Springfield,
A city and county seat of Hampden county, Mass., 98 miles west of Boston; contains several villages; has trolley connection with near-by cities and towns; is widely noted as the seat of the United States Armory, the most extensive fire-arms manufactory in the country; and has extensive manufactures of cotton and woollen goods, machinery, railroad cars, iron bridges, and locomotives. It was organized as a town May 14, 1636, having been settled by a party from Roxbury, and for several years it was uncertain whether it belonged to Massachusetts or Connecticut. Population in 1890, 44,179; 1900, 62,059.
