Holyoke

Holyoke City Hall and mill

Holyoke City Hall and mill

The city of Holyoke, Massachusetts is an old paper-mill town built in the mid-19th Century, planned around canals that distributed the water power of the dammed-up Connecticut River to numerous mills. The paper industry in Holyoke is virtually all gone, but the local electric utility still generates power from the water.

Holyoke mill and canal

Holyoke mill and canal

Holyoke mill and canal

Holyoke mill and canal

Holyoke mill workers housing

Holyoke mill workers housing

These low-rise apartment buildings caught my eye. In some ways, they resemble public housing in New York and other large cities, but their fairly high-quality construction (e.g. copper-roofed entrances) didn’t seem like low-cost, 20th Century public housing. Sure enough, an old map in the Visitors’ Center identified them as mill workers’ housing (Lyman Mills?).

Holyoke Heritage State Park

Holyoke Heritage State Park

railroad tracks along First Level Canal

railroad tracks along First Level Canal