Springfield 1636-1886, History of Town and City, by Mason A. Green ...

CHAPTER XVI.
1800-1821.
The United States Armory. — David Ames. — Roswell Lee. — "Toddy Lane." — The
Dwight Store again. — Other Buildings of Intei-est. — Incoi^oration of Hampden
County. — Fight over the Offices. — The Embargo Troubles. ^— The Hartford Convention.
— The Character of George Bliss, First. — Town Acts. — William Ely. — Town
Officers for 1808. — Bridges over the Connecticut. — Visit of President Monroe.
Population. — The Springfield Bank. — Springfield Fraternities. — The Old Academy.
— Samuel Osgood. — Baptists and Methodists. — Eev. W. B. O. Peabody. — New
Congregational Meeting-House and Court-House.
AVhp:n the proposal to establish here a federal arseual was made,
public opiniou was divided. If West Springfield had made any effort
the armory would probably have been established there ;
—
but the ma-
jority on the west side, like the minority here, feared the moral effect
of drawing in the soldier element, which would make up the bulk of the
armorers. There was quite a flutter caused in 1792 by a colony of
laborers, with their families, who settled here ;
but a meetmg of the
selectmen and sundry visitations of the two town constables, with
writs of warning" to depart in fifteen days, restored the equilibrium.
It was this kind of invasion that the communit}- feared.
Brookfleld and Hartford had both been thought of as proper places
for a government storehouse. Stores could be sent down the river from
here, but the town could not be reached by a hostile flotilla. A re-
solve of the Continental Congress, recommending Massachusetts to
build a magazine at Brookfleld, was passed as early as December, 177G ;
but both General Knox and General Washington changed their minds,
and six months later the Springfield training-ground had been selected.
The ground was first leased to the government, and the proper deeds
])assed in 1795 and 1801. Land was bought for the lower water-