The City Hospital. |
turned back through the valley of the Hoosac, destroying the homes of the Dutchmen as they went, and made good their retreat to Canada. Before the fort was destroyed the flag of France was raised over it; and so that now peaceful meadow at the foot of the Taconic range has seen the unfurling of three different flags: the English by the right of exploration and settlement, the French by the right of conquest, and the American as the just and lawful heir to the possessions of both the old-time rivals. To East Hoosuck probably belongs the distinction of being the only spot in Massachusetts ever under the dominion of a French king by the right of conquest.
In 1750, three years after the destruction of the fort, and after the fort had been rebuilt, Captain Ephraim Williams secured a grant of two hundred acres of land in East Hoosuck, on condition that he build a sawmill and a gristmill. This he did, building one on each side of the river at the point where Main Street, North Adams, crosses the stream. These two rude structures were the beginnings of the present manufacturing greatness of Adams and North Adams.
The records of the next few years are meagre and the growth of the population was slow. The growth was by far the greatest at the central and southern parts of the township, in what is now Adams. There the rudiments of a village began to appear; and all the credit of aid and effort for the cause of the American Revolution must be given to the southern part of the township. When fighting Parson Allen of Pittsfield led his men to aid General Stark at Bennington in the memorable fight of August 16, 1777, he came down the
The Reservoir.
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09 May 2006
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