Editing Chicopee, Massachusetts (section)

===Incorporation as a city===
[[Image:Basilica of St. Stanislaus, Chicopee MA.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Basilica of Saint Stanislaus, Bishop & Martyr]]]]

[[File:Massachusetts - Cape Cod Canal through Lexington - NARA - 23941289 (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|Aerial view of Chicopee, August 1940]]
On April 18, 1890, the community was granted a charter as a city by the [[Massachusetts General Court]]. [[George Sylvester Taylor]] (1822–1910) became Chicopee's [[List of mayors of Chicopee, Massachusetts|first mayor]] on January 5, 1891.

Westover Field was created by a war-readiness appropriation signed by president Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1939. The site used to be tobacco crop fields east of and part of Fairview, east of Aldenview, and northern Willimansett. It was assigned to the United States Army Air Corps Northeast Air District. It was renamed Westover Air Force Base in 1948 after that Air Force's creation as a separate service. In 1974 SAC leadership turned the base over to the Air Force Reserve.

In 1991, [[Basilica of St. Stanislaus, Chicopee|St. Stanislaus Bishop and Martyr Church]], located on Front Street, was proclaimed a [[minor basilica]] by [[Pope John Paul II]].