1606History
By 1606 an ongoing struggle between the Mahican and Iroquois confederacies led to direct attacks on the Pocumtuc by the Iroquoian Mohawk nation.
1628Economy
The Mahican confederacy had been defeated by 1628, limiting Pocumtuc access to trade routes to the west.
1629History
King (1629–1703), one of the first white settlers in Northampton, or possibly in King's honor, since it is supposed that he came to Massachusetts from Northampton, England, his ...
1653History
It was in this context that the land making up the bulk of modern Northampton was sold to settlers from Springfield in 1653.
1654History
A Place Called Paradise: Culture and Community in Northampton, Massachusetts, 1654–2004.
1655History
The situation in the region further deteriorated when the Mohawk people escalated hostilities against the Pocumtuc confederacy and other Algonquian tribes after 1655, forcing ma...
1734Military
=== The Great Awakening ===
Congregational preacher, theologian and philosopher Jonathan Edwards was a leading figure in a 1734 Christian revival in Northampton.
1735History
In the spring of 1735 the movement began to subside and a reaction set in.
1739History
But the relapse was brief, and the Northampton revival, which had spread through the Connecticut River Valley and whose fame had reached England and Scotland, was followed in 17...
1775Government
Southampton, for example, was incorporated in 1775 and included parts of the territories of modern Montgomery (incorporated in 1780) and Easthampton.
1778Government
Westhampton was incorporated in 1778 and Easthampton in 1809.
1786Military
On August 29, 1786, Daniel Shays and a group of Revolutionary War veterans (who called themselves Shaysites) stopped the civil court from sitting in Northampton, in an uprising ...
1805Crime
In 1805 a crowd of 15,000 gathered in Northampton to watch the executions of two Irishmen convicted of murder: Dominic Daley, 34, and James Halligan, 27.
1806History
The men were hanged on June 5, 1806, on Pancake Plain.
1818Government
The Three County Fair is the "longest consecutive running agricultural fair in the country", having been established and incorporated in 1818.
1835Infrastructure
In 1835 Northampton was linked to the ocean by the New Haven and Northampton Canal, but the canal enterprise foundered and after about a decade was replaced by a railroad runnin...
1842History
=== The "Paradise of America" ===
From 1842 until 1846, Northampton was home to a transcendentalist utopian community of abolitionists.
1851History
In 1851, opera singer Jenny Lind, the "Swedish Nightingale", declared Northampton to be the "Paradise of America", from which Northampton took its nickname "The Paradise City".
1854History
An Address, Delivered at Northampton, Massachusetts on the Evening of October 29, 1854 in Commemoration of the Close of the Second Century since the Settlement of the Town (Spee...
1856Architecture
Northampton State Hospital was a large psychiatric hospital constructed in 1856.
1857History
Sojourner Truth, a former slave who became a national advocate for equality and justice, lived in this community until its dissolution (and later in a house on Park Street until...
1867Government
Clarke Schools for Hearing and Speech (formerly the Clarke School for the Deaf) was founded in Northampton in 1867.
1871Government
Smith College for women was founded in Northampton in 1871.
1874Disaster
A flood on the Mill River on May 16, 1874, obliterated almost the entire Northampton neighborhood of Leeds, killing 139 people in Leeds and areas of neighboring towns.
1875Culture
Other cultural references include:
Northampton is the birthplace of the eponymous protagonist in Henry James's 1875 novel Roderick Hudson.
1883Government
Northampton officially became a city on September 5, 1883, when voters accepted the city charter, "The act to establish the city of Northampton.
1890History
In 1890, a small number of German-Jewish families arrived in Northampton, most of them coming from New York or Boston.
1892Education
The first game of women's basketball was played at Smith College in 1892.
1894Architecture
Forbes Library, built in 1894, is Northampton's public library.
1905History
By 1905 there were almost 5000 foreign-born residents among the 20,000 people of the city.
1910Government
Previous mayors have included future President of the United States Calvin Coolidge (1910–1911) and James "Big Jim" Cahillane, who served from 1954 to 1960.
1929History
presidency in 1929, Coolidge moved back to Northampton.
1930Government
Look Park is a recreational park covering over 150 acres (61 ha), founded in 1930.
1933History
He died in the city on January 5, 1933.
1966History
(1966), Malice (1993), In Dreams (1999), The Cider House Rules (1999), Sylvia (2003), and Edge of Darkness (2010).
1982History
Since 1982, Northampton has been host to an annual LGBT Parade and Pride event held the first Saturday in May.
1984History
This trial "later came to be seen as epitomizing the anti-Irish sentiment that was widespread in New England in the early 19th century." Daley and Halligan were exonerated of al...
1990History
While not specifically referred to by name, the city is featured in the 1990 live-action movie.
1995Culture
Since 1995 Northampton has been home to the twice-yearly Paradise City Arts Festival, held at the Three County Fairgrounds on Memorial Day weekend and Columbus Day weekend.
1999History
Writer Tracy Kidder documented the many layers of Northampton society at the end of the 20th century in his 1999 nonfiction book Home Town.
2000History
Washington Square Press, 2000.
2002History
Augusten Burroughs' 2002 memoir Running with Scissors takes place in Northampton
A 2011 episode of Saturday Night Live (season 37, episode 8) featured a sketch titled "Massachus...
2004Education
Since 2004, Northampton has been the site of Django in June, a week-long gypsy jazz music camp held annually on the campus of Smith College.
2005Architecture
The station was built by more than 400 volunteers from Northampton and around the country in August 2005 at the eighth Prometheus Radio Project barnraising, in conjunction with ...
2007History
After a new public unveiling in November 2007, NOM grew to over 200 active members in less than 18 months and had already attracted statewide and national attention in the commu...
2010History
== Demographics ==
As of the census of 2010, there were 28,549 people, 12,000 households, and 5,895 families residing in the city.
2012Military
In 2012, 2013 and 2014 NOM won awards for best web sites (for two different sites) in the United States for community media organizations with budgets under $300,000.
2014Culture
Although passenger service through the area lapsed in the later part of the twentieth century, service resumed in 2014 following decades of local advocacy and government investm...
2018Economy
== External links ==
Official website
Historic Northampton
Northampton Chamber of Commerce Archived September 19, 2018, at the Wayback Machine
VisitNorthampton.net
2022History
In recent years, downtown Northampton has seen a decline, with nearly one out of five storefronts being vacant as of September 2022.
2023Economy
A theft of $1.6 million ($46.5 million in 2023) from the Northampton Bank took place on January 27, 1876.