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Chicopee

Author: Stephen R. Jendrysik

Publisher: Arcadia Publishing

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 132

ISBN-13: 9780738576619

On September 19, 1939, Chicopee mayor Anthony J. Stonina was sitting at his desk wiping away tears. The three-term mayor had just finished reading a brief letter from the US War Department. The seven square miles of Chicopee's tobacco plains had been selected as the site for the Northeast base of the Army Air Corps. The city was destined to permanently be a "City with Wings." In 1942, the facility, already the largest air base in the country, was named to honor the memory of military aviation pioneer Maj. Gen. Oscar Westover. Chicopee: 1950-1975 tells the story of a three-decade Cold War relationship between the Strategic Air Command of the US Air Force and its considerable impact on a small New England city. It is the story of a community's initial misgivings growing into a beneficial symbiotic relationship, which continues to this day.

Chicopee

Author: Michele Plourde-Barker

Publisher: Arcadia Publishing

Published: 1998-09

Total Pages: 132

ISBN-13: 9780738590066

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Introduced in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the town's incorporation, Chicopee traces the history of this Western Massachusetts community from its first settlement in the 1660s to the growth spurt of the post-World War II era. Much of the community's early built environment changed during Chicopee's transformation from town to city, and this fascinating new book reveals the lost elements of the landscape. From covered bridges over the Chicopee and Connecticut Rivers to early farms, readers will see much that has disappeared from Chicopee over time. The 200 vintage images displayed in this volume depict lost schools and churches, local businesses, shops, and factories, as well as the factory workers, entrepreneurs, farmers, recent immigrants, and other townspeople who populated these institutions. Longtime residents will find that the book conjures up many memories, and newer ones will see Chicopee as they've never seen it before.

Chicopee in the 1940s

Author: Stephen R. Jendrysik

Publisher: Arcadia Publishing

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 132

ISBN-13: 9780738555140

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In 1935, Chicopee was a small city struggling to emerge from a crippling depression and economic collapse. In 1936, the Connecticut River flooded, turning Chicopee's Willimansett section into a giant lake, and on September 21, 1938, a storm roared up the Connecticut Valley with winds of over 100 miles per hour. Rain flooded the already devastated streets and wiped out the Chicopee Falls Bridge. Between these disasters, the U.S. Congress passed the Wilcox Act, and in 1939, Secretary of War Harry W. Woodring announced that the tobacco plains of Chicopee had been selected as the site for the Northeast's Army Air Corps base. The super base, named Westover Field, was the largest air base in the country by 1942. During World War II, Chicopee would be one of four cities in Massachusetts to produce over a billion dollars worth of war materials, and following the war, the city grew and prospered at a record pace.

The Polish Community of Chicopee

Author: Stephen R. Jendrysik

Publisher: Arcadia Publishing

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 132

ISBN-13: 9780738538921

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The first group of Polish immigrants to come to Chicopee arrived in 1880. These Poles filled many of the manufacturing jobs in the city's two large textile mills. In less than 30 years from their arrival, this aggressive, self-assured group boasted more Polish-owned businesses than any other community in New England. The Polish Community of Chicopee chronicles an immigrant population that was fiercely dedicated to the ideals of free enterprise and democratic pluralism.