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

490 SPRINGFIELD, 1G36-18S6.
men, aud four luuulred and seventy-five distinguished horses graced
this occasion.
Hampden park was inaugurated with imposing ceremonies in Octo-
ber, 18o7. The procession included all the militar}', tire, and civic
organizations of tlie city. Col. Solomon Warriner directed the
choristers in singing Dr. Holland's hymn —
Thou who ilidst bless the garden land.
George Bliss, Henr}' Ward Beecher, and Mayor Phelps made
addresses. James K. Lombard, teacher, wrote a hymn which was sung
upon this notable occasion. The park, it may be stated, was a part
of the ancient "three-corner meadow " bounded by the river, the
End broolc and the upland. It included the forty acres originally
assigned to William Pynchon, Jehu Burr, and Henry Smith for their
extra charges in allotting the settlement of Springfield plantation.
General Amherst's army encamped there for a week, during the
French war, while going to Canada.
Daniel Lombard died in May, 1856 at the age of ninety-two. ]\Ir.
Lombard was thirty-six years old when Colonel Worthington died, and
thus he was acquainted with the revolutionary generation. He was
a soldier on the right side in the Shays's rebellion, and we have seen
that he was postmaster, merchant, and a man of wealth. When
Daniel Lombard was taken away, the people of Springfield thought,
indeed, that the age of '76 had passed into history.
The general financial distress had its effect upon Springfield.
Several failures had taken place. The deposits in the Springfield
banks, in January, 1856, were : Agawam,
$86,189 ; Chicopee, $90,178 ;
John Hancock, $17,932; Pynchon, $31,295; Springfield, $38,437;
Western, $20,097. In the dismal Avinter of 1857 provisions were
unusually high. The factory had been developed at the expense of
the farm. Provisions were coming in from the West, and the Connec-
ticut valley was not feeding itself. The city debt was, in 1857, up to