Springfield, MA

stepper77 · #1 Posted **Jul 6, 2008, 12:14 AM**

Springfield, at 154,000, is the third largest city in Massachusetts. The Springfield Metropolitan Area is around 682,000.

Personally, I was quite surprised and impressed with Springfield, especially for a city you almost never hear anything about. We have suburbs in California that are MUCH bigger in population and aren't half as urban as downtown Springfield. And though you won't really see many people in my pictures, there was a lot of pedestrian activity downtown.

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Quincy - Provincetown - Holyoke - Chicopee - Worcester - Boston

vasiliymeshko · #2 Posted **Jul 6, 2008, 12:26 AM**

3rd? And all this time I thought all along that it was MA's 2nd largest... Oh, well. I got a chance to drive through Springfield couple of years ago and I liked it a lot. Very nice city.

EDIT: Any pictures from I-91? I remember the skyline looking extra good from that angle.

PhillyRising · #3 Posted **Jul 6, 2008, 1:06 AM**

Impressive! Even RuPaul struts his stuff there!

yerfdog · #4 Posted **Jul 6, 2008, 2:43 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by vasiliymeshko

3rd? And all this time I thought all along that it was MA's 2nd largest... Oh, well. I got a chance to drive through Springfield couple of years ago and I liked it a lot. Very nice city.

EDIT: Any pictures from I-91? I remember the skyline looking extra good from that angle.

Worcester is actually slightly larger than Springfield.

Great pics, stepper77, I've been in that area several times but never actually into downtown Springfield.

kcexpress69 · #5 Posted **Jul 6, 2008, 3:25 AM**

Great pics!! Springfield looked lively enough for me!!

Austinlee · #6 Posted **Jul 6, 2008, 4:51 AM**

Quality. Massachusetts is one of the best states by far. I love it. Great looking city; This is my first time seeing it.

blade_bltz · #7 Posted **Jul 6, 2008, 7:32 AM**

I'm impressed. This is my first time seeing Springfield in depth. It definitely has a reputation as a pretty downtrodden city, but the downtown looks great. A couple of the pics show a neighborhood that resembles Boston's South End - very cool.

ady26 · #8 Posted **Jul 6, 2008, 9:01 AM**

Pretty cool for such a small city!

TinChelseaNYC · #9 Posted **Jul 6, 2008, 1:38 PM**

That is a great tour. I've driven through that city many times and never stopped to look at it. Now I'm sorry I never did.

ctman987 · #10 Posted **Jul 6, 2008, 7:19 PM**

Yes Worcester has a population of about 170,000 while Springfield's stands at about 154,000.

You dont hear much about Springfield because its either Boston and Worcester taking all the attention when you talk about the whole state of Mass or its Hartford to the south when you talk about Western Mass and Greater Hartford which are known as the "Knowledge Corrdoir"

Springfield's downtown and many of its neighborhoods are very dense and still full of historic buildings that, for the most part, have been well maintained. Major investment has yet to come to Springfield like it has to Hartford because I personally feel the state does not invest much in Springfield because its not the states largest city and its so far west of Boston.

soleri · #11 Posted **Jul 7, 2008, 12:56 AM**

I recall seeing Springfield on an Old Photos thread. It was simply amazing. What's amazing in this thread is that so much is still around. The city looks well cared for but there are some horrors, like the Mass Mutual building. Cities will change - that's inevitable. Springfield looks as if it weathered the War on the Old much better than others.

Snoshredder21 · #12 Posted **Jul 7, 2008, 2:01 AM**

Doesn't Springfield have the NBA Hall of Fame?

ctman987 · #13 Posted **Jul 7, 2008, 9:26 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snoshredder21

Doesn't Springfield have the NBA Hall of Fame?

It most definitly is home to the Basketball Hall of Fame!

Ex-Ithacan · #14 Posted **Jul 7, 2008, 11:59 PM**

That was a nice and very extensive tour stepper. Springfield does have quite an urban feel and look. I see ya got a couple of pics including those hi-rise apartment building on the edge of downtown:

Not the most attractive rascals, but they do add a lot of height to the skyline. I noticed when I visited that there seemed to be a lot of rehab going on in the residential areas near downtown. The place is looking good in these pics. Thanks for the tour.

stormkingfan · #15 Posted **Sep 16, 2008, 11:33 PM**

Yay! You got Paramount Pizza in there! That's in the Hippodrome Theatre pic. Don't know how they are now, but PP made probably the best calzone I've ever had. OMG. Had some the three times I was in Springfield back in 2000.

Tons of architectural gems in this town. Back in '83, I almost took a job in W. Springfield, but it would have been a real bad career move.

Now, I'd like to see pix of Chicopee and Holyoke.

ltsmotorsport · #16 Posted **Sep 17, 2008, 3:54 AM**

Some great looking urban fabric there.

ColDayMan · #17 Posted **Sep 17, 2008, 4:09 AM**

Fantastic!

ShadowMaster · #18 Posted **Sep 17, 2008, 4:37 AM**

Superb pictures! There are many classic architectural gems in this smaller tier city.

Thundertubs · #19 Posted **Sep 17, 2008, 4:47 AM**

Great tour!

stormkingfan · #20 Posted **Sep 24, 2008, 10:29 PM**

I may be in the wrong thread with this one, but here goes.

There's one thing I've noticed about Chestnut Park, Springfield's tallest apt. bldg. It's 34 stories, but only 290'. That's slightly more than 8 1/2' per floor, which brings us to a question:

What is the minimum floor thickness accepted by building inspectors?

8 1/2' is the least I've ever seen for a floor in a building of this type. Either the floors are thin, or there's alot of short people living at that address!