Colrain MA

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Colrain MA is located in Franklin County, Massachusetts with a population just under 2 thousand people.

Photo below shows the Arthur A. Smith Covered Bridge. (Click image to open larger version in new window)

Information and History

Colrain Massachusetts has a town website. Here are some quick links from the site: Town Offices, Departments, Boards and Committees, and Full Calendar.

From wikipedia:

Colrain was first settled in 1735 as “Boston Township No. 2”, organized into an independently governing town body in 1745, and was officially incorporated on June 30, 1761.

Although originally named Colrain in 1745, and officially incorporated under that name in 1761, the town spelled its name (and appeared on maps) as “Colraine” for over 112 years until in 1873 the Commonwealth of Massachusetts insisted that the town begin to spell its name as it was officially incorporated.

Colrain has nine historic village areas: Elm Grove, Lyonsville, Foundry Village, Shattuckville, Griswoldville, Colrain City, Catamount Hill, Stewartville, and Gimletville. Much of the town’s land area lies outside of these villages.

Colrain City (which constitutes the town center), was originally named as a joke during the mid 19th-century, since the small village was clearly anything but a city. Located in the valley at the base of Chandler Hill, a contemporary satirical poem suggested that the inexplicable grouping of houses was populated by people who had failed to climb the road leading over the hill. The center has remained almost completely unchanged over the last 150 years, and was declared a historic district in 2006.

In May 1812, Colrain was the first town in the United States to fly the U.S. flag over a public schoolhouse. The schoolhouse was located in the hill-top village of Catamount.

Many of the original settlers were immigrants from Ireland and Scotland, and it is said that the town was named in honor of Lord Coleraine, an Irish peer. According to local tradition, Lord Coleraine was so well pleased by this that he sent a fine bell to the townspeople for their new meeting house. Unfortunately, the bell never arrived. Apparently, so the story goes, it was sold by the unscrupulous agent to whom it was entrusted, and was installed in a church in Boston. An alternative claim is that when in transit, the crew of the ship encountered a problem and the ship went down with the bell and was never to be found again.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 43.4 square miles (112.4 km²), of which 43.1 square miles (111.7 km²) is land and 0.27 square miles (0.7 km²), or 0.59%, is water.^[3] The town ranks second in area of the county’s 26 towns, and twenty-fifth of the 351 cities and towns in Massachusetts. Until the expansion of New Salem after the building of the Quabbin Reservoir in the 1930s, Colrain was the largest town in the county. It is located on the northern border of the county and state, with Windham County, Vermont. The town is bordered by Halifax and Guilford, Vermont, to the north, Leyden to the east, Greenfield to the southeast, Shelburne to the south, Charlemont to the southwest, and Heath to the west. Colrain’s town center is located 9 miles (14 km) northwest of Greenfield, 45 miles (72 km) north of Springfield, and approximately 100 miles (160 km) west-northwest of Boston.

Colrain is located in the northeastern part of the Berkshires, with the many hills divided by the rivers which run through town. With the exception of a 0.65-mile (1.05 km) stretch, near the Vermont border, the entirety of the eastern border lies along the Green River, which flows through neighboring Greenfield into the Deerfield River. The east and west branches of the North River also meet in the town and flow into the Deerfield River, just south of the town along the Shelburne-Buckland town line. The town is also home to two state forests, Catamount State Forest to the southwest, and half of the H.O. Cook State Forest to the northwest.

The main road through Colrain is Massachusetts Route 112, whose northern terminus is in town at the Vermont state line. It is a common route for ski traffic headed to Mount Snow, Vermont. The road closely follows the East Branch of the North River south to its junction with the West Branch, before following the main branch southward towards Massachusetts Route 2 in Shelburne. The nearest interstate, Interstate 91, is accessible in Greenfield. There is no rail, bus or air service in town, with the nearest bus and Amtrak service in Greenfield, and the nearest air service in Turners Falls. The nearest national air service can be found at Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, Connecticut.

Colrain employs the open town meeting form of government, and is led by a board of selectmen. The town has its own police and fire departments, as well as emergency services. The town’s library, Griswold Memorial Library, is connected to the regional library network. The town also has its own post office as well. The nearest hospital, Franklin Medical Center, is in Greenfield.

Colrain is a member of the Mohawk Trail Regional School District, which covers six towns on the elementary level and most of western Franklin County on the upper levels of education. Colrain Central School serves students from pre-kindergarten through sixth grades, and students from grades 7-12 attend Mohawk Trail Regional High School in Buckland. There is a private school, the Academy at Charlemont, in neighboring Charlemont, and several other private and religious schools are located in the region.

The nearest community college, Greenfield Community College, is located in Greenfield. The nearest state college is Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in North Adams, and the nearest state university is the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The nearest private college is Marlboro College in Marlboro, VT, with several others located southeast in the Northampton area.

Colrain MA Photos