Aerial view of Holyoke and Connecticut River, MA, circa 1915

About this postcard

An elevated view looks across the Connecticut River as it bends past Holyoke, Massachusetts. Wooded banks and islands break the broad water in the middle distance, with open fields beyond and a dense cluster of city buildings along the lower edge of the view. Holyoke was laid out in the nineteenth century around a dam and canal system on this stretch of the river. The canals powered paper and textile mills, and the city became known as the Paper City. The view shows the river and the industrial city together, the combination that drove Holyoke's growth.