Hadley Business
Throughout most of Hadley’s history,
agriculture has been the main business in town. We will be featuring
farming in August and November, so here we will focus on the
businesses that have supported the agriculture, the townspeople, and
the wider region.
Early businesses supported the needs
of the townspeople and travelers. There were taverns, blacksmith
shops, ferries and grist mills. Families produced most of their
needs on their farm, growing or making their own yarn and fabrics,
soaps, candles, food, etc.
The first corn mill and dam were
built in 1673 on the Mill River in North Hadley. They were built
there because of the water power, but the remoteness made it
dangerous to travel to. The mill was burned by Indians in 1677.
Hopkins Schools became the owner, and received the profits from the
mill until 1865. The mill and dam were destroyed several times by
fires and floods. The last corn was ground at the grist mill in
North Hadley in 1925.
There were taverns throughout town in
the 1600s, 1700s and 1800s. An old tavern book from the mid 1700s
from a tavern in Hockanum shows that the tavern was a center of
trade as well as a meeting place. The tavern book lists the accounts
of its customers. Along the entries for "half a point of Rhum", "a
Short Boal of Punch " and "a mug of Phlip" are entries for purchases
of fabrics, oats, beef, pork, butter, tobacco, and more, with the
entries in pounds, shillings and pence. In 1774, The Ben Smith
Tavern was built by Major John Smith on the corner of Middle Street
and Bay Road. The tavern closed in 1848. It now houses the Waldorf
School.
Ben Smith Tavern
Photo courtesy of Hadley Historical Society
1797: The first brooms manufactured
from broom corn in this country were made in Hadley. The brooms were
made from a type of corn called broom corn. By 1850, there were 41
broom corn shops in town, they made 769,000 brooms and 76,000
brushes. Hadley was well known for its brooms. By 1900, the broom
corn business had declined, due to cheaper crops out west. A broom
corn machine can be seen in the Hadley Farm Museum.
MILLS: 1800s: There were several
mills on the Mill River off of North Maple Street, near Kelley's
farm, called Adams Mills. The mills manufactured wagons, baby
buggies and hose-drawn carriages. They burned down around 1870. In
the mid 1800s, mills thrived in the North Hadley area, which was
first called Upper Mills. There was a saw mill, grist mill, plaster
mill, carding mill, wire manufacturer and a blacksmith shop.
Afterwards there was a mill for making broom tools and knives. There
were also mills on the Fort River, where Lawrence Plain Rd meets Bay
Rd. There was a saw mill, grist mill, plaster mill, paper mill and
ice cream mill. These were called Lower Mills. The last mill burned
down in the early 1900s. The stone foundation of one of the mills
can still be seen. On South Maple Street there was a tannery, a saw
mill and a shop for making children's wagons.
1854 Census:
5 saw mills
2 grist mills
3 blacksmith shops
5 stores, 2 of them with post offices
1 plaster and wire manufactory
1 wheelwright
1 wagon shop
40 broom making shops
North Hadley dam and grist mill before 1905
Photo courtesy of Hadley Historical Society
Please help us add to the time line below. Email your information
to hadley350@gmail.com.
1873 there was general financial panic in the area.
1910 Montgomery’s became the first commercial rose growers in the
area, they developed the "Hadley Rose"
Hadley is a thriving shopping center
for the region. Most of the retail stores are located along Rt 9.
Many travelers through Hadley just drive on Rt 9, and know Hadley
for its wonderful shopping and hotels. They don’t realize that much
of Hadley’s twenty five square miles are farmed. The businesses
provide an important tax base to the town, enabling Hadley to have a
lower tax rate than 90% of the towns in Western Mass, according to
the Massachusetts Department of Revenue FY 2008 summary of tax rates
for cities and towns.
In this aerial taken in August of
2008, the line of trees to the south of Rt 9 is the bike path, with
the two malls located between Rt 9 and the bike path. Home Depot is
under construction on the north side of the road.
North Hadley Sugar Shack
The North Hadley Sugar Shack is the
name of the sugarhouse/farmstand built during the year 1995 by John
and Joe Boisvert and their family. John and Joe had been farming and
producing maple syrup since their teens when the land and buildings
owned by their grandparents, Mary and Adolph Pipczynski, became
available for purchase. John and Joe with help from their families
built the sugarhouse on that land which they bought in 1995. The
following year the first maple syrup was produced in the sugarhouse
and people could watch the sap being boiled down into maple syrup in
the same room as pancakes were served.
Breakfast including waffles,
pancakes, bacon and eggs and other tasty treats are served during
the sugaring season which typically runs from the end of February
through early April. What a sweet time of year! In these days of
worries about where food comes from, maple syrup comes out a winner!
It is all natural, nothing added and all that is taken out is the
water. Maple candy, maple cream, maple cotton candyand sugar on snow
are all made right here by Joe and John Boisvert and their family.
Here at Boisvert Farm, John and Joe
grow asparagus, tobacco, and many kinds of winter squash, especially
butternut. Their many varieties of mums and asters, and pumpkins are
sold at their fall farmstand -- of course with their maple syrup.
Their grandparents farmed some of the
same land that John and Joe farm today. And they grew asparagus and
tobacco, too. However, they did not produce maple syrup and they did
not grown any squash. But what they have in common with their
grandparents is a love of farming and love of the land. Farming is
the foundation from which our basic needs for survival come. The
dedication, commitment and hard work of all farmers is a heritage we
can all be proud of. Mary and Adolph Pipczynski instilled this
belief in this generation of farmers.
The North Hadley Sugar Shack is a
seasonal business open in early spring through April and then again
from August to December.
Please visit our website at
http://www.northhadleysugarshack.com/
or call 585-8820 for up to date information.
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The Hadley Garden Center opened for
business in March of 1963 on a then quiet stretch of Route 9. Ed and
Fran Machno had a 30’ x 40’ building constructed for their seasonal
garden shop. While the store was only open March through October, it
soon became a destination for amateur and experienced gardeners in
the Pioneer Valley. The Machnos built their business on service and
knowledge -- always helping their customers find the plants, tools,
and information they needed to maintain their landscapes as well as
create new ones.
In 1988 Tom and Janine Giles took
over operations with the purchase of the business and continue to
operate it 21 years later. While Janine grew up in Hadley, Tom came
to the area via the Stockbridge School at the University of
Massachusetts Amherst. He returned after graduation to work for the
Machnos in 1973.
This family owned and operated garden
center, open 7 days year round, has proudly served the needs of
Western Massachusetts gardeners for 46 years. The busiest season
kicks off in March with the arrival of the nursery stock. Fall
brings cooler temperatures for fall planting and the arrival of a
huge selection of spring flowering bulbs. November and December are
filled with helping customers find the perfect holiday decorations
and creating beautiful wreaths and swags, as well as finding the
perfect gifts for gardeners and non-gardeners alike. In between, the
store is busy with houseplant, bird feeder and bird food, and garden
supplies sales.
The knowledgeable Hadley Garden
Center staff, which includes 8 full-time and numerous part-time
employees, shares in the philosophy "We won’t let you fail." They
happily answer questions and help customers with suggestions for
garden design or appropriate plantings. And as they’ve done since
1963, they always answer their busy telephone to solve the next
plant or lawn problem for the many Western Massachusetts gardeners
who have come to depend on their advice.
Please visit our website at:
http://www.hadleygardencenter.com/
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In 2009 Cowls celebrates our
350th Anniversary with Hadley and our
250th with Amherst!
In
1659, Jonathan and Hannah Cowls were a founding family of Hadley.
Three generations later in 1741 their great grandsons moved east
across the Connecticut River and acquired the Cowls family farm
where Cowls Building Supply, Cowls Sawmill, and the 1768 Cowls
family farmhouse (now Cowls company headquarters) sit today. In
1759 Cowls was a founding family of the Town of Amherst. Cowls
Building Supply and the Cowls family are proud to celebrate the
significant anniversaries of their hometowns of Amherst and Hadley
in 2009.
The history of the Cowls family and
its Homestead at 134 Montague Road,
North Amherst, MA
John Cole was born in England (circa) 1600 and in
1634 was an original settler of the Connecticut Colony, living in
Tunxis, later incorporated as Farmington. Hannah and John had a son,
John Cowls (spelled Cowls), the first Cowls in our lineage born in
America. In 1653 John Cole/Cowls co-signed a petition to settle land
which now includes Hatfield, MA. In 1659, John, Hannah, and son John
Cowls were among the founding families of the town of Hadley. In
1727 Hannah and John’s grandson Jonathan moved east of the river to
what’s now North Amherst. When Hadley divided and offered its
eastern unsettled land, Jonathan Cowls obtained the Home Farm and
timberland in 1741. In 1759 Jonathan Cowls and his family were among
the founders of the Town of Amherst.
David Cowls, son of Jonathan, constructed the
Cowls family homestead at 134 Montague Road in North Amherst in 1768
out of Cowls harvested and sawn timbers.
To read more Cowls history, go to
www.cowls.com.
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