Wilbraham is a town in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb of the City of Springfield, and part of the Springfield Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 14,613 at the 2020 census.
Part of the town comprises the census-designated place of Wilbraham.
Boundaries and localities
Wilbraham was originally divided between North Wilbraham and Wilbraham. North Wilbraham was home to the industrial side of the town, along with the Boston & Albany Railroad Line, which is still in use today. Wilbraham is home to the Wilbraham & Monson Academy.
Wilbraham is made up of several neighborhoods, known as Wilbraham Center, North Wilbraham, East Wilbraham, Wilbraham Mountain, South Wilbraham, Boston Road Corridor and the Pines Section. In 1878, the south end of Wilbraham officially broke away from Wilbraham and formed the Town of Hampden.
Etymology
The name of Wilbraham comes from the villages of Little Wilbraham and Great Wilbraham, located near Cambridge, England. The name originates from Wilburgham, a name indicating "Wilburga's homestead," Wilburga being the daughter of the seventh century King Penda of the Mercians who gave her the land. In the 10th century (975 CE), it was still known as Wilburgeham; however, in the Domesday Book it is known as Wiborgham. By the 1260s, it was known as Great Wilbraham and just before that, King's Wilbraham. During the Middle Ages, the Knights Templar established a preceptory in 1226 in the villages. The manor house of Great Wilbraham was their temple and today it is still standing and is a house. Their regional headquarters was Denny Abbey in nearby Peterborough.
One statement within the Wilbraham Town History Book of 1963 states that a trustee of the Wilbraham & Monson Academy was attending Oxford University and found the following in a history book: That the two villages of Little Wilbraham and Great Wilbraham came into existence because Alfred the Great, an English King who upon hunting wild boar in a very good spot about 60 miles northeast of London, designated that spot as Wild Boar Haven. However, Haven was later changed to Ham and over the years the three separate words became combined and distorted until you had Wilbraham.
Another statement within the "Wilbraham Town History Book" of 1963 states that the name may have come from Sir Thomas Wilbraham, 3rd Baronet who was a bitter royalist and anti-Puritan. However, this has since been in doubt and the most likely explanation is that the name came from the villages in Cambridgeshire. Some of Wilbraham earliest settlers hailed from the Cambridgeshire region of England.
Many town residents took part in both the French and Indian War and Revolutionary War, and at one time Wilbraham even had its own militia unit, which at one point was a field artillery battery and often supported the Hampshire Regiment. Wilbraham residents have also served in numerous wars since the French and Indian War. The first three selectmen were Lieutenant Thomas Mirick, Deacon Nathaniel Warriner and Stephen Stebbins. Stebbins was the first person to settle in the southern part of the precinct in modern-day Hampden when he built a house on the north side of the Scantic River in 1741.
On August 7, 1761, on Wilbraham Mountain, a young man named Timothy Merrick was bitten by a rattlesnake and died soon afterward. Folklore and legend have made its way over the years about this incident including a song titled "On Springfield Mountain". The incident probably took place within what is now the adjoining town of Hampden, but at the time was still part of South Wilbraham—though some have claimed it was as far south as Connecticut. This song was one of the earliest of the American ballads.
The hurricane of 1938 did considerable damage to the town and destroyed the old covered bridge over the Chicopee River on Cottage Ave. A steel bridge rests there today.
During World War I, the town suffered the loss of George M. Kingdon who died fighting in France. He was Wilbraham's only casualty. When the Wilbraham Fire Department was incorporated in 1919 it was named the George M. Kingdon Fire Company in his honor. The Dean Foods bankruptcy settlement sold Friendly's Ice Cream to Amici Partners Group.
Bennett Turkey Farms was acquired by Rice's Fruit Farm in 2007. Rice's Fruit Farm which first opened in 1894 is a historic New England family run farm stand serving Breakfast, Coffee, Pies, Apples and Ice Cream.
Flo Design Sonics, a technology company, located at 380 Main St., was acquired by Millipore Sigma in 2019. Flo Design Wind Turbines is co-located here.
Town government
Wilbraham has a Selectboard in which there are three members, each serving a three-year term. The town has an open town meeting rule and an annual town meeting is held every spring.
Education
Wilbraham has a regional School District, called the Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District which is centered around Minnechaug Regional High School.
Wilbraham & Monson Academy, a private middle and high school with an international student population, is located in the downtown.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 22.4 square miles (58.1 km), of which 22.2 square miles (57.5 km) is land and 0.2 square mile (0.5 km) (0.89%) is water. Wilbraham is bordered by Springfield on the west, Ludlow on the north, Palmer on the northeast, Monson on the east, Hampden on the south, and East Longmeadow on the southwest.
Wilbraham is situated in such a way that its area lies within two broad physiographic provinces that cross Massachusetts from north to south. The Wilbraham Mountains which dominate the geography of the town are part of the Central Upland of Massachusetts, while the portion of town west of the mountains lies within the Connecticut Valley Lowland. Millions of years ago, the flat area of Wilbraham west of the mountains were once part of a shallow inland sea.
As of the census of 2000, there were 13,473 people, 4,891 households, and 3,873 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 5,048 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 96.40% White, 1.19% Black or African American, 0.06% Native American, 1.26% Asian, 0.06% Pacific Islander, 0.25% from other races, and 0.77% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.40% of the population.
There were 4,891 households, out of which 37.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 68.7% were married couples living together, 8.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 20.8% were non-families. 17.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.71 and the average family size was 3.09.
In the town, the population was spread out, with 26.9% under the age of 18, 4.3% from 18 to 24, 24.4%from 25 to 44, 27.6% from 45 to 64, and 16.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females, there were 92.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.3 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $65,014, and the median income for a family was $73,825. Males had a median income of $55,600 versus $36,922 for females. The per capita income for the town was $29,854. About 3.2% of families and 5.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 5.5% of those under age 18 and 9.0% of those age 65 or over.
Notable people
- Lucy Morris Chaffee Alden, author, educator and hymn writer
- Erin Crocker, former auto racer
- Bill Guerin, former hockey player and hockey general manager.
- Raymond Kennedy, novelist
- Samuel Leech, author
- Alexandra Lydon, actress
- Hazel E. Munsell, chemist and educator
- Kelly Overton, actress
- Charles Pratt, businessman and founder of Pratt Institute
- Dean Rosenthal, composer
- Ann Sarnoff, television executive
- Mike Stefanik, former auto racer and NASCAR Hall of Famer
- Mike Trombley, baseball player