What drove Hessian soldiers to fight patriots in Western Massachusetts? Why did some settle here after the war had ended? Join “living history” interpreter Dennis Picard to learn about an often misunderstood chapter in the American Revolution.

Old photos reveal how much our world has changed. Whether it’s a simple change in color or a paved paradise, every photo has a story. Join historian and author Derek Strahan as he compares photos of Chicopee from the 1890s-1920s with
his attempts retake these photos today!

Public art is found on town commons across New England, but some of our earliest public art is in burial grounds, from longstanding memorials to exhibitions for the dead. Join preservationist Ta Mara Conde as she shares the artwork of early gravestones and asks how their meanings have changed over time.

The Dwight mills tell a tale of land, labor and industry spanning the 1830s through World War II. Hear it from Joe Pasternak and Chet Kobierski as they unveil never-before-published photos from the Sagalyn family, after the mills were sold to Industrial Building Corp. in the 1930s.

Heara from Chicopee’s Planning Director, Lee Pouliot, on the Community Hub at Market Square, the city’s new community space. Originally built in 1913 as the city’s first dedicated library building, the vacant was vacant from 2004 to 2025. Join us to learn about this case study in adaptive reuse and the value of this historic space.

What was the state of public health in Chicopee 100 years ago? Join CHS Vice President and local author Jacqueline T. Lynch as she shares a medical examiner’s record book spanning 1918 to 1940. The record book was kept by Samuel Fletcher (1867-1943), a former city physician and mayor of Chicopee.

You may know it as U.S. Rubber or Uniroyal, but we all called it by its original name, “The Fisk,” or just “Fisk.” Join CHS docents Joe Pasternak and Chet Kobierski as they retell the history of the city’s once-largest company and a community anchor in Chicopee Falls.

• Bathsheba Spooner: A Revolutionary Murder Conspiracy with local author Andrew Noone – March 20, 2024
• History of the Chicopee Public Library with CHS docent Wren Wood – April 10, 2024
• Tips for Historians with CHS President Chet Kobierski – April 17, 2024
• Annual Meeting – June 18, 2024
• Chicopee, Then & Now: Historic Sites Vulnerable and Vanished with CHS docent Wren Wood – September 18, 2024
• Springfield, Connecticut? with CHS docent Dave Robison of Old Bones Genealogy – October 16, 2024
• Film & Discussion: Cowboy 57 (1959) – November 20, 2024

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• History of Maple Sugaring Industry with Denis Picard – March 29, 2023
• Voices of Chicopee with CHS docent Wren Wood – April 19, 2023
• Indian Crossing Archaeological Dig, 1975-1979 with anthropologists Dr. Eric Johnson & Dr. Mitchell Mulholland – May 18, 2023
• Annual Meeting – June 21, 2023
• Historical Restoration of the Bellamy House with EBMA President Jason Amos – September 20, 2023
• Film & Discussion: The Spalding Story (c. 1955) – October 17, 2023
• Chapin Houses of Chicopee with CHS docent Dave Robison of Old Bones Genealogy – November 15, 2023

• The Chicopee Falls Post Office Mural and New Deal with CHS Vice President Jacqueline T. Lynch – April 20, 2022
• German POWs in Western Massachusetts, 1944-1946 with John Bonafilia – May 18, 2022
• Annual Meeting – June 15, 2022
• Chicopee Falls Before the Wrecking Ball with CHS docent Joe Pasternak – September 21, 2022
• Film & Discussion: The Candy Bomber (2017) – October 19, 2022
• Life in 19th Century Chicopee with CHS President Chet Kobierski – November 16, 2022

• The Anti-Slavery Movement in Chicopee, 1840-1860 with CHS Vice President Jacqueline T. Lynch – February 17, 2021
• Edward Bellamy & Plans for Restoring the Bellamy House with EBMA President Jason Amos – May 19, 2021
• Annual Meeting – June 16, 2021
• Historical Maps of Chicopee with CHS President Chet Kobierski – September 15, 2021
• The Trial of the Century: Lizzie Borden and George D. Robinson with CHS Vice President Jacqueline T. Lynch – October 20, 2021
• City Hall Restoration and Preservation with Planning Director Lee Pouliot – November 17, 2021

• Voter Registration: Past & Present with Janina Surdyka, Registrar of Voters – February 19, 2020
• The Early Auto Industry in Chicopee & Springfield with Jerre Hoffman of the Lyman and Merrie Wood Museum of Springfield History – March 11, 2020
• George D. Robinson and the 1883 Governor’s Race with Jacqueline T. Lynch – October 21, 2020
• From Agawam Plantation to Springfield with CHS docent Dave Robison of Old Bones Genealogy – November 18, 2020
• The Holiday Season in 1950s Chicopee – December 16, 2020

• Chicopee’s Industrial Past at the Cabotville Industrial Complex – February 22 & 23, 2019
• Double Feature: The Candy Bomber & The Berlin Airlift – April 14, 2019
• Show-&-Tell of Chicopee’s Industrial Past – May 22, 2019
• Rita’s Diary: The True Story of Rita Tetrault with local historian and author Suzanne Simon Dietz – September 17, 2019
• A Tragic Toast to Christmas: The Infamous Wood Alcohol Deaths of 1919 with CHS Vice President Jacqueline T. Lynch – October 16, 2019
• City Hall Renovations & Preservation with Planning Director Lee Pouliot – November 19, 2019
• A 1950s Chicopee Christmas Party – December 18, 2019

• Comedy and Tragedy on the Mountain with Jacqueline T. Lynch – April 19, 2017
• 27 Years at the Big E with Dennis Picard – May 17, 2017
• Mrs. Bellamy’s Proper Parlors – June 21, 2017
• The History of Pie with Robert S. Cox – November 15, 2017