WESTFIELD – The Westfield Historical Commission reported to the City Council Thursday on its current projects, including a self-guided interactive walking and biking tour that may be downloaded on a mobile phone, called “Whipping around Westfield.”
At the meeting, Historical Commission chair Cindy Gaylord instructed the councilors to download and adjust the free “PocketSights” app on their phones, then type in “Whipping around Westfield.”
The tour page begins with an introduction to the city and a map of the tour, which covers nine historic sites.
The first stop is the Westfield Athenaeum. A longer history is given of the library (est. in 1830) and the building (1864), along with a note at the bottom which says in order to tour the Old Burying Ground (stop number 6), the key must be picked up at the reference desk.
Stop number two is the Westfield Civil War Monument at Court Street and Park Square, erected in 1871. Number three is the General William Shepard Statue at Broad Street and Park Square, created by sculptor Augustus Lukeman in 1918 and dedicated on September 3, 1919.
The First Congregational Church at 18 Broad Street is stop number four, which is the church’s fourth meeting house, the first built in 1673. The present church building was erected in 1860, with L. F. Thayer as architect and George Green as builder, although its steeple was replaced in 1962.
The Knox Trail Marker on Main Street around the corner from The Tavern is stop number five. The information on the tour says this is number 8 of 26 markers in Massachusetts to commemorate General Henry Knox’s transport of artillery from Fort Ticonderoga to Cambridge.
Stop number six is the Old Burying Ground on Mechanic Street, another active restoration project of the Historical Commission. The cemetery, which was established as the first community burying ground in the 1600s, commemorates several prominent citizens, including General William Shepard. Remember, if a visitor is interested in walking through the cemetery, the key for the gate must be obtained at the reference desk at the Westfield Athenaeum.
The Bismarck Hotel and Buschmann’s Block at 16-36 Union Avenue, built in 1873, is stop number 7 on the walking tour. Now the site of Pilgrim Candle, the Buschmann building was originally a warehouse and office for tobacco and other businesses, which included coal, wood and ice. Buschmann’s Block later became a whip manufacturing plant, a furniture store and then a flower shop.
The Westfield Whip Manufacturing Company at 360 Elm Street is stop number 8. It is, according to the tour information, the last of those plants that contains and still uses much of the machinery from that period in its current whip production, machinery that was designed and built in Westfield. Patent documents for that technology will eventually be part of the museum display. The building, constructed in 1894, is currently listed on the National Registry of Historic places and the state registry as well.
The last stop on the tour, number 9, is the Gillett Block at 100 Elm Street, built by Ralph D. Gillett in 1898-1899 after the Masonic Block on Elm Street in Westfield burned down in 1896. It is a three-story granite and buff brick corner building with terra cotta and metal trim. The tour describes Gillett as president of the Hampton Railroad, whose offices were in the building, along with McClure Laboratories (which tested food for impurities, gaining Westfield the title of” The Pure Food Town“) and The Great River Water and Power Company. Today the Gillett Block is owned by the City of Westfield and is used by the Westfield Gas & Electric Company.
PocketSights (pocketsights.com) describes themselves as a small team out of Ithaca, NY with a goal of providing mobile users the confidence and direction to explore and discover the places around them while learning about history and culture. Its second stated goal is to be a catalyst for economic growth by boosting tourism and driving more foot traffic into less populated areas. Other tours on the app include downtown Ithaca, Castine, Maine and Haverhill, Mass.
