Hadley, Massachusetts Hadley, Massachusetts Official seal of Hadley, Massachusetts Hadley (Listeni/ h dli/, had-lee) is a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States.
Hadley was first settled in 1659 and was officially incorporated in 1661.
The first settler inside of Hadley was Nathaniel Dickinson, who surveyed the streets of what is now Hadley, Hatfield, and Amherst.
At the time, Hadley encompassed a wide radius of territory on both sides of the Connecticut River (but mostly on the easterly shore) including much of what would turn into known as the Equivalent Lands. In the following century, these were broken off into precincts and eventually the separate suburbs of Hatfield, Amherst, South Hadley, Granby and Belchertown.
The early histories of these suburbs are, as a result, filed under the history of Hadley.
This event, compounded by the reluctance of the townsfolk to betray Goffe's location, advanced into the legend of the Angel of Hadley, which came to be encompassed in the historical manuscript History of Hadley by Sylvester Judd. In 1683, eleven years before the Salem witch trials, Mary Webster, wife to William Webster son of the former governor of Connecticut and a founder of the very town of Hadley (John Webster), was accused and acquitted of witchcraft.
The Civil War general Joseph Hooker was a longtime resident of Hadley.
Levi Stockbridge, one of the framers of the Massachusetts Agricultural College (now the University of Massachusetts Amherst), was also from Hadley where he was a farmer.
Hadley's transformation from an old agricultural order to the new form is the direct result of expansion of the close-by University of Massachusetts Amherst amid the 1960s.
Route 9, which runs east west through the town to connect Amherst and Northampton, became a hotpoint for commercial development, and large corporations such as Stop & Shop and Mc - Donald's opened stores along the strip.
Today, the Hadley economy is a mixture of agriculture and commercial development, including big-box stores and the Hampshire Mall.
In 2003, an organization called Hadley Neighbors for Sensible Development was formed that has opposed continued large-scale commercial evolution in Hadley by emphasizing the down side of such growth.
The developer of the site (Hampshire Mall) has filed and lost various appeals but continues its legal challenges of the commission's findings. Many inhabitants also opposed rezoning to accommodate a new Lowe's store because they said it would be too big and would require more filling of wetlands than allowed by state law.
The World Monuments Fund listed the "Cultural Landscape of Hadley, Massachusetts" on the 2010 World Monuments Watch List of Most Endangered Sites. " The landscape of Hadley is largely open-field farming, which was only used in the earliest New England settlements and had mostly disappeared by the 18th century; its survival in Hadley on such a large scale is unique.
Hadley is home to Hopkins Academy, the fourth earliest enhance school in the United States that is still in operation.
Hadley is also home to the Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School.
According to the United States Enumeration Bureau, the town has a total region of 24.6 square miles (63.7 km2), of which 23.1 square miles (59.8 km2) is territory and 1.5 square miles (3.9 km2), or 6.18%, is water. The territory boundaries of Hadley are Hatfield to the northwest, Sunderland to the north, Amherst to the east, and South Hadley to the south.
The Mount Holyoke Range forms the boundary with South Hadley and is where the highest point of Hadley is found. This is on Mount Hitchcock at an altitude of 990 to 1,000 feet (300 to 300 m).
Hadley is governed by open Town Meeting, a form of government most common to New England.
Hopkins Academy (4th earliest school in the United States; presently Hadley's enhance middle and high school) Hadley Farm Museum Hadley Town Common "State honors Hadley farm preservation".
It's been called the Breadbasket of Massachusetts; and now, the town of Hadley is being honored for its farm preservation.
"Geographic Identifiers: 2010 Demographic Profile Data (G001): Hadley town, Hampshire County, Massachusetts".
Sylvester Judd, History of Hadley Including the Early History of Hatfield, South Hadley, Amherst and Granby, Massachusetts (Northampton: Metcalf, 1863), p.
"It may be conjectured that some of the first planters of Hadley came from the town of the same name in England.
"Hadley, Mass".
History of Hadley Including the Early History of Hatfield, South Hadley, Amherst and Granby, Massachusetts.
"Hadley Neighbors for Sensible Development".
Daily Hampshire Gazette, March 11, 2008, "Wal-Mart said to drop plan for Hadley Store" a b Cultural Landscape of Hadley, Massachusetts.
"The Official Site of Town of Hadley, MA".
A Historical Tour, Town of Hadley, Massachusetts.
Cultivating a Past: Essays on the History of Hadley, Massachusetts, ed.
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Hadley.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hadley, Massachusetts.
Wikisource has the text of the 1905 New International Encyclopedia article Hadley.
Hadley's official website Mass.gov Hadley page Introduction to "History of Hadley" Hadley, Massachusetts at DMOZ Hadley Neighbors for Sensible Development Municipalities and communities of Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States Amherst Belchertown Chesterfield Cummington Goshen Granby Hadley Hatfield Huntington Middlefield Pelham Plainfield South Hadley Southampton Ware Westhampton Williamsburg Worthington Amherst Center Belchertown Bondsville Granby Hatfield Huntington North Amherst South Amherst Ware
Categories:
Hadley, Massachusetts - Populated places on the Connecticut River - Springfield, Massachusetts urbane region - Towns in Hampshire County, Massachusetts - Towns in Massachusetts - 1661 establishments in Massachusetts
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