Chester Center Historic District

The North Chester Historic District is a historic district encompassing the rural village center of North Chester in the town of Chester, Massachusetts. One of the rural community's early settlement nodes, it thrived into the early 19th century around a stagecoach tavern, a few small mills, and farming, and retains buildings and archaeological remains representative of this history. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998.

The Chester train wreck occurred on August 31, 1893, outside of Chester, Massachusetts. A bridge collapse plunged four train cars into the Westfield River, killing 14 people. An investigation by the Massachusetts Railroad Commission found that the bridge had been weakened by a maintenance crew that had removed rivets from the bridge.

Littleville Lake is located mostly in the town of Chester in Hampden County and partly in the town of Huntington in Hampshire County, Massachusetts. It was created by the US Army Corps of Engineers when the Middle Branch of the Westfield River was dammed to control flooding.

Chester is a census-designated place that comprises the populated center of the town of Chester in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. The population of the CDP was 627 at the 2010 census, out of 1,337 in the entire town of Chester. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area.

C. M. Gardner State Park is a Massachusetts state park, located in the town of Huntington, along a section of the east branch of the Westfield River. The land was donated to the state in 1959, in memory of Charles M. Gardner, a local farmer, writer, and National Grange leader. It is managed by the Department of Conservation and Recreation.

Chester is a town in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States, situated in Western Massachusetts. It is part of the Springfield metropolitan statistical area. The town includes the Chester Factory Village Historic District. The total population was 1,228 in the 2020 census.

Walker Brook is a brook in Hampden County, Massachusetts, in the United States. The brook collects runoff from the Berkshires and empties into the West Branch of the Westfield River in the town of Chester. The brook runs through a couple of campgrounds such as Walker Island Campground and Bonny Rigg Campground.

Gateway Regional High School (GRHS), commonly referred to as "Gateway" or "Gateway Regional," is a public high school located in Huntington, Massachusetts, United States. It is the only high school in the Gateway Regional School District, serving students from Blandford, Chester, Huntington, Middlefield, Montgomery, and Russell.

The Chester Factory Village Historic District is a historic district encompassing the historic village of Chester Factories in Chester, Massachusetts. Chester was settled in the 1760s, and the factory village was a location where water power was harnessed at an early time for grist mills and sawmills. The village got its name from the Chester Glass Factory, which operated in the area through the War of 1812. It benefited from the construction of a turnpike (now United States Route 20) leading to Chester Center in 1804, and was transformed by the arrival of the railroad around 1840. The village became an important provisioning stop for trains, and the village further benefited by the fact that the railroad bypassed Chester Center. The economic and civic life of the town gradually shifted, and Chester Factories is where the town hall and library were built. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1989. The district is roughly bounded by Middlefield Road, River, Main, and Maple Streets, US 20, and Williams Street. The southern boundary is roughly US 20, with the tracks formerly of the Western Railroad the boundary to the northeast. There are some older houses in the area along US 20, while more intensive industrial development took place along the Westfield River branch which runs between the two transportation routes. The village's greatest period of growth was between 1879 and 1915, when the production of abrasive materials, and granite quarrying and cutting operations became major industries. The Fay's Clothing Store, built in 1896, is at three stories the village's tallest building.

The South Worthington Historic District is a historic district encompassing the formerly industrial, but now rural, village of South Worthington, Massachusetts. The village is centered on the junction of Huntington Road (Massachusetts Route 112), Ireland Street, and Thrasher Hill Road. The district extends along Ireland Road as far as Conwell Road, and one contributing element, the dam which impounds Little Galilee Pond, extends into neighboring Chesterfield. The area had a number of small mills along the banks of the Little River, a tributary of the Westfield River, but only one complex, the Theron Higgins Mill on South Worthington Road, has survived from the 19th century. Most of the buildings in the district are residences dating to the 19th century; also included are three churches, including the particularly elegant Greek Revival South Worthington Methodist Church (1848). The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.The South Worthington area first developed as a modest agricultural area in the 1760s. A falls in the Little River proved a good location for a sawmill, which was standing by 1794, and followed by a grist mill in 1812. The village flourished as a service center for the local farmers, and additional mills survived for a time in the 19th century, one of which was used to manufacture window blinds. The first church was built in 1828; the building, which still stands, was later used as a general store and as a school, after the present Greek Revival church was built. The village also achieved some notice as the birthplace and summer home of Russell Conwell (1843-1925), a famous Baptist minister and writer who founded Temple University. Conwell's summer stays in the house of his youth brought visitors to the community. Conwell's association with the village is commemorated by boulder with a plaque mounted on it near that house, 42 Conwell Road.

Massachusetts's 1st congressional district is a United States congressional district located in the western and central part of Massachusetts. The state's largest congressional district in area, it covers about one-third of the state and is more rural than the rest. It has the state's highest point, Mount Greylock; the district includes the cities of Springfield, West Springfield, Pittsfield, Holyoke, Agawam, Chicopee and Westfield. The shape of the district underwent some changes effective from the elections of 2012, after Massachusetts congressional redistricting to reflect the 2010 census. The old 1st and 2nd districts were essentially merged, placing most of western Massachusetts in a single district. The entire Springfield area is included in the new 1st district, and the Worcester County areas of the old 1st district were split between the new 2nd and 3rd districts. Richard Neal, a Democrat from Springfield, represents the district; he previously represented the old 2nd from 1989 to 2013.

The Western Railroad Stone Arch Bridges and Chester Factory Village Depot is a National Historic Landmark District extending through parts of the towns of Chester, Middlefield, and Becket, Massachusetts. It encompasses a section of the historic Western Railroad railbed, two stone bridges constructed in the 1840s under the direction of George Washington Whistler, and the c. 1862 railroad depot in the village of Chester Factory, which served the railroad as an important logistics point for the difficult crossing of The Berkshires to the west. The section of railroad was the most expensive the company had to build, costing over $1 million in 1840. A hiking trail providing viewing points to the lower seven bridges was opened in 2004. All of the bridges are viewable via whitewater-appropriate watercraft from the river. These properties were designated a National Historic Landmark in 2021, in recognition of its importance in the development of railroad technologies. The graded crossing of the hills between Chester and the New York state line was an engineering challenge on a scale that had not previously been attempted by railroad engineers, and its success proved the ability of railroads to traverse steep grades using just friction. The railroad was also the first inter-regional railroad, connecting the network of eastern New England to that of upstate New York. The Chester Factory depot was an important stopping point for the railroad, where additional engines were added to westbound trains prior to traversing the steeper grades to the west. The Chester Factory depot is a contributing element of the Chester Factory Village Historic District. The two stone bridges included in the landmark designation, as well as the historic roadbed, are part of the Middlefield–Becket Stone Arch Railroad Bridge District; the bridges are listed as numbers 5 and 6 in that collection.