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Date: 9/29/2021
CHESTER – State and local representatives and members of the National Park Service, Westfield River Watershed Association, Wild & Scenic River Committee, Western Mass Rail Coalition, Friends of the Keystone Arches and the Chester Foundation gathered on Sept. 25 to dedicate the Western Stone Arch Railroad Bridges and the Chester Factory Village Depot as a National Historic Landmark.
The landmark decision was announced in January and a plaque was sent by the Department of Interior, National Parks Service, a few months later, but the ceremony was an opportunity to officially recognize the designation, a decades-long effort by the groups who gathered.
Andrew Petitdemange of the National Park Service, who started a year ago, said he was quickly informed of the special importance of Chester.
“It took a great deal of coordination to make this happen. National landmarks are not in every town or on every street,” Petitdemange said.
David Pierce, president of the Friends of the Keystone Arches and the Chester Foundation, a leading force in seeking the designation, spoke next. Pierce spent more than 30 years studying the history of the Western Railroad and working to preserve the Keystone Arches and the 1862 station, which is one of only four surviving Western Railroad stations from that era.
He said he started thinking about the landmark designation 20 years ago. There are 2,500 National Historic Landmark sites nationwide, compared to 60,000 on the Historic Register, which places it “in the same category as the White House and the Washington Monument,” Pierce said.
Noting some of the firsts among the Western Railroad’s achievements, he said at the time (1830s) it was the longest (150 miles) and highest railroad in the world, and the first built by immigrant labor, specifically 3,000 Irish immigrants who hand-built it in two and a half years. The 10 original Keystone Arch bridges on the railroad line were the third through 12th keystone arches built in America, the first cluster of arches, and the largest.
Four of the 10 survive intact, and two are part of the landmark designation. The other two are owned by CSX railroad, which didn’t want to be involved, and are still used for railroad crossings.
The railroad and bridges were designed by Major George Washington Whistler, “Whistler’s father,” who later died of cholera after being commissioned by Czar Nicholas I to build the first railroad in Russia. Pierce said the accomplishment of the Western Railroad was almost forgotten along with Major Whistler.
“Nobody knows this history - I could be making it all up,” he said.
Pierce went on to say that when Conrail wanted to tear down the station, the first president of the Chester Foundation, Lucy Conant, campaigned to move it to the other side of the tracks. Falling short by $70,000, Conant mortgaged her house to pay for the move in 1990. The station was subsequently restored, and is now the site of the Chester Railway Museum.
The Keystone Arches were in similar disrepair, and were being vandalized. A $1.5 million grant to create a trail to view the arches was stymied by new railway owner CSX. Pierce was able to recruit volunteers from the Outdoor Club at Gateway Regional High School to build the trail, which has brought national attention to the arches.
Pierce said because it was moved, the nomination of the train station for landmark status was harder to achieve, but it was included due to the integrity of the history that’s represented by the Western Railroad.
Jamie Fosburgh, regional coordinator for the Wild & Scenic River Program of the National Park Service, said he always was an advocate for landmark status for the Western Railroad and Keystone Arches, but had to serve as a fact checker during the process.
“I had to make sure Dave was not making this stuff up,” Fosburgh said, adding later, “I can verify that Dave did not make it up.”
He said the landmark committee, which was initially skeptical, voted unanimously in support of the designation. Fosburgh said some of the finest moments in his career have been helping dedicated advocates achieve their dreams.
He said now the Chester station could once again become a stop on east-west passenger service.
“When the Park Service does things well, we help people achieve that dream,” he said.
Leanda Fontaine, an aquatic biologist with MassWildlife, said that Walnut Hill along the west branch of the Westfield River, the state’s longest free-flowing waterway, has spectacular examples of architecture and railroad features. She said MassWildlife unanimously supported the landmark designation in 2015.
“All the people involved recognize the historic importance of the arches,” Fontaine said.
Ben Hechter of the Western Mass. Rail Coalition and “Trains in the Valley” called Chester “a future stop for the East-West Rail.” He said the latest effort is promoted by Amtrak and would add two additional trains daily, with stops in Chester, Springfield, Palmer and Worcester, and said the landmark designation helps.
“After a 20-year effort, we think it’s going to happen,” he said, noting a groundswell of effort to restore east-west passenger rail in Massachusetts.
Also speaking were state Rep. Natalie Blais of Sunderland and state Rep. Smitty Pignatelli of Lenox, who thanked Pierce for the history lesson, but said he does not support “East-West Rail.” “It’s ‘West-East Rail.’ My big fear is if it starts in Boston, we won’t live to see it in Lenox,” he said.
Pignatelli, whose grandfather came to Western Mass. by rail after arriving from Italy by himself at age 18 and going through Ellis Island, said that too many train stations are just black and white photographs in a book. He said some, like the one in Pittsfield, would have rivaled the station in Washington, D.C.
“Look at that station,” Pignatelli said. “Small town history is getting lost.”
Blais said to Pierce and to everyone gathered, “You’ve put us on the map nationally. Thank you for your persistence in making this happen.”
Meredith Babcock and Cindy Delpapa of the Wild and Scenic River Committee then honored Robert Thompson, a member and chair of the committee for three decades. During his service, 78 miles of the Westfield River were designated as a National Wild and Scenic River, the first in Massachusetts to receive that status.
“A simple ‘thank you’ is inadequate,” they said, adding that Thompson worked quietly and effectively behind the scenes recruiting students and faculty at Westfield State University to care about the river and is responsible for “many a career in river stewardship.”
“We are gratified that you decided to champion the Westfield River,” Babcock said.
To honor Thompson, the committee created the Robert Thompson Stewardship Award, which was then given to Pierce as its first recipient by committee member Carl Cignoni of Chesterfield, the new chair of the Wild & Scenic Westfield River committee. Pierce, who was an alternate on the committee, will now serve as Chester’s representative.
“This won’t be an annual award,” Cignoni said, adding that the next recipient will have to be someone who reaches the bar that Pierce has set.