Brimfield Timeline - Colonial Period (1675

Colonial Period (1675 - 1775)

Town History and Development

King Philip's War began in 1675 and although it was short lived the series of Indian wars which followed was responsible for postponing European settlement in Brimfield for another twenty-six years. However, in 1701 the time for expansion east from Springfield came, and John Pynchon, Captain Thomas Colton, James Warriner, David Morgan and Joseph Stebbins were appointed a Committee to lay out a township eight miles square along the eastern boundary of Springfield. The terms of their agreement with the General Court required them to settle ten families in three years, all ten of whom were to be living on the land within one year. The agreement stipulated that the settlement had to increase to seventy families in five years and there was to be a minister established. Thirteen men bought allotments in this new plantation, but as it turned out, none actually took up residence.

The Committee laid out the plantation on paper, planning that the first town center would be in Monson. The thirteen would-be settlers came mostly from Springfield and some of them actually made a temporary settlement. Since they were relatively close to Springfield, it was possible for them to develop their land first and then move to it once the land was prepared to support them. So they came to the area, set up tents and stayed for the summer months getting crops planted and cultivated, then returned to Springfield for the winter. Living in tents was a good solution for the short term because they were set up adjacent to the fields they cleared and planted, following the native American pattern. But it also made them vulnerable to attack when Queen Anne's war spread as far south as the Brimfield area in 1704 after the massacre at Deerfield. Native Americans came through the region, destroyed their quarters and made it clear that the settlers would be under continued attack. So most of the settlers returned to Springfield.

They came back to the Brimfield/Monson area the following season once they had built two block houses which assured them greater safety. One block house was said to be in the area south of Mill Pond (near 39 Mill Lane) and one on the site which later became the Town Farm (35 Haynes Hill Road). The block houses were used for summer only and the settlers continued to return to Springfield once the growing season was over.

An unspecified contagious disease in Springfield in the year 1711, may also have delayed permanent settlement. The thirteen original investors had not met their quota for settlement and in 1709 petitioned the General Court to extend the time limit for settling Brimfield, and in 1714 they petitioned for an additional three mile strip of land. The time extension was granted but the petition for additional land wasn't granted until 1721. When grant was made, a new layout for the town was drawn up to incorporate the addition. The town was shifted from the Monson area to Brimfield and was laid out as a linear village along Warren Road and up across Tower Hill, which was to be the nucleus of the town. The main reason cited for the shift was that this land was considered the best in the township.

Before investment in the town could begin, title to the land had to be clear, and in 1728 Gov. Winthrop's heirs settled their dispute with the Proprietors which freed up the disputed land they had inherited. Finally, there were enough families established on the land, so the town was organized and officers elected in 1731. Eighty-four Proprietors invested in the town, and because settlement had taken place over such a long period of time, there were conflicting property rights to untangle even among the settlers. However, the conflicts were resolved, the allotments of the first settlers confirmed by the Court, and each new Proprietor got up to 120 acres of first grant land which was surveyed, assigned and recorded. Home lots 40 rods wide and 160 rods deep for each of the 84 grantees were laid out on both sides of Warren Road. The balance of each Proprietor's allotment was distributed from the plain lot and meadow land.