Holyoke, Massachusetts

See Holyoke, Colorado for the city in Colorado.

Holyoke is a city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, on the banks of the Connecticut River. The population was 39,838 at the 2000 census. The current mayor is Michael Sullivan.

History

The region of the Connecticut River Valley was first inhabited by Englishmen in 1633 by virtue of a post established at Windsor by traders from the Plymouth Plantation. Very shortly it became subject to rival claims on the part of New Netherlands, the Massachusetts Bay Colony and Plymouth. The Massachusetts Bay men explored the overland route to the "Great River." In 1635-1636, a warehouse and wharf, for purposes of trading with the Indians, was constructed in nearby Agawam. Out of this "trading post" grew Springfield, which later evolved into West Springfield, whose third Parish, called North Parish, or "Ireland Parish," became Holyoke. Holyoke was first settled in 1745 and was officially incorporated in 1850. One of the first planned industrial towns, its rectilinear street grid is noteworthy in a region where few streets are parallel or even straight. Named after Elizur Holyoke, who explored the area in 1660, Holyoke's nickname is "The Paper City." Holyoke had few inhabitants at first until the completion of a dam in 1849 and the arrival of mills, particularly paper mills. At one point over 25 paper mills were in operation in the city, and the population exploded from 4600 in 1885 to over 60,000 in 1920. As manufacturing became an ever-shrinking part of the American economy, however, Holyoke's fortunes took a turn for the worse. In the past several years, there have been efforts to bring jobs into Holyoke and diversify the economic base. The retail sector has been a major employer in the city since the Holyoke Mall opened in 1979, as well as the nearby Holyoke Crossing shopping center. This has also provided the city with a large and steady tax base. Despite these improvements, Holyoke is still one of the poorest cities in Massachusetts, with about 50% of schoolchildren living below the poverty line.

Holyoke's prospects are improving as waves of youth from the Upper Valley cross the "tofu curtain" to take advantage of rock bottom rents and an overall safe atmosphere in select neighborhoods. Youth have taken to calling the city "Holy Smoke!" In fact some are drawing paralells between Holyoke's nascent recovery and the amazing recovery Northampton staged when it was still a hole back in the eighties.http://www.masslive.com/holyoke/weblog/index.ssf?/mtlogs/mass_papercitynotes/archives/2005_02.html

Holyoke, Massachusetts is home to the Holyoke Mall at Ingleside, one of the biggest shopping malls in New England.

Holyoke also contains the Log Cabin Banquet and Meeting House, which has won numerous awards and recognitions and is claimed to be one of the top banquet facilities in New England.

On February 9, 1895, William G. Morgan invented volleyball at a YMCA in Holyoke. It is also sometimes claimed that basketball shares volleyball's Holyoke origins, but, nonetheless, the credit goes to neighboring Springfield.

Holyoke is also the home to one of the largest St. Patrick's Day parades in the United States. The Holyoke Chamber of Commerce claims it is the second largest outside New York City.http://www.holyokestpatricksparade.com/stpats_subpages/history_subpage.html Held annually on the Sunday following St. Patrick's Day, the parade draws thousands of people from across the region and nation.

Geography

Holyoke is located at (42.203191, -72.623969).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 59.1 km² (22.8 mi²). 55.1 km² (21.3 mi²) of it is land and 4.0 km² (1.5 mi²) of it (6.70%) is water.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 39,838 people, 14,967 households, and 9,474 families residing in the city. The population density was 722.5/km² (1,871.4/mi²). There were 16,210 housing units at an average density of 294.0/km² (761.5/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 65.76% White, 3.71% African American, 0.38% Native American, 0.81% Asian, 0.12% Pacific Islander, 26.41% from other races, and 2.81% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 41.38% of the population.

Holyoke has the highest concentration of Puerto Ricans of any city in the United States outside Puerto Rico.http://www.epodunk.com/ancestry/Puerto-Rican.html Always a city of working-class immigrants, the first wave of mill workers was predominantly Irish, and Holyoke still has a major St. Patrick's Day parade every year. In the 1850s, mills began to recruit French-Canadians, who were viewed as more docile and less likely to form labor unions.http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:kTu6yVaILBIJ:www.masslive.com/printer/printer.ssf%3F/base/news-2/1101718046296430.xml Later waves of immigration led to significant communities of Poles and then, starting in the 1950s, the Puerto Ricans who form the largest minority today.

There were 14,967 households out of which 33.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 36.5% were married couples living together, 22.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.7% were non-families. 30.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.57 and the average family size was 3.23.

In the city the population was spread out with 29.5% under the age of 18, 9.0% from 18 to 24, 26.8% from 25 to 44, 19.2% from 45 to 64, and 15.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 88.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 81.3 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $30,441, and the median income for a family was $36,130. Males had a median income of $34,849 versus $26,652 for females. The per capita income for the city was $15,913. About 22.6% of families and 26.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 41.7% of those under age 18 and 13.2% of those age 65 or over.

References

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