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"An Atlas of the Quabbin Valley Past and Present"

(c) Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield MA. All rights reserved.
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The Quabbin Reservoir straddles the border of Hampshire, Franklin, and Worcester counties of Massachusetts and was created by unincorporating four towns: Dana, Greenwich, Enfield, and Prescott. The towns were prosperous through the early and mid-nineteenth century, relying on agriculture and small water-powered industry. Continued westward expansion and post Civil War industrialization, however, caused a population decrease as young residents left for the city or the west. The accompanying economic decline was further accelerated by the Great Depression. When Boston, Massachusetts, began looking for additional water resources, these Swift River towns were a logical choice to all but local residents. With approximately 2,500 residents in the impacted areas, officials believed this was minimally disruptive in the larger scheme of the state.

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