A published and online guide to the mural identifies those depicted and their importance to the history of Amherst. Below is the text of the guide:
Who’s On the Mural
Those depicted on the Amherst Community History Mural were chosen based on citizen recommendations and represent the full sweep of Amherst’s history as a settled community. Those who are buried in West Cemetery are indicated with a symbol (W). From left to right, the mural is divided into the following aspects of Amherst’s community life:
FARMING
Farm Children – North of Mount Norwottuck, young Marjorie Atkins Elliott and a friend carry a basket of apples.
Howard Atkins (ladder, 1912-1997) – 20th century South
Amherst orchardist and popular community leader who started
the Atkins Farm Country Market.
John Dimitro Waskiewicz (1903-1989) & Joseph George Waskiewicz (1905-1995) – Brothers and 20th century North Amherst farmers whose father, Dimitro Waskiewicz, emigrated from Poland and bought a farm on Meadow Street in 1909. The family operates the farm today.
Robert Stiles (on right, 1906-1986). – Orchardist and dairy farmer Bob Stiles was born in the West Street house that now serves as the Admissions Office for Hampshire College. The 250-acre Stiles family farm was purchased as the site for the new college in 1965.
Farm boy on branch – Since 1728, generations of Amherst children have grown up and worked on local farms.
LITERATURE
Robert Frost (seated, 1874-1963) – US Poet Laureate (1958-59) and four-time Pulitzer Prize winner Robert Frost moved to Amherst in 1917. Frost taught on and off at Amherst College until his death in 1963.
Robert Francis (standing, 1901-1987) – Friend of Robert Frost and master of the lyrical short poem, Francis lived in monastic simplicity at “Fort Juniper,” a small cabin a mile upstream of the Factory Hollow (Puffer’s Pond) waterfall.
Emily Dickinson W (1830-1886) & Lavinia Dickinson W (with cat, 1833-1899) – Amherst’s most famous citizen and an internationally revered poet. Emily’s private torrent of words was published after her death. Her younger sister Lavinia managed the Homestead after their parents died.
Eugene Field (head on hand, 1850-1895) – A journalist and children’s poet, Field spent the latter part of his childhood in Amherst. Author of “Little Boy Blue,” “Winken, Blinken, and Nod,” and other children’s poems.
Lilian Garis (writing, 1872-1954) – Pioneering woman journalist, suffragette, and author of the Bobbsey Twins books. Her husband, Howard Garis, wrote the Uncle Wiggily series.
Ray Stannard Baker (tending bees, 1870-1946) – An early muckraking journalist, Baker wrote a Pulitzer Prizewinning biography of Woodrow Wilson. As David Grayson he wrote about his gardening and beekeeping on Sunset Avenue.
Helen Hunt Jackson (1830-1885) – Amherst native and contemporary of Emily Dickinson, Jackson authored nature and travel stories of the West, as well as the popular novel Ramona which highlighted the plight of Native Americans.
DOMESTIC LIFE
From a photograph of a Dickinson family outing, set in front of the Phenix Hall [sic] in the town center, looking east along Main Street to the Dickinson Homestead and the Pelham Hills.
Mabel Loomis Todd (1856-1932) – A widely-traveled and active social leader, Todd was the first editor of Emily Dickinson’s poetry (and mistress of Emily’s older brother, Austin Dickinson).
William Clark – Dickinson family friend (not Col. William S.
Clark; see below).
Susan Gilbert Dickinson (1830-1913) & “Gib” Dickinson (1875-1883) – Wife of Austin Dickinson (Emily’s brother) and their young son. Gib’s death at age 8 of typhoid fever was a severe blow to family and friends.
Bradford Hitchcock – Dickinson family friend.
Edward “Ned” Dickinson (1861-1898) – Older son of Austin and Sue Dickinson.
Martha “Mattie” Dickinson (later Bianchi, 1866-1943) – Austin and Sue Dickinson’s daughter. Novelist and editor of her Aunt Emily’s work.
David Todd (1855-1939) – A distinguished Amherst College professor of astronomy, Todd believed that “canals” on Mars were artifacts of civilization, and conducted high elevation balloon experiments to detect Martian radio signals. His wife Mabel gave lectures titled, “A Message from Mars.”
EDUCATION & the MILITARY
Edward Dickinson W (seated, 1803-1874) – Amherst College treasurer, lawyer, legislator, and pivotal civic leader, Edward Dickinson helped to bring the railroad to Amherst. Father of Emily Dickinson.
Noah Webster (standing, 1758-1843) – Childhood education and literacy advocate. While living in Amherst (1812-1822), Webster completed most of his An American Dictionary of the English Language, was a state legislator, and helped found both Amherst Academy and
Amherst College.
Col. William Smith Clark W (in uniform, 1826-1886) – Early Amherst College professor, Civil War hero, pioneering agronomist and educator. Founder and third President of Mass. Agricultural College (now UMass). Founder and first President of Sapporo University in Hokkaido.
Sanford Jackson (1831-1863, based on a recruiting poster) – An Amherst member of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry—the first all-black Civil War regiment. Husband of Angeline Palmer (see Henry Jackson, below). Nearly 30 black soldiers enlisted on Amherst’s behalf. Sanford, his brother Jarvis, and two others gave their “last full measure of devotion” to freedom.
Lt. Frazar Stearns W (background, in uniform, 1840-1862) – Well-loved young son of Amherst College President William Augustus
Stearns and close friend of the Dickinson family. Frazar’s death at the battle of Newbern while serving as Col. Clark’s adjutant sent
shock waves through the community.
Henry Jackson W (foreground, 1817-1902) – Popular local teamster, and probable conductor on local Underground Railroad routes, Jackson traveled up and down the Valley from Springfield to Vermont. He was a central figure in the 1840 rescue of Angeline Palmer, a young black servant girl whose Belchertown employers planned to take her south and sell her. Forcibly “abducted” by Henry and two other men, Angeline was transported to Colrain, where she grew up in safety.
Anna Reed Goodwin W (seated, 1869-1943) – Anna Goodwin, known as “Ma” to many Mass. State College students, ran the Colonial Inn for 28 years. Husband Moses Goodwin ran a bicycle and locksmith shop. They were active in the AME Zion Church’s music program with daughters Amy, Olive, and Ruth. The church was re-named the Goodwin
Memorial AME Zion Church in 1967.
Levi Stockbridge (far rear, with shovel, 1820-1904) – North Hadley native and Scientific Agriculture pioneer, Stockbridge was the first farm manager, agricultural instructor, and fourth President of “Mass Aggie,” and namesake for the Stockbridge School of Agriculture. He also served as a state legislator.
INDUSTRY & ECONOMIC LIFE
Martha J. Thomas/Thompson W (seated, 1834-1894), & William Newport (paper boy, 1855-?) – Residents of a tight-knit African-American neighborhood on Northampton Road—now the Westside National Historic Register District.
On the trolley:
Orra White Hitchcock W (1796-1863) & Edward Hitchcock W (1793-1864) Both seated, rear trolley - Scientist, educator and minister, Edward Hitchcock served as principal of Deerfield Academy and president of Amherst College. Orra illustrated many of Edward’s lectures and books.
Dick Hamilton (1896-1985) & Luella Hamilton (1898-1978) Both seated, midtrolley – Dick was owner of the Socony College Town Service Centre and leader of “Dick Hamilton’s Orchestra,” popular in the 1930s-40s. Luella was secretary for the Amherst Assessor’s office for many years.
General Ebenezer Mattoon, Jr. W (1755-1843) & Mary Dickinson Mattoon W (1758-1835) Both standing, front of trolley – Grandson of a 17th century Scottish soldier, Ebenezer was a Revolutionary War hero, leading early citizen, Justice of the Peace, and High Sheriff of Hampshire County. The Amherst chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) is named for Mary.
Walter Dickinson Cowls (standing inside trolley, 1852-1928) – Patriarch of an early (1738) North Amherst family involved in farming (crops and dairy). Cowls was the founder of the W.D. Cowls company, a forestry and millworking businesses critical to Amherst’s housing and development. The W.D. Cowls sawmill and lumber company in North Amherst is the oldest continuously-operating business in Amherst.
Stephen Perry Puffer, Sr. (trolley conductor, 1890-1975) – Member of a prominent North Amherst family, local trolley conductor and Amherst’s highway department superintendent (1929-1955), Puffer was a contractor in the 1930s construction of nearby Quabbin Reservoir. His son, Stephen P. Puffer, Jr. carried on the family contracting business.
“Peanut John” Musante (1848 - 1904) & Candida Musante (18?? - 1924) – First-generation Italian immigrants, the Musantes moved to Amherst in 1882. They worked as fruit and nut vendors from a sidewalk stand along Merchant’s Row on South Pleasant Street and a wagon at Amherst College. Candida continued to operate the stand for 20 years after John died.
Burnett Hat Factory Girls (foreground) – Irish women workers at the Burnett Hat factory, one of two successful straw and palm leaf hat factories operated near the Amherst Railroad Depot. In the 1870s Amherst was “the hatmaking center of the nation.” Immigrant Irish men and women constituted a large part of the laboring, factory, and service workforce in 19th century Amherst.
Henry M. Hills W (rear, standing, 1833-1896) – Son of factory founder Leonard Hills, Henry was the founder and president of the Hills Company located east of the railroad tracks.. Along with Col. W.S. Clark, Hills was instrumental in bringing the Massachusetts Agricultural College to Amherst, and helped to organize local lighting, water, and gas companies.
Rearground – Amherst House Hotel balcony, left to right. Reverend David Parsons W (1712-1781) – Minister of Amherst’s first church—the Church of Christ in Hadley’s Third Precinct (later the First Congregational Church of Amherst) and a staunch Loyalist during the Revolutionary War. Reverend Parsons and his son, Dr. David Parsons, preached from Amherst’s principal pulpit for 70 years.
Dr. Peter Merzbach (1907-1997) – Arriving in Amherst during World War II, German native Peter Merzbach found himself the only doctor in town (the others being away in the military). He opened a general practice and served as Amherst College’s physician. After the war, Dr. Merzbach opened an obstetrical practice, delivering over 10,000 babies during his career (many of whom were named Peter).
Robert Gilbert “Gil” Roberts W (1896-2002) – World-traveled jazz musician, renowned banjo player and member of the Blue Ribbon Syncopators, Gil Roberts played with Louis Armstrong and accompanied Josephine Baker. He played locally with the New Black Eagle Jazz Band and Blue Horizon Jazz Band. Member of a longstanding Amherst family of blended African-American and Native-American (Montauk) ancestry.
Harlan Fiske Stone (1872-1946) – A New Hampshire farm boy expelled from the Scientific Agriculture program at Mass Aggie for leading other students in pranks, Stone instead attended Amherst College, graduated in 1894 and went into law. Appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1925 by fellow Amherst College alumnus President Calvin Coolidge, and elevated to Chief Justice in 1941 by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Charles “Professor Charley” J. Thompson W (1820 - 1906) – A long-time employee of the Stearns family, Charles Thompson was hired as a maintenance worker when William Augustus Stearns became President of Amherst College. It was Charles Thompson who retrieved and cared for the body of Lt. Frazar Stearns after the battle of Newbern, stood vigil with Frazar’s body in Johnson Chapel, and saw that Frazar’s sword (now owned by the Amherst History Museum) was hidden from his grieving father.