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Metro Center is the original colonial settlement of Springfield, Massachusetts, located beside a bend in the Connecticut River. As of 2011, Metro Center features a majority of Western Massachusetts' most important cultural, business, and civic venues.〔Zimmerman/Volk Associates, (Residential Market Potential, Downtown Springfield ), for City of Springfield, December 2006〕 Metro Center includes Springfield's Central Business District, its Club Quarter, its government center, its convention headquarters, and in recent years, it has become an increasingly popular residential district, especially among young professionals, empty-nesters, and creative types, with a population of approximately 7,000 (2010.) As of 2011, Metro Center includes approximately 690 acres of land where the city was initially established, aligned north–south, following the Connecticut River, and is bounded by Route 291 to the north, Union and Howard Streets to the south, Federal Street to the east and the Connecticut River to the west, although Metro Center is physically separated from the Connecticut River by Interstate 91 – a 1958 urban renewal project that separated the city from its riverfront.〔http://www.bostonroads.com/roads/I-91_MA/〕〔(City of Springfield, Mass.: Metro Center ). Springfieldcityhall.com (2010-06-02). Retrieved on 2013-08-21.〕 ==Settlement and early history== Metro Center, founded in 1636 by William Pynchon and a group of pioneers, was originally called ''Agawam Plantation''. At the time of its founding, Agawam Plantation was the northernmost settlement on the Connecticut River, and belonged to the Connecticut Colony as opposed to the Massachusetts Bay Colony, to which it would later belong. Within less than a decade after its founding in 1636, differences arose between the leaders of Agawam (Springfield) and Newtown (Hartford) over how to treat the region's Native population. Springfield hoped to pursue peaceful relations with the Natives so as to better facilitate trade and communal farming, whereas Hartford – and many of Connecticut's early settlers – had fought the bloody Pequot War to claim their territory, and thus took a more skeptical view of the Native population. This difference of opinion led to Agawam (Springfield) annexing itself to Massachusetts in 1640. At that time, William Pynchon was named magistrate of the settlement, and the town's name was changed to Springfield in Pynchon's honor. (Pynchon was from Springfield, Essex.)〔 Metro Center Springfield was founded on the Connecticut River, just north of the River's first falls unnavigable by seagoing vessels, (the Enfield Falls.) Thus, in founding Springfield, the business-minded Pynchon assured that all northern river trade and travel ran through Springfield. In early colonial days, Springfield was the dominant trading post on the Connecticut River. In 1675, during King Philip's War. the Metacomet-led Attack on Springfield burned over 75% of Springfield, which was only Metro Center, including the saw and grist mills. Following King Philip's War, thought was given to abandoning the settlement at Springfield; however, luckily, cooler heads prevailed and the settlement remained. In 1777, noting Springfield's location on a major U.S. river, fertile farmland, and close proximity to Boston, Albany, New York City, and Montreal, George Washington and Henry Knox founded the U.S. National Arsenal at Springfield on a tall bluff overlooking Metro Center. Subsequently, Springfield developed neighborhoods other than Metro Center. In 1813, the green in the middle of Metro Center was officially named Court Square. Court Square had been the center of public and social life since the times when Native Americans roamed freely through Springfield's streets (pre-King Philip's War,) and continued to be so until the building of Springfield's first train station in the 1830s. The arrival of the railroad to Springfield in the 1830s brought great wealth to the city, again, due to its location. Goods from New York, Boston, Chicago, and even as far west as San Francisco travelled through Springfield on their ways to coastal distribution centers. Springfield, rather than Hartford, or Northampton, or Greenfield, became Western New England's railroad hub, perhaps due to the presence of the Springfield Armory, but more likely due to the city's growing reputation for ingenuity, and that it served as a nearly equidistant point between Albany and Boston, Providence, and New York. 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「Metro Center, Springfield, Massachusetts」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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