hillsidereservoir
~ THE MAKING of a RESERVOIR ~

The Quabbin Reservoir

To better understand the beginning of the Hillside School, we must first have an understanding of where the school first started and why it moved to Marlborough, Massachusetts.  The above is the Quabbin Reservoir built at the cost of four towns and their histories.

During the 1920's it became apparent that Eastern Massachusetts did not have a large enough water supply to satisfy it's growing needs. Thirsty Eastern Massachusetts inhabitants cast their eyes westward at the pristeen Swift River 100 miles away from Boston. This river flowed through a beautiful series of small towns nestled in the Swift River valley. Through a series of unimaginable "buyouts" the inhabitants of these towns were tossed out of their homes in preparation for construction of a reservoir.
The picture showing the area before construction
 

Houses were bulldozed, bodies dug up (except for Native Americans), factories demolished and millions acres of trees were cut down. Four towns Dana, Enfield, Greenwich and Prescott were wiped off the face of the Earth and seven other towns were affected. A half mile long dam was built on the Swift River in Belchertown MA and one of the longest tunnels in the world was constructed to carry the water a hundred miles to the east. Flooding of the valley started in mid August 1939.The valley slowly filled with water and in 1946 the reservior was filled to capacity ( 412 billion gallons) and nearly 40 square miles were covered with water. The new reservoir was named after a Native American chief of a local tribe. The chiefs name was Nani-Quaben. The name, which was given to a hill in Enfield and a lake in Greenwich means " well watered place."
This picture shows the area after demolishion of the towns
 

Greenwich, one of those towns, was renamed from "Quabin" in 1754. The town received land from Belchertown and Hardwick in 1765, and from Belchertown again in 1771 and 1787. Part of the town was annexed to Dana (now extinct) in 1801. In 1816 part of Greenwich was set off as Enfield. Greenwich was one of the "Lost Towns" which was evacuated and flooded by the construction of Quabbin Reservoir in 1938.

The village of Greenwich... no longer exists
 
 

The village.... after demolishion



Pictures of the three other towns affected

Dana, Massachusetts

Enfield, Massachusetts

Prescott, Massachusetts

For more information about the Quabbin Reservoir and the fascinating story.............

Visit "Gene's" site    NOTE: use your back arrow to return here.

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