Tag Archives: Charles J. Keene

Nashawannuck

by Rick Teller '70, Williston Northampton Archivist

(Wish you were here, part II)

Postcard, ca. 1910, of Nashawannuck Pond by moonlight. (Click all images to enlarge.)
Postcard, ca. 1910, of Nashawannuck Pond by moonlight. (Click all images to enlarge.)

Nashawannuck.  The name is apparently Algonquian for “Valley of the Little River.”  The “Little River” was probably the Manhan — another local Native American appellation.  Ironically, the Manhan doesn’t feed Nashawannuck Pond, that large body of water that dominates the Cottage Street district of Easthampton.  Scenic it may be, but its original purpose was industrial.  Over the course of several decades of the 19th century, Samuel Williston and his associates dammed a small stream to create a power source for the complex of textile mills that sprung up around Williston’s button and elastic factories.  In what was surely an unusual idea for its time, the sluice that drove the water wheels passed directly under the factory buildings and fed a collection pond behind them, on Pleasant and Ferry Streets.

In 1847 and 1848 Samuel Williston attempted to calculate the volume of water coming over the spillway.
In 1847 and 1848 Samuel Williston attempted to calculate the volume of water coming over the spillway.

The work was accomplished in stages.  This 1873 map shows a single body of water — the “Upper Mill Pond” had not yet been named “Nashawannuck” — divided only by a railroad causeway.  A few years later a small dam was built just above the railroad, creating Williston Pond.  Williston Avenue, incorporating another dam, was built, extending across the pond from the intersection of Village Street (now Payson Avenue), Union Street, and Cottage Street, thus isolating what became known as the Rubber Thread Pond, which remains behind the modern-day City Offices.  The result was a system comprising four ponds at descending levels.  (Click for a current map.)

1873 map nashawannuck detail

The entrance to to the spillway is clearly visible right of center, in the postcard image below.

Postcard, ca. 1910. The image originated from the same photograph as a night view further down the page, with different coloring applied in the printing process.
Postcard, ca. 1910. The image originated from the same photograph as a night view further down the page, with different coloring applied in the printing process.

While Samuel Williston’s intentions in creating the pond may have been practical, recreational and scenic implications soon came to the fore.  Samuel and Emily Williston donated a large tract of land known as “Brookside” to the town.  It was mostly wooded, and abutted Nonotuck Park.  Eventually it was developed as a cemetery, but remains a lovely spot.  Boaters, including a short-lived Williston Seminary rowing team, swimmers, and fishermen used the pond.  In a town dominated by textile mills, whose employees typically worked six 12-hour days or more, it became an essential part of community culture. Continue reading

Wish You Were Here

The Old Neighborhood

A Tuck’s Post Card of the Williston Seminary Campus on Main Street. (Click all images to enlarge.)

Around the turn of the 20th century, the United States and Europe were swept by a craze for postcards.  Useful not only for mail, the cards were snapped up by scrapbookers and collectors.  Cities and towns, large and small, published “views.”  They were a source of civic pride. Easthampton was no exception.  In fact, largely through the enthusiasm of a local shopkeeper and photography buff named Charles J. Keene,1 Easthampton was featured in more postcard images than any other U.S. location except New York.  The Williston Northampton Archives hold nearly 300 postcards of the school and the town.

A view up Main Street, with Shop Row, the Methodist Church, and Town Hall to the left, the campus at right.

Many of the older and more attractive cards were published by Raphael Tuck & Co., ca. 1890-1915, although the photographs used for the cards sometimes dated from the 1880’s or even earlier.  Tuck developed a process of tinting black and white photographs to produce color images via lithographic printing.  When images were colorized, they were often altered to include vehicles and people not present in the original photographs.

An earlier issue of the preceding image, without the added people and vehicles.

1Keene’s other claim to Williston Northampton fame is that he lived in what is now French House.

 

(“Wish You Were Here” will be a regular feature of “From the Archives,” probably until we run out of postcards.)

 

Shop Row. The buildings remain in use.
The Park, with Maher Fountain (1902)
A colorized version of the preceding postcard. The First Church and the High School are visible in the background.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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