This is just the beginning! Our collection holds over 300 years of history, including rare newspapers, obituaries, marriage records, birth records, and so much more—most of which you won’t find anywhere else!
Pittsfield Chicago Colonists Quietly Shaped Berkshire Summers
Wealthy Chicago visitors forged Pittsfield’s summer scene from the 19th into the 20th century. Notable figures include Mrs. Donald McPherson, Wirt Dexter Walker, John Alden Spoor, Warren Salisbury, Dr. Frederick Coolidge, Henry Bishop, Walter Cobb, and William H Swift. Their routes linked Chicago rail access, estate villas, and hospital campuses, reshaping local aristocratic summer life away from Lenox and Stockbridge.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Donald McPherson
McPherson
Pittsfield
Frederick T. West
Court Hill Farms
Williams Street
Chicago
Ogden
Wirt
Dexter Walker
Blythewood Farms
Ralph M. O’connell
Blythewood
Chapman, Jordan, Parker
Walker
Wirt D. Walker Art Gallery of Chicago
John Alden Spoor
Chicago Stockyards
First Baptist Church
West Street
Spoor
Onota Lake Associates
Onola Lake
Mr. O'Connell
Tor Court
Hillcrest Hospital
Warren M. Salisbury
W. H. Salisbury & Co
Mr. Salisbury
Valentine
Taconic Farm
Mrs. Salisbury
Frederick §. Coolidge
Henry W. Bishop
Dawes Avenue
Wiatka
Walter F. Cobb
Pittsfield General Hospital
Bishop School
Coolidges
Coolidge Hill School
William H .Swift
Warriner
East Street
Wellington
Grace Campbell
William C. Allen
New York