Western Mass History

On September 3, 1902, Theodore Roosevelt was riding in a carriage in Pittsfield when it was struck by a trolley. His Secret Service bodyguard was killed, and Roosevelt himself narrowly escaped serious injury. This episode explores the causes of the accident, the subsequent investigations and criminal charges, and also looks at the possible long-term effects of this accident.

If you are interested in learning more, the sources for this episode included Edmund Morris's biography Theodore Rex, along with a number of contemporary newspaper articles. Among the most helpful of these were the September 4, 5, and 6 issue of the Springfield Republican, and the September 4 issue of the Boston Globe. For photographs of the accident scene, including the one used as the cover image for this episode, see the Theodore Roosevelt Collection, which is available online through the Harvard Library.

In July 1777, in the midst of great uncertainty during the American Revolution, eleven of the most prominent Founding Fathers in the northeast traveled to Springfield, to participate in an interstate convention that sought to address wartime economic problems and the nation's finances. This episode explores the history of this largely-forgotten convention, including the challenges that the new country faced, the conclusions that the delegates reached, and the long-term effect of this and other wartime regional conventions.

In the early morning hours of January 26, 1876, seven masked men entered the home of John Whittelsey, cashier of the Northampton National Bank. They tied up the family and tortured Whittelsey for several hours, until he finally gave them the combinations to the bank vault. The men then cleaned out the vault, taking around $1.6 million in cash and securities, making it one of the largest bank robberies in 19th century America. This episode explores the identities of these men, how they pulled off the heist, and their eventual downfall after being betrayed by one of their own.

During the mid-1700s, the Massachusetts colonial government built a series of forts along the northwestern border, to defend against hostile French and Native American incursions. Of these, by far the most important was Fort Massachusetts, in modern-day North Adams. This fort defended the westernmost flank of the line of forts, and it was the site of several battles during King George's War. Among these was the 1746 Siege of Fort Massachusetts, when 30 colonists faced an army of nearly a thousand French and Native American soldiers. This episode tells the story of the siege and the men, women, and children who endured not only the battle itself, but also the subsequent year in captivity in Canada, where more than half of them died.

Mount Tom is one of the most distinctive landscape features in the Connecticut River Valley, and during the early 20th century it was the site of a popular summit house, which included a railroad to the top of the mountain. This episode explores the history of both the railroad and the summit house, including their eventual demise during the Great Depression.

This episode will explore the brief heyday of steamboats on the Connecticut River during the 1830s and 1840s, when steamboat operators attempted to overcome the many obstacles to navigation upstream of Hartford, in the hopes of turning towns like Springfield into major steamboat ports.

Welcome to the Western Mass History podcast!