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

I
SPRINGFIELD, 2636-1886. 469
steamboat. In 1845 Geoige Bliss declined a reelection as direc-
tor of the Western road on account of ill-health, and Addison Gil-
more was elected president ; and he was succeeded, in 1850, by John
Gardner, and a ycnx later by Capt. William H. Swift. In March,
1847, the old passenger-house was burned and was replaced by a brick
station, four hundred feet by one hundred and thirteen. The shares
in the Western Railroad were thus held in 1840 : In Boston, 1,095 ;
Roxbury, 43 ; Charlestown, 42 ; New York, 1 1 ; Springfield, "209
;
and elsewhere, 549. The Connecticut River road was also well
under way. By the consolidation of the Northampton & Spring-
field Railroad Company and the Greenlield & Nortliampton Com-
pan}', the Connecticut River Railroad Corporation was formed in
1845. The road was opened to Greenfield ni 184G. The fourth
annual report (1849) showed that it was completed to the Vermont
line; length, fifty-two miles; total cost t(^ that date, $1,588,874.
The road Avas originally a Northampton enterpi'ise, but was absorbed
by Springfield capitalists.
The railroad era had given Springfield a genuine business boom.
In 1840 agriculture was in a flourishing condition, as appears from
these statistics: Springfield, — acres cultivated, 6,369; produce,
wheat, 285 bushels ; rye, 29,184 ; corn, 27,095 ; oats, 18,125 ; and
tons of hay, 2,537.
In the winter of 1842 the Avooden Iniildings opposite Court square,
owned by John Childs and George Dwight, and occupied by
A. C. Cole & Co., tailors, and Covell & Goodwni, druggists, were
burned. It was a big fire, but if it had not been for the admirable
work of the fire department it would have been bigger.
Charles Dickens passed through Springfield a month later. Adin
Allen, the noted river pilot, piloted the steamer ' Massachusetts,"
in which Mr. Dickens took passage. It was the first trip of the sea-
son. Mr. Sargeant suggested to Mr. Dickens that as the roads were
bad he had better go by steamer. Accordingly, jMr. Sargeant asked
" Kit " Stebbius to captain the " Massachusetts" and Adin Allen to
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