1635Government
== History ==
=== Early settlement ===
The area that became known as West Springfield was settled in 1635.
1647Education
The Massachusetts Bay Colony passed a law in 1647 requiring the construction of a public school in any town with 50 or more families.
1666History
In 1666, the west side residents complained about having to work on east side roads while their own were not well taken care of.
1683Civil Rights
In March 1683, Reice Bedortha, his son John, John's wife Lydia, and their newborn Mercy, were drowned on the Connecticut on their way to church when their boat capsized.
1696History
West side parishes were also created for Agawam (1696), Feeding Hills (1800), and Holyoke ("North Parish" or "Ireland Parish" named for early Irish settlers John and Mary Riley;...
1697History
On 29 May 1697, the Massachusetts General Court finally approved a separate parish and meeting house for the approximately 200 residents.
1706Education
In 1706 after two years of petitioning, west side residents were granted funds for the construction of a school (though west side students might have been home-schooled before t...
1707History
In 1707, the west side parish was delegated from Springfield town meeting the right to grant land in its territory.
1774Government
On 23 February 1774, West Springfield was incorporated as a separate town, with territory including what is now Agawam and most of Holyoke.
1775Military
=== American Revolution ===
West Springfield minutemen participated in the American Revolutionary War beginning on April 20, 1775, the day after the Battles of Lexington and Co...
1777Crime
In 1777, a major contingent of Hessian and British troops were captured at the Battle of Saratoga and transported to Boston (for possible deportation or imprisonment).
1786History
Economic conditions after the Revolution led to Shays' Rebellion in Springfield and West Springfield in 1786–1787.
1789History
The first Morgan horse was bred in West Springfield in 1789–1790.
1800History
Population table source: Populations for 1800, 1810, and 1830 were not available online from this source.
1802History
White Church Hill – The church which still remains there replaced the Old Meeting House (which was on the Common) as the town's main church and meeting hall in 1802.
1805Architecture
=== Bridges ===
Technological advancements allowed the first bridge to be built across the Connecticut River in 1805.
1814Disaster
This bridge was damaged by spring floods in 1814, and after a partial collapse under heavy traffic, was demolished.
1816Architecture
In 1816, a replacement bridge opened at Bridge Street.
1818History
It was destroyed in 1818 by spring ice, despite a valiant attempt to keep it from being washed downstream by tying it to a tree; the cable snapped.
1827Education
The school district has controlled by an independent school committee since 1827 and maintains a central high school, middle school, and a number of elementary schools.
1840Economy
Early textile and paper mills were staffed by Irish famine immigrants who nearly doubled their population in the town between 1840 and 1860.
1841Architecture
The covered wooden railroad bridge across the Connecticut which opened in 1841, was replaced by the current double-track steel truss railroad bridge in 1874.
1843History
Old county records indicate a license was given to Benjamin Ashley of West Springfield to operate a ferry across the Connecticut River in 1843, in the Riverdale neighborhood at ...
1847Architecture
A wooden toll bridge was built on this site (at the base of Wayside Avenue—formerly Bridge Street—and Ashley Avenue) in 1847, but burned down in 1903.
1850Government
The parish was incorporated as the independent town of Holyoke, Massachusetts, in 1850.
1854History
The current collection began in 1854, but was later made free to the public.
1855Government
The area mainly south of the Westfield River, including the parishes of Agawam and Feeding Hills, was incorporated as the independent town of Agawam, Massachusetts, in 1855.
1860Infrastructure
Growing population and improved transportation links increased the size of the potential market; by 1860, West Springfield was using greenhouses and exporting fresh crops to Bos...
1864Government
The West Springfield Public Library was established in 1864.
1870Infrastructure
It would become the Boston and Albany Railroad in 1870.
1872History
It was supplemented by a second congregational church, again on the common, in 1872.
1873Architecture
A third bridge built on the same foundations, was in use for over 100 years, and known as the "Old Toll Bridge", though tolls were removed in 1873.
1877Architecture
The original horsecar trolley, operated by the Springfield Street Railway, opened in 1877 from Main Street in Springfield to Elm and Park Streets, via Main Street and the old to...
1878Disaster
Civil War-era dikes held back high water in the Agawam (Westfield) River in 1878, but heavy rain flooded the town again in 1927.
1883Disaster
West Springfield Fire Department was created in 1883 and currently has 11 apparatus serving out of three fire halls.
1887Architecture
The first North End Bridge opened 1887 with a sturdy metal box-shaped truss (the upper part of the box being suspended above the roadway).
1888Disaster
The Great Blizzard of 1888 dropped over 5 feet (1.5 m) of snow, with 20-foot (6.1 m) drifts.
1890History
From 1890 to 1906 it was home to the Bear Hole Resort, including a restaurant and a bear in a cage.
1892Government
Electrification was completed in 1892–1893, and the river crossing was moved to the original North End Bridge.
1896Architecture
Repair shops were also built in West Springfield in 1896, and at the peak of operations, there were two major rail yards—one in Mittineague, and one near the present-day Memoria...
1915Architecture
It moved from the town hall to a dedicated building in 1915, constructed with a donation from Andrew Carnegie.
1917Culture
The Eastern States Exposition started in 1917 as a reaction against the slow decline of New England agriculture.
1922Architecture
The modern Memorial Bridge was opened in 1922; it underwent a major overhaul in the 1990s.
1923Disaster
In 1923, the tar-sealed wooden decking caught fire, which was made worse by the gas mains the bridge carried.
1924Culture
But trolley passenger service was cut starting in 1924 and by 1936, eliminated.
1926Infrastructure
== Sports ==
West Springfield was the longtime home of the Springfield Indians from 1926 to 1972 with some spurts in between including the 1940s when the Eastern States Coliseum...
1936Disaster
Both heavy rains and a large snowmelt brought an even more massive flood in 1936, with 8,000 people were displaced in the town of 17,000.
1938Disaster
The New England Hurricane of 1938 flooded crops along Riverdale Road and severely damaged the Exposition grounds, causing the fair to close for the season.
1949Government
A major power plant for the Western Massachusetts Electric Company (now a subsidiary of Northeast Utilities) went online in West Springfield in 1949.
1952Architecture
Massachusetts highway officials decided to route the highway on the Springfield side, finding that a short existing section of US 5 through West Springfield that was built in 19...
1953Infrastructure
==== Interstate 91 planned for West Springfield ====
The original plan for Interstate 91—detailed in the 1953 Master Highway Plan for the Springfield, Massachusetts, Metropolit...
1955Architecture
The Massachusetts Turnpike was constructed from 1955 to 1957.
1956Sports
Conversion from steam to diesel locomotives shut down the West Springfield repair shop in 1956.
1957Infrastructure
With the rise of the automobile, the West Springfield (Mittineague) passenger railroad station closed in 1957.
1958Architecture
Interstate 91 was constructed over a dozen years, from 1958 to 1970, following considerable controversy over whether it should be placed in West Springfield, as originally plann...
1959Architecture
An addition was opened in 1959.
1960Education
Fausey School was built in 1960 and added to in 1962.
1966Architecture
A significant addition opened in 1966.
1972Architecture
It was evidently replaced, as the state closed a bridge to Chicopee on this site in 1972, and demolished it in 1987.
1978Disaster
There have also been more recent blizzards in 1978 and 1996.
1980Education
With the passage of the Proposition 2-1/2 referendum in 1980, the school budget was tightened, priorities were reexamined, and numerous schools were closed or consolidated in th...
1987Education
John Ashley School closed but reopened in 1987, due to increased district enrollment, as the town-wide center for kindergarten and early childhood classes.
1990Education
In 1990, Piper Road School opened in a wing of the high school, housing all the town's 6th graders, and creating the grade 1–5 elementary school structure that remains in most b...
1998Education
Before the opening of West Springfield Middle School in 1998, the town struggled with increased enrollment.
2000Government
The city is now governed by a mayor and town council starting on April 1, 2000.
2004History
ABC's short-lived 2004–2005 sitcom Complete Savages used West Springfield as its setting.
2008Culture
In fiscal year 2008, the city of West Springfield spent 0.91% ($765,760) of its budget on its public library—approximately $27 per person, per year ($35.58 adjusted for inflatio...
2009Education
Thus Springfield never received the economic benefit that West Springfield would have, according to a 2009 assessment by the UMass School of Urban Design.
2011Disaster
On June 1, 2011, a tornado touched down in West Springfield, crossed the Connecticut River, and then devastated the City of Springfield, Massachusetts.
2014Education
A new West Springfield High School was built to the north of the old building and was opened in 2014.
2015Government
The current mayor, Independent Will Reichelt was elected to his first term in 2015.
2017Government
He was easily re-elected in 2017, and won a third term unopposed in 2021.
2019Architecture
In 2019 modular buildings were added to Tatham Elementary because of increased enrollments and little space.