The City of Holyoke



Working People of Holyoke

The Dam at Holyoke
The Dam at Holyoke.

salmon was not to be forgotten, and in the autumn of 1633, four persons, John Oldham, Samuel Hall and two others, all of Dorchester, made their way through the wilderness, hospitably entertained by the natives on their route, and at length viewed the river from the present site of Springfield, - doubtless the first white men who ever visited the region. These were prospectors for the company organized by William Pynchon, soon to leave the east shores and make the notable settlement in the valley of the Connecticut.
      Less suspicions or more brave, a number of Plymouth men, led by William Holmes, about October, 1633,
Holyoke Bridge
Holyoke Bridge.
had prepared the material for a house, and, loading it upon a suitable craft, sailed into the river, ignoring the protesting Dutchmen at Hartford, to the present site of Windsor, where they built the first dwelling house ever erected by civilized hands in the Connecticut valley. The following year, 1634, removal to the valley was still more seriously discussed by the eastern settlers, and in July six men from Cambridge visited the river to select sites; but permission for removal was not granted until 1635, when permission was given to them, and likewise to companies from Dorchester, Watertown and Roxbury, on condition that they would not go beyond the jurisdiction of the colonial government. Under this permit the Dorchester people went to Windsor; those of Cambridge to Hartford, those of Watertown to Wethersfield, and the Roxbury people to Agawam. The last were preceded by two men, John Cable and John Woodcock, who built a log house in Agawam. on a site since called "House meadow," which site was probably selected by William





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