Granby History Overview

      Granby’s town history has some interesting facts.  Granby’s first settlers came from Hadley because Granby was originally a part of Hadley.  There were Native Americans already on the land however.  They were friendly at first.  But sporadic fighting started and continued until 1676 when all of the Indians left Hadley and never returned.  In the early 1700’s, Hadley gave land that is presently Granby to settlers.  In the middle to late 1700’s most of the people were farmers.  Until the year of 1720 Granby was a part of Hadley. In 1722, almost five towns were in Granby.  The first roads in Granby were old Indian trails.  Present day Granby was originally settled starting in 1727.  The first settlers were Ebenezer Taylor, John Smith at Cold Hill, Ephraim Nash on Amherst Road and John Lane.  More and more people settled here.  The meadow land south of the mountain was broken into six sections.  Four of the sections were in Granby, Great Meadow, Little Meadow, Pitchawamiche Meadow, and Long Meadow.  Granby was incorporated June 11, 1768. 

Farming was still important through the 1800’s.  There was some timber cut for shipbuilding.  Aldrich Mill stopped sawing wood and the sawmill was used by the local farmers. The population began to increase through the early 1800’s nearly doubling to 1,066.  Dairy farms were important in the 1900’s.   The Public Library and St. Hyacinth’s Seminary were built and important roads were made.  Population continued growing and today it is over 6,000.  There aren’t as many farms today because there are more people and houses.  There are only three schools now.  At one time there were more than six and one of them was the high school which today is the Town Hall.  Granby is a small town but still has lots of land and open space and is quieter than a city.  It is a nice place for families to live.  Our town history is very interesting!     

Granby History Part 1

Granby History Part 2