South Deerfield, Massachusetts

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

South Deerfield is a village of Deerfield in Franklin County, Massachusetts. It is home to the well-known Yankee Candle Company.

1 History
2 Geography
3 Demographics
4 External links

[edit] History

The area was once home to the Pocumtuck tribe, who were driven away by settlers relocated in 1673 from Dedham. In retaliation, on September 18, 1675 the Indians attacked and killed Captain Thomas Lathrop and a small force in the Battle of Bloody Brook, before being routed by reinforcements. Thereafter called Bloody Brook or Muddy Brook, South Deerfield in 1809 attempted to be set off from Deerfield because of the distance to its meetinghouse, in addition to religious differences with its minister, the Reverend Samuel Willard. The grant was refused and the village remained part of Deerfield, but South Deerfield nevertheless dedicated its own meetinghouse in 1821. Situated beside the Connecticut River, it would develop as a small farming community.

South Deerfield is sometimes regarded as the poor cousin to Old Deerfield, home of Deerfield Academy. Despite the preconception, one can find retail and service establishments of many sorts in South Deerfield. There is a hardware store, video rental store, a used book store, a coffee shop, a family restaurant, various hair salons, a liquor store, the Tilton Library, a dive bar, an Italian restaurant, a massage therapy salon, a pizza place, Polish American Citizens Club and a small, local brewery.

Bartlett House in 1910

Mt. Sugarloaf in 1910

Connecticut River, c. 1910

Lathrop Hotel in 1911

[edit] Geography

South Deerfield is located at 42°28′37″N, 72°36′2″W (42.476925, -72.600610)^GR1.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 8.4 km² (3.3 mi²). 8.1 km² (3.1 mi²) of it is land and 0.3 km² (0.1 mi²) of it (3.37%) is water. South Deerfield is drained by the Deerfield and Connecticut rivers.

[edit] Demographics

As of the census^GR2 of 2000, there were 1,868 people, 821 households, and 490 families residing in the village. The population density was 229.7/km² (594.3/mi²). There were 869 housing units at an average density of 106.9/km² (276.5/mi²). The racial makeup of the village was 96.68% White, 0.80% African American, 0.16% Native American, 0.43% Asian, 0.86% from other races, and 1.07% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.25% of the population.

There were 821 households out of which 22.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.1% were married couples living together, 7.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 40.3% were non-families. 30.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.26 and the average family size was 2.84.

In the village the population was spread out with 18.9% under the age of 18, 7.0% from 18 to 24, 30.5% from 25 to 44, 27.1% from 45 to 64, and 16.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 41 years. For every 100 females there were 101.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.3 males.

The median income for a household in the village was $43,984, and the median income for a family was $65,298. Males had a median income of $37,898 versus $33,661 for females. The per capita income for the village was $24,144. About 1.3% of families and 4.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including none of those under age 18 and 4.0% of those age 65 or over.