Chicopee, MA Summary

Chicopee was settled in 1641 at the confluence of the Connecticut and Chicopee Rivers and adjacent to Springfield, just south of today’s I-90. Its name is a Native American word for “birch bark place.” In the 1800s it became known for the manufacture of textiles, firearms, bicycles, bronze statuary, and farm implements. Today the city of 54,500 produces sporting goods and electrical machinery. Westover Air Force Base and the College of Our Lady of the Elms are located here. The Polish Kielbasa Festival is held here in September.