Editing Huntington, Massachusetts (section)

== History ==
[[File:Huntington, Mass. (2674477708).jpg|thumb|left|Print of Huntington by [[L.R. Burleigh]] from 1886 with listing of sights]]

What is now Huntington was first settled by Europeans in 1760, mostly migrants from [[Norwich, Connecticut]] who logged the land's valuable timber.<ref name="Bisbee" />{{rp|9}} Settlers were mainly subsistence farmers, who also raised animals, caught fish, tapped maple trees, and manufactured their own domestic goods.<ref name="Bisbee" />{{rp|17–19}} Most of what is now the towns of Huntington and [[Chester, Massachusetts|Chester]] were sold at auction (along with other parcels) on June 2, 1762, as Plantation Number 9, to William Williams for £1,500.<ref name="Bisbee" />{{rp|7}} It was resold, and the three new proprietors allowed the 19 existing settlers to remain on the condition they build houses, clear land, and hire a Protestant minister.<ref name="Souvenir" />

On June 29, 1773, the eastern portion of the town of Murrayfield (renamed [[Chester, Massachusetts|Chester]] in 1783) was split off to form the district of Norwich, with most of the powers of a town.<ref name="Bisbee">{{cite web |url=https://www.huntingtonma.us/media/566 |author=Rev. J. H. Bisbee |date=December 1876 |title=History of Huntington}}</ref>{{rp|7}} It shared a colonial representative with Chester until 1786, when it became a full town.

Early industry grew slowly.<ref name="Bisbee" />{{rp|17–19}}  Just before 1800, Daniel and Richard Falley opened a tavern (which also functioned as a hotel) and store<ref name="Caron" />{{rp|12}} near the three-way boundary of Norwich, Blandford, and Chester, which was also the boundary between [[Hampshire County, Massachusetts|Hampshire]] and [[Hampden County, Massachusetts|Hampden]] Counties. A post office opened nearby, on the Boston-Springfield-Albany [[stagecoach]] line; the neighborhood and the post office were named "Falleys' Cross road" or "Falley's X Roads".<ref name="Souvenir" /><ref name="Bisbee" />{{rp|13}}  In 1841, the Western Railroad (later part of the [[Boston and Albany Railroad]]) was constructed, drawing settlers and enabling profitable manufacturing to the vicinity of the stop, known as Chester Village to distinguish from the Chester Factories stop.<ref name="Souvenir">{{cite web |url=https://www.huntingtonma.us/media/576 |title=Souvenir Program from Dedication of Robert Packer Cross Memorial Bridge |date=June 22, 1941 |author=General Committee}}</ref><ref name="Bisbee" />{{rp|13}}  The post office and the neighborhood soon became known as Chester Village.<ref name="Caron" />{{rp|12}}

Jurisdictional boundaries split streets and in some cases houses, causing problems with transportation of school children and law enforcement.<ref name="Caron">{{cite web |url=https://www.huntingtonma.us/media/571 |title=Historical Review |author=Mrs. Edward W. Caron |date=July 1955 |publisher=Town of Huntington (Centennial Celebration Program)}}</ref> The nearby parts of Blandford and Chester were annexed to Norwich in 1853.<ref name="Bisbee" />{{rp|8}} In 1855, the Massachusetts General Court changed the name of the town to Huntington, in honor of Charles P. Huntington of [[Northampton, Massachusetts|Northampton]], who had helped secure the annexation.<ref name="Bisbee" />{{rp|8}} Chester Village then became known as "the village" of Huntington. Charles Huntington donated $100 for the establishment of a library in his namesake town.<ref name="Caron" />{{rp|12}}

In the Colonial Massachusetts tradition, Norwich initially functioned as both a secular town government and a church parish. Its town meetings were held at the town church ("meeting-hall") until 1841; a town hall was constructed in Knightville in 1842.<ref name="Bisbee" />{{rp|12}} Town meetings were held at a private Union Hall above a schoolhouse in Huntington village in the 1860s; the building burned in 1863 but was replaced<ref name="Bisbee" />{{rp|12}} and the new building served as the town hall until 1954.<ref name="Caron" />{{rp|12}}

[[Springfield Street Railway]] was extended to the town in 1905, and another trolley line operated to the town of [[Lee, Massachusetts|Lee]] for a time. [[U.S. Route 20 in Massachusetts|U.S. Route 20]] was constructed through the town in 1920.<ref name="Caron" />{{rp|22–23}}

The Huntington Textile Company supplied cloth to the U.S. military during the World Wars, but closed in 1952.<ref name="Caron" />{{rp|16}}