals of the Connecticut River that you meet as you go from south to north on the river. It is however the last one of the six built. It was started in June of 1827. It was completed in November 1829 and lasted until the 1970s. It is 5.25 miles in length and had four locks to lift it 30 feet. It was 70 feet wide and thus large ships could pass through. The Connecticut River Banking Company (Hartford) was founded in 1825 in order to finance the canal.
A power canal would replace the navigational canal and would have many mills between it and the Connecticut River. The New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad would also pass through being just to the west of the canal. When the bike path was put in it would NOT pass over these rail lines. It would rather be placed over the former tow path. TRAIL MAP of the bike path.
The navigational canals of the Connecticut River were made to allow transport of goods from Long Island Sound to upper Vermont without portage. At the end of the canal days, one could go from Old Saybrook Connecticut to the Wells River in Vermont 280 miles upstream. This was a difference in elevation of 500 feet.
The Skinner house at 1155 Northampton Street is hard to see from the road. This was built in the French Provincial style. The front lawn is visible from Northampton Street. There were two ponds on the property and they were each changed into a reservoir.
William Skinner had this home made for his family. The landscape was designed by Olmsted Brothers from 1917 to 1922. The estate itself is called the Dogwood.
3000 quarts of milk were used in the city in 1891. There were 491 cows in Holyoke in 1888. That gives one the scope of the quantity of milk that needed to be looked into. Milk is very important for the development of infants. However the purity is always in question due to the retailers that water down the milk or use spoiled milk. One method the city used was to test the specific gravity of the milk. Specific gravity is the ratio of the density of a liquid compared to water. The city would test the specific gravity with a lactometer. Since the specific gravity of milk is 1.03, milk should settle lower than milk. Along with other tests such as chemical tests, the milk can be analyzed.
This Milk Station was at the southwest corner of South Bridge and Sargeant Streets (34 to 36 Sargeant Street). Holyoke Infant Hygiene Association started on June 1 1911 to help mothers get pure milk for their infants. The first distribution was on September 1 1912. This was the location for only a year since it moved to 40 Sargeant Street.
The Holyoke Municipal Milk Station was later part of the Child Welfare Commission. This Child Welfare Commission was one of the departments of the City of Holyoke. It started on May 20 1919. This Child Welfare Commission was started by Minnie Ryan Dwight (1873-1957).
From October of 1923 it was located at 17 Spring Street and there it was called the Municipal Child Health Center and Milk Station. Luella Thomson is the nurse in charge. The milk is still distributed from a 34 Sargeant Street location for a short time.
The annual Holyoke City Report mentions the Milk Station in 1928 but not in 1929 so it might have been fully integrated into the Child Welfare Department in that year. All reports from 1930 onwards do have the Milk Station in the Child Welfare Department. In 1934 the Milk Station Laboratory and Center were terminated for good. One reason was a positive reason and the other negative. The increase in home instruction had led to mothers’ being independent but on the other hand the worldwide depression had caused a lack of money. [The Milk Station Laboratory was where milk formulae were made.]
The picture is from the 1937 paper and shows the Milk Station. It must have been turned into a dental clinic.
Look at this decrease in infant deaths per 1000.
1910
150
1915
100
1920
90
1925
70
1930
50
1935
40
1940
30
1945
22
1950
12
Sadie Leion was the first nurse and social worker at the milk station.
Laura Antz Whitten was one of the driving forces.
There were many substations of the milk station around Holyoke:
Hebert Drug (Ely)
Rigali Fruit (Lyman)
Demenei Fruit (Sargeant)
Martin’s (Hampden)
Schmitter Drug (South Street)
Ridgewood Pharmacy (Northampton Street)
Mielke Filling Station (Main)
Curran Brothers (Main)
Most very large city across the United States had milk stations in the 1910s. Read about the New York City one HERE in a complete analysis. It seems to have been started as a private charity venture by the owner of Macy’s.
The funeral homes of Holyoke have been many. Nathaniel Quint started the first funeral home in Holyoke in 1853. I do not know where it was started but it was moved to Chestnut Street.
The Bachelor Brook-Stony Brook Conservation Area is a beautiful conservation land in the northern part of South Hadley. This is on Native American land. The Bachelor had the native name of Sankwonk and the Stony Brook had the native name of Mosquomp.
A House in Holyoke through Time features stories about the people that lived in a specific home in Holyoke through the timespan of the home. This is part of a larger series.
