{{Use American English|date=June 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=May 2024}} {{Infobox settlement |official_name = Hadley, Massachusetts |nicknames = "The Breadbasket of Massachusetts"<ref>{{cite news |title=State honors Hadley farm preservation |first=Amy |last=Phillips |agency=WWLP 22 News |publisher=WWLP-TV |location=Chicopee, Massachusetts |date=July 7, 2009 |access-date=July 29, 2011 |quote=It's been called the Breadbasket of Massachusetts; and now, the town of Hadley is being honored for its farm preservation. |url=http://www.wwlp.com/dpp/news/local/wwlp_local_State_honors_Hadley_farm_preservation_0707091740 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927175130/http://www.wwlp.com/dpp/news/local/wwlp_local_State_honors_Hadley_farm_preservation_0707091740 |archive-date=September 27, 2011 }}</ref><br />"Asparagus Capital of the World"<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/food-dining/2017/06/19/asparagus-season-why-local-asparagus-hard-find/azCoEdTpBx41I1CtfBLDvM/story.html|title=The strange but true story of a tricky crop, a vicious fungus, and the War on Drugs|website=The Boston Globe}}</ref> |motto = |image_skyline = Town Hall and First Congregational Church, Hadley MA.jpg |image_caption = Town Hall and First Congregational Church |image_seal = Seal of Hadley, Massachusetts.png |image_flag = |image_map = Hampshire County Massachusetts incorporated and unincorporated areas Hadley highlighted.svg |mapsize = 250px |map_caption = Location in Hampshire County in Massachusetts |image_map1 = |mapsize1 = |map_caption1 = |subdivision_type = Country |subdivision_name = United States |subdivision_type1 = State |subdivision_name1 = Massachusetts |subdivision_type2 = County |subdivision_name2 = Hampshire |established_title = Settled |established_date = 1659 |established_title2 = Incorporated |established_date2 = May 22, 1661 |established_title3 = |established_date3 = |government_type = Open town meeting |leader_title = <!--Town<br /> Administrator--> |leader_name = |leader_title1 = <!--Board of <br /> Selectmen--> |leader_name1 = |area_magnitude = |area_total_km2 = 63.7 |area_total_sq_mi = |area_land_km2 = 59.8 |area_land_sq_mi = |area_water_km2 = 3.9 |area_water_sq_mi = |population_as_of = 2020 |settlement_type = Town |population_total = 5325 |population_density_km2 = auto |population_density_sq_mi = |elevation_m = 39 |elevation_ft = 129 |timezone = Eastern |utc_offset = −5 |timezone_DST = Eastern |utc_offset_DST = −4 |coordinates = {{Coord|42|20|30|N|72|35|20|W|region:US-MA_type:city|display=inline,title}} |postal_code_type = ZIP Code |postal_code = 01035 |area_code = 413 |blank_name = FIPS code |blank_info = 25-27690 |blank1_name = GNIS feature ID |blank1_info = 0618201 |website = {{URL|www.hadleyma.org}} |footnotes = }}
'''Hadley''' ({{IPAc-en|audio=En-us-Hadley.ogg|'|h|æ|d|l|i|}}, {{respell|HAD|lee}})<ref name=MW-Pronounce-Hadley>{{cite web| title=Hadley| url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hadley| website=Merriam-Webster| access-date=November 12, 2014}}</ref> is a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 5,325 at the 2020 census.<ref name="Census 2020">{{cite web| url=https://data.census.gov/cedsci/profile?g=0600000US2501527690| title=Census - Geography Profile: Hadley town, Hampshire County, Massachusetts| publisher=United States Census Bureau| access-date=November 14, 2021}}</ref> It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The area around the Hampshire and Mountain Farms Malls along Route 9 is a major shopping destination for the surrounding communities.
== History == ===Early=== Hadley was first settled in 1659 and was officially incorporated in 1661. The former Norwottuck was renamed for Hadleigh, Suffolk.<ref>Sylvester Judd, ''History of Hadley Including the Early History of Hatfield, South Hadley, Amherst and Granby, Massachusetts'' (Northampton: Metcalf, 1863), p. 25. "It may be conjectured that some of the first planters of Hadley came from the town of the same name in England. No record remains to show who they were. The name in the town and county records is sometimes written Hadleigh." -p. 26.</ref> Its settlers were primarily a discontented group of families from the Puritan colonies of Hartford and Wethersfield, Connecticut, who petitioned to start a new colony up north after some controversy over doctrine in the local church. The settlement was led by John Russell. The first settler inside of Hadley was Nathaniel Dickinson, who surveyed the streets of what is now Hadley, Hatfield, and Amherst. At the time, Hadley encompassed a wide radius of land on both sides of the Connecticut River (but mostly on the eastern shore) including much of what would become known as the Equivalent Lands.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_Nw4wi4igtLAC|page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_Nw4wi4igtLAC/page/n151 137]|quote=equivalent lands.|title=Vermont: The Green Mountain State|first=Walter Hill|last=Crockett|date=January 1, 1921|publisher=Century history Company, Incorporated|access-date=October 30, 2016|via=Internet Archive}}</ref> In the following century, these were broken off into precincts and eventually the separate towns of Hatfield, Amherst, South Hadley, Granby and Belchertown. The early histories of these towns are, as a result, filed under the history of Hadley.
Lt. Gen. Edward Whalley and Maj. Gen. William Goffe, two Puritan generals hunted for their role in the execution (or "regicide") of Charles I of England, were hidden<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rootsweb.com/~mikegoad/html/hadley__mass.htm|title=Hadley, Mass|first=Mike|last=Goad|access-date=October 30, 2016}}</ref> in the home of the town's minister, John Russell. During King Philip's War, an attack by Native Americans was, by some accounts, thwarted with the aid of General Goffe. This event, compounded by the reluctance of the townsfolk to betray Goffe's location, developed into the legend of the Angel of Hadley, which came to be included in the historical manuscript ''History of Hadley'' by Sylvester Judd.<ref name="judd">Judd, Sylvester. ''History of Hadley Including the Early History of Hatfield, South Hadley, Amherst and Granby, Massachusetts.'' H.R. Huntting (1905), pp. 137–39.</ref>
In 1683, eleven years before the Salem witch trials, Mary Webster, wife to William Webster son of the former governor of Connecticut and a founder of the very town of Hadley (John Webster), was accused and acquitted of witchcraft. She was unsuccessfully hanged by rowdy town folk.<ref>Taft Bayne, Julia. "[http://www.hampshirecountyhistory.com/hadley/mollywebster.html Molly Webster] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070111092926/http://www.hampshirecountyhistory.com/hadley/mollywebster.html |date=2007-01-11 }}". ''New England Magazine'', 1893.</ref> A description is given in Cotton Mather's ''Magnalia Christi Americana''.
The Civil War general Joseph Hooker was a longtime resident of Hadley. Levi Stockbridge, one of the founders of the Massachusetts Agricultural College (now the University of Massachusetts Amherst), was also from Hadley where he was a farmer.
=== Recent === Hadley's transformation from an old agricultural order to the new form is the direct result of expansion of the nearby University of Massachusetts Amherst during the 1960s. Much of its former farmland was swallowed in the housing market stimulated by incoming faculty and off-campus students. Route 116 was redirected in an attempt to solve traffic congestion. Route 9, which runs east–west through the town to connect Amherst and Northampton, became a hotpoint for commercial development due to Amherst not wanting development on its land while large corporations opened stores along the strip. Today, the Hadley economy is a mixture of agriculture and commercial development, including big-box stores and the Hampshire Mall.
In 2003, an organization called Hadley Neighbors for Sensible Development<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.HadleyNeighbors.org|title=Hadley Neighbors for Sensible Development|access-date=October 30, 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060709203740/http://www.hadleyneighbors.org/|archive-date=July 9, 2006}}</ref> was formed that opposed continued large-scale commercial development in Hadley by emphasizing the downside of such growth. However, many local residents support commercial development, and about 1,000 people signed a petition asking for a new Wal-Mart, saying it would save them money on their groceries.<ref>Lederman, Diane. "[http://www.masslive.com/hampfrank/republican/index.ssf?/base/news-9/1178179295236760.xml&coll=1 Wal-Mart plan meets opposition]". ''The Republican'', May 3, 2007.</ref> In 2008, Wal-Mart pulled its plans to build the Supercenter after the Conservation Commission ruled that the plan did not comply with wetlands regulations. The developer of the site (Hampshire Mall) filed and lost numerous appeals but continued its legal challenges of the commission's findings.<ref>''Daily Hampshire Gazette'', March 11, 2008, "Wal-Mart said to drop plan for Hadley Store"</ref> Many residents also opposed rezoning to accommodate a new Lowe's store because they said it would be too big and would require more filling of wetlands than allowed by state law. However, the rezoning passed in 2004 and the store was built in 2009. Lowe's then sued the town because it didn't want to pay the required sewer hookup fees. And, in 2010, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection found that Lowe's had illegally filled large areas of wetlands on that site and fined the developer more than $15,000.<ref>''Daily Hampshire Gazette'', Tuesday, May 18, 2010, "Lowe's contractor, developer hit with DEP fines for wetlands violations"</ref>
The World Monuments Fund listed the "Cultural Landscape of Hadley, Massachusetts" on the 2010 World Monuments Watch List of Most Endangered Sites.
{{blockquote|text=Watch listing seeks to raise awareness about this rare survivor of 17th-century agriculture, promote visitation, and engage the local community in its stewardship.|source=World Monuments Fund<ref name=WMF />}}
The landscape of Hadley is largely open-field farming, which was only used in the earliest New England settlements and had mostly disappeared by the 18th century; its survival in Hadley on such a large scale is unusual. According to the World Monument Fund {{convert|165|acre|km2}} are zoned for residential and commercial use, providing no long-term protection for the historic landscape.<ref name=WMF>[http://www.wmf.org/project/cultural-landscape-hadley-massachusetts Cultural Landscape of Hadley, Massachusetts]. World Monuments Fund.</ref>
==Geography== {{see also|Hadley Center Historic District|Hockanum Rural Historic District}} [[File:HadleyPano.jpg|thumb|500x500px|The Mount Holyoke Range is seen from Hadley in May, 2026.]]
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of {{convert|63.7|km2|order=flip}}, of which {{convert|59.8|km2|order=flip}} is land and {{convert|3.9|km2|order=flip}}, or 6.18%, is water.<ref name="Census 2010">{{cite web| url=http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/DEC/10_DP/G001/0600000US2501527690| title=Geographic Identifiers: 2010 Demographic Profile Data (G001): Hadley town, Hampshire County, Massachusetts| publisher=U.S. Census Bureau, American Factfinder| access-date=February 17, 2016}}{{dead link|bot=medic|date=April 2020}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> The land boundaries of Hadley are Sunderland to the north, Amherst to the east, and South Hadley to the south. Across the Connecticut River, Hadley borders Hatfield to the northwest, Northampton to the west, and Easthampton and Holyoke along a short length of river to the southwest. The Mount Holyoke Range forms the boundary with South Hadley and is where the highest point of Hadley is found.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mass.gov/dcr/parks/trails/skinner.pdf |title=Joseph Allen Skinner and Mt. Holyoke Range State Parks |date=2012 |publisher=Department of Conservation & Recreation |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130310072112/http://www.mass.gov/dcr/parks/trails/skinner.pdf |archive-date=March 10, 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref> This is on Mount Hitchcock at an elevation of {{convert|990|to|1000|ft}}. The Metacomet-Monadnock Trail traverses the Holyoke Range with panoramic vistas from several locations.
==Demographics== {{Historical populations | type=USA | 1850|1986 | 1860|2105 | 1870|2301 | 1880|1938 | 1890|1669 | 1900|1789 | 1910|1999 | 1920|2784 | 1930|2082 | 1940|2576 | 1950|2639 | 1960|3099 | 1970|3750 | 1980|4125 | 1990|4231 | 2000|4793 | 2010|5250 | 2020|5325 | 2022*|5270 |footnote=* = population estimate.<ref>{{cite web | title=City and Town Population Totals: 2020−2022| publisher=United States Census Bureau | access-date=November 24, 2023 | url=https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/popest/2020s-total-cities-and-towns.html}}</ref> }}
As of the census<ref name="GR2">{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov|publisher=United States Census Bureau|access-date=January 31, 2008|title=U.S. Census website}}</ref> of 2000, there were 4,793 people, 1,895 households, and 1,248 families residing in the town. The population density was {{convert|205.7|PD/sqmi|PD/km2|sp=us|adj=off}}. There were 1,953 housing units at an average density of {{convert|83.8|/sqmi|/km2|sp=us|adj=off}}. The racial makeup of the town was 95.91% White, 0.75% African American, 0.6% Native American, 1.56% Asian, 0.58% from other races, and 1.13% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.67% of the population.
There were 1,895 households, out of which 26.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.1% were married couples living together, 9.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.1% were non-families. Of all households, 24.7% were made up of individuals, and 12.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.45 and the average family size was 2.90.
The population was spread out, with 20.0% under the age of 18, 7.0% from 18 to 24, 27.7% from 25 to 44, 25.7% from 45 to 64, and 19.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females, there were 88.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.4 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $51,851, and the median income for a family was $61,897. Males had a median income of $44,773 versus $34,189 for females. The per capita income for the town was $24,945. About 4.8% of families and 6.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.6% of those under age 18 and 3.2% of those age 65 or over.
==Education== Hadley is home to Hadley Elementary School serving children in kindergarten through sixth grade, and Hopkins Academy, serving grades seven through twelve. Hopkins Academy was founded in 1664 through money that was donated by Edward Hopkins, a wealthy Connecticut merchant, and it is the fourth oldest public high school in the United States. Hadley is also home to the Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School.
University of Massachusetts Amherst is partly in Hadley.<ref>{{cite map|author=Geography Division|url=https://www2.census.gov/geo/maps/DC2020/DC20BLK/st25_ma/cousub/cs2501527690_hadley/DC20BLK_CS2501527690.pdf|title=2020 Census - Census Block Map: Hadley town, MA|publisher=U.S. Census Bureau|place=Suitland, Maryland|date=April 13, 2021|page=1 (PDF p. 2/3)|access-date=2026-01-30|quote=Univ of Massachusetts Amherst}}</ref>
== Government == Hadley is governed by open Town Meeting, a Select Board, and a Town Administrator.
=== Select Board === * Randall Izer, Chair – Term Expires 2028<ref name="SB">{{cite web |url=https://www.hadleyma.org/select-board |title=Select Board |website=Town of Hadley}}</ref> * David J. Fill II, Clerk – Term Expires 2027<ref name="SB" /> * Molly Keegan, Member – Term Expires 2028<ref name="SB" /> * Jane Nevinsmith, Member – Term Expires 2026<ref name="SB" /> * Amy Parsons, Member – Term Expires 2027<ref name="SB" />
=== Town Administrator === * Michael Mason (Police Chief/Acting Town Administrator) September 2024 – present<ref name="AB 2024-09-09" /> * Carolyn Brennan 2019 – September 2024<ref name="AB 2024-09-09">{{cite news |url=https://www.amherstbulletin.com/Hadley-Town-Administrator-Carolyn-Brennan-retires-police-chief-to-serve-as-interim-town-leader-56826038 |title=Hadley Select Board to discuss retirement of town administrator at Wednesday meeting |date=September 9, 2024 |website=Amherst Bulletin }}</ref> * David Nixon 2005-2020 [https://franklincountynow.com/news/216612-hadley-looks-for-new-town-administrator/]
==Economy== Hadley's economy can be in large part characterized by agriculture and retail services, having the thoroughfare Massachusetts Route 9 traversing it east to west with abundant stores, and a wide variety of farms which benefit from the area's Hadley loam. Due to its climate and soils, one of its staple crops for the last two centuries has consistently been its asparagus, which has been described as competing in Boston markets despite local availability of the crop from other nearby regions, as well as in restaurants in France and Germany, and Queen Elizabeth II's own annual spring feast in England. Its ubiquity and reputation in Hadley agriculture has lent it the nickname "Hadley grass".<ref>{{cite report|quote=Asparagus occupies a fair acreage and is successfully grown, even competing in the Boston market with asparagus grown from near-by sections|page=22|title=Soil Survey of Hampden and Hampshire Counties, Massachusetts|issue=25|last1=Latimer|first1=W. J.|last2=Smith|first2=L. R.|publisher=University Department of Agriculture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dtrwAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA22}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The New American Cooking|last=Nathan|first=Joan|date=March 22, 2011|publisher=Random House|location=New York|page=181|isbn=9780307538871|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lJ8fPhJRDikC&pg=PT181}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine|title=Hadley Grass|magazine=Saveur|last=Nussbaum|first=David|archive-date=May 11, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170511103030/https://www.saveur.com/article/Kitchen/Hadley-Grass-|url=https://www.saveur.com/article/Kitchen/Hadley-Grass-}}</ref>
==Points of interest== right|thumb|Historical coaches and farming implements in the Hadley Farm Museum
* Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pphmuseum.org/|title=Home|access-date=October 30, 2016}}</ref> * Skinner State Park and Historic Summit House<ref>[http://www.mass.gov/eea/agencies/dcr/massparks/region-west/skinner-state-park-generic.html J. A. Skinner State Park]. Department of Conservation and Recreation.</ref> * Hopkins Academy (fourth oldest school in the United States; currently Hadley's public middle and high school) * Hadley Farm Museum<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hadleyonline.com/farmmuseum/|title=hadleyonline.com|access-date=October 30, 2016|archive-date=February 5, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170205153952/http://www.hadleyonline.com/farmmuseum|url-status=dead}}</ref> * Hadley Town Common <ref>[http://www.hadleyma.org/history.shtml A Historical Tour] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070705063652/http://www.hadleyma.org/history.shtml |date=July 5, 2007 }}, Town of Hadley, Massachusetts.</ref> * Regicides monument commemorating the site where Rev. John Russell sheltered Edward Whalley and William Goffe in his home * Warren McGuirk Alumni Stadium, the University of Massachusetts Amherst football stadium * Norwottuck Branch Rail Trail (bike path which can be traveled from Northampton, MA to Belchertown, MA; the path runs through Hadley)<ref>{{Cite web|title=Norwottuck Rail Trail {{!}} Mass.gov|url=https://www.mass.gov/locations/norwottuck-rail-trail|access-date=November 30, 2020|website=www.mass.gov|language=en}}</ref> * Connecticut River (the longest river in New England)<ref>{{Cite web|title=Connecticut River {{!}} river, United States|url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Connecticut-River|access-date=November 30, 2020|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en}}</ref> * Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge<ref>{{Cite web|title=Home - Silvio O. Conte - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service|url=https://www.fws.gov/refuge/Silvio_O_Conte/|access-date=November 30, 2020|website=www.fws.gov}}</ref> (the only refuge of its kind to encompass an entire watershed). The Fort River Birding and Nature Trail, Fort River Division in Hadley, MA features a storybook trail along a 1.1 mile fully accessible loop that can be enjoyed by walkers, parents with strollers or people who use wheelchairs.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Storybook Trail Featuring: Nature Riddles - Silvio O. Conte - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service|url=https://www.fws.gov/nwrs/threecolumn.aspx?id=6442460313|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210925002817/https://www.fws.gov/nwrs/threecolumn.aspx?id=6442460313|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 25, 2021|access-date=November 30, 2020|website=www.fws.gov}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Fort River Trail at the Conte Refuge|url=https://www.kestreltrust.org/places/fort-river-trail/|access-date=November 30, 2020|website=Kestrel Land Trust|language=en-US}}</ref>
==Notable people== * Hope Atherton, Reverend * William Goffe, English parliamentarian and regicide * Lisa Green, Distinguished University Professor of Linguistics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst<ref>{{Cite web|title=Lisa Green {{!}} 2017 Linguistic Institute|url=https://lsa2017.as.uky.edu/users/lisagreen|access-date=November 18, 2021|website=lsa2017.as.uky.edu |language=en}}</ref> * Thomas Hannum, band director at UMass Amherst with the Minuteman Marching Band. Percussion instructor and director with Boston Crusaders Drum and Bugle Corps. Member of the Drum Corps International Hall of Fame. * Sara Northrup Hollister, occultist * Joseph Hooker, Civil War general * Clifton Johnson, American writer, illustrator and photographer * Elizabeth Porter Phelps, early American diarist * Levi Stockbridge, Farmer and Scientist. Helped found Massachusetts Agricultural College (now known as the University of Massachusetts Amherst) and served as first Professor of Agricultural at the school. Also served as Farm Superintendent and President * John Webster, governor of the Colony of Connecticut (1656–1657) * Mary Webster, accused of witchcraft, later survived an attempted lynching * Edward Whalley, English parliamentarian and regicide
==See also== * Tofu Curtain
== References == {{reflist}}
==Further reading== * {{Cite book |editor-last= Miller |editor-first=Marla R. |date=2009 |title=Cultivating a Past: Essays on the History of Hadley, Massachusetts |location=Amherst, MA |publisher=University of Massachusetts Press |isbn=978-1-55849-700-9 |oclc=286422619}}
==External links== {{Wikivoyage|Hadley}} {{Commons category}} {{Wikisource portal}} * [http://www.hadleyma.org Town of Hadley Official website]
{{Hampshire County, Massachusetts}} {{Connecticut River}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Hadley, Massachusetts Category:1661 establishments in the Massachusetts Bay Colony Category:Massachusetts populated places on the Connecticut River Category:Springfield metropolitan area, Massachusetts Category:Towns in Hampshire County, Massachusetts Category:Towns in Massachusetts