Category Archives: Agawam

Feeding Hills Congregational Church (1834)

Posted on April 5, 2012 by Daniel

The origins of the Congregational church in the Feeding Hills section of Agawam (pdf) go back to 1757, when Agawam became the sixth parish of Springfield. A church was then organized in 1762. West Springfield was incorporated as a town in 1774, with Agawam as its second parish. Agawam and Feeding Hills were divided into two distinct parishes within the town in 1800. The previously shared meeting house, located between the two villages, was moved to Feeding Hills in 1799 and the Agawam parish built its own new meetinghouse in 1803. Agawam, including Feeding Hills, became a separate town in 1855. The current Greek Revival-style meetinghouse of the Feeding Hills Congregational Church was built in 1834.

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Thomas Smith House (1757)

Posted on April 5, 2012 by Daniel

Built c. 1757, the Thomas Smith House stands at 251 North West Street in the Feeding Hills section of Agawam. Thomas Smith was born in Suffield (now in Connecticut, but then in Massachusetts) in 1725, married Esther Ball in 1755, and died in 1814. The house, previously known as the Matthew Noble House (Noble, one of Agawam’s earliest settlers, first owned the land on which the house was built), was purchased by the Agawam Historical Association in 2002. Remarkable for the fact that it has not been significantly altered since it built, the Association has restored (pdf) the the house with funding from the Agawam Community Preservation Act. It is now a living history house museum.

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Joseph Button House (1805)

Posted on September 28, 2011 by Daniel

Built around 1805, the Joseph Button House is a Federal-style structure at 588 Main Street in Agawam. In 2005-2006, the house, after being purchased by the Bethany Assembly of God, was moved uphill (to enable the church to widen its driveway) and restored to become a parsonage.

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The Captain Charles Leonard House (1805)

Posted on November 4, 2010 by Daniel

The Captain Charles Leonard House, at 663 Main Street in Agawam, was built in 1805 and is attributed as the work of Asher Benjamin. A Harvard graduate, farmer and militia captain, Charles Leonard built the house to serve as a tavern. It had many owners over the years and had become a multifamily rental property by the early twentieth century. The house was purchased and restored by prominent Agawam citizen Mrs. Minerva Davis, who made it Agawam’s Community House. Today, the house can be rented for events.

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