The Chester Factory Village Historic District is a

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains historic building, older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal p ...

encompassing the historic village of Chester Factories in

Chester, Massachusetts Chester is a town in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States, situated in Western Massachusetts. It is part of the Springfield metropolitan statistical area. The town includes the Chester Factory Village Historic District. The total popu ...

. Chester was settled in the 1760s, and the factory village was a location where water power was harnessed at an early time for grist mills and sawmills. The village got its name from the Chester Glass Factory, which operated in the area through the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

. It benefited from the construction of a turnpike (now United States Route 20) leading to Chester Center in 1804, and was transformed by the arrival of the railroad around 1840. The village became an important provisioning stop for trains, and the village further benefited by the fact that the railroad bypassed Chester Center. The economic and civic life of the town gradually shifted, and Chester Factories is where the town hall and library were built. It was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1989. The district is roughly bounded by Middlefield Road, River, Main, and Maple Streets,

US 20 U.S. Route 20 or U.S. Highway 20 (US 20) is an east–west United States Highway, United States Numbered Highway that stretches from the Pacific Northwest east to New England. The "0" in its route number indicates that US 20 is a major ...

, and Williams Street. The southern boundary is roughly US 20, with the tracks formerly of the Western Railroad the boundary to the northeast. There are some older houses in the area along US 20, while more intensive industrial development took place along the

Westfield River The Westfield River is a major tributary of the Connecticut River located in the Berkshires and Pioneer Valley regions of western Massachusetts. With four major tributary branches that converge west of the city of Westfield, it flows (measure ...

branch which runs between the two transportation routes. The village's greatest period of growth was between 1879 and 1915, when the production of abrasive materials, and granite quarrying and cutting operations became major industries. The Fay's Clothing Store, built in 1896, is at three stories the village's tallest building.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Historic districts in Hampden County, Massachusetts National Register of Historic Places in Hampden County, Massachusetts Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Chester, Massachusetts

See also

References