HOLYOKE  , a

city of Hampden county, Massachusetts, U.S.A., in a bend of the Connecticut river, about 8 m . N. of Springfield . Pop . (188o) 21,915; (1890) 35,637; (1900) 45,712; (1910 census) 57,730 . Of the total population in 1900, 18,921 were foreign-born, including 6991 French-Canadians, 565o Irish, 16o2 Germans and 1118 English; and 33,626 were of foreign parentage (both parents foreign-born), including 12,370 of Irish and 11,oso of French-Canadian parentage . The city's area is about 17 sq. m . The city is served by the Boston & Maine, and the New York, New Haven & Hartford railways, and by an interurban line . Holyoke is characteristically an industrial and mercantile city; it has some handsome public buildings (the city hall and the public library, founded in 187o, being especially noteworthy) and attractive environs . Holyoke is the railway station for Mt Holyoke College, in South Hadley, about 4 M . N..by E. of Holyoke; the city is connected with South Hadley by an electric line . Just above Holyoke the Connecticut leaves the rugged highlands through a rift between Mt Tom (1214 ft.; ascended by a mountain-railway from Holyoke) and Mt Holyoke (954 ft.), and begins a meandering valley course, falling (in the Hadley Falls) in great volume some 6o ft. in about 12 m . The water-power was unutilized until 1849, when a great dam (1017 ft. long) was completed, which enabled vast power to be developed along a series of canals laid out from the river .

This was, in its

day, a colossal under-taking; and its success transformed Holyoke from a farming village into a great manufacturing centre—in 1900 and 190$ the ninth largest of the commonwealth . In 1900 a stone dam (1020 ft.), said to be the second largest in New England, was completed at a cost of about $750,000 . Cotton manufactures first, and later paper products were chief in importance, and Holyoke now leads all the cities in the United States in the manufacture of fine paper . In 1905 the total value of all factory products was $30,731,332, of which $10,620,255 (or 34.6% of the total) represented paper and wood pulp; $5,p19,817, cotton goods; $1,318,409, woollen goods; $1,756,473, book binding and blank books, and $2,022,759, foundry and machine-shop products . Silk and worsted goods are -other important manufactures . Opposite Holyoke, in Hampshire county, is South Hadley Falls . The municipality owns and operates the gas and electric-lighting plants and the water works (the water-supply being derived from natural ponds, some of which are outside the city limits), and owns and leases (to the New York, New Haven & Hartford railroad) a railway extending (10.3 m.) to Westfield, Mass . Holyoke was originally a part of Springfield, and after 1774 of West Springfield . In i85o it was incorporated as a township, and in 1873 was chartered as a city .