Welcome to Chester, Massachusetts
N 42° 16.438 W 072° 59.669
18T E 665381 N 4682142
Welcome to Historic Chester, Massachusetts - "Gem of the Valley." This welcome sign is located on Route 20 on the west end of town.
Waymark Code: WMA2QT
Location: Massachusetts, United States
Date Posted: 11/07/2010
Views: 5
This welcome sign includes a scene that depicts a train crossing over the town's stone arch bridge.
The following information about the town of Chester is from
Wikipedia:
Chester is a town in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States, situated in the western part of the state. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts metropolitan statistical area. The town includes the Chester Factory Village Historic District.
History
The area opened for settlement in the 1750s as Township No. 9, chartered as Murrayfield on October 31, 1765. The town was incorporated as Chester on February 21, 1783. The Western Railroad (later Boston & Albany Railroad) opened to Chester on May 24, 1841.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 37.1 square miles (96.2 km²), of which, 36.7 square miles (95.1 km²) of it is land and 0.4 square miles (1.0 km²) of it (1.08%) is water. It is drained by the west branch of the Westfield River.
Set on the eastern edge of the Berkshires, Chester makes up the northwest corner of Hampden County. It is bordered by Huntington on the east, Worthington and Middlefield on the north, Becket on the west, and Blandford on the south. Chester is 30 miles southeast of Pittsfield; 30 miles northwest of Springfield; 115 miles west of Boston; 70 miles from Albany, New York; and 140 miles from New York City.