Cummington

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Cummington
Cummington Fair, Cummington MA.jpg
Location in Massachusetts
Cummington ma highlight.png
Basic data
Foundation : 1762
State : United States
State : Massachusetts
County : Hampshire County
Coordinates : 42 ° 28 ′  N , 72 ° 54 ′  W Coordinates: 42 ° 28 ′  N , 72 ° 54 ′  W
Time zone : Eastern ( UTC − 5 / −4 )
Residents : 978 (status: 2000)
Population density : 16.4 inhabitants per km 2
Area : 59.7 km 2  (approx. 23 mi 2 ) of
which 59.7 km 2  (approx. 23 mi 2 ) are land
Height : 308 m
Postal code : 01026
Area code : +1 413
FIPS : 25-16040
GNIS ID : 0618198
Website : www.cummington-ma.gov

Cummington is a city in Hampshire County in the US state of Massachusetts . In 1824 the mineral cummingtonite was discovered near the city , which was described by Dewey and who named the mineral after its type locality .

geography

The city is located in northwest Hampshire County in the foothills of the Berkshires , the Green Mountains . The north arm of the Westfield River runs through the city.

Economy and history

The city was founded in 1762 as "Township Number Five" and officially renamed Cummington in 1779. Many of the settlers were from Bridgewater and Abington . The city was ruled from the beginning by a people's assembly, in which both ecclesiastical and political matters were regulated. However, it took over 10 years until the current distribution of power between church and city could finally be settled.

At the beginning of the 17th century, the city's industry flourished thanks to its location on the Westfield River. By 1830 the population rose to 1200. In 1869, the first cattle fair "Cummington State Fair" was held, in the late 1800s there were already 180 farms in the vicinity of the city. However, by the 21st century, the number dropped to five farms. The annual cattle fair is still held.

On the initiative of the congregational pastor Carl Sangree , who had refused military service in the First World War , around 50 mostly Jewish refugees were accepted into Cummington between May 1940 and September 1944. Those seeking refuge, selected according to their occupations, enlivened the local culture. Among them were the agricultural scientist Johannes Gaides , the graphic artist Gustav Wolf , the authors Paul Amann and Jacob Picard , the former FAZ editor Hans Kallmann and the artist couple Paul Weighardt and Nelli Bar . In addition, the Viennese couple Grete and Werner Königsberger founded the “Art Craft Studio”, a company for household items, which was soon widely known. The refugee colony was portrayed as particularly exemplary in the fall of 1944 in the US propaganda film The Cummington Story . In the film, however, the United States Office of War Information did not want to inform the population about the Jewish ancestry of most of the refugees.

Demographics

As of the 2000 census, Cummington has 382 households with 978 residents. The vast majority of the population (96.42%) are white. 27.9% of the population are under 18, 5.7% are between 18 and 24, 30.3% are between 25 and 44, 24.8% are between 45 and 64 and 11.2% are older than 65 Years. The average age is 38 years. The median income per person was $ 21,553. 6.6% of the population were below the poverty line.

sons and daughters of the town

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Monica Strauss: Guglhupf in Cummington - In the footsteps of my aunt Grete and her husband Werner Königsberger [...] In: Yves Kugelmann , Andreas Mink (ed.): Structure - The Jewish magazine . No. 2 . Zurich April 2019, p. 22-24 ( refugeetales.com - original title, 2013: Crafting survival. Chasing down memories of an Austrian-Jewish family ).