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Date: 8/21/2023
HOLYOKE — The city of Holyoke’s rich history the last 150 years has been filled with highlights, from being an industrial leader within the region, to embracing those looking for a place to settle. As 2023 marks the 150th anniversary of Holyoke becoming a city, it was time to look back on the Paper City’s roots and what has made Holyoke the city it is today.
The city’s history goes further back than just its 150th birthday, as the area that eventually became known as Holyoke was used by Native Americans of the Algonquin and Iroquois tribes for hunting and fishing. European settlement came after this point, and was first settled on the land in 1745. Holyoke was incorporated as a town in 1850 and later as a city in 1873.
As time went on and the population grew, the area’s foundation alongside the Connecticut River began. According to information about the city’s history shared through the Holyoke Public Schools, the first of several dams was constructed in 1848 by a group of wealthy Boston businessmen to take advantage of a 57-foot drop in the river level. The waterpower created by the dam was transferred to planned industrial sites through an extensive series of 3 level canal systems of 7.5 miles of hand dug canals and raceways to bring that power to machine mills and factories.
The businessmen also planned and built a system of gridded rectilinear streets, — one of the first cities in America to implement such a system — factory worker housing, and building lots for grander homes for factory owners, giving Holyoke the moniker of being the first planned industrial city in America.
Eventually as industrial Holyoke grew, they became the dominant manufacturer of paper, giving the city its classic “Paper City” nickname. According to city history, there were at one point more than 25 paper mills in operation throughout the city, annually producing the greatest tonnage of paper of any city in the world.
The city was booming as the industrial revolution was in full swing. According to the city, during the 1900s there were more millionaires per capita in Holyoke than anywhere else in the country. Although in present day there are only a select few paper companies remaining in the city who operate under different circumstances than a century ago, the dam, canals and much of the industrial architecture that was created remains intact.
“One of the interesting things about our industrial area of the city is it’s also intertwined with lots of residential, which back in the day when the paper industry, when that was thriving, it made sense. People didn’t have cars 100 years ago, people were able to walk to work. A lot of the amenities were right there. It made sense then,” said Director of the Office of Planning and Economic Development Aaron Vega.
The history of paper related to manufacturing continued with a strong base of paper converting, in place of the former paper manufacturing. Today, Holyoke continues to strongly reflect its industrial history with many of the mills and associated housing still standing in and near downtown.
“Paper was Holyoke’s bread and butter,” said Greater Holyoke Chamber Executive Director Jordan Hart.
In addition to the industrial hometown, Holyoke also retains a reservoir system that is home to much of the Mt. Tom range, and home to other natural assets. Today, over 60% of the energy used in the city comes from hydropower, now a state-of-the-art dam system on the river.
One thing to be on the lookout for Holyoke’s industrial future is the potential addition of hydrogen production. Vega said the city is very excited about the idea of hydrogen production, and using hydrogen to offset natural gas for a greener future. One company has already begun to set up shop in the city and are looking to expand its operation in the future.
“We’re hoping to work with a couple of the large [hydrogen production] companies, one of them named Infinity. We’ve applied with Infinity to a federal grant and if we get that federal grant they will locate in Holyoke,” Vega said. “They actually manufacture fuel cells and electrolyzers that create and then uses hydrogen, so we’re definitely learning toward the manufacturing, we’d love to be a hub of manufacturing hydrogen materials and products.”
Because of the growth of the paper industry, Holyoke’s population grew by over 100% between 1860 and 1880 and was established by working-class immigrants. The first wave of mill workers who immigrated to Holyoke were 31 people predominantly of Irish heritage.
Immigrant populations continued with significant populations of French Canadian, Polish, German and, most recently, a wave of immigrants from Puerto Rico since the 1970s. Today the city is dominated by Irish and Puerto Rican culture as the city still hosts the annual and massive St. Patrick’s Day Parade as well as multiple different celebrations throughout the year for Puerto Rican holidays.
As of the 1970 census, only 3.7% of Holyoke’s population was of Puerto Rican heritage, while today nearly half of Holyoke’s population is of Puerto Rican heritage. This is the highest percentage of Puerto Rican population in any city outside of those in Puerto Rico itself, which has created a rich culture and unique asset for the city’s makeup.
The city also shares smaller Latin populations that diversify the city’s culture even more. Vega, whose father migrated from Ecuador and became a social justice leader in the community, said Holyoke has always reflected the country’s history very much.
“My dad would always say Holyoke really reflects America’s history. The industrial revolution, immigration and migration. It all sort of encompasses Holyoke’s story. So when we look back at the 150 years of Holyoke being a city, I think we should be really proud of the fact that we’ve been placed with immigrants, French and German and Irish, and that we continue to be a welcoming community to the Latino community which really found it’s way into Springfield and Holyoke and Western Massachusetts as farm workers in the ’60s and ’70s. We’ve always been a community that tries to welcome people and try to give them an opportunity to move up the economic ladder. That’s something we should be proud of,” Vega said.
While Holyoke still goes by its “Paper City” nickname, a more modern one for 2023 may be “Rolling Paper City,” as it has embraced the legalization of cannabis and has become a hub for cannabis cultivation and manufacturing in Massachusetts since it was legalized in 2016. The shift in industrial focus has benefitted Holyoke after stretches of vacant mill buildings and lack of consistent economics left the town with a hole the paper industry was once filling.
Hart added how once the paper industry fell off, the city was left with a surplus of factory space.
Luckily the cannabis industry and the economic rejuvenation of the city has begun to take advantage of these spaces.
“What we’ve really been seeing is the cannabis industry which has become such a new anchor,” Hart said. “In terms of the abandoned factory buildings, the cannabis industry has been able to come in and revitalize these buildings.”
Since then, Holyoke leaders have been focused on economic growth and are seeing it throughout the city, as it has been seven years since legalization.
Vega said he does believe there was an oversaturation of the market since its legalization but that this year it was settling back in. He cited the closing of Truelieve in Holyoke and other communities dispensaries or production facilities closing this year as examples of the market. According to Vega, in total the city has five dispensaries with two new ones coming, two testing labs and four grow facilities.
“I call this a year of reckoning for the cannabis industry,” Vega said. “The market is definitely leveling out, so I think what we’re going to see over the next two years is some of the smaller, some of the more social equity economic empowerment companies, sort of smaller craft companies will come to fruition.”
Vega referenced the popularity of craft beers as an example of what could happen in the cannabis industry for special brands and smaller batched product.
He also added ongoing projects in Holyoke such as the building at 1 Cabot St. that has been dubbed a “marijuana mall” should become more common as well. Currently, 1 Cabot St. has become a marijuana cultivation hub as the former mill building has at least four cultivation and or manufacturing companies already inside and has ongoing renovation of the third and fourth floors.
“I think that’s actually the best model that’s out there,” Vega said. “I think that [the building’s owners] are doing exactly the right thing. They’re saying, ‘I don’t need one angry tenant, because if that angry tenant leaves I’m out of luck,’ so being able to work with a lot of smaller companies this way you’re under one roof.”
Vega added a more equitable cannabis industry would help smaller businesses get in the game and survive, and set ups like this are good opportunities to do so.
Vega said as for another look into the industrial future related to cannabis, he thinks the next big opportunity for Holyoke would be if the federal government pulled the drug out of class one and decriminalized it. He added there are many companies that want to further test cannabis for medical purposes and to learn more about its impact, but due to its class one listing, it is not possible in the scale it could be.
“I think that we’re in a good position for that with our testing labs and our grow facilities to sort of look at what are the opportunities when it comes to CBD and other aspects of cannabis. Not just the THC and the getting high part, but more the medical field, I think we will be really well situated for that,” Vega said.