Editing Chicopee, Massachusetts (section)

===Nayasett (Cabotville and Chicopee Falls)===

{{multiple image
   | direction = vertical
   | width = 220
   | align = left
   | footer = Cabotville as it appeared in 1844, prior to the incorporation of Chicopee (top); the dam at Chicopee Falls today
   | image1 = Village of Cabotville, Springfield, Massachusetts (1844).jpg
   | image2 = ChicopeeRiver.jpg}}

In 1636, [[William Pynchon]] purchased land from the Agawam Indians on the east side of the Connecticut River. He moved from the Town of Roxbury to Springfield to found the first settlement in the area that comprises the territory of today's Chicopee Center (Cabotville). Both Cabotville and the Falls were developed as manufacturing centers (villages).<ref name="Chicopee illustrated">{{cite book |last1=Johnson |first1=L.L. |title=Chicopee illustrated, 1896 |date=1896 |publisher=Transcript Publishing Company |location=1896 |url=https://ia801605.us.archive.org/28/items/chicopeeillustra00holy/chicopeeillustra00holy.pdf |access-date=21 May 2023}}</ref>

According to local historian Charles J. Seaver, the area above the falls was first settled in 1660. The land purchased from the Indians was divided into districts. Nayasett (Nipmuc for "at the small point/angle") was the name given to the area of what are now Chicopee Center and Chicopee Falls. The settlement in the upper district was at Skipmuck (possibly based on Nipmuc ''Skipmaug,'' meaning "chief fishing place" or ''Shipmuck,'' meaning "big watery place"), a place above the falls on the south side of the river.{{citation needed|date=April 2022}}

Colonists built a sawmill as the first industrial site along the river. The mill was built at ''Skenungonuck'' (Nipmuc for "green fields") Falls (now Chicopee Falls) in 1678 by Japhet Chapin, John Hitchcock and Nathaniel Foote.{{citation needed|date=April 2022}}

In 1786, what was called Factory Village began to develop when two acres of land was leased to 10 local men, with the understanding that they would build an iron foundry within two years. This was accomplished and the business flourished.{{citation needed|date=April 2022}}

In 1823, Jonathan Dwight purchased the water privilege at Skenungonuck Falls in Chicopee. He built a textile mill and five years later, it operated 14,000 spindles and nearly 500 looms, making it the second-largest operation in the state. It processed cotton from the Deep South, becoming part of the extended slave economy and King Cotton. By 1831, settlers had developed two giant dams, two waterpower canals, and two manufacturing communities on the Chicopee River.{{citation needed|date=April 2022}}

Before and after the partition, eight Chicopee River companies gained product recognition around the globe: [[Ames Manufacturing Company|Ames]], Belcher, Lamb, Dwight, [[Stevens Arms|Stevens]], [[Spalding (company)|Spalding]], [[Fisk Rubber Company|Fisk]], and [[Duryea Motor Wagon|Duryea]]. Below the falls, in the bend of the river at a place called Factory Village, an important chapter of the region's industrial history was played out.{{citation needed|date=April 2022}}