Map of Hampshire and Hampden Canal in context, 1831

The Hampshire and Hampden Canal was the Massachusetts segment of an 86-mile canal that once connected New Haven, Connecticut to the Connecticut River north of Northampton, Massachusetts. (Its Connecticut segment was called the Farmington Canal.) This article is about the U.S. State. ... Nickname: The Elm City Location in Connecticut Coordinates: NECTA New Haven Region South Central Region Settled 1638 Incorporated (city) 1784 Consolidated 1895 Government type Mayor-board of aldermen Mayor John DeStefano, Jr. ... The Connecticut River as seen from the French King Bridge in western Massachusetts. ...   Northampton is a city in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, USA. The population was 28,978 at the 2000 census. ... It has been suggested that this article be split into multiple articles. ... The Farmington Canal was a major private canal built in the early 1800s to provide water transportation from New Haven to internal parts of Connecticut, Massachusetts and beyond. ...

The canal dates to 1821 when New Haven businessmen began to raise capital and investigate a possible canal route from their harbor to central Massachusetts, and on to Barnet, Vermont and Canada beyond. In this original vision, the canal would pass through Farmington, Connecticut to the border at Southwick, Massachusetts, then join the Connecticut River near Northampton, and from there continue to the St. Lawrence River through Lake Memphremagog and the valley of the St. Francis River. Two side canals were also envisioned: one runing from Farmington through Unionville, Connecticut to Colebrook, Connecticut; the other linking to the Erie Canal via the Hudson River or the proposed (but never built) Boston and Albany Canal. Nickname: The Elm City Location in Connecticut Coordinates: NECTA New Haven Region South Central Region Settled 1638 Incorporated (city) 1784 Consolidated 1895 Government type Mayor-board of aldermen Mayor John DeStefano, Jr. ... This article is about the U.S. State. ... Barnet, Vermont Barnet is a town located in Caledonia County, Vermont. ... Coordinates: NECTA Hartford Region Capitol Region Incorporated 1645 Government type Council-manager Town manager Kathleen Eagen Council chairman Michael Clark Area    - City 74. ...   Southwick is a town in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. ... The Connecticut River as seen from the French King Bridge in western Massachusetts. ...   Northampton is a city in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, USA. The population was 28,978 at the 2000 census. ... The Saint Lawrence River (French fleuve Saint-Laurent) is a large west-to-east flowing river in the middle latitudes of North America, connecting the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean. ... Lake Memphremagog (Lac Memphrémagog in Quebec) is a freshwater lake located between Newport, Vermont, United States and Magog, Quebec, Canada. ... The Saint Francis River is a tributary of the Mississippi River in southeastern Missouri and northeastern Arkansas in the United States. ... Coordinates: NECTA Hartford Region Capitol Region Incorporated 1645 Government type Council-manager Town manager Kathleen Eagen Council chairman Michael Clark Area    - City 74. ... Farmington is a town located in Hartford County, Connecticut. ... Colebrook is a town located in Litchfield County, Connecticut. ... The Erie Canal (currently part of the New York State Canal System) is a canal in New York State, United States, that runs from the Hudson River to Lake Erie, connecting the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean. ... The Hudson River, called Muh-he-kun-ne-tuk in Mahican, is a river running mainly through New York State but partly forming the boundary between the states of New York and New Jersey. ...

Benjamin Wright, the Erie Canal's chief engineer, was hired to conduct a preliminary survey from New Haven to Southwick, Massachusetts. In 1822 he gave a positive report: "The terrain is favorably formed for a great work of this kind and a canal may be formed for considerable less expense per mile, than the cost of canals now in the making in the state of New York." That same year, the Connecticut legislature granted a charter to the Farmington Canal Company, and on February 4, 1823, Massachusetts granted its corresponding charter to the Hampshire & Hampden Canal Company. After this second charter was granted, work began. The Erie Canal (currently part of the New York State Canal System) is a canal in New York State, United States, that runs from the Hudson River to Lake Erie, connecting the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean. ... Nickname: The Elm City Location in Connecticut Coordinates: NECTA New Haven Region South Central Region Settled 1638 Incorporated (city) 1784 Consolidated 1895 Government type Mayor-board of aldermen Mayor John DeStefano, Jr. ...   Southwick is a town in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. ...

Ground-breaking ceremonies took place on July 4, 1825, at the Massachusetts-Connecticut border. However, when Connecticut Governor Oliver Wolcott, Jr. employed the ceremonial shovel, it broke in his hands, and this was perhaps emblematic of the canal companies' subsequent fate, as both were substantially under-capitalized and severe financial difficulties plagued their project throughout its existence. Despite these woes, however, construction proceeded with pick and shovel, and by 1828 the canal was open for business from New Haven to Farmington, including its major aqueduct over the Farmington River. By 1835 the complete route to Northampton was finished and operating. Oliver Wolcott Jr. ... Nickname: The Elm City Location in Connecticut Coordinates: NECTA New Haven Region South Central Region Settled 1638 Incorporated (city) 1784 Consolidated 1895 Government type Mayor-board of aldermen Mayor John DeStefano, Jr. ... Coordinates: NECTA Hartford Region Capitol Region Incorporated 1645 Government type Council-manager Town manager Kathleen Eagen Council chairman Michael Clark Area    - City 74. ... The Farmington River is a river located in the northwest of the US States of Connecticut and southwest Massachusetts. ...   Northampton is a city in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, USA. The population was 28,978 at the 2000 census. ...

When completed, the canal was 86 miles long, of which 56 miles were in Connecticut and 30 miles in Massachusetts. It measured 36 feet across on the water's surface, 20 feet across at the bottom, and 4 feet deep. Twenty-eight locks were constructed to navigate the 292-foot rise in elevation between New Haven and Granby. A further 3.5 miles of branch canal were constructed to Unionville, later turned into a feeder for the main canal. Nickname: The Elm City Location in Connecticut Coordinates: NECTA New Haven Region South Central Region Settled 1638 Incorporated (city) 1784 Consolidated 1895 Government type Mayor-board of aldermen Mayor John DeStefano, Jr. ... Location in Connecticut Coordinates: NECTA Hartford Region Capitol Region Incorporated 1786 Government type Board of selectmen-town manager First Selectman John E. Adams Town manager William F. Smith, Jr. ... Farmington is a town located in Hartford County, Connecticut. ...

Financial strains continued, however, and the two canal companies merged to form the New Haven & Northampton Canal Company. A major threat to the canal came in 1838 with the opening of the New Haven Railroad between New Haven and Meriden, Connecticut. Although the canal company took out further loans in the 1840s to improve its efficiency, its stockholders finally petitioned the General Assembly for authority to build a railroad on their canal bed. A charter was granted, and construction commenced on January 1847. The canal closed later that year, and by 1848 trains were running from New Haven to Plainville along the canal's right of way. The company's name remained unchanged, and it kept many of the same investors. It eventually merged with the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad in 1887. The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad (AAR reporting mark: NH) was a railroad that operated in the northeast United States. ... Nickname: The Elm City Location in Connecticut Coordinates: NECTA New Haven Region South Central Region Settled 1638 Incorporated (city) 1784 Consolidated 1895 Government type Mayor-board of aldermen Mayor John DeStefano, Jr. ... Meriden is a city in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. ... Nickname: The Elm City Location in Connecticut Coordinates: NECTA New Haven Region South Central Region Settled 1638 Incorporated (city) 1784 Consolidated 1895 Government type Mayor-board of aldermen Mayor John DeStefano, Jr. ... The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad (AAR reporting mark NH) was a railroad that operated in the northeast United States. ...

References

• Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute
• DeWitt Clinton's Observations relative to the Hampshire and Hampden Canals
• Camposeo, James Mark, "The History of the Canal System between New Haven and Northampton, 1822-1849", Historical Journal of Western Massachusetts 6 (Fall, 1977).
• Ralf, A. J., An Account of the Farmington Canal Company; of the Hampshire and Hamden Canal Company; and of the New Haven and Northampton Company, New Haven : Thomas J. Stafford, 1850.