Upcoming talk on Mt. Tom Playhouse - Holyoke, Massachusetts

I'll be giving on a talk on my book, Comedy and Tragedy on theMountain: 70 Years of Summer Theatre on Mt. Tom, Holyoke, Massachusetts, at the South Hadley Senior Center, 45 Dayton Street, South Hadley, Mass., next Tuesday, February 7, 2023, at 5:30 p.m.  A slide presentation of several photos from the book will accompany the talk.

The book covers the history of summer theatre on Mt. Tom from 1895 to 1965.  Many stars of stage and screen, and many newcomers who would one day become stars, performed over several decades on Mt. Tom.

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Jacqueline T. Lynch is the author of The Ames Manufacturing Company of Chicopee, Massachusetts - A Northern Factory Town's Perspective on the Civil War;   Comedy and Tragedy on the Mountain: 70 Years of Summer Theatre on Mt. Tom, Holyoke, Massachusetts;   States of Mind: New England; as well as books on classic films and several novels. Her latest book is Christmas in Classic Films. TO JOIN HER READERS' GROUP - follow this link for a free book as a thank-you for joining.

Springfield Technical High School - Springfield, Massachusetts

Here are some postcard views of the former Springfield (Mass) Technical High School.   Built in 1905 on Elliot Street, it served the city for some 81 years before it was closed in 1986.

This above is was postmarked June 1910, probably sent as a keepsake of a graduation ceremony.

Here above is from 1915.  On the back a lady named Marion (?) wrote "We had a very nice trip up and the graduation was a very pretty one well worth seeing.   We went to Forrest Park here to-day.  It is a lovely big park with all sorts of amusements for children..."

Above is postmarked October 1912, with male figures drawn in front of the building.  A student wrote this at what must have been the beginning of the school year, "School in here is quite different.  I like it very much."  He writes to a lady in Monson, Mass.

The building had a capacity of 900 students.  When it closed in 1986, this school as well as Classical High School were joined together in a new school far away from downtown, but still called Central High School.  Perhaps Technical High School's most famous grads were Ernest "Bunny" Taliaferro, its greatest athlete; and Congressman Richard E. Neal.

Most of the building has been torn down, but the front section is used as the facade for the Springfield Data Center, a modern building constructed behind it.

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Jacqueline T. Lynch is the author of The Ames Manufacturing Company of Chicopee, Massachusetts - A Northern Factory Town's Perspective on the Civil War;   Comedy and Tragedy on the Mountain: 70 Years of Summer Theatre on Mt. Tom, Holyoke, Massachusetts;   States of Mind: New England; as well as books on classic films and several novels. Her latest book is Christmas in Classic Films. TO JOIN HER READERS' GROUP - follow this link for a free book as a thank-you for joining.

View of Mt. Holyoke from the Connecticut River railroad bridge

 

A vew of Mt. Holyoke in South Hadley, Massachusetts, from the Connecticut River on this postcard "New England Views on Boston & Maine R.R."  The photo was probably taken from the Willimansett truss railroad bridge across the river from Chicopee to Holyoke, pictured in the postcard below.

The railroad truss bridge is on the left, and was later replaced by a deck plate girder bridge.

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Jacqueline T. Lynch is the author of The Ames Manufacturing Company of Chicopee, Massachusetts - A Northern Factory Town's Perspective on the Civil War;   Comedy and Tragedy on the Mountain: 70 Years of Summer Theatre on Mt. Tom, Holyoke, Massachusetts;   States of Mind: New England; as well as books on classic films and several novels. Her latest book is Christmas in Classic Films. TO JOIN HER READERS' GROUP - follow this link for a free book as a thank-you for joining.

First Baptist Church - Springfield, Massachusetts

Here are two postcard views of the First Baptist Church of Springfield, Massachusetts.  They are from 1907 and 1908.  The Romanesque building is the fourth church used by this congregation and stood on the corner of State and Spring streets.

The church was used for nearly 20 years, then the congregation merged with the Highland Baptist Church (whose own building on Stebbins Street burned down in 1906) becoming First-Highland Baptist for a time, and afterwards the building was sold and became St. Paul's Universalist Church.  It no longer exists, replaced by a parking garage.

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Jacqueline T. Lynch is the author of The Ames Manufacturing Company of Chicopee, Massachusetts - A Northern Factory Town's Perspective on the Civil War;   Comedy and Tragedy on the Mountain: 70 Years of Summer Theatre on Mt. Tom, Holyoke, Massachusetts;   States of Mind: New England; as well as books on classic films and several novels. Her latest book is Christmas in Classic Films. TO JOIN HER READERS' GROUP - follow this link for a free book as a thank-you for joining.

Nonotuck to Roger Smith to Holyoke House - Holyoke, Massachusetts

The Nonotuck Hotel, pictured in this 1919 postcard, opened in 1915 on the corner of Suffolk and Maple streets.  It later became the Roger Smith Hotel, part of the chain of hotels that began in Connecticut in 1928.  This one in Holyoke joined the chain and changed its name in 1937.  (The chain no longer exists - there is only one Roger Smith Hotel remaining in Manhattan.)

By the 1960s, the Roger Smith in Holyoke became The Holyoke House.  The building was sold at auction in 2014.

photo by JT Lynch

photo by JT Lynch

Jacqueline T. Lynch is the author of The Ames Manufacturing Company of Chicopee, Massachusetts - A Northern Factory Town's Perspective on the Civil War;   Comedy and Tragedy on the Mountain: 70 Years of Summer Theatre on Mt. Tom, Holyoke, Massachusetts;   States of Mind: New England; as well as books on classic films and several novels. Her latest book is Christmas in Classic Films. TO JOIN HER READERS' GROUP - follow this link for a free book as a thank-you for joining.