Announcement – Grant Received

December 18, 2025

We’re pleased to announce that the Chicopee Historical Society has received a generous grant from the American Society of Arms Collectors in Indiana for our long-planned project of purchasing an appropriate museum-quality case for our Inshaw Rifle, to allow it to be on display at the Chicopee Public Library. We are deeply grateful for their support!…
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Happy Thanksgiving!

November 26, 2025

With Thanksgiving just two days away, here’s a bit of Chicopee Thanksgiving trivia…wild cranberries once flourished here. One recorded memory of this is from Richard Inshaw, Jr., the son of Richard B. Inshaw, who is the subject of the Historical Society’s book: Richard B. Inshaw: A Craftsman’s Life and Work in Chicopee, Massachusetts. Richard, Jr.,…
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Goodbye October — Hello November!

October 29, 2025

The leaves are falling, swirling everywhere, like a visible reminder that time is slipping away and moving us toward a busy and festive time of the year. For the Chicopee Historical Society, there is one more event this fall before we say “till we meet again” in spring — and the nation’s 250th anniversary in…
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The Duryea Brothers’ Thanksgiving Race

September 29, 2025

By Jacqueline T. Lynch November 26, 2024 Thanksgiving is known for parades and football games, and family feasting. A car race is not usually what we think of on that day, but it was a novelty on Thanksgiving 1895. The Duryea brothers — Charles and Frank, brought the fledgling automobile industry to Chicopee, but a…
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French Heritage Celebrated!

November 4, 2024

By Jacqueline T. Lynch Congratulations to Marie Proulx-Meader, former director of the French Heritage Center and the Franco-American community in Chicopee for the addition of a beautiful new monument on the Aldenville Commons that celebrates our city’s French heritage. The former French Heritage Center raised funds to purchase the monument, which is in the shape…
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