Historic Sites in Hampden County

History of Hampden County

Hampden County, in the south-central Connecticut River valley, was formed from Hampshire County in 1812. In 1777 George Washington chose its seat, Springfield, for the arsenal that became the Springfield Armory. In January 1787, Shays' Rebellion reached its climax in a failed attack on that armory.

Springfield is also where James Naismith invented basketball in 1891, where Milton Bradley started his game company in 1860, and where Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss) was born in 1904. Up the river, Holyoke was planned around canals as a paper-mill city, and William G. Morgan invented volleyball at its YMCA in 1895.