Granby, Massachusetts

Granby was once part of Hadley as was other towns. Granby was first settled in 1727 and was officially incorporated in 1768. The town is named in honor of John Manners, Marquess of Granby,^[1] a hero of the Seven Years' War. Granby was originally part of Hadley equivalent lands, and then South Hadley, before being incorporated on June 11, 1768. Old Hadley was first settled in 1659 by people from Hartford and Wethersfield, Connecticut. These settlers left Connecticut because of religious differences within their communities. John Pynchon was commissioned to buy wilderness land for their new community. Pynchon purchased the land from three Native American chiefs, Chickwallop, Umpanchala and Quontquont. Ownership was transferred to the settlers and confirmed by the General Court. These original boundaries include part of present day Granby.

Granby is one of only three towns in Massachusetts whose local telephone service is not furnished by the former Bell System (Granby has always had its own telephone company, the Granby Telephone Company). The other two such towns are Richmond and Hancock, both in Berkshire County.

Geography

View of Five Corners in Granby

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 28.1 square miles (72.7 km²), of which 27.9 square miles (72.2 km²) is land and 0.2 square mile (0.5 km²) (0.71%) is water. Granby is bordered by South Hadley to the west, Amherst to the north, Belchertown to the east, and Ludlow and Chicopee to the south. Two highways pass through the town; U.S. Route 202 runs eastward though town from South Hadley to Belchertown on East State Street and West State Street. Route 116 runs northeastward from South Hadley to Amherst along Amherst Road.

The Holyoke Range is in the northern part of Granby. Major peaks within the town are Long Mountain and Mount Norwottuck. Norwottuck is the highest point in town at 1106 feet above sea level. The Metacomet-Monadnock Trail runs along this mountain range as it passes through Granby. The Horse Caves are geological ledges along this trail.

The Public School system consists of West St. Elementary, East Meadow, and Granby Jr/Sr High School. Grades Pre-k to 3 take place in West St., grades 4-6 take place in East Meadow, and grades 7-12 take place in Granby Jr/Sr High School.

Demographics

Historical population
Year	Pop.	±%
1850	1,104	—
1860	907	−17.8%
1870	863	−4.9%
1880	753	−12.7%
1890	765	+1.6%
1900	761	−0.5%
1910	761	+0.0%
1920	779	+2.4%
1930	891	+14.4%
1940	1,085	+21.8%
1950	1,861	+71.5%
1960	4,221	+126.8%
1970	5,473	+29.7%
1980	5,380	−1.7%
1990	5,565	+3.4%
2000	6,132	+10.2%
2010	6,240	+1.8%

As of the census^[2] of 2000, there were 6,132 people, 2,247 households, and 1,662 families residing in the town. The population density was 220.1 people per square mile (85.0/km²). There were 2,295 housing units at an average density of 82.4 per square mile (31.8/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 96.77% White, 0.51% Black or African American, 0.13% Native American, 0.96% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.52% from other races, and 1.09% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.21% of the population.

There were 2,247 households out of which 34.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 62.8% were married couples living together, 8.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.0% were non-families. 20.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.71 and the average family size was 3.15.

In the town the population was spread out with 25.5% under the age of 18, 7.0% from 18 to 24, 30.6% from 25 to 44, 25.2% from 45 to 64, and 11.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 96.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.3 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $54,293, and the median income for a family was $57,632. Males had a median income of $40,833 versus $30,597 for females. The per capita income for the town was $23,209. About 1.0% of families and 2.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 2.8% of those under age 18 and 2.0% of those age 65 or over.

Notable people

Madeleine Blais, journalist, Pulitzer Prize winner, Zepp's Last Stand
Charles Burchard, Wisconsin legislator
Jesse Richards, artist, photographer and filmmaker (remodernist film) and former member of the Stuckism art group.

References

↑ Gannett, Henry (1905). The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States. Govt. Print. Off. p. 141.
↑ "American FactFinder". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved 2008-01-31.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Granby, Massachusetts.

Municipalities and communities of Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States

Cities	Easthampton Northampton

Towns	Amherst Belchertown Chesterfield Cummington Goshen Granby Hadley Hatfield Huntington Middlefield Pelham Plainfield South Hadley Southampton Ware Westhampton Williamsburg Worthington

CDPs	Amherst Center Belchertown Bondsville‡ Granby Hatfield Huntington North Amherst South Amherst Ware

Other villages	Florence Leeds Mount Tom

Footnotes	‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, January 12, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.