Talk:Northampton, Massachusetts

The school part
hi, i created the school part because i go to jfk middle school — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.218.59.66 (talk) 00:01, 2 June 2005 (UTC)

Western Massachusetts vs. western Massachusetts
Note: Locals of Northampton (myself included) always capitalize "western" when used with Massachusetts. This is because the western part of the state is considered a region and regions are always capitalized. --Jayzel 14:25, 20 February 2006 (UTC)


 * Regions are actually not always capped. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Beatnik Party (talk • contribs) 04:18, 7 March 2012 (UTC)


 * It doesn't have to be capped, it just depends on where you use it B-Movie Fan (talk) 03:15, 10 July 2018 (UTC)

Antipsychiatry community?
Can anyone substantiate this claim? I've never heard it before. My little needle 20:06, 15 April 2006 (UTC)

Bike path changes
First, when linking to a city or town, use the full name (ie, Florence, Massachusetts instead of Florence (click on the latter link to see why). Of course, use a bar so it looks like this:  Florence.  Second, I doubt if there will ever be an article on individual rail trails, especially one that's just a half mile long.  Third, I deleted the "Northampton will..." part because Wikipedia is not a crystal ball ( and knowing Hamp politics, I wouldn't be suprised if half of it won't happen ). Stev0 16:03, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

Gay vs. Lesbian?
The article describes Smith as being the home of the lesbian community, and Hampshire as home to the gay community. When it says 'gay' does it mean homosexual in general, or homosexual males specifically? While I've heard the Smith thing before, I've never heard of Hampshire having a disproportionate amount of gays - any info to back this up? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Aerothorn (talk • contribs) 18:02, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

Corrected bordering towns under Geography
Previous info stated a border with Holyoke, MA (there is none), incorrect location of Easthampton, and no reference to Westhampton. All fixed! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.189.4.60 (talk) 02:06, 30 August 2006 (UTC)

Jonathan Edwards
Is it accurate to call Jonathan Edwards a Puritan? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Iamvery (talk • contribs) 18:49, 10 October 2006 (UTC)

History
The articles Westhampton, Massachusetts, Easthampton, Massachusetts, Southampton, Massachusetts should be updated to explain why these towns were split off (I assume they all were; some of their articles explicity mention that), whether that all happened at the same time, and what the historical names were. Did "Northampton" always have that name, and if so, what was it north of? Springfield? -- Beland 03:42, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

A Residents
Lloyd Cole moved to Easthampton 2 years ago... — Preceding unsigned comment added by Darkskul (talk • contribs) 18:41, 3 March 2007 (UTC)

Doesn't Tracy Kidder live in Williamsburg? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Bikestats (talk • contribs) 08:08, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

Oldest US newspaper
The list at http://www.allesopeenrij.nl/lijsten/cultuur/oude_kranten.html states that the Northampton Daily Hampshire Gazette is the oldest, still-existing, newspaper in the United States. Is this note-worthy and true? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Gwaptiva (talk • contribs) 07:53, August 25, 2007 (UTC)


 * It looks like that information was taken from this site:
 * http://www.wan-press.org/article2823.html?var_recherche=oldest
 * And that the Hartford Courant (1764) would be the oldest with the Gazette (1786) being the second oldest. Dragon Directories 20:56, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

External links in body of article
External_links

There are external links in the body of this article that should be moved to the External Links section. These should probably be turned into internal links. Any objections? Dragon Directories 15:51, 18 September 2007 (UTC)

And while we're at it we should take a look at the list of external links and determine if they actually add anything to the content of the article. For instance, I don't think http://tomdevine.net/ is necessary. Dragon Directories 16:26, 18 September 2007 (UTC)

Citation actually not really needed
I really don't think you need to put a "citation needed" in front of the statement "As of 2007, Mary Clare Higgins is the Mayor", I mean that's rather self evident and isn't exactly what one might call "dubious" or "controversial." (71.192.34.220 02:30, 12 November 2007 (UTC))

Mecca vs. Mesopotamia
Northampton is more analgous to ancient Mesopotamia owing to a preponderance of artisanal corecrafts produced by the ex-columnar populace. Comparing an area to Mecca is a better understood cliche but seems inaccurate given the essentially agnostic character of the town and the more apt parallels with the Fertile Crescent. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.124.86.20 (talk) 00:30, 10 October 2008 (UTC)

Recent revisions bubbly and simplistic
Hey, so a series of revisions to "recent history to give a flavor of what the town has become" on May 7th dramatically change the story of the demographic shift in the 70s and 80s, to one that excludes mention of the Noho-Hamp distinction, and paints the shift entirely in terms of a migration of enlightened urban professionals. strikes me as bubbly and overly simplistic, and i'm reverting to the previous version, with edits to avoid redundancy with the rest of the entry as it stands. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.229.193.213 (talk) 18:21, 8 July 2010 (UTC)

Since when did the U.S. Census track "Gayness?"
"According to the U.S. Census 2000, Northampton is the second gayest zip code in Massachusetts" — Preceding unsigned comment added by Sggottlieb (talk • contribs) 20:14, 28 December 2010 (UTC)

Comment on LGBT history? Also a weather box?
LGBT is a large part of Northampton's current culture. How did this come to be? DOes anyone know the history? Any explanation would be appreciated.

Also, I'm interested to know what the weather in NoHo is like year-round. Could someone take one of those year-round weather templates and make one for this city? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.28.30.167 (talk) 05:06, 23 January 2011 (UTC)

Population (city vs town of Noho)
The first sentence states that " As of the 2000 census, the population of Northampton's central neighborhoods, (excluding its incorporated villages, Florence, Massachusetts and Leeds, Massachusetts,) was 28,978."

I think this is incorrect and that 28,978 refers to the City of Northampton, including Florence and Leeds. The census webpage gives this figure for "Northampton," but it does not list separate values for Florence or Leeds. Looking up population by zip code, the census site gives (for 2000) 16,274 for 01060 (central Northampton), does not give values for 01061 or 01063, gives 11,225 for 01062 (Florence) and 1,452 for 01053 (Leeds). Adding up these values gives 28,978, which is only 27 smaller than the "Northampton" value.

I recommend changing the first sentence to:

As of the 2000 census, the population of the city of Northampton (including its incorporated villages, Florence, Massachusetts and Leeds, Massachusetts) was 28,978.

Nohodegus (talk) 23:05, 6 February 2011 (UTC)


 * Done with caveat. Leeds and Florence are incorporated as part of Noho, they have no separate administration.  As "incorporated" is ambiguous in this regard, I removed it. --Quintucket (talk) 10:06, 24 December 2011 (UTC)

Historic District qualifies as "Point of Interest"
Am unsure why Elm Street Historic District was deleted from points of interest (referenced only as "minor copy edit)." Have added it back --it is an official district created by the City given the notable historic architectural range with a board that has been given the power to manage and approve any significant changes to any visual aspects. Within the City of Northampton it is a point of interest. (WindingRoad (talk) 03:49, 8 March 2012 (UTC))

Notable people section
Hi, I moved the people listed in this section to its own page because list was so long. Please see List of people from Northampton, Massachusetts. Thank you, --BuzyBody (talk) 19:04, 11 March 2014 (UTC)

2010 US Census Data related to "married" couples
Under the "Demographics" heading in the body text I updated the numbers mentioned to refer to the 2010 census rather than the 2000 census.

It appears to me that (perhaps because this was a Federal exercise) only opposite-sex married couples were counted as married and they are called out has "Husband-wife" marriages (their words). A footnote explicitly says and I quote: "Responses of "same-sex spouse" were edited during processing to "unmarried partner."" (US Census 2010). People mentioning that they live with an "unmarried partner" totals 4.3% but may include opposite-sex partnerships, I believe. I would welcome any further thoughts on how to calculate.

The same-sex marriage information in the article is sourced differently and comes from two different sources -- I did not attempt to update that information given time pressures.

WindingRoad (talk) 14:17, 31 July 2014 (UTC)

Establishment date of the city of Northhampton, MA


On Thursday, June 11th 2015, I went to the Northhampton City Hall to find out the exact date the city was established. I first went to the office of the mayor and received a copy of the act to establish the city of Northhampton (1883 - Chapter 250, pages 537-554). I have scanned this act and have uploaded it to wikipedia common. The act was passed on June 23, 1884. But the mayor's office pointed out Section 44 of this act which I have typed out in full. "This act shall take effect upon its acceptance by a majority of legal voters of said town present and voting theron, at a meeting duly called for that purpose, within two years from the passage of this act. At such meeting the vote shall be taken by ballot and the polls shall be kept open not less than six hours, and the check lists shall be used. If at any meeting called for the purpose this act should fail to be accepted by a majority of the voters of said town, the act shall not be again submitted for acceptance to the legal voters of said town within four months of the date of such prior meeting. It is however provided, that a meeting may be called for the purpose of submitting the question of the acceptance of this act to the legal voters of said town at anytime after the passage hereof."

So, while the act was passed on June 23, 1884. It would not take effect until it was put up to a popular vote with legal voters. To find out this information the mayor's office sent me downstairs to the city clerk's office. I was given this wonderful leather bound book. Printed on the spine were the words, "Records, Volume 1: 1884-1888, City of NorthHampton" On the second page of this book the following was written, " September 5th, 1883. Voted to accept the City Charter as passed and approved. Yes 612. No 373. Pursuant to the foregoing action of the town the first City Elections were held December 4th, 1883." I have taken a photo of this page and have uploaded it here.

In conclusion, a trip to the city hall of Northhampton, MA will allow anyone to discover that: ''' North Hampton officially became a city on September 5th, 1883 when voters accepted the City Charter as passed and approved. ''' — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ejf2161 (talk • contribs) 18:43, 17 June 2015 (UTC)

Orphaned references in Northampton, Massachusetts
I check pages listed in Category:Pages with incorrect ref formatting to try to fix reference errors. One of the things I do is look for content for orphaned references in wikilinked articles. I have found content for some of Northampton, Massachusetts's orphans, the problem is that I found more than one version. I can't determine which (if any) is correct for this article, so I am asking for a sentient editor to look it over and copy the correct ref content into this article.

Reference named "USCensusEst2016": From Washington, D.C.:  From Columbus, Ohio:  

I apologize if any of the above are effectively identical; I am just a simple computer program, so I can't determine whether minor differences are significant or not. AnomieBOT ⚡ 00:52, 24 June 2017 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 6 external links on Northampton, Massachusetts. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20080205092638/http://www.historic-northampton.org/Articles/213/543/7/951498887/ to http://www.historic-northampton.org/Articles/213/543/7/951498887/
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20080205092410/http://www.historic-northampton.org/Articles/213/543/0/951766360/ to http://www.historic-northampton.org/Articles/213/543/0/951766360/
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20111104090605/http://www.northamptonma.gov/aboutNorthampton/History%5Fof%5FNorthampton/ to http://www.northamptonma.gov/aboutNorthampton/History_of_Northampton/
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20111218222529/http://www.northamptonma.gov/gsuniverse/httpRoot/mayor/ to http://www.northamptonma.gov/gsuniverse/httpRoot/mayor/
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20110403004512/http://media.www.smithsophian.com/media/storage/paper587/news/2011/03/24/News/City-Officials.Address.Traffic.Problems.On.King.And.Main.Streets-3987530.shtml to http://media.www.smithsophian.com/media/storage/paper587/news/2011/03/24/News/City-Officials.Address.Traffic.Problems.On.King.And.Main.Streets-3987530.shtml
 * Added tag to http://www.niff.org/
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20091025041209/http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118010193.html?categoryid=13&cs=1 to http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118010193.html?categoryid=13&cs=1

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 09:22, 6 December 2017 (UTC)

What happened to the aritcle about the Bluebonnet Diner?
I swear to God there was an article about the Bluebonnet Diner in Northampton and now the article is gone. B-Movie Fan (talk) 21:31, 9 July 2018 (UTC)


 * OMG that place is so good. But i dont remember seeing an article. JulesTilly (talk) 21:21, 9 March 2022 (UTC)


 * The article was deleted in 2017 because it had no supporting references since 2010. Skyerise (talk) 21:58, 9 March 2022 (UTC)

Caption is false
Re: Hampshire County Courthouse

The caption under the photo of the Hampshire County Courthouse falsely states that it was designed by H H Richardson. The architect who designed this building was Henry Kilbourn. He designed it in the style of Richardson.

Richardson designed the HAMPDEN County Courthouse (in Springfield) not the HAMPSHIRE County Courthouse (in Northampton). — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.127.227.228 (talk) 01:57, 10 September 2020 (UTC)

Newspaper only nickname?
I recently added a link to an article describing the origins of the nickname "Lesbianville." From that article it's clear the nickname was a fabrication from the National Enquirer. The Boston Globe article seems to say the same thing: 'Various news outlets have dubbed it "Lesbianville, USA".'

I don't think I can site myself, but as a resident I can say I've never heard anyone from the town describe it as such. To be clear, I'm not denying the strong presence of the LGBT community, just the nickname.

This post is really a question: Does a municipality's nickname imply something used by those familiar with the city/town, or does a newspaper journalist's fabrication count? Or maybe even better: how do we represent that in the infobox? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Claysalem (talk • contribs) 11:53, 8 February 2021 (UTC)


 * Eh, look. There are lots of names that are the product of some bored journalist's/historian's imagination or hyperbole.  Nicknames, hoaxes, you name it, the backstory as to how they came into vogue doesn't hold water.  There was no such thing as the "Byzantine" Empire; they called themselves Romans, and the appellation dates from centuries after the fact.  No native Bostonian uses the term "Beantown," and sneers at anyone who does.   Ravenswing      23:10, 9 March 2022 (UTC)