Holyoke, Massachusetts

Holyoke, Massachusetts
Clockwise from top: The Holyoke skyline with the clock tower of City Hall and Mount Tom Range in the background, Holyoke Heritage State Park and the Canalwalk, the Holyoke Dam, the Beech Street landscape in spring, and North High Street Historic District
Flag of Holyoke, Massachusetts
Official seal of Holyoke, Massachusetts
Nickname(s): 
The Paper City[1][2]
Birthplace of Volleyball[3][4]
The Venice of America[5]
Motto(s): 
Industria et Copia (Latin)
"Industry and Abundance"
[6]
Location in Hampden County in Massachusetts
Location in Hampden County in Massachusetts
Holyoke, Massachusetts is located in Massachusetts
Holyoke, Massachusetts
Holyoke, Massachusetts
Location in the United States
Holyoke, Massachusetts is located in the United States
Holyoke, Massachusetts
Holyoke, Massachusetts
Holyoke, Massachusetts (the United States)
Coordinates: 42°12′26″N 72°36′27″W / 42.20722°N 72.60750°W / 42.20722; -72.60750
Country United States
State Massachusetts
CountyHampden
Settled1655
Incorporated (parish)[a]July 7, 1786[8]
Incorporated (town)March 14, 1850[9]
Incorporated (city)April 7, 1873[10]
Founded byGeorge C. Ewing
Boston Associates
Named forElizur Holyoke
Government
 • TypeMayor-council city
 • MayorJoshua A. Garcia
Area
 • Total
22.80 sq mi (59.05 km2)
 • Land21.17 sq mi (54.83 km2)
 • Water1.63 sq mi (4.23 km2)
Elevation
200 ft (60 m)
Highest elevation1,202 ft (366 m)
Population
 (2020)
 • Total
38,328[7]
 • Density1,806.32/sq mi (697.43/km2)
Demonym(s)Holyoker[12]
Holyokian[13] (rare)
Time zoneUTC−5 (Eastern)
 • Summer (DST)UTC−4 (Eastern)
ZIP Codes
01040, 01041 (P.O.)
Area code413
FIPS code25-30840
GNIS feature ID0617679
Websitewww.holyoke.org

Holyoke is a city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States, that lies between the western bank of the Connecticut River and the Mount Tom Range. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 38,247.[14] Located 8 miles (13 km) north of Springfield, Holyoke is part of the Springfield Metropolitan Area, one of the two distinct metropolitan areas in Massachusetts.

Holyoke is among the early planned industrial cities in the United States. Built in tandem with the Holyoke Dam to utilize the water power of Hadley Falls, it is one of a handful of cities in New England built on the grid plan.[15] During the late 19th century the city produced an estimated 80% of the writing paper used in the United States and was home to the largest paper mill architectural firm in the country,[16] as well as the largest paper, silk, and alpaca wool mills in the world.[17][18] Although a considerably smaller number of businesses in Holyoke work in the paper industry today,[19][20] it is still commonly referred to as "The Paper City".[1][2] Today the city contains a number of specialty manufacturing companies,[21] as well as the Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center, an intercollegiate research facility which opened in 2012.[22] Holyoke is also home to the Volleyball Hall of Fame and known as the "Birthplace of Volleyball", as the internationally played Olympic sport was invented and first played at the local YMCA chapter by William G. Morgan in 1895.[3][4]

While managing the Holyoke Testing Flume in the 1880s, hydraulic engineer Clemens Herschel invented the Venturi meter to determine the water use of individual mills in the Holyoke Canal System. This device, the first accurate means of measuring large-scale flows, is widely used in a number of engineering applications today, including waterworks and carburators, as well as aviation instrumentation.[23][24] Powered by these municipally-owned canals, Holyoke has among the lowest electricity costs in the Commonwealth,[25] and as of 2016 between 85% and 90% of the city's energy was carbon neutral, with administrative goals in place to reach 100% in the future.[26][27]

  1. ^ a b Nutting, George M. (1937). Massachusetts; a guide to its places and people. Cambridge: The Riverside Press. p. 248. ...paper mills, attracted by cheap water-power from Hadley Falls Dam, have given the town the name of 'The Paper City'.
  2. ^ a b Basbanes, Nicholas A. (2014). On Paper: The Everything of Its Two-thousand-year History. New York: Random House. p. 100. ISBN 9780307279644. To exploit the full potential of a natural waterfall that drops fifty-eight feet within a fifth of a mile on the Connecticut River, nineteenth-century engineers built the industrial city of Holyoke around three circular canals that generated sufficient power to operate...twenty-eight mills, which at their peak accounted for nearly 90 percent of the paper produced in the United States. Though every one of these mills would close in the years following World War II, the economically stressed community still calls itself 'Paper City'.
  3. ^ a b Sullivan, Mark; Travis, William, eds. (2005). Fodor's Berkshires and Pioneer Valley. New York: Random House. p. 124. ISBN 9781400014675. Today, Holyoke—known as the 'birthplace of volleyball'—pays homage to Morgan with its Volleyball Hall of Fame.
  4. ^ a b "Burt DeGroot". Stanford. 19: 61. 1991. DeGroots and their sons, Ned and Don, commuted last October from San Clemente, Calif. to Holyoke, Mass., the birthplace of volleyball, for Burt's induction into the National Volleyball Hall of Fame.
  5. ^ For use in a publication from a different state, see "Holyoke, Massachusetts". Americana—Cities to See. The Indian Journal. Eufaula, Oklahoma. November 3, 1960. p. 6. Holyoke, Massachusetts, 'The Venice of America,' is a friendly, industrial city of 53,000 population in the Pioneer Valley, along the Connecticut River in Western Massachusetts.
    • For use in a trade publication, see "[Paper] Converters Abound in Holyoke—Why converters move to 'Venice of America'—case histories in the city which 'specializes in specialties'". Pulp & Paper. 30. Miller Freeman Publications: 182. 1956. The 'Venice of America'—Holyoke, Mass.—has a number of what it calls 'incubator' buildings, ready for occupancy by paper converting plants...
    • For use in an anthropological/historical context, see "Archaeological signs give insight to Holyoke". At the Quadrangle. The Springfield Union. Springfield, Mass. February 10, 1982. p. 32. Using artifacts and slides, the two will trace what they call 'The Venice of America,' one of the earliest planned industrial communities.
    • For use by a sitting mayor, see Moriarty, Jo-Ann (January 29, 1984). "Things Looking Up for an 'Exciting Lady'". The Republican. Springfield, Mass. p. F-55. Mayor Ernest E. Proulx says cities are like women. 'And Holyoke is an exciting lady,' he often tells people when he is selling his city. 'There is a charm here... What other cities have what we have? The rolling topography, the mountains and reservoirs, the river, the canals— Holyoke is the Venice of North America.
  6. ^ The Revised Ordinances of the City of Holyoke. Holyoke, Massachusetts: M. J. Doyle Printing Co. 1914. p. 159.
  7. ^ "QuickFacts–Holyoke city, Massachusetts". United States Census Bureau.
  8. ^ Holland, Josiah Gilbert (1855). History of Western Massachusetts; the counties of Hampden, Hampshire, Franklin, and Berkshire. Springfield, Mass.: Samuel Bowles. p. 70. On the 7th of July, 1786, the part of West Springfield now embraced in Holyoke was incorporated as the Third Parish of West Springfield, and was called 'Ireland,' and 'Ireland Parish,' from the fact that several Irish families were the first settlers of the territory, though there is no record of the date of their settlement
  9. ^ An act to incorporate the town of Holyoke, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1850
  10. ^ An act to establish the city of Holyoke, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1873
  11. ^ "2020 U.S. Gazetteer Files". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved May 21, 2022.
  12. ^ For contemporary use see Plaisance, Michael (April 3, 2018). "Holyokers asked to complete survey on Community Preservation Act". The Republican. Springfield, Mass. Archived from the original on July 18, 2018.
    • For historical use see "Holyokers in the New South". Springfield Republican. Springfield, Mass. February 9, 1890. p. 5.
  13. ^ For use in different publications historical and contemporary, see "Holyoke Growing Pompous; Over its Booming Population". Springfield Republican. Springfield, Mass. July 8, 1888. p. 6. The average Holyokian takes much pride in the rapid growth and development of the city
    • Malcolm, David J. (December 22, 1940). "Our Hill Town Neighbors". Springfield Republican. Springfield, Mass. p. 19. ...it was clear to us that among real Holyokians the word Transcript and the word newspaper are used synonymously
    • "Class Notes". Princeton Alumni Weekly. November 22, 1946. p. 21. Charlie reuned that evening with Holyokian Bud Bagg (new vice-president of the Alumni Association of Conn. Valley)
    • Sousa, Frank (July 27, 1977). "Some big fish!". Springfield Union. Springfield, Mass. p. 35. Which must be some sort of record when you figure that two Holyokians, Holyokers, whatever, have taken the tourney two out of nine years...
    • "Pas dans notre Cour !" [Not In Our Backyard] (in French). The WEDA Coalition. December 12, 2015. Archived from the original on January 9, 2018. L'idée plus populaire chez les Holyokians est une centrale solaire avec loisirs accès à la rivière
  14. ^ "Census - Geography Profile: Holyoke city, Massachusetts". U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved September 25, 2021.
  15. ^ Breitbart, Myrna Margulies (2016). "'Lofty artists' vs. 'El Oro del Barrio': Crafting Community and a Sustainable Economic Future in the Paper City". Creative Economies in Post-Industrial Cities; Manufacturing a (Different) Scene. London and New York: Routledge. ISBN 9781317158325.
  16. ^ "Emory Alexander Ellsworth". Journal of the Boston Society of Civil Engineers. III (8): 480. October 1916. In 1879 Mr. Ellsworth left the firm of Davis & Ellsworth to become principal assistant and head draftsman for D. H. & A. B. Tower, of Holyoke, who were the largest firm of paper mill architects in the country at that time, and who designed no less than twenty paper mills in the city of Holyoke alone
  17. ^ Root, Joshua L. (Fall 2009). "Something Will Drop: Socialists, Unions and Trusts in Nineteenth-Century Holyoke" (PDF). Historic Journal of Massachusetts. 37 (2): 38. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 24, 2017.
  18. ^ "Who's Who in the Silk Industry–William Skinner". Silk. Vol. XV, no. 3. Silk Publishing Company. March 1922. p. 44. One building alone is 1000 feet long—the largest silk mill, under one roof, in the world
  19. ^ Kinney, Jim (June 11, 2015). "'Paper Cluster' meeting hopes to invigorate old industry with new moves". MassLive. Springfield, Mass. Retrieved December 23, 2017.
  20. ^ "Holyoke, MA Paper Manufacturers". Yellow Pages. DexYP. Archived from the original on December 23, 2017. Retrieved December 23, 2017.
  21. ^ For industrial vacuums see "RuWac USA". Retrieved January 31, 2018.
  22. ^ "ABOUT | MGHPCC". www.mghpcc.org. Retrieved December 31, 2016.
  23. ^ "Invention of the Venturi Meter". Nature. 136 (3433): 254. August 17, 1935. Bibcode:1935Natur.136Q.254.. doi:10.1038/136254a0. [The article] reproduces a letter from Herschel to the late Dr. Unwin describing his invention of the Venturi Meter. The letter is dated June 5, 1888, and addressed from the hydraulic engineer's office of the Holyoke Water Power Co., Mass. In his letter, Herschel says he tested a one-inch Venturi Meter, under 210 ft. head: 'I am now satisfied that here is a new and pregnant principle to be applied to the art of gauging fluids, inclusive of fluids such as compressed air, illuminating or fuel gases, steam, etc. Further, that the shape of the meter should be trumpet-shaped in both directions; such a meter will measure volumes flowing in either direction, which in certain localities becomes a useful attribute...'
  24. ^ Instrument Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-15A). Flight Standards Service. Skyhorse Publishing; Federal Aviation Administration, U.S. Dept. of Transportation. 2013. pp. 5–17. ISBN 9781616083021.
  25. ^ Residential Rate Comparison - 750kWh, June 2017 (PDF) (Report). Hudson Light; Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Company. June 2017. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 10, 2018.
  26. ^ Serreze, Mary C. (July 20, 2016). "Palmer and Holyoke honored for 100% renewable energy commitment". MassLive. Springfield, Mass. Retrieved December 23, 2017.
  27. ^ "Baker-Polito Administration Awards $1 Million Renewable Energy Grant to Holyoke". MA Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. Commonwealth of Massachusetts. March 11, 2017. Archived from the original on December 23, 2017. Retrieved December 23, 2017.


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