The Springfield and Eastern Street Railway, originally the Palmer and Monson Street Railway, was a streetcar company in the towns east of Springfield, Massachusetts.
The Springfield and Eastern Street Railway, originally the Palmer and Monson Street Railway, was a streetcar company in the towns east of Springfield, Massachusetts.
The first line of the Palmer and Monson Street Railway opened in 1898, connecting Palmer to Monson. It was controlled by the Consolidated Railway of Connecticut. In May 1901 the company was renamed to the Springfield and Eastern Street Railway. An extension to the Springfield Street Railway in Ludlow opened on September 17, 1901, and a line to Brimfield opened in July 1907.
On September 1, 1905, the Springfield Street Railway leased the Springfield and Eastern. In 1906 the S&E, along with most other Massachusetts properties of the Consolidated Railway (including the Springfield Street Railway), was sold to the New England Investment and Security Company. On November 26, 1910, following long protracted hearings before the state, the Springfield Street Railway would officially merge with the Springfield and Eastern, retaining its name in some uses, subsequently it would also be referred to as the company's Palmer Line Division. [1]
By 1927 buses had replaced the trolleys.
The original line ran between Palmer and Monson, and was later extended to South Monson. Most of this was over the present Route 32, except in two places. In Palmer, instead of crossing the Boston and Albany Railroad east of downtown with current Route 32, the line continued with Main Street, crossing the tracks downtown. Additionally, the tracks used a private right-of-way in North Monson, crossing the New London Northern Railroad at Bunyan Road.
The line from Palmer to Ludlow followed US 20 out the west end of Palmer. Just before the crossing of the Quaboag River, the tracks split to cross the river north of the road, and then crossed to the south side of the road onto a private right-of-way just north of the Boston and Albany Railroad. The part of this across the river has since become a realignment of the road. Near the Palmer/Wilbraham town line, the line left the north side of the B&A and returned to the road, continuing west to the border with Springfield, across the Chicopee River from Ludlow. At the end of this route, the road now known as Old Boston Road, Stony Hill Road and River Road was used.
The line from Palmer to Brimfield split from the Monson line just south of where it entered current Route 32. From there it ran on a private right-of-way cross-country to a point on US 20 at the split with Monson Road. The part of this alignment in Brimfield has since become a realignment of US 20. From there, the tracks continued along current US 20 to Brimfield center.
The line from Palmer to Ware headed north out of Palmer on present Route 32, splitting just before Palmer Center onto High Street. It continued north along River Street to Whipples, continuing on a private right-of-way (part of which is now River Street) back to Route 32, which it used to Ware. From Ware, a line continued along Route 32 to Gilbertville, with a branch heading east along Route 9 to the Warren, Brookfield and Spencer Street Railway at the present merge with Route 67 in West Brookfield. Some or all of these continuations past Ware may have been built and operated by the WB&S or another company.
A branch of the line to Ware turned west, continuing on High Street past River Street. It used Commercial Street and Main Street through Thorndike, ending at Three Rivers. A branch of that split at Four Corners, running north on present Route 181 to Bondsville and its Central Massachusetts Railroad station.
The Boston Post Road was a system of mail-delivery routes between New York City and Boston, Massachusetts that evolved into one of the first major highways in the United States.
Hampden County is a non-governmental county located in the Pioneer Valley of the state of Massachusetts, in the United States. As of the 2020 census, Hampden County's population was 465,825. Its traditional county seat is Springfield, the Connecticut River Valley's largest city, and economic and cultural capital; with an estimated population of 154,758, approximately 1 in 3 residents of Hampden County live in Springfield. Hampden County was split from Hampshire County in 1812, because Northampton, Massachusetts, was made Hampshire County's "shire town" in 1794; however, Springfield—theretofore Hampshire County's traditional shire town, dating back to its founding in 1636—grew at a pace far quicker than Northampton and was granted shire town-status over its own, southerly jurisdiction. It was named for parliamentarian John Hampden. To the north of Hampden County is modern-day Hampshire County; to the west is Berkshire County; to the east is Worcester County; to the south are Litchfield County, Hartford County, and Tolland County in Connecticut.
Ludlow is a New England town in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 21,103 as of the 2010 census, and it is considered part of the Springfield Metropolitan Statistical Area. Located just northeast of Springfield across the Chicopee River, it is one of the city's suburbs. It has a sizable and visible Portuguese and Polish community.
Monson is a town in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Palmer is a town in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 12,140 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. Palmer adopted a home rule charter in 2004 with a council-manager form of government. Palmer is one of thirteen Massachusetts municipalities that have city forms of government but retain "The town of" in their official names.
Ware is a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts. The population was 10,066 as of 2020. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area.
The Boston and Albany Railroad was a railroad connecting Boston, Massachusetts to Albany, New York, later becoming part of the New York Central Railroad system, Conrail, and CSX Transportation. The line is currently used by CSX for freight. Passenger service is still provided on the line by Amtrak, as part of their Lake Shore Limited service, and by the MBTA Commuter Rail system, which owns the section east of Worcester and operates it as its Framingham/Worcester Line.
Boston and Worcester Electric Companies (B&W) was a holding company for several streetcar companies between Boston and Worcester, Massachusetts. The main line, built by the Boston and Worcester Street Railway, was an interurban streetcar line partly on the old Boston and Worcester Turnpike and partly on private right-of-way. Long after the line was converted to buses, Boston and Worcester Lines took over operations, and sold the franchises to various other bus companies.
The Central Massachusetts Railroad was a railroad in Massachusetts. The eastern terminus of the line was at North Cambridge Junction where it split off from the Middlesex Central Branch of the Boston and Lowell Railroad in North Cambridge and through which it had access to North Station in Boston. From there, the route ran 98.77 miles west through the modern-day towns of Belmont, Waltham, Weston, Wayland, Sudbury, Hudson, Bolton, Berlin, Clinton, West Boylston, Holden, Rutland, Oakham, Barre, New Braintree, Hardwick, Ware, Palmer, Belchertown, Amherst, and Hadley to its western terminal junction at N. O. Tower in Northampton with the Connecticut River Railroad.
The Mass Central Rail Trail is a partially-completed rail trail from Northampton, Massachusetts to Boston along the former right of way of the Massachusetts Central Railroad. When complete, it will run 104 miles (167 km) through Central Massachusetts and Greater Boston. Many segments of the trail, including the Norwottuck Branch Rail Trail and the Somerville Community Path, have been developed as separate projects but will serve as part of the complete Mass Central Rail Trail.
The New London Northern Railroad was a part of the Central Vermont Railway from New London, Connecticut, north to Brattleboro, Vermont. After a long period with the Canadian National Railway, it is now operated by the New England Central Railroad. The New London Northern was the only through railroad in Connecticut not to come under the control of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad.
Massachusetts's 2nd congressional district is located in central Massachusetts. It contains the cities of Worcester, which is the second-largest city in New England after Boston, and Northampton in the Pioneer Valley. It is represented by Democrat Jim McGovern.
Area code 413 is a telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the western third of Massachusetts. It is the largest numbering plan area in the Commonwealth, and extends from the New York state line eastward into Worcester County, while excluding the Franklin County towns of Orange, New Salem, Warwick, and Wendell, which use the overlay of area codes 978 and 351. The most-populous city of area code 413 is Springfield. 413 also includes Great Barrington, Greenfield, North Adams, Northampton and Pittsfield.
Route 19 is a 16.54-mile-long (26.62 km) north–south state highway located in south central Massachusetts, United States. It runs from the Connecticut border in Wales north to an intersection with Massachusetts Route 9 and Massachusetts Route 67 in the town of West Brookfield.
Massachusetts Route 32 is a state highway in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. The highway runs 60.66 miles (97.62 km) from the Connecticut state line in Monson, where the highway continues as Connecticut Route 32, north to the New Hampshire state line in Royalston, where the highway continues as New Hampshire Route 32. Route 32 connects several towns on the eastern edge of Western Massachusetts. The highway serves Palmer in eastern Hampden County, Ware in eastern Hampshire County, and Barre and Athol in northwestern Worcester County. Route 32 intersects major east–west routes including U.S. Route 20 and the Massachusetts Turnpike in Palmer, Route 9 in Ware, and US 202 and Route 2 in Athol. The highway has an alternate route, Route 32A, through Hardwick and Petersham.
Route 21 is a 13.73-mile-long (22.10 km) south–north state highway in Massachusetts that runs between U.S. Route 20 and Route 141 in Springfield and Route 9 in Belchertown. Along the way it intersects several major highways including Interstate 90 (I-90) in Ludlow and US 202 and Route 181 in Belchertown.
Turley Publications Inc. is a privately owned commercial printer and publisher of more than a dozen weekly newspapers based in Palmer, Massachusetts, United States.
Union Station is a historic former railroad station located in downtown Palmer, Massachusetts. The building, which was designed by American architect H. H. Richardson, opened in June 1884 to consolidate two separate stations nearby. The grounds of the station were originally designed by Frederick Law Olmsted.
The Springfield Street Railway (SSR) was an interurban streetcar and bus system operating in Springfield, Massachusetts as well as surrounding communities with connections in Agawam, Blandford, Chicopee, East Longmeadow, Longmeadow, Ludlow, Monson, Palmer, Russell, Ware, Westfield, and West Springfield.
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