Upcoming Spring 2026 Events

We’re very excited about our roster of presentations for this spring, and we know you’ll enjoy them. The photo above is just a teaser; first, a note about contacting the Chicopee Historical Society with family inquiries.

We get many requests through email, through our contact page on our website, and through messaging on our Facebook site. We’re always very pleased to field questions about Chicopee history, and we do our best with what limited resources we have to help. However, we seem to be getting a lot of questions about family genealogy, and unfortunately, we can answer only the most general questions about this — we cannot do in-depth research on families or individuals. Though we try hard to find answers to requests for information about family ancestors, we really have only two people (with limited free time) to research this. Many community historical societies have their own buildings, usually a historic home. We do not. The Edward Bellamy Association, which owns and operates the Bellamy House, graciously allows us a room to store our small collection, but we have no files or databases to instantly help those seeking to learn more about their family genealogy.

Fortunately, we have an excellent public library in this city with a dedicated local history room that has many resources, such as city directories through the years (the earliest years from the 1800s through the early 1930s are actually viewable online), vital records, etc., and staff to help, including help with genealogy. This should be the first stop on your journey to discover your family roots.

***

Now for a peek at our Spring Presentations!

• Wednesday, March 18^th – Sue Bousquet on Maude Tait
  • The flyer in the photo above is the legendary Maude Tait, born in Chicopee, whose family, among other business interests, owned the property that would one day become Springfield Airport. Later generations know it as the Springfield Plaza, but in the Roaring Twenties, it was the site of important advances in aviation under the Granville Brothers. Maude Tait was one of the era’s symbolic “modern women,” an aviatrix whose home base was the Springfield Airport. Sue Bousquet, docent at the Lyman and Merrie Wood Museum of Springfield History, will present a talk on this remarkable woman for Women’s History Month.
•  Wednesday, April 15^th – Dennis Picard on Hessians in Western Mass. during the Revolutionary War
  • We welcome back a favorite speaker, local historian and reenactor Dennis Picard to usher in our 2026 250th anniversary celebrations with a talk on the enemy Hessian mercenary soldiers — how they came to western Massachusetts, who they were, and why some of them even remained here after the war.
• Wednesday, May 20^th –  The Richard Bates Inshaw Rifle
  • The long-anticipated display case for our Inshaw rifle is currently being manufactured. In May, we will hold a special presentation installing the case at the Chicopee Public Library and unveiling the Inshaw Rifle in its new home on loan to the library, where this valuable artifact, important to Chicopee’s history, may be studied and appreciated. 
• Wednesday, June 17^th – Annual Business Meeting
  • our annual business meeting, where we review the past year’s efforts, and prepare for future projects.  As always, the public is invited to attend to give us your input.