Page "Easthampton, Massachusetts" Paragraph 3

Following this spurt of industrial development, the town ’ s first high school and first national bank opened in 1864, and a town hall was built in 1869.

Constables were replaced by the town ’ s first police officer in 1871, the same year that Easthampton became a regular stop on the railroad.

The town ’ s public library opened in 1881, and fourteen years later in 1895, the community was introduced to two new innovations, telephones and streetcars.

With the influx of new residents came a number of new churches, founded for Catholic, Episcopalian, Lutheran, and Methodist parishioners, as well as a second Congregational church.

In 1899, the West Boylston Manufacturing Company and the Hampton Company, both specializing in cloth production, moved to Easthampton, recruiting a larger immigrant labor force, particularly from Poland and Canada.