Next Stop: Southwick Ponds

 The Southwick Time Machine presents

The Hampden Railroad Company

Proposed Route Map

The visionaries of the Hampden Railroad Company wished to build a line from the Connecticut State Line to Westfield. The new line would cut through Southwick, primarily following the path of the defunct Hampshire and Hampden Canal, the northern extension of the Farmington Canal.

In 1852, the Massachusetts Senate killed a bill chartering the Hampden Railroad Company during the bill's second reading; the bill advanced in the House of Representatives. Following modifications, the Massachusetts Legislature passed it in May, and the company was incorporated with a reduced capital of $175,000. (Funding and project completion dates surround the bill revisions.)  

Corporators of the newly formed railroad met in Westfield on June 1 as they awaited authorization from the State of Connecticut to connect with the Canal Railroad at the Massachusetts-Connecticut State Line before proceeding. (The Farmington Valley Railroad built a 4.5-mile track from Granby to the state line.)

In November, the railroad started accepting proposals for the construction of the new line, either whole or by section. The work required included grading, masonry, and bridging. (The company gave Mr. Plympton of Southwick the contract to furnish railroad ties in January 1853.) 

Construction progressed rapidly, but not without tragedy: One such occurrence happened in March 1853 when a bank of earth caved in on an Irish workman named Kennedy, killing him. (Hardworking Irish immigrants primarily built the Farmington Canal and, upon its completion, stayed on to operate and maintain it.)

New Haven and Northampton Co. Stock Cert.

In June 1853, the Hampden Railroad and the Northampton and Westfield Railroad companies merged to form the Hampshire and Hampden Railroad with a combined company capital of $375,000. The completed line would extend from the Connecticut State Line through Southwick, Westfield, Southampton, and Easthampton to Northampton. (The Northampton and Westfield Railroad Company was chartered in 1852 also.)

The contractors' workers constructing the new line to Northampton went on strike on Monday, May 8, 1854. Instead of meeting the workers' demand for higher wages, the contractors promptly fired them and hired new ones. Another setback occurred that same month when a flood damaged the line, costing the railroad an estimated $2,000.  

Southwick Railroad Station

By mid-July, the railroad had purchased enough iron to lay the track to Westfield and expected that section of the line to be operational by September 1. They would then speedily complete the route to Northampton to appease lawmakers angered over delays. That, however, did not happen. 

The Hampshire and Hampden Railroad's line to Westfield officially opened on May 4, 1855, and the line to Northampton opened on July 1, 1856. The New York & New Haven Railroad operated the initial line under a lease agreement with the New Haven & Northampton Railroad. (At the close of January 1856, the railroad petitioned the Massachusetts Legislature to extend the deadline. The State Senate denied the request in March.)

With the new railroad, tourists flocked to Southwick Ponds to escape the summer heat; thousands of people would pack passenger trains bound for Congamond Lake each weekend - so many that the railroad had to put additional cars into service. Various tourist-oriented businesses opened, like the Railroad Pavilion Hotel, which provided first-class accommodations. Also, the new line made the Town of Southwick, already struggling with rapid growth, attract even more permanent residents. (The south end of the lake was a popular spot offering a variety of hotels, amusements, picnic groves, casinos, dance halls, restaurants, live music and entertainment, and more.)

Southwick had two railroad stations: The Congamond Station's final resting spot was on Lake Road, today's Congamond Road, and the Southwick Station was located on Broad Street, today's Depot Street. (In 1903, the railroad relocated the Congamond Station about 1500 feet south of its original location and placed it closer to the highway on the opposite side of the track.) 

The Southwick Railroad Station on Broad Street, today's Depot Street

Edited Out / Author's Additional Research Notes

The Hampshire and Hampden Railroad had to shut down the Westfield to Northampton line for a week in January 1857 as snow blocked the tracks. 

Sparks from a passing locomotive were blamed on a fire that burned 400 cords of wood in Southampton in 1860. The wood belonged to the Hampshire and Hampden Railroad. 

Train cars on the Hampshire and Hampden Railroad derailed in Easthampton in November 1860; the engine rolled over and crushed a young fireman to death; the train's engineer was unharmed. 

The Hampshire and Hampden Canal Company was chartered in Massachusetts in 1823. Construction on the Farmington Canal, as it was called in Connecticut, where it originated, started with a groundbreaking ceremony in Granby on July 4, 1825. The canal was completed in 1834-5, with limited service beginning as early as 1828. By 1830, the ill-fated canal reached Westfield. In 1836, The Hampshire and Hampden Canal Company was reorganized as part of the New Haven and Northampton Canal Company. Expensive to maintain, the 80-mile-long canal was phased out in 1845-7, mostly impart to a new form of transportation: the railroad.

Southwick Railroad Station