The building growth of the city has kept pace with the manufacturing. Where a few years ago were acres of woodland, swamps or brambly pastures, are now well-graded streets lined with pleasant houses. Hills have been leveled, ponds and ravines filled and made into valuable real estate. From the highlands in the western part of the city, there are river and mountain views of surpassing beauty. Gradually the building centre is moving westward and many charming homes have been created on the suburban streets. The old stage-road which led from Springfield to Northampton is now a wide, well-graded highway with handsome villas surrounded by spacious grounds. Here are the fine residences of Treasurer R.B. Johnson of the Holyoke Savings Bank, G.W. Prentiss of the wire-mills, Westover, the residence of E.J. Pomeroy, Lawnfield, the house of R.M. Fairfield, "The Knolls" the fine residence of Mr. C.H. Heywood, and on the higest point of all is Rus-in-Urbe, the lookout point of Mr. Foster Wilson. Farther south on the same street are the residencies of Mr. Timothy Merrick, Donald Mackintosh, Oscar Ely, John Cleary and others. The residence streets of Ward six are pleasant with shade trees, blooming gardens and lovely houses. From the most sightly eminence of the ward, the house of William Skinner of the silk-mill overlooks the city. A central and pleasant square encloses the home of W.A. Chase, the agent of the Water Power Company, and houses with all the appointments of elegance and luxury are owned by Messrs. Whiting, Dillon, Farr, Metcalf, Mackintosh, W.A. Prentiss Clark, E.W. Chapin, Ramage, Newton, Corser and many others. Fairmount Square is a new section just opened for good residences. In the southerly part of the city is the farm of Congressman Wm. Whiting with its herds of beautiful Jerseys, and on the Springfield road is the model Brightside farm, the pet life-project of W.H. Wilkinson, blanket manufacturer. This farm is also the home of splendid specimens of the Jersey cow. A majority of the principal streets of Holyoke bear the names that were given them when the town was first mapped out by its prophetic founders, At first Holyoke was chiefly a cotton manufacturing town and of the streets laid out from east to west the names of prominent cotton manufacturing companies of the state alternated with the names of Massachusetts counties. There are Franklin, Hampshire, Essex, Suffolk, and Hampden streets, alternated with Jackson, Sargeant, Cabot, Appleton, Dwight and Lyman, named for noted cotton manufacturing firms. Main street is a long thoroughfare extending north and south and terminating at the river. Canal, Race, and Bridge streets were named from their location. Bowers, Mosher and Ely from former landowners of Depot Hill. John street and Oliver street perpetuate the name of John Oliver; High street was named for its sightly location. West of, and parallel with, High, the streets have the names of woods, Maple, Chestnut, Elm, Walnut, Pine, Beach, Oak, Linden and Sycamore. Many of the streets in Ward seven were named for persons first owning and or building upon them. Northampton street, is the county highway from Springfield to Northampton.
The total area of Holyoke is about fourteen square miles. The first city government was organized in January 1874, and the first Mayor of the city was Hon. Wm. B.C. Pearsons, now judge of the Police court, who held the office three years. The succeeding mayors have been Hon. William Whiting, at present a Congressman from the 11th District, R.P. Crafts, William Ruddy, F.P. Goodall, and James E. Delaney, the present Executive. The city offices and the public library are located in the city hall, a fine granite building which was completed in 1876 at a cost of nearly $400.000. In the same year the city erected a monument on Hampden Square in memory of the soldiers who died in the war of the Rebellion. The handsome open house, where the best of theatrical and musical talent appears during the entertainment season, was built by Messrs Whiting & Brown and was completed in 1878.
The city has four National Banks, and three Savings Banks. It has a daily newspaper, the Transcript, which is the direct successor of the first newspaper printed in Holyoke, in 1849. Under its present title the Transcript has been published since the year 1863.
The water supply for the city is derived from the Ashley and Wright ponds, the water-works having been completed in 1873. Since then, other mountain streams and reservoirs have been united with the water supply of the ponds, to make it adequate for the growing city's needs. The ponds from which the pipes are laid are located some four miles from the City hall.
Holyoke pays liberally to support its public schools. There are eight brick school buildings with all the modern improvements and conveniences for the graded schools, besides suburban school houses and a High school with 160 pupils. The Catholic parishes in the city also support flourishing parochial schools, St. Jerome parish having just completed a huge brick building for a girl's school.
The city has a wealth of new churches. The first little square white church which the Baptists built in the beginning of the century was removed in 1880 and a modern brick church now occupies the site. The Second Baptist Church society in the central part of the city has just completed a fine church edifice. The Second Congregational society, two years ago, dedicated a splendid granite building which cost nearly $100,000, the successor of the plain brick meeting-house which in 1853 was erected at the corner of High and Dwight streets. The city has a large Catholic population and three extensive Catholic parishes each having a capacious church of fitting architecture. The Episcopal people worship in a picturesque stone church on Maple street, and near it is the cozy little Unitarian church. The Methodists built a church of brick on Main street about the year 1870. The First Congregational society has a wooden edifice on Northampton street—the oldest church building in the city since the primitive First Baptist meeting-house was taken down—and the church at South Holyoke where the German residents listen to the services of their faith in the language of the fatherland.