East Longmeadow, MA
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Description of East Longmeadow, Massachusetts

The Town of East Longmeadow is a suburban industrial town in the Connecticut Valley. It is a hilly town with rich sandstone deposits.

First settled in 1744 by colonists realizing the fertility of the valley's alluvial soil, East Longmeadow early became an industrialized community with the development of sandstone quarries. There was an early agricultural population, but the basis of the economy until the 1920's was the quarries. During the height of production there were 50 or more quarries in operation, supplying a red sandstone said to be far superior to that found anywhere else in the country. East Longmeadow sandstone was used in the buildings of famous architect H.H. Richardson including Trinity Church in Boston. The various quarries produced sandstone of colors varying from brown to blood red. Although there are no operating quarries now, in the 1960's, several of them were reopened to provide stone for the construction of the Bobst Library building at New York University under architect Philip Johnson.

Streetcar suburban development from Springfield followed the gradual closure of the quarries, and poultry raising and market gardening were part of the local economy as was the wartime Pratt and Whitney factory which employed 4,300 men and women to build aircraft engine parts. There are presently residential, business and industrial zones in East Bridgewater and development continues in previously rural areas.

Southwestern Massachusetts, bordered by Enfield and Somers, Connecticut, on the south; Hampden on the east; Wilbraham on the northeast; Springfield on the north and northwest; and Longmeadow on the west. East Longmeadow is 5 miles south of Springfield, 88 miles southwest of Boston, and 146 miles from New York City.

Narrative compiled by the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD).



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