Editing Leverett, Massachusetts (section)

==History==
Leverett is one of the southernmost towns of Franklin County, located west of Shutesbury and Wendell, east of Sunderland, south of Montague, and north of Amherst. Leverett was originally part of Sunderland (named Swampfield at that time).

The first non-indigenous settlement was established in 1750, and the settlers officially petitioned [[Sunderland, Massachusetts|Sunderland]] to become their own town in 1774. The town was named for [[John Leverett]], the twentieth Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.<ref>{{cite book|last=Gannett|first=Henry|title=The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9V1IAAAAMAAJ|year=1905|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9V1IAAAAMAAJ/page/n134 185]}}</ref>

In 1985, a [[Buddhism|Buddhist]] monastic order called [[Nipponzan Myohoji]] erected a large monument in Leverett. This structure, known as the [[New England Peace Pagoda]], is considered the first of its kind in North America.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://smalltownclaimtofame.com/ma-leverett-ludlow/|title=MA Leverett - Ludlow - Small Town Claim To Fame|work=Small Town Claim To Fame|access-date=January 2, 2018}}</ref> Two historic Evangelical churches are also located in Leverett, North Leverett Baptist and Moore's Corner Church, the latter of which was founded by a protégé of [[Evangelism|evangelist]] [[Dwight L. Moody]].

''[[The Boston Globe]]'' ran a story in 2005 describing Leverett and its neighboring town, Shutesbury, as one of "America's Broadband Black Holes".<ref>{{cite news|last=Russell|first=Jenna|title=Internet yearning in Western Mass. hills|url=http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/08/24/internet_yearning_in_western_mass_hills/|access-date=May 13, 2012|newspaper=[[The Boston Globe]]|date=August 24, 2005}}</ref> In 2017 Massachusetts Governor [[Charlie Baker]] announced grant funding for high speed broadband in several towns, including Leverett.<ref>{{cite web|date=May 25, 2017|title=Rural towns get broadband funding|url=https://www.recorder.com/Rural-towns-get-broadband-funding-10312309|access-date=September 13, 2022|website=Greenfield Recorder|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220913163524/https://www.recorder.com/Rural-towns-get-broadband-funding-10312309|archive-date=September 13, 2022|url-status=dead}}</ref>