In 1854 Samuel Williston established the Hampshire and Hampden Railroad Company. He and his longtime business partner, Joel Hayden of Williamsburg, Mass., initially hoped to extend the line as far as Troy, New York, but their realistic concern was to connect Easthampton and Williamsburg, both former villages that were now evolving into factory towns, with what they correctly saw as a rapidly developing national rail grid.
The H. & H.R.R. purchased the route of the defunct Northampton-New Haven Canal, an ill-conceived enterprise that had already lost Samuel a considerable sum. The project took five years; competing railroads did their best to create obstacles. Samuel ultimately spent $35,000 of his own money—about $820,000 in current dollars—to see the 24-mile rail spur’s completion.
His biographer, Frank Conant, points out that it was more “a matter of public service rather than for profit.” But “the day would come when he could board the cars at Easthampton’s nearby depot and arrive in New York City a few hours later.”1
Whether there was an elaborate rail station in the early years, or just a simple shed, has not been determined. The present building apparently dates from 1871. In its original state it contained a large waiting room, baggage room, and office for the station master.
The depot appears frequently in Williston Seminary lore: teams and spectators would board “the cars” for travel to away games as far away as Worcester. The train provided quick access to the entertainment delights of Springfield. Individual anecdotes describe torchlight processions of departing student “heroes” down Union Street from the campus.2 Even freight service found its way into legend: witness the tale of William Peck’s double bass, retold in “Williston’s First Orchestra.”
More importantly, the rise of the railroad transformed Easthampton from an isolated farm village to an industrial center. While most of the mills on Pleasant Street and in the Nashawannuck complex had their own freight sidings and platforms, regular passenger service provided access for businessmen, efficient mail service, and cultural links with urban centers. Williston Seminary’s student demographics changed, as the school became more accessible to a national clientele.
With the rise of the automobile, the interstate highway system, and competing forms of public transportation, passenger rail service declined following the Second World War. Regular passenger service to Easthampton ended in the late 1950s. Williston Academy purchased the depot and used it as a maintenance building.
Meanwhile, Williston’s Fine Arts program was growing and in need of space. In 1969 Fine Arts Teacher Barry Moser installed a letterpress—eventually two—at the north end of the station. Students learned to set type and printed broadsides and even books. The Castalia Press was the first, and for a long time, only fine printing press operated by a private school. Moser’s own imprint, the Gahenna Press, also had a home at the station.
Over the next few years art studios displaced the Physical Plant department. The station was home to Brenda Minisci’s ceramics and sculpture classes, and provided arc welding facilities in the courtyard.
In 1973 Headmaster Bob Ward arranged for a donor to provide a caboose, that would serve as a small art gallery. While the caboose became a campus feature unique to Williston, the gallery idea never quite caught on, although student creativity inspired other uses for the structure.
Meanwhile, freight rail traffic through Easthampton was also declining. Many town factories had moved south or closed outright. The Pioneer Valley Railroad, the successor to the Hampshire and Hampden line, ceased Easthampton operations in 1992. The tracks were taken up not long afterwards.
The year 2003 saw the opening of the first leg of the Manhan Rail Trail, a paved bicycle and pedestrian path and greenway which, 10 years later, extends from Southampton through Northampton and north to Leeds. In Northampton, cyclists may connect with the Norwottuck Trail and ride to Amherst and Belchertown. There are ambitious plans to create a network of connecting former rail beds that will extend as far as Boston and New Haven and, indeed, up and down the entire Eastern Seaboard from Maine to Florida.3
With the opening of the Reed Campus Center in 1996, Williston Northampton’s Fine Arts facilities were able to move from improvised space in the Depot, Scott Hall, the library basement and even a Middle School kitchen, to the spacious and use-appropriate facilities they occupy today.
The rail station’s future was uncertain until longtime painting teacher Marcia Reed realized it was the perfect structure to provide her with a huge studio and a place to live. She leased the building from the school. Nine Railroad Street was among the first repurposed buildings in an Easthampton renaissance that has seen dozens of former industrial buildings and empty storefronts transformed into studios, galleries, and creatively funky residences.
Ms. Reed left the faculty in 2012, after 33 years of distinguished teaching. But the depot did not stay empty for long. On March 29, 2013, the Tandem Bagel Co. opened for business. It is owned and operated by two Williston Northampton families, Shannon ’83 and Brian Greenwood, and Chris ’87 and Andrea Zawacki. Each couple has three children currently enrolled at Williston. The restaurant offers not only bagels, but soups, sandwiches, salads and bakery treats. Brian, Andrea, and Chris went off to bagel boot camp in Portland, Oregon to learn the art. This writer can attest to the quality of the results, as can the more than 2,000 customers who crowded the restaurant in its first two days.
Notes:
1Frank P. Conant, God’s Stewards: Samuel & Emily Williston (Easthampton: The Williston Northampton School, 1991), 86.
2We’re mincing words: there was a tradition of parading expelled students to the station for a rousing sendoff. Principal James Whiton (1876-1878) tried to suppress the custom, with disastrous results. But that’s a story for a future post.
3http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhan_Rail_Trail; http://cyclingnewengland.blogspot.com/; http://www.greenway.org/index.shtml.
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Thank you very much for the posting. I share with my 80 year old aunt who grew up in Easthampton and she shares with me her memories of old Easthampton.
Very interesting story. Thanks.
Terrific bit of local history, Rick. Thanks for sharing it!
I spent countless hours in that studio space as one of Brenda Minisci’s studio assistants and students, along with Martha Sears (’81). We had an electric bisque kiln and a gas fired kiln out back. Sometimes we did raku firings, but what was really great was the chance to learn how to develop and test new glazes. Brenda and Barry and Marcia gave us top notch art instruction–as thorough and rigorous as you could hope to find in a college studio. The next time I come through Easthampton I will definitely be paying a visit to the Tandem Bagel Company!
Nicely done, Rick! So great that the structure is still a part of the Williston family. Hope all is well.
Nice to see the many changes in Easthampton since I moved back here 5 years ago.
chris and andrea are some of the nicest people you would ever want to meet, and their uncle bruce is also
Interesting story. Best wishes for much success with the Tandem Bagel Shop. It looks very clean and welcoming from the pictures. Hope we can visit sometime soon.
Thanks for your research and interest Rick, I love local lore, and will now have more context to guide my imagination as I wait for them to prepare my order!
Interesting. Still trying to figure out which part is the April Fool’s joke.
Perhaps the joke is that despite the date, there was no joke. Gotcha, Paul!