Historical Collections, by John Warner Barber

294

SPRINGFIELD.

plunder. She saith there came of the enemy 270, that the enemy are in all about 600. The place where they keep is at Coassitt, as it is supposed, about 56 miles above Hadley."

Springfield is the shire town for Hampden county, and one of the most important inland towns in New England, being the center of a large inland and river commerce, and is also the site of the largest armory in the United States. A considerable part of the village is on a single street, two miles in length. There is a court-house, jail, 2 banks, (the Springfield and Chicopee Banks,) several printing-offices, and 6 churches, 3 Congregational, 1 of which is Unitarian, 1 Episcopal, 1 Methodist, and 1 Baptist. There are many elegant private residences in this place, particularly on the elevated ground which rises eastward from the court-house. Distance, 17 miles from Northampton, 48 from Worcester, 27 from Hartford, Con., 87 from Boston, and 363 from Washington.

Western view of the Armory Buildings, Springfield.

The principal U.S. Armory buildings are situated on the elevated table land eastward of the main village, called "the Hill." From the village, on the main street, there is a gradual ascent to the summit of the hill, which is flanked on the north and south by a ravine. Most of the buildings connected with the armory, such as the arsenals or store-houses for the preservation of arms, the workshops, houses of the superintendents, &c., are situated on, and around an area of several acres. Some of these buildings are represented in the engraving; those on the right are arsenals. The assessors of Springfield, in 1837, made the following return relative to the U.S. Armory, viz:- "Public lands and buildings, valued at $210,000; machinery, $50,000; one hundred and seventy thousand muskets on hand, $2,040,000; muskets manufactured during the year ending April 1^st, 1837, fourteen thousand, $154,000; ordnance and stock on hand, $80,000; two hundred and sixty men employed."