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The history of Springfield, Massachusetts (est. 1636) springs in large part from its favorable geography, which allowed the mid-sized city to contribute in an outsized capacity to the history and culture of America. Situated on a steep bluff overlooking the Connecticut River's confluence with three tributaries, at an ancient, Native American crossroads of two major trade routes (Boston-to-Albany, and New York City-to-Montreal,) Springfield also sits on some of the northeastern United States' most fertile soil.〔http://www.worldcat.org/wcpa/servlet/org.oclc.lac.ui.DialABookServlet?oclcnum=61302153〕 Founded in 1636 as the northernmost settlement of the Connecticut Colony and originally known as ''Agawam'', Springfield defected from Connecticut after only four years, later joining forces with the coastal Massachusetts Bay Colony. This process, during which the town would change its name to ''Springfield'' in honor of founder William Pynchon's hometown in England, would forever change the political boundaries of what would later become the New England States. From the time of its founding, Springfield flourished as a trading post and agricultural center; however, following 1675's King Philip's War – when a coalition of Native Americans laid siege to Springfield and later burned it to the ground – its prosperity waned for the next one hundred years. The city's fortunes, however, would change in 1777, when Revolutionary War leaders George Washington and Henry Knox recognized the same advantages in Springfield that its founders saw over one hundred and forty years previous: its site at the crossroads of two of America's wealthiest inland trade routes, and perch atop a strategically defensible bluff beside one of America's busiest water routes – Springfield would prove an ideal site for the fledgling United States' National Armory. During the course of the next two hundred and one years, the United States Armory at Springfield would manufacture numerous small weapons enabling the United States to emerge victorious from every war it waged – until the Vietnam War in 1968, when Robert McNamara made the controversial decision to decommission it. From its production of the first American muskets in 1794, to production of the famous Springfield rifle (called "the gun the won the West")〔http://www.tcm.com/this-month/article.html?id=582024%7C598179〕 to the revolutionary M-1 Garand and M-14, the Springfield Armory played a pivotal role in the histories of both engineering and warcraft. The need for continual innovation and creativity at the Springfield Armory attracted generations of skilled laborers to the city, making it the United States' longtime center for precision manufacturing (comparable to a Silicon Valley of the Industrial Revolution).〔〔http://www.masslive.com/mywideworld/index.ssf/2011/05/the_springfield_armory_the_heartbeat_of_the_19th_century_industrial_revolution.html〕 The Armory's near-capture during Shays Rebellion of 1787 would prompt America's Founding Fathers to convene the U.S. Constitutional Convention, after the near-anarchy in and around Springfield exposed the shortcomings of the U.S. Articles of Confederation.〔http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/how-significant-was-shays-rebellion-1786-303647〕 Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, Springfield produced many of America's – and several of the world's – most significant innovations, beginning with the first American-English dictionary (1805, Merriam Webster), and later the first use of interchangeable parts and the assembly line in manufacturing (1819, Thomas Blanchard), the first American horseless car (1825, Thomas Blanchard), the discovery and patent of vulcanized rubber (1844, Charles Goodyear), the first American gasoline-powered car (1893, Duryea Brothers), the first American motorcycle company (1901, "Indian"), one of America's first commercial radio stations (1921, WBZ, broadcast from the Hotel Kimball), and most famously, the world's third-most-popular sport, basketball (1891, Dr. James Naismith).〔〔http://sporteology.com/top-10-popular-sports-world/〕 Throughout the latter half of the 20th century, Springfield endured a protracted decline. Accelerated by the decommission of the Springfield Armory in 1969 and exacerbated by poor-city planning decisions - such as constructing the I-91 highway beside its Connecticut RIverfront, symbolically and effectively cutting off the city from the reason William Pynchon founded it and George Washington selected it - Springfield became increasingly like the declining, second tier Northeastern U.S. cities from which its history and significance had long set it apart. During the 1980s and 1990s, Springfield developed a national reputation for crime, political corruption and cronyism, which stood in stark contrast to the reputation it enjoyed throughout much of U.S. history. Seeking to overcome its downgrade in reputation via long-term revitalization projects, and undertook several large-but-unfinished projects including a $1 billion high-speed rail (New Haven-Hartford-Springfield high-speed rail;) a proposed $1 billion MGM Casino; and various other construction and revitalization projects.〔http://www.masslive.com/politics/index.ssf/2013/02/massachusetts_transportation_c.html〕〔http://www3.springfield-ma.gov/planning/sra1.0.html〕 ==17th century== 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「History of Springfield, Massachusetts」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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