Editing South Hadley, Massachusetts (section)

== History ==
[[File:Flatboat used in South Hadley Canal.jpg|thumb|left|A [[flatboat]] typical of those used in the [[South Hadley Canal]] through the early 19th century]]
South Hadley was an unsettled area of [[Hadley, Massachusetts|Hadley]] from 1659 until 1721, when English settlers moved in from Hadley.<ref name="hamp">[http://www.hampshirecountyhistory.com/southhadley/barber/index.html "History And Antiquities of Every Town In Massachusetts" by John Warner Barber, 1848.]</ref>  A separate town meeting was held in 1753, and the town was officially split and incorporated in  1775.<ref name="hamp" /><ref name="official">[http://www.southhadley.org/history/milestones.htm South Hadley town website - Historical milestones] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080102105805/http://www.southhadley.org/history/milestones.htm |date=January 2, 2008 }}</ref>

The town is the home of the nation's [[South Hadley Canal|first successful navigable canal]]<ref>[http://www.bio.umass.edu/biology/conn.river/canal.html The Role of the South Hadley Canal in Western New England's Development] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140521231822/http://www.bio.umass.edu/biology/conn.river/canal.html |date=May 21, 2014 }}</ref> as well as [[Timeline of women's colleges in the United States|the oldest continuing institution of higher education for women]] (Mount Holyoke College).

The Civil War Monument (believed to be by [[Jerome Connor]])<ref>[https://www.pbs.org/wned/elbert-hubbard/jerome-connor.php Early Artisans: Jerome Connor- Elbert Hubbard: An American Original]. PBS (August 20, 1943). Retrieved on 2013-09-07.</ref> in the center of the Commons was given to South Hadley by William H. Gaylord in the 1900s. The Gaylords also donated the Gaylord Memorial Library, located near the center of town.<ref>[http://www.gaylordlibrary.org/Library%20History.htm Gaylord Memorial Library] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080705124045/http://www.gaylordlibrary.org/Library%20History.htm |date=July 5, 2008 }}</ref>