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What brought about such
dramatic changes in
Willimansett’s business
community … changes that
obviously didn’t occur
overnight? Whereas most
contributing factors
slowly took effect over
a period of years, there
were several key
influences that were
somewhat more sudden in
nature.
One of these, as has
previously been
mentioned, was the
construction of I-391,
cutting right through
the heart of the “Y” and
rendering Willimansetts
as little more than a
curiosity to passing
motorists. Although this
Interstate highway spur
carries less traffic
than projected, its
impact upon local
traffic was far more
significant. Never a
subject of bottlenecks
or gridlock, the last
thing that Willimansett
needed was a reduction
in vehicular traffic.
Unfortunately, an even
worse development was
announced in late July
of 2010.
The
Willimansett Bridge,
built in 1891, was
scheduled for a major
$23 million repair and
was totally closed
to vehicular traffic in
either direction for
nearly 4 years, from
August
2011 until June 11, 2015. Traffic
was
detoured over the I-391
bridge which, of course,
bypasses businesses on
both sides of the
bridge, one of which is Willimansett.
Ironically, many public
comments posted online
by local residents back
at the start of this
project
called for demolition
rather than repair.
Ironically, it is
frequently a challenge
to protect the public
from its own
self-destructive
tendencies.
Other factors also
diverted traffic to
alternate routes. One of
these more heaving
travelled routes was
Memorial Drive, in
Fairview. Also known as
State Route 33 (or the
North-South Highway to
old-timers), Memorial
Drive connects Chicopee
Falls with the town of
South Hadley, along the
way providing the
primary access for
Westover Air Force Base.
Until the time of the
base’s decommissioning,
Memorial Drive grew from
1940’s farmland into a
non-stop strip of
fast-food restaurants,
auto dealerships,
motels, a drive-in movie
theater, a big
Zayre department
store, one of the early
Big Y Supermarkets, and
assorted small
businesses, all
capitalizing upon the
disposable incomes and
spending tendencies of
young military
personnel. Memorial
Drive also had its own
interchange on the
Massachusetts Turnpike
and was the location of
Chicopee’s first, only,
and now defunct shopping
mall.
Shopping malls are all
struggling to survive
these days, but
Fairfield Mall was
doomed to be
unsuccessful far ahead
of its time, and the
closing of Westover soon
after the mall’s opening
certainly didn’t enhance
its prospects for
long-term survival.
Fairfield Mall was never
fully occupied, and its
two anchor department
stores seemed to take
turns going out of
business. Not a single
Fairfield Mall anchor
tenant remains in
business today. The list
includes
Two Guys,
Forbes & Wallace,
Steiger’s,
Caldor, and
Bradlees. As dismal
as business may have
been at the mall, it was
booming compared to
business in
Willimansett, whose more
mobile residents now
happily drove up the
hill to shop on Memorial
Drive. Needless to say,
nobody came from
Fairview or Westover to
shop in Willimansett. In
that sense, traffic
flowed in one direction
only.
Another factor working
against Willimansett was
its proximity to
Holyoke. The most
manufacturing-oriented
of the
Springfield-Chicopee-Holyoke
“tri-city” area, Holyoke
was the first to
decline, as one
manufacturer after
another shut down, moved
out, or scaled back
production. Vacant
factory buildings, some
of the country’s finest
examples of
late-nineteenth century
mill architecture,
seemed to become magnets
for arson. At the time,
it seemed that Holyoke
had exchanged its “Paper
City, USA” motto for
“Arson Capital of
America”. With only the
Willimansett Bridge over
the Connecticut River
separating Willimansett
from its neighboring
city, Willimansett
seemed destined to
follow in Holyoke’s
footsteps. In the early
1970’s, even the
historic Stevens
Manufacturing complex,
along the Chicopee River
in the center of
Chicopee Falls, fell
victim to arson. Of
course, the
aforementioned closing
and repair of the
Willimansett Bridge is
certain to have a
negative impact upon the
local business
community.
Along with the loss of
manufacturing jobs came
a shift in demographics.
For three generations,
the so-called captains
of industry in New
England recruited new
waves of immigrants as a
source of cheap labor,
most notably the Irish
who were followed by the
French Canadians. Lured
by stories of “streets
paved with gold”, and
without basic labor
laws, let alone labor
unions, to protect the
rights of workers, long
hours and low wages
failed to live up to the
recruitment stories but
still seemed a better
alternative to the
potato famine back home
in Ireland or the nearly
untillable farmland left
behind in Quebec.
As a skilled workforce
became less important
than low wages,
manufacturers moved out
in the 1960’s, generally
to Southern states, as
somewhat of a dress
rehearsal for the moves
to even cheaper labor
costs in China and
elsewhere that would
come years later. As the
factories closed,
workers followed in
their departure, chasing
after those phantom jobs
that were all too
frequently leaving the
area forever. Of course,
without the base of
manufacturing jobs as a
lure, residential
property vacancies rose,
and both homeowners and
landlords saw the value
of their properties
decline.
The last major wave of
immigrants to arrive in
the area in the
twentieth century moved
in from Puerto Rico and
the Caribbean at the
same time as industry
was well on its way in
the process of shutting
down and moving out.
Without jobs, per capita
incomes plummeted.
Without an industrial
tax base, city services
suffered. And without a
customer base with
disposable incomes,
retail followed
manufacturing in
shutting its doors. The
businesses that closed
down in Willimansett
were symbolic of what
was happening on a
larger scale in Holyoke. |
