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

SPRIiYGFIELD. 1636-1S86. 571
by the planters who first came here. The first three of these articles have a
special significance. They read as follows : —
''Firstly. Wee intend by God's grace, as soon as we can, with all conven-
ient speede to procure some Godly and faithful minister, with whome we purpose
to joyne in church covenant to walk in all the ways of Christ.
" Secondly. Wee intend tliat our towne shall be composed of fourty familys,
or, if we think after to alter our purpose, yet not to exceed the number of fifty
familys rich and poore.
" Thirdly. That every inhabitant shall have a convenient proportion for a
house lott, as we shall see meet for every ones quality and estate."
By the limitation of the town to forty families it is evident that the original
planters intended to make the town a compact settlement, and not one of scat-
tered farms, separated from each other bj' long distances. This was essential
for their mutual safety, living as they did in the midst of an Indian neighbor-
hood, and so remote from the protection and assistance of the older settlements
about Massachusetts Bay. Many of the early regulations, adopted in the in-
fancy of the town, were designed to secure, as one of their objects, compactness
of settlement. The General Court early passed a law that all dwelling-houses
should be built within half a mile of tlic meeting-house. The first settlers of
our town, ill furtherance of the same object, in allotting house " lotts,"' made the
lots, except in a few special cases, so narrow as to condense the population
within what they considered safe limits. The street upon which the houses were
built followed the general course of the river in a line substantially parallel to
it. The house lots were all on the west side of the street, and, with some excep-
tions, were generally about eight or ten rods wide. Three of them were four-
teen rods, two were twenty rods, and that of Mr. Pynchon was thirty rods wide.
All of the home lots extended from the street to tlie river. Each of them had an
allotment on the east side of the street, of the same width as the house lot. The
land east of the street, and adjoining it, was called in the allotments " hasseky "
marsh. Still further east there was usually an allotment of the same width, of
upland, covered more or less with wood.
Very early the "hasseky" meadow was crossed bj' a road or path about two
rods wide, running east, and widening after passing the meadow. This road
crossing the marsh was made passable by corduroy logs laid across the patli.
At its easterly end it was probably connected with the path leading to the Bay.
long known as the Old Bay road, of which the western end is the present Bay
street.