Timeline of Northampton
For at least 12,000 years
Native people have lived in and around this region.
Indigenous people have lived along the Kwinitekw (Connecticut River) since about 12,000 years ago (Paleo Era), as documented in archaeological records and oral traditions. They were here when the last continental glacier melted and Glacial Lake Hitchcock drained from the valley. After the glacial ice melted, the barren landscape was soon filled with lichens, mosses, grasses, and a mix of trees and shrubs that could withstand the short growing seasons and harsh winter conditions. Native people lived in relatively small, mobile communities and hunting camps and traveled to where resources were available.
By 9,000 years ago
New species of flora and fauna moved to the region.
By 9,000 years ago (Archaic Era), the climate had warmed. Growing seasons were longer and warmer, and new tree species—oaks, maples, and pines—moved northward from southern climes. Giant paleofauna, such as mammoth and elk, were replaced by smaller mammals, like deer and bear. Native people adapted to changes in regional fauna by relying on bows and arrows more than on spears and atlatls. They also began to use controlled burning to clear underbrush and to modify the landscape for hunting and foraging.
By 3,000 years ago
The region became a woodland forest environment.
By 3,000 years ago (Woodland Era), this region became a woodland forest environment, with flora and fauna similar to what we see today. Native communities were relying on complex systems of seasonal travel and settlements, moving fluidly around regional homelands as needed to gather resources for shelter, food, tools, and clothing. Waterways were heavily used for travel and for fishing, and dams and weirs were used to harvest anadromous shad and salmon. Lithics, pottery, and weaving technologies added new styles and motifs. Trading networks connected Native people in this region to the Atlantic coast, to the Hudson and Mohawk River valleys, and to locations as far away as the Great Lakes.
About the year 1000
Maize horticulture was introduced.
With the introduction of maize (corn) horticulture about 1,000 years ago, Native people in the Northeast began inter-planting corn, beans, and squashes, and cultivating tobacco and other plants. Native people formed larger communities centered around horticultural sites, while continuing to travel seasonally for fishing, hunting, gathering, and harvesting other wild resources.
The place we now know as “Northampton” was called “Nonotuck,” a term that describes location and means “in the midst of the river.” The Indigenous people living here were an autonomous group identified by the name “Nonotuck.” They were closely related to the Native communities at Agawam, Woronoco, Pocumtuck, Sokoki, and elsewhere through trade, diplomacy, and kinship.
1631
Native and English people began trade relationships.
In 1631, the Podunk Sachem Waghinnicut invited the English to set up a trading house 50 miles south of Nonotuck (which later became Hartford) to facilitate trade. By 1636, William Pynchon had established a fur-trading post in Agawam territory (at today’s Springfield). William and his son John developed trading networks in the valley by building on existing intertribal relationships. Native people exchanged furs, corn, and wampum for English goods such as cloth, ready-made clothes, tools, pots, and, rarely, guns and ammunition. The willingness of Native people to participate in trade, and the dependency of the English on Native foods, facilitated peaceful relations.
1653
English agreement with Nonotuck to settle.
In 1653, a group of English colonial settlers from Springfield petitioned the Massachusetts General Court for permission to settle in Nonotuck territory. On September 24, Captain John Pynchon then negotiated a deed with seven Nonotuck people—Chickwallop, Nassicohee, Neneesahalant, Kiunks, Paquahallant, Assellaquompas, and Awonunsk—to secure much of present-day Northampton, Easthampton, and Westhampton. From a Native perspective, the payment of wampum and agreement to plow a Native cornfield signaled a treaty that would allow Native and non-Native people to live side by side as allies. Native people thought they were conveying the right to use (not own) the land. But from the English perspective, this and later Indian deeds signified outright purchase. That helps to explain why, in many later deeds in the valley, Nonotuck and other sachems explicitly reserved traditional rights to hunt, fish, gather wood, set up wigwams, and otherwise continue to use the lands that appeared to be “sold.”
1654
English colonists established Northampton.
In 1654, about 30 English families arrived to establish the town of Northampton. The first English home lots were located on Pleasant, King, Hawley, and Market Streets, providing easy access to fields in the Meadows. The early streets were likely along former Nonotuck trails and bordering streams. Based on the geology of downtown Northampton, it’s very likely that the Nonotuck would have previously burned this area, so it would have been mostly open with grasses, scattered pitch pine, and white pine.
1675
Mary Bliss Parsons stood trial for witchcraft.
In 1674, Mary Bliss Parsons was accused of practicing witchcraft by members of the Bridgman family, who asserted that Parsons’ wickedness caused the death of their baby. Townspeople said Parsons was responsible for strange occurrences, such as the sudden death of a cow. The following year, Parsons was tried in Boston, where the magistrates acquitted her. But suspicion and gossip did not stop. By the end of the 1680s, Mary Bliss Parsons and her husband Joseph moved back to Springfield.
1654-1783
At least 50 people were enslaved in Northampton.
For at least 129 years, slavery was part of the fabric of everyday life in Northampton. At least 50 enslaved individuals lived here from the town’s founding in 1654 until 1783, when slavery was abolished in Massachusetts. Enslavers exerted complete power and control over the lives of enslaved people who, according to Massachusetts law, were property that could be sold or given away at any time.
Visit the Slavery and Freedom in Northampton Exhibit, or read more in our Slavery Research Project.
1730s
Minister Jonathan Edwards led a religious revival.
Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758) was a theologian, a Calvinist, and a powerful minister who preached about sin and punishment and described eternal damnation in vivid detail. Under his leadership, Northampton experienced a major religious revival in 1734–1735, a precursor to the First Great Awakening, which spread throughout the colonies in the 1740s. His strictness led to discontent among his parishioners, and in 1750, they dismissed him as their pastor. He moved to Stockbridge, Massachusetts, the following year to become a pastor to the English congregation and a missionary to the Mahican people.
In Northampton and Stockbridge, Edwards enslaved several people, including Rose and Venus (who may have been renamed Leah), and others in Stockbridge.
1775
Seth Pomeroy, a leading spirit of the American Revolution, raised troops and fought at the Battle of Bunker Hill in 1775 at age 69.
1786
Shays’ Rebellion began at Northampton’s courthouse.
On August 29, 1786, three years after the end of the American Revolution, a crowd of 1,500 protesters stormed the Northampton courthouse to stop foreclosure proceedings against farmers impoverished by the Revolutionary War. This event kicked off a series of acts of civil disobedience and armed uprisings known as Shays’ Rebellion. Northampton’s Hampshire Gazette newspaper was founded in response, with the first issue published September 13, 1786. The paper’s editor supported the existing state government and its efforts to quash the rebellion, which ended in 1787. The uprising showed the need for a stronger federal government, which led to a Constitutional Convention in 1787.
1806
Irish immigrants Daley and Halligan were hanged for murder.
On June 5, 1806, Irish immigrants Dominic Daley and James Halligan were executed on unsubstantiated murder charges in front of thousands of onlookers. Anti-Irish and Anti-Catholic prejudice were at the root of the conviction.
1816
Seventeen Native people and African Americans joined the church.
In the early 1800s, most of Northampton’s population (about 2,600) was of English descent, but Native and African American people also lived here. In 1816, of the 76 people who joined the Church, 17 were Native and African American. Among them was a Nipmuc family with the last name of Bakeman and Sally Maminash, who was Wangunk and Mohegan. At that time, the church had two pews in the rear labeled “B.W.” for Black Women and “B.M.” for Black Men. One source said that these pews were not used, either by Blacks or whites.
1835
New Haven to Northampton Canal opened.
The economic success of the Erie Canal in 1825 spurred “canal fever” in the eastern U.S. That same year, a canal route was laid out between the bustling seaport of New Haven, Connecticut, and the growing market town of Northampton. Construction took 10 years and was fraught with problems. When the canal opened in 1835, one stretch ran through what is now State Street. The canal ended at the Connecticut River, not far from where Damon Road crosses under Route 91. The railroad arrived in Northampton in 1845. The canal, which was never profitable, closed in 1847. Today, little physical evidence of the canal’s existence remains in Northampton.
1842
Utopian community organized in Florence.
In 1842, ten families formed a utopian community called the Northampton Association for Industry and Education. Located in Florence, it was organized around a communally owned and operated silk mill. “The Community,” as it was known, challenged the prevailing social attitudes by creating a society in which “the rights of all are equal without distinction of sex, color or condition, sect or religion.” The members were especially united around the issue of the abolition of slavery. Sojourner Truth was a member, and Frederick Douglass visited twice. Like many utopian communities in the 19th century, “the Community” was short-lived, lasting only four and a half years, but many members remained in Florence.
1850
Sojourner Truth bought a house in Florence.
Abolitionist Sojourner Truth (1797–1883) came to Florence in 1844 to live at the Northampton Association for Industry and Education. There, she oversaw the laundry and supervised white men and women. After the Community disbanded, Truth continued to live in Florence, but also travelled around the U.S, giving speeches and earning her living from the sale of her autobiography The Narrative of Sojourner Truth, which she had dictated to Olive Gilbert while in Northampton, and photographs of herself.
In 1850, she bought the house at 35 Park Street in Florence. She moved to Michigan in 1857 to be closer to family.
1858
Northampton State Hospital for mentally ill opened
The Northampton Lunatic Asylum (later, Northampton State Hospital) opened in 1858. Designed to be a therapeutic haven for those with mental illness, it included walking paths, landscape views, and a farm. It was, however, soon “over capacity.” By the mid-20th century, the hospital was considered by many as both inhumane and ineffective due to inadequate resources, overcrowding, and changing ideas of appropriate treatment for mental illness. A 1978 consent decree mandated a reduction in patients. In 1993, the hospital closed.
1861-1865
For the Civil War, Northampton sent 751 men (some from nearby towns); 42 were killed.
1874
Mill River Flood Disaster killed 139.
On May 16, 1874, the Williamsburg reservoir dam suddenly burst, sending an avalanche of water down the narrow Mill River Valley, which was lined with factories, farms, and homes. Within an hour, 139 people were dead, and four mill villages—Williamsburg, Skinnerville, Haydenville, and Leeds (in Northampton, where 51 died)—were washed away. The badly designed dam was poorly built. At that time, it was the deadliest dam disaster in U.S. history.
1875
Smith College welcomed first students.
In the 1860s, Sophia Smith, a wealthy Hatfield resident, deliberated on how best to use her wealth. She eventually settled on bequeathing the bulk of her funds for a women’s college that would maintain the same high standards for admission as the nation’s elite men’s colleges. In 1871, she decided to place the future college in Northampton (not Hatfield). In 1875, four years after Sophia Smith’s death, Smith College officially opened with 14 students.
1909
Local lawyer Calvin Coolidge elected mayor, later president.
Born in Vermont, Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) graduated from Amherst College in 1895. He opened his law office in 1898 in Northampton on the second floor of the recently constructed Masonic Building at 25 Main Street. He later served as a state representative, mayor of Northampton, and governor of Massachusetts. In 1920 he became the vice president of the United States. In 1923, after President Warren Harding’s unexpected death, he became president of the United States, 1923–1929. He died in Northampton in 1933.
1917-1918
Northampton sent 771 soldiers to World War I, of whom 26 died.
1924
Pro Brush Company became the world’s largest manufacturer of toothbrushes.
Since the 1650s, the Mill River had powered mills and factories—saw and grist mills, and cotton, wool, silk, cutlery, farm tools, and button factories. In 1924, the Florence Manufacturing Company, which had made daguerreotype cases and hairbrushes for six decades, changed its name to the Pro-phy-lac-tic Brush Company (called Pro Brush for short), taking the name from its most successful product—the toothbrush. That same year, the Wall Street Journal reported the company was the largest producer of toothbrushes in the U.S. Thanks to the company’s vigorous marketing campaign, toothbrushes were widely adopted and oral hygiene in America changed forever.
1936
Connecticut River flood inundated Northampton.
In March 1936, the combination of melting snowpack and two feet of rain that fell during a two-week period caused a massive flood on the Connecticut River. Along its length, more than 100 people died and thousands were left homeless and more were without power for weeks. In Northampton, all of Pleasant Street and portions of downtown were inundated. Northampton officials patrolled the streets in rowboats.
The flood prompted the creation of the federal Flood Control Act of 1936. In 1939, a year after the 1938 hurricane caused additional damage in Northampton, the Mill River was diverted and a series of dikes were built to control future flooding.
1941-1945
Northampton sent approximately 2,900 men and women to World War II, of whom 90 died.
1977
Thornes Marketplace opened in a former department store.
Brothers Gordon and Brinkley Thorne and their wives, Anne Woodhull and Mazie Cox, opened Thornes Market in the former McCallum’s Department Store on Main Street. The first two floors housed creative retail shops, while the top floor was artists’ spaces. Thornes Market helped promote Northampton’s economic revitalization and artistic renaissance so that by the 1980s, Northampton was known for its art and culture scene.
2004
City Hall issued marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
On Sunday, May 16, 2004, the Massachusetts Supreme Court became the first state to declare same-sex marriage to be legal. The following day, Northampton City Hall issued about 140 marriage licenses, primarily to same-sex couples. Celebrations from couples and well-wishers spilled into the street.
2021
Locals overjoyed to get COVID-19 vaccines.
In 2021, a little more than a year after the global COVID-19 pandemic began, the first vaccines became available. In Northampton, volunteers and health professionals administered free vaccination clinics. Northampton photographer Paul Shoul documented the reactions of the vaccine recipients and workers for the Historic Northampton archives.
2025
Northampton continued to protect open spaces.
In 2025, the City of Northampton protected another 80 acres, bringing the tally to more than 2,500 acres of city-owned conservation land. About 26 percent of Northampton is now permanently set aside for water supply, recreation, agriculture, or conservation. Wildlife videos recorded on city-owned conservation land document local wildlife and examine the connections between the natural world and Northampton’s history.
