Editing Northampton, Massachusetts (section)

==History==
[[File:Northampton (Massachusetts) (NYPL b12610608-421421).jpg|thumb|''Northampton (Massachusetts)'', [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Northampton_(Massachusetts)_(NYPL_b12610608-421421).jpg New York Public Library]]]

=== Early settlement ===
Northampton was known as "Norwottuck", or "Nonotuck", meaning "the midst of the river",<ref>{{cite web |author=languagehat at |url=http://www.languagehat.com/archives/002846.php |title=Norwottuck |publisher=Languagehat.com |date=August 19, 2007 |access-date=November 20, 2011}}</ref> named by its original [[Pocumtuc]] inhabitants. According to various accounts, Northampton was given its present name by John A. King (1629–1703), one of the first white settlers in Northampton, or possibly in King's honor, since it is supposed that he came to Massachusetts from [[Northampton|Northampton, England]], his birthplace.<ref>(Allen 9, Dwight 10, Leach 124)</ref>

The Pocumtuc confederacy occupied the [[Connecticut River]] Valley from what is now southern Vermont and [[New Hampshire]] into northern [[Connecticut]]. The Pocumtuc tribes were [[Algonquian peoples|Algonquian]] and traditionally allied with the [[Mahican]] confederacy to the west. By 1606 an ongoing struggle between the Mahican and [[Iroquois]] confederacies led to direct attacks on the Pocumtuc by the Iroquoian [[Mohawk nation]].<ref name="dickshovel.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.dickshovel.com/pocu.html |title=Pocumtuc |publisher=Dickshovel.com |access-date=November 20, 2011}}</ref> The Mahican confederacy had been defeated by 1628, limiting Pocumtuc access to trade routes to the west. The area suffered a major [[smallpox]] epidemic in the 1630s following the arrival of Dutch traders in the [[Hudson Valley]] and New England settlers in the [[Massachusetts Bay Colony]] during the previous two decades. It was in this context that the land making up the bulk of modern Northampton was sold to settlers from [[Springfield, Massachusetts|Springfield]] in 1653.<ref name=Trumbull/>{{rp|5–12}}

On May 18, 1653, a petition for township was approved by the general court of Springfield.<ref name=Trumbull/>{{rp|7}} While some settlers visited the land in the fall of 1653, they waited till early spring 1654 to arrive and establish a permanent settlement.<ref name="Trumbull" />{{rp|15–16}} <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.chronos-historical.org/highway/maps/map07.jpg |title=Map of history of political boundaries, plantation period |access-date=November 20, 2011}}</ref> The situation in the region further deteriorated when the [[Mohawk people]] escalated hostilities against the [[Pocumtuc]] confederacy and other [[Algonquian peoples|Algonquian]] tribes after 1655, forcing many of the plague-devastated Algonquian groups into defensive mergers.<ref name="dickshovel.com"/> This coincided with a souring of relations between the [[Wampanoag people|Wampanoag]] and the Massachusetts Bay colonists, eventually leading to the expanded Algonquian alliance, which took part in [[King Philip's War]].

=== Partition ===
Northampton was part of the [[Equivalent Lands]] compromise.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/historicalcolle04barbgoog/page/n340 <!-- pg=313 --> ''Historical Collections'']; John Warner Barber; Dorr; 1841; P. 313.</ref> Its territory was enlarged beyond the original settlement, but later portions would be carved up into separate cities, towns, and municipalities. [[Southampton, Massachusetts|Southampton]], for example, was incorporated in 1775 and included parts of the territories of modern [[Montgomery, Massachusetts|Montgomery]] (incorporated in 1780) and [[Easthampton, Massachusetts|Easthampton]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chronos-historical.org/highway/maps/map11.jpg |title=Map of history of political boundaries c1775 |access-date=November 20, 2011}}</ref> [[Westhampton, Massachusetts|Westhampton]] was incorporated in 1778 and Easthampton in 1809.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.chronos-historical.org/highway/maps/map14.jpg |title=Map of history of political boundaries, Federal period |access-date=November 20, 2011}}</ref> A hamlet of Northampton, called [[Smith's Ferry, Holyoke, Massachusetts|Smith's Ferry]], became separated from the rest of the city with the drawing of boundaries for Easthampton. Because the village was separated by [[Mount Tom (Massachusetts)|Mount Tom]], the shortest path to from the downtown to this area was a road near the Connecticut River [[The Oxbow (Connecticut river)|oxbow]], which was frequently subject to flooding. This led to many services such as fire and police being provided by the city of [[Holyoke]] rather than Northampton's own municipal departments, and after a number of negotiations between the two cities, Smith's Ferry was ceded to [[Holyoke, Massachusetts|Holyoke]] in 1909 for a sum of $62,000.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chronos-historical.org/highway/07.html |title=US-5: A Highway to History |publisher=Chronos-historical.org |access-date=November 20, 2011}}</ref><ref name="act">{{cite act| title = An act to establish the boundary line between the cities of Northampton and Holyoke| type = Massachusetts General Law| number = Ch. 480| date = June 9, 1909| page = 498-502| url = http://archives.lib.state.ma.us/actsResolves/1909/1909acts0480.pdf| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160630205430/http://archives.lib.state.ma.us/actsResolves/1909/1909acts0480.pdf| archive-date=30 June 2016| access-date = June 30, 2016
}}
</ref>

=== The Great Awakening ===
Congregational preacher, theologian and philosopher [[Jonathan Edwards (theologian)|Jonathan Edwards]] was a leading figure in a 1734 [[Christian revival]] in Northampton. In the winter of 1734 and the following spring it reached such intensity that it threatened the town's businesses. In the spring of 1735 the movement began to subside and a reaction set in. But the relapse was brief, and the Northampton revival, which had spread through the Connecticut River Valley and whose fame had reached England and Scotland, was followed in 1739–1740 by the [[Great Awakening]], under the leadership of Edwards.{{Citation needed|date=May 2011}}

For this achievement, Edwards is considered one of the founders of [[evangelical Christianity]].<ref>see Kidd, Thomas, ''The Great Awakening: The Roots of Evangelical Christianity in Colonial America''.</ref>

[[File:Cole Thomas The Oxbow (The Connecticut River near Northampton 1836).jpg|thumb|''[[The Oxbow]]'' (1836) by [[Thomas Cole]]]]
Northampton hosted its own [[Salem witch trials|witch trials]] in the 1700s, although no alleged witches were executed.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Ricci |first1=Monica |title=Before Salem: Northampton woman accused of witchcraft |url=https://www.wwlp.com/news/digital-first/before-salem-northampton-woman-accused-of-witchcraft/ |website=wwlp.com |date=October 31, 2019 |publisher=Nextar Broadcasting, Inc. |access-date=29 June 2020}}</ref>

=== After the Revolution ===
Members of the Northampton community were present at the [[Constitutional Convention (United States)|Constitutional Convention]] in [[Philadelphia]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.historic-northampton.org/highlights/strong.html |website=Historic Northampton |title=Caleb Strong |access-date=May 26, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090311051327/http://www.historic-northampton.org/highlights/strong.html |archive-date=March 11, 2009}}</ref>

On August 29, 1786, [[Daniel Shays]] and a group of Revolutionary War veterans (who called themselves Shaysites) stopped the civil court from sitting in Northampton, in an uprising known as [[Shays' Rebellion]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.historic-northampton.org/highlights/shays.html |website=Historic Northampton |title=Shays' Rebellion |access-date=May 26, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091213153020/http://www.historic-northampton.org/highlights/shays.html |archive-date=December 13, 2009}}</ref>

In 1805 a crowd of 15,000 gathered in Northampton to watch the executions of two Irishmen convicted of murder: [[Dominic Daley]], 34, and [[James Halligan (1778–1806)|James Halligan]], 27. The crowd, composed largely of New England [[White Anglo-Saxon Protestants]], lit bonfires and expressed virulently anti-Irish and anti-Catholic sentiments. The trial evidence against Daley and Halligan was sparse, circumstantial, contrived, and perjurious.<ref name="Historic-northampton.org">{{cite web |url=http://www.historic-northampton.org/daleyandhalligan/daleyandhalligan.html |title=Daley & Halligan – Historic Northampton Museum and Education Center |publisher=Historic-northampton.org |date=November 20, 2005 |access-date=November 20, 2011}}</ref> The men were hanged on June 5, 1806, on Pancake Plain. Their bodies were denied a burial; they were [[dissection|destroyed]] in the local slaughterhouse. This trial "later came to be seen as epitomizing the anti-Irish sentiment that was widespread in New England in the early 19th century."{{citation needed|date=August 2022}} Daley and Halligan were exonerated of all crimes by governor [[Michael Dukakis]] in 1984. Today a simple stone landmark stands marking the site of Daley and Halligan's executions.

In 1835 Northampton was linked to the ocean by the [[Hampshire and Hampden Canal|New Haven and Northampton Canal]], but the canal enterprise foundered and after about a decade was replaced by a railroad running along the same route.<ref name=copeland>Copeland, Alfred M. ''"Our County and Its People": A History of Hampden County, Massachusetts''. Century Memorial Publishing (1902), pp. 174–75.</ref> A flood on the [[Mill River (Northampton, Massachusetts)|Mill River]] on May 16, 1874, obliterated almost the entire Northampton [[Leeds, Massachusetts|neighborhood of Leeds]],  killing 139 people in Leeds and areas of neighboring towns.<ref>Andrews, E. Benjamin. ''The United States in Our Own Time: A History from Reconstruction to Expansion''. C. Scribner's Sons (1903), pp. 183–84.</ref>

=== The "Paradise of America" ===
[[File:Recto Northhampton Bank (Massachusetts) 1 dollar 1843 urn-3 HBS.Baker.AC 1141685.jpeg|alt=One dollar note with illustrations of a standing female figure, a seated female allegorical figure holding a scythe and rake; sailing vessels; steam engine, and a building|thumb|Northampton Bank one dollar note from 1843.]]
From 1842<ref name="Historic Northampton Museum and Education Center">{{cite web |url=http://www.historic-northampton.org/highlights/educationindustry.html |title=Northampton Association of Education and Industry |access-date=December 30, 2012}}</ref> until 1846 Northampton was home to a [[transcendentalist]] [[utopian community]] of [[Abolitionism in the United States|abolitionists]]. Called the [[Northampton Association of Education and Industry]], the community believed that the rights of all people should be "equal without distinction of sex, color or condition, sect or religion". It supported itself by producing mulberry trees and [[silk]]. [[Sojourner Truth]], a former slave who became a national advocate for equality and justice, lived in this community until its dissolution (and later in a house on Park Street until 1857).<ref>{{cite web |author=Gravity Switch, Inc – www.gravityswitch.com |url=http://www.northamptonma.gov/aboutNorthampton/History_of_Northampton/ |title=City of Northampton: History of Northampton |publisher=Northamptonma.gov |access-date=November 20, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111104090605/http://www.northamptonma.gov/aboutNorthampton/History%5Fof%5FNorthampton/ |archive-date=November 4, 2011 }}</ref>
[[File:Hampshirecountycourthouse.jpg|left|thumb|Hampshire County Courthouse in Northampton, designed by architect [[Henry Franklin Kilburn]].]]

In 1851 opera singer [[Jenny Lind]], the "[[Sweden|Swedish]] Nightingale", declared Northampton to be the "Paradise of America", from which Northampton took its nickname "The Paradise City".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.historic-northampton.org/events/jennylind.html |title=Nightingale Uncaged: Jenny Lind in Northampton |website=Historic Northampton |access-date=May 22, 2021}}</ref>

[[Clarke Schools for Hearing and Speech]] (formerly the Clarke School for the Deaf) was founded in Northampton in 1867. It was the United States' first permanent oral school for the deaf. [[Alexander Graham Bell]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Our History |url=http://www.clarkeschools.org/about/history |website=clarkeschools.org |publisher=Clarke Schools for Hearing and Speech |access-date=19 July 2020}}</ref> and [[Grace Coolidge]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sobel |first1=Robert |title=Coolidge: An American Enigma |date=1998 |publisher=Regnery History |location=1998 (Revised 2015) |page=55}}</ref> have served as heads of school.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Traynor |first1=Robert |title=The Sign of Grace |url=https://hearinghealthmatters.org/hearinginternational/2017/the-sign-of-grace/ |website=hearinghealthmatters.org |date=May 30, 2017 |publisher=HHTM |access-date=19 July 2020}}</ref>

[[Smith College]] for women was founded in Northampton in 1871. Today Smith is the largest of the [[Seven Sisters colleges]]. Well-known Smith alumnae include [[Sylvia Plath]], [[Barbara Bush]], [[Nancy Reagan]], [[Tammy Baldwin]], [[Gloria Steinem]], [[Madeleine L'Engle]], and [[Julia Child]]. The first game of [[women's basketball]] was played at Smith College in 1892.

A [[Northampton Bank robbery|theft of $1.6 million]] ($46.5 million in 2023) from the Northampton Bank took place on January 27, 1876.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Old Bank |url=https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=194870 |website=HMdb.org |publisher=THE HISTORICAL MARKER DATABASE |access-date=7 February 2024}}</ref>

Northampton officially became a city on September 5, 1883, when voters accepted the city charter, "The act to establish the city of Northampton. 1883-Chapter 250," as passed and approved.<ref name="establish" /><ref name="establish2" />

[[Immigration|Immigrant]] groups that settled Northampton in large numbers included [[Ireland|Irish]], [[Poland|Polish]], and [[French-Canadians]]. In 1890 a small number of German-Jewish families arrived in Northampton, most of them coming from New York or Boston.  By 1905 there were almost 5000 foreign-born residents among the 20,000 people of the city.<ref>Glazer, Penina and Glazer, Myron, The Jews of Paradise, Collective Copies Press, Florence, MA, 2004, {{ISBN|0-9600-828-2-4}}</ref>

=== Decline ===
During the mid-20th century, Northampton experienced several decades of economic decline, bottoming in the 1970s,{{Citation needed|date=June 2013}} related to the emergence of the [[Rust Belt]] phenomenon. Though western Massachusetts lies outside of the Rust Belt geographically, the centrality of commerce and the arts to Northampton's economy left it economically vulnerable, in particular when compounded with the decline of Springfield's manufacturing sector, Holyoke's paper industry, and massive plant closures in the [[Capital District, New York|New York Capital District]].

[[File:IMG 3811-On-the-Norwottuck-bridge.jpg|thumb|The [[Norwottuck Rail Trail]] Bridge across the Connecticut River]]

=== Cultural renaissance ===
Northampton has a thriving cultural center and is a popular tourist destination. The city has many eclectic restaurants and a lively arts and music scene. Three Northampton farmers markets, held weekly, sell fresh produce from local farms.

Since 1982, Northampton has been host to an annual LGBT Parade and Pride event held the first Saturday in May.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://nohopride.org/home.html |title=Noho Pride Homepage |website=Noho Pride |access-date=May 22, 2021}}</ref>

Since 1995 Northampton has been home to the twice-yearly Paradise City Arts Festival,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.paradisecityarts.com |title=Paradise City Arts Festivals |website=Paradise City Fairs of Fines and Functional Art |access-date=May 22, 2021}}</ref> held at the Three County Fairgrounds on [[Memorial Day]] weekend and [[Columbus Day]] weekend. The festival is a national juried showcase for contemporary craft and fine art.

Since 2004, Northampton has been the site of Django in June, a week-long [[gypsy jazz]] music camp held annually on the campus of Smith College.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.djangoinjune.com |title=Homepage |website=Django in June |access-date=May 22, 2021}}</ref>

In recent years, downtown Northampton has seen a decline, with nearly one out of five storefronts being vacant as of September 2022.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-09-26 |title=Help on vacant storefronts: Northampton secures state designation to provide tax incentives for new businesses |url=https://www.gazettenet.com/Northampton-accepted-into-empty-storefronts-program-48185135 |access-date=2023-02-18 |website=Daily Hampshire Gazette}}</ref>