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Hadley is a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 4,793 at the 2000 census.
History
Early
Hadley was first settled in 1659 and was officially incorporated in 1661. Its settlers were primarily a discontented group of families from the puritan colonies of Hartford and Wethersfield, Connecticut, who petitioned to start a new colony up north after some controversy over doctrine in the local church. At the time, Hadley encompassed a wide radius of land on both sides of the Connecticut River, but mostly on the eastern shore. In the following century, these were broken off into precincts and eventually the separate towns of Hatfield, Amherst, South Hadley, Granby and Belchertown. The early histories of these towns are, as a result, filed under the history of Hadley.Edward Whalley and General William Goffe, two Puritan generals who hunted by for their role in the execution (or "regicide") of Charles I of England, were hidden* in the home of the town's minister, John Russell. During King Philip's War, an attack by Native Americans was, by some accounts, thwarted with the aid of General Goffe. This event, compounded with the understandable reluctance of the townsfolk to betray Goffe's location, developed into the legend of the Angel of Hadley, which came to be included in the historical manuscript "History of Hadley" by Sylvester Judd.
In 1683, eleven years before the Salem Witch Trials, Molly Webster* was accused and acquitted of witchcraft charges. She was unsuccessfully hung by rowdy town folk. A description is given in Cotton Mather's Magnalia Christi Americana.
The Civil War general Joseph Hooker was a longtime resident of Hadley.
Recent
Hadley's transformation from an old agricultural order to the new form is the direct result of expansion of the nearby University of Massachusetts Amherst during the 1960's. Much of its former farmland was swallowed in the housing market stimulated by incoming faculty and off-campus students. Route 116 was redirected in an attempt to solve traffic congestion. The central Route 9 became a hotpoint for commercial development, and large corporations such as Stop & Shop and McDonald's moved in. To this day, the Hadley economy is a mixture of agriculture and sprawl. Recently announced development includes a Wal-Mart Supercenter, a Home Depot and a Lowe's, plus more than a dozen other stores. Residents recently passed a limit on retail store size at 75,000 square feet, but it will not affect these large projects.Since 2003, an organization called Hadley Neighbors for Sensible Development has worked to increase local awareness of the impacts of unplanned growth.
Government
Hadley is governed by open Town Meeting, a form of government most common to New England. The Board of Selectmen consists of five members and is elected annually on the second Tuesday in April. The Town Meeting takes place the first Thursday in May.
Board of Selectmen
- Joyce Chunglo
- John P. Connor, Chair
- Kate Nugent
- Brian West
- Gerald Devine
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 64.0 km² (24.7 mi²). 60.4 km² (23.3 mi²) of it is land and 3.7 km² (1.4 mi²) of it (5.74%) is water.
Demographics
As of the census2 of 2000, there were 4,793 people, 1,895 households, and 1,248 families residing in the town. The population density was 79.4/km² (205.7/mi²). There were 1,953 housing units at an average density of 32.3/km² (83.8/mi²). The racial makeup of the town was 95.91% White, 0.75% African American, 0.06% Native American, 1.56% Asian, 0.58% from other races, and 1.13% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.67% of the population.
There were 1,895 households out of which 26.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.1% were married couples living together, 9.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.1% were non-families. 24.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.45 and the average family size was 2.90.
In the town the population was spread out with 20.0% under the age of 18, 7.0% from 18 to 24, 27.7% from 25 to 44, 25.7% from 45 to 64, and 19.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females there were 88.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.4 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $51,851, and the median income for a family was $61,897. Males had a median income of $44,773 versus $34,189 for females. The per capita income for the town was $24,945. About 4.8% of families and 6.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.6% of those under age 18 and 3.2% of those age 65 or over.
External links
"Hadley, Massachusetts"