Southwick, Massachusetts

Southwick is a town in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 9,502 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area.HistorySouthwick was originally inhabited by either the Matitacooke, Mayawaug or Woronoake tribes of Native Americans.Early historyIn the mid-17th century, pioneering English explorers moving up the Connecticut River Valley, seeking fertile farmlands and game, discovered the area and settled Southwick. It became a farming community, defined as the Southern (South-) village (-wick) part of the town of Westfield, Massachusetts. Early on, it was nicknamed Poverty Plains because the land was thought to be infertile and its first residential home was built by Samuel Fowler and his wife Naomi Noble on College Highway (US Rts. 10 and 202), about a quarter mile north of the current town center.In colonial times, church attendance was mandatory. The 800 Christian residents of Southwick in the 1760–70s were required to travel to Westfield to congregate. Only by establishing their own church community could they establish their own parish, as they desired. On November 7, 1770, Southwick was incorporated as a separate district of Westfield. The area of Southwick became somewhat smaller in 1770. The southernmost portion of Southwick joined Suffield, Connecticut, as the result of a simultaneous secession of citizens in that part of the village.