Transportation culture and recreation miscellaneous

NARRATIVE

The Town of Leyden is one of the northernmost towns in Massachusetts and

abuts Vermont. It is an isolated rural hill town on the suburban corridor

from Greenfield to Vermont and residents are proud of its lofty location in

the southern highlands of the Green Mountains. The town was named for a

town in Holland.

Settlement began late in Leyden because of the uplands, the absence of high

quality agricultural land and its exposure to Indian attack. The

settlement of the community in the early 1740's was not followed by any

real growth until the end of the French and Indian wars brought peace and

safety to the area. One of the earliest industries in town was

cheesemaking. Famous sons of Leyden include John Riddell, the inventor of

the binocular microscope, and Henry Kirke Brown, sculptor of the Washington

and Lincoln statutes at West Point and in the Capitol.

The town was the site of a Dorrite religious community established in 1792

and the entirely agricultural character these new residents found in the

18th century essentially extended into the 20th century. The town is still

agricultural, producing beef, pork, wool and butter and making maple sugar.

(Seal supplied by community. Narrative based on information

provided by the Massachusetts Historical Commission)

GEOGRAPHY

Northwestern Massachusetts, bordered by Guilford, Vermont, on the north;

Bernardston on the east; Greenfield on the southeast; and Colrain on the

southwest and west. Leyden is 52 miles north of Springfield and 110 miles

northwest of Boston.

Total Area: 18.00 sq. miles

Land Area: 17.99 sq. miles

Population: 662

Density: 37 per sq. mile

Climate
(National Climatic Data Center)

(Amherst Station)

Normal temperature in January.....23.6°F

Normal temperature in July........71.9°F

Normal annual precipitation.......42.5"

U.S.G.S. Topographical Plates

Colrain, Bernardston

Franklin County

GOVERNMENT

Main Number: (413) 774-4111

Board of Selectmen

Administrative Assistant

Open Town Meeting

As a town: 1809

Total Registered 394

Democrats 67 17.0 %

Republicans 70 17.8 %

Other parties 0 0.0 %

Unenrolled Voters 257 65.2 %

DEMOGRAPHICS

HOUSING CHARACTERISTICS

Subsidized Housing Units: The number of housing units which count toward the municipality's 10% goal for low- and moderate-income housing. It includes both subsidized affordable units and market rate units in certain eligible subsidized developments.

Conventional Federal: 0

State (MRVP: 0

Federal (Section 8): 0

TRANSPORTATION

The major axes of transportation in Franklin County, where Leyden is

located, are State Route 2 and Interstate Route 91, which follows the

Connecticut River. The region is well-served by rail. The Springfield

Terminal Railway lines (the former Boston and Maine Railroad) parallel the

two major highways, and the Central Vermont Railway's main line passes N-S

through the eastern portion of the county.


Major Highways

There are no state highways in Leyden. Local roads provide access to U.S.

Route 5 in nearby Bernardston and to Interstate 91 in Greenfield.

Rail

There is no passenger or freight rail service in Leyden, but the network of

intermodal facilities serving Massachusetts is easily accessible.


Bus

Leyden is not affiliated with a regional transit authority.

The Turners Falls Municipal Airport, a General Aviation (GA) facility, is

easily accessible. It has a 3,013'x 75' asphalt runway. Instrument

approaches available: Non-precision.

None

MISCELLANEOUS

None

None

None

None

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The Department of Housing and Community Development would like to thank the many government agencies noted as having provided information for the community profiles. In addition to these agencies, the Regional Transit Authorities assisted with the transportation component of the profiles. We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of many city and town officials, which enabled us to include information obtainable only at the local level. DHCD would also like to thank the following individuals for providing special help: Leslie A. Kirwan, Deputy Commissioner, Division of Local Services, Department of Revenue; Richard Shibley, Deputy Secretary of State; Bob Beattie of the Department of Public Health; Charles W. Clifford from the Martha's Vineyard Commission; Dennis Coffey of the Executive Office of Transportation and Construction; Donna Fletcher and Christian Jacqz of the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs; James Griffin from the MBTA; Karen Loh from Banker & Tradesman; Todd Maio from the Department of Welfare; Geoffrey Morton from the Election Division of the Secretary of State's Office; Stephen R. Muench of the Massachusetts Aeronautics Commission; Rol Murrow of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association; Mary Ann Neary and Emmanuelle Fletcher, reference librarians at the State House Library; Jeff Nellhaus from the Department of Education; and George Sanborn, reference librarian at the State Transportation Library.