150 Year Commemoration of the Mill River Flood

 

One of the primary events that defines this region’s history is the Mill River Flood of 1874, in which 139 people were killed due to the collapse of a poorly-constructed dam on the river’s East Branch at the Williamsburg-Ashfield border. At the time, it was the largest industrial accident in American history.

May 16, 2024 will be the 150th anniversary of this disaster. Friends of the Mill River Greenway is heading up efforts to raise funds and install 139 trees in memory of the victims of the Mill River Flood.

Please consider making a donation in support of the memorial forest.

These trees will be sited along the course of the flood, from the remnants of the old dam up Ashfield Road, through the villages of Williamsburg, Skinnerville, Haydenville, Leeds, and Florence, where the flood ended by layering up to 12’ of debris on the fields of what is now the Grow Food Northampton Community Farm.

Trees will be hosted by numerous community entities including Grow Food Northampton, the Mill River Greenway, Look Park, the Town of Williamsburg, and the City of Northampton. In Williamsburg, two important parcels are in design development as new open space resources, while in Northampton, efforts are underway to significantly increase the canopy through local organizations like Tree Northampton.

For more information about the urban memorial forest or to make a donation, contact info@millrivergreenway.org

Friends of the Mill River Greenway in conjunction with Historic Northampton is also hosting a series of events to commemorate the flood, you can check out the schedule here. 

The Mill River has played an essential role in shaping the ecological, geological, colonial, and industrial history of the Massachusetts Hilltowns stretching west of the Connecticut River from Northampton up to Goshen. At the height of the early industrial era in the mid-1800’s, there were almost 80 water powered mills strung along its banks, giving rise to villages including Bay State, Florence, and Leeds, in the City of Northampton, and Haydenville, Skinnerville, and Williamsburg further upstream.

Friends of the Mill River Greenway is a 12-year old regional initiative that seeks to enhance and celebrate the role of the Mill River in the cultural, ecological, historical, and recreational landscape of our communities. One of our primary goals is to create a shared-use path following the course of the Mill River from Northampton to Williamsburg in the Western MA Hilltowns, a tangible effort to ‘give the river back’ to the communities through which it passes.