Holyoke is a city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States, that lies between the western bank of the Connecticut River and the Mount Tom Range. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 39,880. As of 2019, the estimated population was 40,117. Located 8 miles (13 km) north of Springfield, Holyoke is part of the Springfield Metropolitan Area, one of the two distinct metropolitan areas in Massachusetts.
Holyoke Community College (HCC) is a public community college in Holyoke, Massachusetts. It offers associate degrees and certificate programs, as well as a transfer program for students to earn credits for transfer to other colleges. It was the first community college established in Massachusetts, as it was founded by the city's school board in 1946, while others were subsequently chartered under state jurisdiction after 1960. HCC currently offers more than 100 associate degree and certificate options, as well as adult basic education/GED programs, education and training for business and industry, and noncredit community education classes. In a 2016 report on community colleges in the United States, the Aspen Institute and Columbia University's Community College Research Center cited HCC as among 2-year community colleges with best practices for student transfers to 4 year institutions such as the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Additionally among the 15 community colleges in Massachusetts, HCC has the highest percentage of student graduates completing associate degrees and certificate programs.
Holyoke Heritage State Park is history-oriented state park located in the city of Holyoke, Massachusetts. The park opened in 1986 on the site of the William Skinner Silk Mill which was lost to fire in 1980. The park is managed by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation.
William Whiting was an American businessman and politician from Holyoke, Massachusetts. Whiting descended from an English family who first settled in Lynn, Massachusetts during 1636.
Baystate Health is a not-for-profit integrated health system headquartered in Springfield, Massachusetts, serving Western Massachusetts and the Knowledge Corridor Region of Massachusetts and Connecticut. The system has 4 hospitals, over 80 medical practices, and 25 reference laboratories. With 12,000 employees including 1,600 physicians, it is one of Massachusetts' largest employers. Baystate also owns the for-profit insurer Health New England.
Mercy Medical Center is located in Springfield, Massachusetts. Run by the Sisters of Providence Health System, Mercy Hospital is a faith-based, non-profit organization serving patients regardless of background or beliefs. Mercy Medical Center is known for its tradition of holistic health care.
Holyoke is an Amtrak intercity train station near the corner of Main and Dwight streets in Holyoke, Massachusetts, United States. The station opened on August 27, 2015, eight months after Amtrak's Vermonter service was re-routed to the Conn River Line through the Pioneer Valley.
Dennie L. Farr was an American businessman and politician from Holyoke, Massachusetts. Born in Chesterfield, New Hampshire on November 29, 1861, to Lark L. and Mary Farr, he attended school at Newark, Bellow's Falls, and Westminster, Vermont, and Swanzey, New Hampshire.
Ingleside is a neighborhood in Holyoke, Massachusetts located to the south of the city center, approximately 2 miles from downtown. The neighborhood features access to the Connecticut River through the Sue Ellen Panitch River Center and the Land of Providence reservation. Ingleside is also home to the Holyoke Mall, the Nuestras Raices farm, the Sisters of Providence of Holyoke, the Providence Behavioral Health Hospital, and several recreational and historical venues.
Springdale is a neighborhood in Holyoke, Massachusetts located to the south of the city center, approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) from downtown, on the banks of the Connecticut River. The neighborhood features Springdale Park, originally known as Riverside Park, which was designed by the influential Olmsted Brothers landscape architecture firm, as well as light industry and machine shops, residential housing, and the central supply warehouse of Holyoke Public Schools. The mixed zoning neighborhood was developed as a streetcar suburb by brickmaker John J. Prew, who gave the area its name and devised the first street plans and building lots for the area in 1887 as housing for millworkers of South Holyoke. Since 1984, Springdale Park has hosted the city's annual Western Massachusetts Puerto Rican Parade, a three-day annual event in June celebrating the city's Latin culture and music.
Oakdale is a neighborhood in Holyoke, Massachusetts located to the west of the city center, adjacent to downtown. Developed as a streetcar suburb in the late nineteenth century, today the neighborhood contains many Victorian houses, and about 460 acres (190 ha) of mixed residential and commercial zoning, as well as Forestdale Cemetery, Saint Jerome Cemetery, Rohan Park, and Holyoke Medical Center.
Seraph Frissell, M.D., was an American physician and medical writer. She specialized in diseases of women and children. She was the first woman in Western Massachusetts to be admitted to any district medical society, and the fourth woman to be admitted a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society. Women were first admitted to medical societies in Massachusetts in 1884; but the Berkshire District Medical Society made Frissell an honorary member in 1877, and she attended its monthly meetings, receiving notices as a regular member.
The Soldiers' Home in Holyoke is a full-service veterans center and hospital located in Holyoke, Massachusetts, which maintains 247 beds in its main nursing facility, and a separate domiciliary care building with 30 full-time residents. The facility provides long-term care and outpatient medical services, as well as dental and social services, and programming and events for veterans. Operated by the Massachusetts Department of Veterans' Services, it is inspected annually by both the state and the United States Department of Veterans' Affairs.
Whiting Farms is a neighborhood in Holyoke, Massachusetts, located to the southwest of the city center, approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) from downtown. Developed in the 1960s and 1970s, its name derives from its original use as site of the farm of William Whiting, where the former mayor and papermaker bred a prizewinning herd of Jersey cattle in the late 19th and early 20th century, many of which were sold for breeding to all parts of the country. A disastrous fire caused by arson in 1919 would kill off the entire herd of 75 head, and following this the farm, then-owned by William F. Whiting, became largely defunct. At the end of the Second World War it was proposed that the property be redeveloped into an airpark, however these plans would never come to fruition. Shortly after another case of arson in 1967 which destroyed a remaining barn, the property began to see the medium-density residential development that characterizes it today, with the First Whiting Farms Cooperative Housing breaking ground later that year. Initially criticized as the "Road to Nowhere" during Samuel Resnic's administration in the early 1960s, Whiting Farms Road today serves as a major artery for retail businesses and traffic to I-91 in the area.
Edwin A. Seibel was an American journalist, activist, legislator, executive director of the Holyoke Taxpayers' Association, member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, and the 34th mayor of Holyoke, Massachusetts. Between his unorthodox lack of political allies, nomination by both Democratic and Republican parties in the same election, management style, and tenure as both a state representative and mayor concurrently, Seibel was described posthumously by a columnist for the Boston Traveller as “the most controversial mayor in Holyoke’s history”. During his tenure, Seibel oversaw the reduction in size of the Board of Alderman, a predecessor of the city council from 27 to 11 members.
This is a timeline of the history of the city of Holyoke, Massachusetts, USA.
From the beginning of the city's history as the western bank of Springfield, Irish families have resided in and contributed to the development of the civics and culture of Holyoke, Massachusetts. Among the first appellations given to the city were the handles "Ireland", "Ireland Parish", or "Ireland Depot", after the village was designated the 3rd Parish of West Springfield in 1786. Initially occupied by a mixture of Yankee English and Irish Protestant families, many of whom belonged to the Baptist community of Elmwood, from 1840 through 1870 the area saw a large influx of Irish Catholic workers, immigrants to the United States, initially from the exodus of the Great Famine. During that period Irish immigrants and their descendants comprised the largest demographic in Holyoke and built much of the early city's infrastructure, including the dams, canals, and factories. Facing early hardships from Anti-Irish sentiment, Holyoke's Irish would largely build the early labor movement of the city's textile and paper mills, and remained active in the national Irish nationalist and Gaelic revival movements of the United States, with the Holyoke Philo-Celtic Society being one of 13 signatory organizations creating the Gaelic League of America, an early 20th century American counterpart of Conradh na Gaeilge.
As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 39,880 people, 15,361 households, and 9,329 families residing in the city of Holyoke, Massachusetts. The population density was 723.6/km² (1,874/mi²). There were 16,384 housing units at an average density of 277.2/km² (718.6/mi²).
Providence Behavioral Health Hospital, formerly known as Providence Hospital, is a faith-based non-profit behavioral health and substance abuse medical center located in Holyoke, Massachusetts, providing non-emergency services. Founded in 1873 by the Sisters of Providence of Holyoke, Providence was originally the first full-service medical hospital in Holyoke, continuing until 1996 when it was converted to an psychiatric and behavioral health facility. In February 2020 the hospital announced it would cease all inpatient psychiatric services, citing a shortage of psychiatrists, effective June 30, 2020. The hospital will continue to maintain substance use disorder services as well as a methadone clinic.
