Springfield is a city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States, and the seat of Hampden County. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers: the western Westfield River, the eastern Chicopee River, and the eastern Mill River. As of the 2020 Census, the city's population was 155,929, making it the third-largest city in Massachusetts, the fourth-most populous city in New England after Boston, Worcester, and Providence, and the 12th-most populous in the Northeastern United States. Metropolitan Springfield, as one of two metropolitan areas in Massachusetts, had a population of 699,162 as of 2020.
The Pioneer Valley is the colloquial and promotional name for the portion of the Connecticut River Valley that is in Massachusetts in the United States. It is generally taken to comprise the three counties of Hampden, Hampshire, and Franklin. The lower Pioneer Valley corresponds to the Springfield, Massachusetts metropolitan area, the region's urban center, and the seat of Hampden County. The upper Pioneer Valley region includes the smaller cities of Northampton and Greenfield, the county seats of Hampshire and Franklin counties, respectively.
William Pynchon was an English colonist and fur trader in North America best known as the founder of Springfield, Massachusetts, USA. He was also a colonial treasurer, original patentee of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and the iconoclastic author of the New World's first banned book. An original settler of Roxbury, Massachusetts, Pynchon became dissatisfied with that town's notoriously rocky soil and in 1635, led the initial settlement expedition to Springfield, Hampden County, Massachusetts, where he found exceptionally fertile soil and a fine spot for conducting trade. In 1636, he returned to officially purchase its land, then known as "Agawam." In 1640, Springfield was officially renamed after Pynchon's home village, now a suburb of Chelmsford in Essex, England — due to Pynchon's grace following a dispute with Hartford, Connecticut's Captain John Mason over, essentially, whether to treat local natives as friends or enemies. Pynchon was a man of peace and also very business-minded — thus he advocated for friendship with the region's natives as a means of ensuring the continued trade of goods. Pynchon's stance led to Springfield aligning with the faraway government of the Massachusetts Bay Colony rather than that of the closer Connecticut Colony.
John Mason was an English-born settler, soldier, commander, and Deputy Governor of the Connecticut Colony. Mason was best known for leading a group of Puritan settlers and Indian allies on a combined attack on a Pequot Fort in an event known as the Mystic Massacre. The destruction and loss of life he oversaw effectively ended the hegemony of the Pequot tribe in southeast Connecticut.
Samuel Chapin was a prominent early settler of Springfield, Massachusetts. He served the town as selectman, magistrate and deacon. Chapin is best known today as the subject of the Augustus Saint-Gaudens sculpture entitled Deacon Samuel Chapin.
The Municipal Group of Springfield, Massachusetts is a collection of three prominent municipal buildings in the city's Metro Center district. Consisting of a concert hall, City Hall, and a 300-foot-tall (91 m) clocktower, the Group is a center of government and culture in the city.
The flag of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is a triband flag featuring vertical bands of black and gold and the city's coat of arms in the center.
The municipal flag of Springfield, Illinois, is the lawful flag of the capital of the U.S. state of Illinois, Springfield. Its background is "Old Glory blue". The flag is emblazoned with a circle of 20 small, white stars, all pointed upward; the circle is offset, slightly, to the left of the flag. Those stars encircle a large, white-bordered "Old Glory red" star, also pointed upward. The center star is described as two stars, one atop the other, in the Springfield, Illinois Code of Ordinances. In the past, the flag has the words "Springfield Illinois," across its bottom; now photographs show no lettering on the flag, and governmental buildings have been seen sporting a version absent text.
Springfield has been a civil parish of the Borough of Chelmsford in Essex, England since 1907. The parish takes in the portion of the town north of river Chelmer and west of the A12 bypass and originally comprised the manors of Springfield Hall, Springfield Barnes, Cuton Hall, and in part New Hall.
The municipal flag of New Orleans is the representative banner of the U.S. city of New Orleans, Louisiana. The flag has a large white field that contains three gold fleurs-de-lis and is bordered on the top by a red stripe and from below by a blue stripe. The presence of the fleur-de-lis, a stylized depiction of a flower and a traditional French symbol, demonstrates the city's French heritage and strong ties to France.
The coat of arms of Albany, New York, is the heraldic symbol representing the city of Albany, the capital of the U.S. state of New York. The coat of arms is rarely seen by itself; it is almost always used in the city seal or on the city flag. The current coat of arms was adopted in 1789, although prior to that it was significantly simpler, ranging from stylized lettering to a caricature of a beaver. Included in the coat of arms are references to Albany's agricultural and fur-trading past. It is supported by a white man and an American Indian and is crested by a sloop. The coat of arms is meant to represent the "symbols of industry and its rewards to man and beast on land and sea".
Metro Center is the original colonial settlement of Springfield, Massachusetts, located beside a bend in the Connecticut River. As of 2019, Metro Center features a majority of Western Massachusetts' most important cultural, business, and civic venues. Metro Center includes Springfield's Central Business District, its Club Quarter, its government center, its convention headquarters, and in recent years, it has become an increasingly popular residential district, especially among young professionals, empty-nesters, and creative types, with a population of approximately 7,000 (2010.)
The Puritan is a bronze statue by sculptor Augustus St. Gaudens in Springfield, Massachusetts, United States, which became so popular it was reproduced for over 20 other cities, museums, universities, and private collectors around the world, and later became an official symbol of the city, emblazoned on its municipal flag. Originally designed to be part of Stearns Square, since 1899 the statue has stood at the corner of Chestnut and State Street next to The Quadrangle.
The history of Springfield, Massachusetts dates back to the colonial period, when it was founded in 1636 as Agawam Plantation, named after a nearby village of Algonkian-speaking Native Americans. It was the northernmost settlement of the Connecticut Colony. The settlement defected from Connecticut after four years, however, later joining forces with the coastal Massachusetts Bay Colony. The town changed its name to Springfield, and changed the political boundaries among what later became the states of New England. The decision to establish a settlement sprang in large part from its favorable geography, situated on a steep bluff overlooking the Connecticut River's confluence with three tributaries. It was a Native American crossroad for two major trade routes: Boston-to-Albany and New York City-to-Montreal. Springfield also sits on some of the northeastern United States' most fertile soil.
John Avery Denison was an American politician and judge. He was Mayor of Springfield, Massachusetts and a judicial appointee of Calvin Coolidge.
The flag of Knoxville, Tennessee was officially adopted by municipal ordinance on October 16, 1896. It is the third oldest, official city flag in the United States and the oldest flag of any state or city governmental entity in Tennessee.
The seal of Cincinnati is the official insignia of the city of Cincinnati, Ohio, in the United States. Adopted in 1819, the seal incorporates scales, a sword, and a caduceus. The seal is featured prominently in the flag of Cincinnati and the insignia of city agencies and institutions.
The flag of Columbus is the official municipal flag of Columbus, Ohio. Its current design is a yellow, white, red vertical triband with the city seal on a blue field. Officially, the flag was adopted in 1929, although it is unknown if the flag was ever flown when it was first adopted.
The flag of Memphis, Tennessee, was designed by Albert Mallory III, then a student at the Memphis Academy of Arts, and was formally adopted by the city commission in July 1963. The flag was updated in 1967 to its current form, when a new city seal design by Alfred Lewis Aydelott was adopted by the city government, as it transitioned to a mayor-council form of government.
An early example of the flag, printed in a book on Samuel Chapin's genealogy; note the lack of gold shading on the banner and statue, wider white field and golden fringe.
A variant of the flag seen in Metro Center, Springfield; note the absence of gold trim, banner with only gold and white, lighter blue, wider white field, and Puritan facing leftward
The flag as it appears in the Massachusetts State House Hall of Flags; containing an unusual rendition of The Puritan statue and bearing a different shield and proportions from the previous example.
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