The directors of the Southwick Sandlot League held a meeting on July 3, 1961, at which they voted to purchase 13 acres of land off Powder Mill Road, known as the Gardner property, for $13,000 and officially incorporate the organization as Southwick Recreation Center, Inc. (At the time, the land had three baseball diamonds.) The new entity's officers and directors were J. Carl Maloney, William Stacy, Paul Hovey, William Sharpe, Charles Grimaldi, and Edward Connolly. They proposed a membership drive to raise enough money to cover the land purchase price and construct a small building to house sporting equipment and provide refreshments. Adult memberships would be one dollar each, and children's memberships fifty cents. A typical recreation program the directors were starting was estimated to cost $35,000 annually. The directors did not want the burden to fall on taxpayers, so they planned three annual fundraisers: Tag Day, held each May, a membership drive in August, and a card p

Southwick Electric Company (rough draft) The newly incorporated Southwick Electric Company appeared before the Massachusetts State Board of Gas and Electric Light Commission in Boston on June 28, 1915, to gain approval to issue 600 shares of capital stock valued at $6,000. Southwick Electric planned to use the money generated from its stock offering to build a power station near the Westfield/Southwick town line, run lines to the town center, and purchase equipment to supply street lighting and electricity to Southwick businesses.  The new company negotiated with the Westfield Light Company, from which it would get either electricity or power. The company's officers were:  Raymond M. Fletcher, president Frank B. Gladwin, treasurer William Fletcher, director Harry B. Putnam, director During a special town meeting in August, Southwick voters approved installing street lights and authorized selectmen to contract with the Southwick Electric Light Company to provide electricity for them

1901: Harmon A. Smith is born in New Haven, Connecticut, on June 12.  1932: Miller's Beach encourages Connecticut swimmers to enter its aquatic meet being held on June 19. Participants should send entries to John Pollard or Harmon Smith, c/o Miller's Beach, or call Southwick 77 and reverse the call.  1935 Ad 1935: The Young Democratic Club of South Windsor, Connecticut, holds its July meeting at Smith's Beach in Southwick, Massachusetts.  1936: Harmon Smith, the athletic coach at Agawam High School, purchases Smith's Beach. He previously rented the property for several years, containing about 38 acres of land and 1,500 feet of lakefront. (Smith started coaching in Agawam in 1924. He worked at Miller's Beach in Southwick and at the pool at Riverside Park.) 1937: Seven-year-old Evelyn Fennelly sustains severe injuries after being struck by an automobile while at Smith's Beach on June 13. She is taken to Noble Hospital for emergency treatment before being transfe

Originating from Boston's Logan Airport, Eastern Airlines Flight 663 provided regular domestic passenger service to Atlanta, Georgia, with scheduled stops in New York; Richmond, Virginia; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Greenville, South Carolina.  The Douglas DC-7B aircraft servicing the flight departed New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) on runway 31L at 6:20 p.m. with continuing service to Richmond's Byrd Field (today's Richmond International Airport) on Monday, February 8, 1965, with 79 passengers and five crew members aboard. (It was an otherwise perfect night for flying, the moon was blocked by a few clouds, temperature 46F.) The routine departure from JFK required the aircraft to complete a "Dutch Seven Instrument Departure," a standard takeoff procedure requiring a series of turns over the Atlantic Ocean to avoid flying over New York City. As it was preparing to hand Flight 663 over to the New York Air Route Traffic Control Center (AR

Village Green Shopping Center Southwick Building Inspector Francis Ehrhardt issued a building permit to Clyde Jones and Robert Pollard in October 1965 to construct an $80,840 shopping center. They tapped the Medical Development and Construction Company of Westfield to head the project. (The general contracting company went bankrupt in 1973.) The Village Green Shopping Center held its grand opening on April 20, 1966, with Jones Market as its anchor. Other tenants included a barbershop relocated from the Southwick Shopping Center and the Venetian Bakery, a new business in town. A branch of the Third National Bank of Hampden County opened about a month later. The new center's parking lot capacity was 200 cars. (Jones Market, founded by Charles H. Jones, was initially located nearby on College Highway. Due to increased business, the new store afforded more square footage than the original.)  1968 - Tragedy Strikes John Graham, of Gargon Terrace, worked at Jones Market and was well-know