Tragedies in the Canal
Category: Uncategorized
Kennedy Park
The Highlands have many beautiful mansions and structures. There was great growth in the Highlands when a trolley route was made up Appleton Street and up Lincoln Street. The neighborhood grew so quickly that it needed a school – The Highland Grammar School. The Highland Grammar School was built in 1905. It was a large three floor building.
stop 1 – Highlands Methodist Episcopal Church
read stop 9 at this LINK
stop 2 – Lincoln Street
A one block walk up Lincoln Street from the park in a westerly direction is a fine way to view some nice homes. (LOCATION)
At 98 Lincoln Street is the Azro Coburn house from 1908.
At 104 Lincoln Street is the James Ramage house from 1895.
At 110 Lincoln Street.
At 118 Lincoln Street is the John Williams house from 1893. This is a Queen Ann Victorian home. John was a carpenter and painter with Doane in a Holyoke store.
stop 3 – corner of Waldo and Allyn Streets
This corner has many beautiful Victorian homes. (LOCATION)
stop 4 – Nonotuck Street and Allyn Street
While there are some nice homes along Nonotuck Street, this corner of the park is best to use as a grand entrance into the park’s many sections. The playground area of Kennedy Park comes first. (LOCATION) Then some memorial stones honoring Kennedy and the former Highland School. The school was positioned in the middle of the park. Beyond the park’s center is a modern baseball diamond.
stop 5 – Kennedy Park
The Edward Kennedy Park is now located in place of the school. He was a student at the school and then at Sacred Heart High School. He won the Silver Medal, the Bronze Medal, and the Purple Heart. He was killed in action in Germany on October 31 1944.
stop 6 – Highland Grammar School
The Highland Grammar School opened in 1900 and closed in the 1980s. LINK
[STORY about reproductions of artwork at the Highland Grammar School. Where is this art now?]
Sanborn map analysis:
Sanborn 1884 and 1889 map – not covered
Sanborn 1915 map and map B and map C
Sanborn 1949 map and map B and map C
Sanborn 1956 map and map B and map C
Doyle residences
In 1928 the family lived at 130 Waldo Street for that year only. It signifies their move from an apartment (at Thorpe) to a home but they did not own that house. In 1929 they had moved again to Clinton Street. The grid below is the residences of the Doyle family from their youth to their deaths.
| residence | years | |
| he at 173 Elm Street and she at 191 Dwight Street | 1905 | |
| 104 Beech Street | 1906 | |
| 783 Dwight Street | 1910 | |
| 354 Hampden Street | 1915 to 1916 | |
| 7 Thorpe | 1918 to 1927 | |
| 130 Waldo Street | 1928 | |
| 9 Clinton | 1929 to 1930 | rent |
| 18 Lynwood Avenue | 1935 | |
Sanborn map analysis of 132 Waldo Street:
Sanborn 1915 map
Mary Doyle’s Birth Place
7 Thorpe Avenue is the birth place of Mary Doyle. She lived there in her younger years. Until about 1915 this was the location of a wooden home but was replaced by this apartment complex. The Doyle family lived here for a few years then moved around the Highlands neighborhood.
Doyle residences – LINK
Sanborn map analysis:
Sanborn 1895 map shows an empty lot
Sanborn 1915 map shows the large brick building at 7 Thorpe
genealogy of the Doyle family:
| name | relation | Findagrave |
| Mary Doyle | self | Findagrave |
| Edward Doyle | father | Findagrave |
| Mary Sullivan | mother | Findagrave |
| John Joseph Sullivan | maternal grandfather | Findagrave |
| Johanna Sheehan | maternal grandmother | Findagrave |
| Findagrave |
Edward Doyle her father was a wool sorter at the Farr Alpaca Mill.
In the 1920 census the Doyle family is at 7 Thorpe Avenue.
In the 1930 census the Doyle family is at 9 Clinton Street.
Highland Park
The Highlands have many beautiful mansions and structures. There was great growth in the Highlands when a trolley route was made up Appleton Street and up Lincoln Street. The neighborhood grew so quickly that it needed a school – The Highland Grammar School. This was used as an auditorium for the Holy Cross Church for its signing groups. The Highland Grammar School was built in 1905. It was a large three floor building.
[STORY about reproductions of artwork at the Highland Grammar School. Where is this art now?]
From at least 1920 to 1926 there was an annual production at the Highland School Hall and then at the Holy Cross Church Hall. The production was called the Holy Cross Minstrel Show. Holy Cross also purchased (on July 28 1923) a 125 acre parcel of land in Goshen and turned it into the Holy Cross Boys and Girls Camp.
The Edward Kennedy Park is now located in place of the school. He was a student at the school and then at Sacred Heart High School. He won the Silver Medal, the Bronze Medal, and the Purple Heart. He was killed in action in Germany on October 31 1944.
The Parish and the Hill (by Mary Doyle Curran) tour
[A tour can be given. Also a one hour indoor presentation can be given.]
The Parish and the Hill is a novel written by Mary Doyle Curran about the life of her family in Holyoke. Through three generations, the life of the family has changed from a rough one in the mills to one of some gentility. Pulaski Park was were the Irish first lived in the late 1840s. St Jerome’s Church was a parish church for the family. After the Irish helped build the mills through the 1850s and 1870s, many new mills came into town. Her father worked as a mill sorter at the Farr Alpaca Mill. The Doyle family moved uptown to the Highlands in the early 1900s as many of the Irish of Holyoke did. There Holy Cross Church started as an offshoot of the Saint Jerome Church. Mary Doyle was born at 7 Thorpe Avenue and lived there in her youth. She attended the Highland Grammar School. Her relatives lived around the Highlands area and her own family did move a bit.
This tour may be done as a walking, driving, or bicycle riding tour. It is about 3 miles to cover the stops and then another 1 mile to return to the start. Use the 10 underlined TOUR links in the grid below to get to much more information on each stop. This tour outline was designed by Mark Clinton and Patricia Kennedy professors of the Holyoke Community College in 2017. It has been enlarged and described by Robert Comeau. [Use the Holyoke Public Library as a halfway rest area. Doyle worked here in her youth.]
| stop | location | address (Google map at link) | TOUR link | comments | VIDEO |
| 1 | Pulaski Park | northern end of Maple Street | TOUR | Mary Doyle’s grandfather worked at the Parsons Paper Mill number 1 which was just over the start of the canal. | multiple videos at the tour link |
| 2 | Veteran’s Park | corner of Hampden and Chestnut Streets | TOUR | multiple videos at the tour link | |
| 3 | Saint Jerome Church Campus | corner of Hampden and Chestnut Streets | TOUR | This was Mary’s grandfather and mother’s church. | multiple videos at the tour link |
| 4 | Holyoke Canal System | Holyoke Heritage State Park | TOUR | multiple videos at the tour link | |
| 5 | Farr Alpaca Mills | corner of Appleton and Bigelow Streets | TOUR | MILL – Mary’s father worked at the Farr Alpaca Mill. | Video |
| Rest | Holyoke Public Library | Chestnut Street | TOUR | Library TOUR – Mary took out books from here | multiple videos at the tour link |
| 6 | Holy Cross Church | corner of Pleasant and Appleton Streets | TOUR | (first 5 stops at this tour link) | Video |
| 7 | Mary Doyle’s Birth Place | 7 Thorpe Avenue | TOUR | includes genealogical information and her other homes | Video |
| 8 | Hampden Street businesses | Hampden Street | TOUR | frequented stores | same video as above |
| 9 | Highland Park | corner of Lincoln and Waldo Streets | TOUR | now Kennedy Park | Video |
| 10 | Saint Jerome Cemetery | Saint Jerome Avenue | TOUR | Mary Doyle Curran has a gravestone marker near her parents. | Video |
| Bonus | Brightside | Brightside Drive | TOUR | The Doyles visited here for a theatrical play. Mary grandfather was in the old mens’ home (Beavan-Kelly) for a short time. | multiple videos at the tour link |
External LINK to the gravestone cemetery ceremony.
South Hadley Falls Cemetery
The South Hadley Falls Cemetery walking tour booklet is available from me. They cost $5 for a black-and-white stapled copy. Each additional copy after that is $3 more when shipped together. For a color copy, the cost is $8 and each additional copy in color is $6.
Email me from my contact page for details. The booklets that you order will be mailed to you via USPS so I need a physical address. Other booklets are available at the BOOKLET page.
Follow the tour HERE.
Tour Booklets of South Hadley
Otto Dreikorn house
Edward Twing had two different lots worked on in Holyoke. This was done from 1923 to 1925. One was at 62 Central Park Drive and the other at the double land lot 198 and 208 Central Park Drive.
The Twing house at 62 Central Park Drive. The home is Tudor revival. This is the first of two homes that Edward Twing had the Olmsted Brothers fully design. This one was designed in 1923. It was perhaps ready in 1930 but the worldwide Depression did not allow for Twing to find a buyer for the grand home. I believe Twing built these homes in the Wyckoff area for resale only.
Soon after it was built Otto Dreikorn purchased the house. Otto Dreikorn was a bread maker of Holyoke. He was also a fire commissioner for decades. FINDAGRAVE
More importantly for us is that he was the president of the Wyckoff Park Realty Corporation and owner of the Mt Tom Golf Course.
His father named Max Otto started the Dreikorn bread store from scratch and also worked on the Parks Commission for the city of Holyoke.
Massachusetts Land Trusts
There are many land trusts in Massachusetts:
Mount Grace Land Conservation Trust
Berkshire Natural Resources Council