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56-620: (Redirected from Metrocenter ) MetroCentre , Metro Centre , MetroCenter , or Metro Center may refer to: City centers [ edit ] Metro Center, Springfield, Massachusetts , the original, colonial settlement of the City of Springfield, Massachusetts Halls [ edit ] Metro Hall , a complex of three buildings in Toronto, Ontario, Canada including Metro Hall Shopping malls [ edit ] MetroCentre (shopping centre) ,

112-450: A $ 75 million renovation (including $ 4 million pledged by Connecticut ) to become an intermodal transportation center, with Peter Pan Bus ' headquarters, PVTA 's headquarters, and Greyhound all relocating to the new facility. This project will coincide with the start-up of Springfield's two new rail lines: the $ 1 billion, southbound Springfield Hartford New Haven rail line , which will reportedly reach speeds up to 110 mph, making it

168-565: A 300 ft. tall Italianate campanile that towers over Court Square. Other prominent civic buildings include "starchitect" Moshe Safdie 's new, $ 57 million, architecturally award-winning Federal Courthouse on State Street, and Massachusetts' new $ 110 million Data Center, an adaptive re-use of Springfield's original Technical High School. The Springfield School Board recently moved into modern, $ 11 million renovated office space 1550 Main Street. The City of Springfield's palatial Public Library

224-649: A Victorian look; however, there are numerous skyscrapers as well. Metro Center is cut off from the Connecticut Riverfront by Interstate 91, an 8-lane highway. Across Interstate 91 sits the Basketball Hall of Fame complex, Springfield's largest tourist draw. From 1908 until 1971, Springfield was subject to a skyline height limit – imposed by the Massachusetts State Legislature – of 125 feet, and thus Springfield has

280-487: A degree that their population increased and they reached a density of 287 people per 100 square miles as opposed to 41 in the north. Scholars estimate that, by the year 1600, the indigenous population of New England had reached 70,000–100,000. The French encountered Algonquian peoples in this area through their trade and limited colonization of New France along the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. The historic peoples of

336-651: A different focus. The Quadrangle features the George Walter Vincent Smith Museum, which is known worldwide for having the largest collection of Chinese cloisonné outside of China. It also features the Museum of Fine Arts, which features a particularly strong European Impressionist and Post-Impressionist collection, including paintings by Monet, Degas, and Gauguin, among others. The American Collection features works by Springfielder James McNeill Whistler . The Springfield Science Museum features

392-707: A large shopping and leisure centre located in Gateshead, United Kingdom Metrocenter Mall (Jackson, Mississippi) , a shopping mall in Jackson, Mississippi, USA Metrocenter (Phoenix, Arizona) , a shopping mall in Phoenix, Arizona, USA Venues [ edit ] MetroCenter (Arlington, Texas) , a venue in Arlington, Texas, USA Scotiabank Centre (formerly known as the Halifax Metro Centre),

448-703: A more modest, combined $ 25 million recently improved Springfield's two main thoroughfares, Main Street and State Street. Both now feature artistic crosswalks and ornate streetlights, which add to the eclectic and increasingly whimsical atmosphere of Metro Center. The 2011 Greater Springfield tornado reversed much of Main Street's progress. Metro Center provides quick access to I-91 and I-291 , both of which connect to I-90 (the Massachusetts Turnpike), making trips to Boston , Albany , New York City , Montreal , Hartford , Worcester , and New Haven convenient by car. This convenience, however, came at

504-665: A nearly equidistant point between Albany and Boston, Providence, and New York. Metro Center features the majority of Western Massachusetts' most important cultural institutions. For example, it features the Springfield Armory National Park , which includes a museum featuring the world's largest historic firearm collection. A block west of the Armory is the Quadrangle , which includes an extraordinary grouping of world-class and regional museums, each with

560-532: A relatively lower skyline than comparable cities of its population and economic and cultural importance. This trait is now looked on as a positive by developers at the Urban Land Institute, who have written "Metro Center now stands out from its peers, most of which long ago demolished the human-scale architecture that made their downtowns livable." During Springfield's resurgence in the new millennium, prominent architects – like Moshe Safdie , who built

616-452: A seasonal economy. The basic social unit was the village: a few hundred people related by a clan kinship structure. Villages were temporary and mobile. The people moved to locations of greatest natural food supply, often breaking into smaller units or gathering as the circumstances required. This custom resulted in a certain degree of intertribal mobility, especially in troubled times. In warm weather, they constructed portable wigwams ,

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672-504: A skyscraper in downtown Springfield; Center Square on Main Street, a well-landscaped park that borders the Club Quarter and Downtown Central Business District; Merrick Park, by the Quadrangle , the sole function of which is to exhibit Augustus St. Gaudens ' most famous outdoor bronze sculpture, The Puritan ; Pynchon Park, a modernist concrete park with trees and a distinctive elevator in the brutalist architectural style – one of

728-551: A steep price to Springfielders: hasty, poor urban planning decisions during 1958 created the now elevated I-91 viaduct along the Connecticut River, which essentially cut off Springfield from the Connecticut, the parks surrounding it, and the Basketball Hall of Fame complex, preventing foot traffic and resulting in untold losses of tourist dollars among other losses. In 2010, Boston's Urban Land Institute proposed

784-628: A time. Historians hypothesize that this practice kept the population down, with some invoking Liebig's law of the minimum . The southern Algonquians of New England relied predominantly on slash and burn agriculture. They cleared fields by burning for one or two years of cultivation, after which the village moved to another location. This is the reason the English found the region relatively cleared and ready for planting. By using various kinds of native corn (maize), beans and squash, southern New England natives were able to improve their diet to such

840-553: A type of hut usually with buckskin doors. In the winter, they erected the more substantial longhouses , in which more than one clan could reside. They cached food supplies in more permanent, semi-subterranean structures . In the spring, when the fish were spawning, they left the winter camps to build villages at coastal locations and waterfalls. In March, they caught smelt in nets and weirs , moving about in birch bark canoes . In April, they netted alewife , sturgeon and salmon . In May, they caught cod with hook and line in

896-756: A venue in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada Rockford MetroCentre , a venue in Rockford, Illinois, USA Railway stations [ edit ] Metro Center station in Washington D.C., US MetroCentre railway station in Gateshead, UK 7th Street/Metro Center station in Los Angeles, California, US T-Centralen station in Stockholm, Sweden Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with

952-740: A vision for Springfield's riverfront; however, as of 2011, Interstate 91 remains a physical barrier between Springfield, the Connecticut River, and the Basketball Hall of Fame. The position of I-91 and its blockage of the Connecticut River – along with the cement covering of the Mill River – are challenges that Springfield officials say they plan on addressing in upcoming years. Recent academic papers have documented negative economic and sociological effects of I-91's placement in Springfield – it has fragmented three neighborhoods, inhibited

1008-645: Is fast regaining that status among people attracted to urban living without the expense – bohemians, artists, empty-nesters, and LGBT residents have constituted the first wave of Metro Center's recolonization, which began only during the new millennium. Housing stock consists of various architectural styles, from detached Victorian houses and attached red-brick row-houses in the Quadrangle-Mattoon Street Historic District , to historic buildings adaptively re-used or renovated into condominiums, artists' lofts, and rental properties in

1064-788: Is located in Metro Center. It features the second largest library circulation in New England (behind Boston 's). Metro Center also features three higher learning institutions: Cambridge College at Tower Square, the University of Massachusetts Amherst 's Urban Design Center at Court Square, and Springfield Technical Community College , which enrolls over 6500 students. Metro Center is the central business district of Western Massachusetts , featuring numerous international, national, regional, and local businesses and headquarters. 17,000 businesspeople work in Metro Center. Businesses include

1120-486: Is one of the few neighborhoods in the Knowledge Corridor that remains lined with historic, restored red-brick Victorian row houses on both sides, and shaded by tree canopies. The Mattoon Street neighborhood features some of Springfield's most prestigious residential addresses, on Mattoon Street, Salem Street, Elliot Street, and others. It also features one of renowned architect H.H. Richardson 's first works in

1176-481: Is physically separated from the Connecticut River by Interstate 91 – a 1958 urban renewal project that separated the city from its riverfront. It is difficult to estimate the origins of human habitation in the Connecticut River Valley, but there are physical signs dating back at least 9,000 years. Various sites indicate millennia of fishing, horticulture, beaver-hunting, and burials. The region

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1232-702: The American Hockey League 's Springfield Thunderbirds . Within close walking distance are Rascal's, a comedy club at 1 Monarch Place , and Springfield's famous City Stage playhouse – a tiny modern playhouse that produces a range of works from philosophical modern plays, to Shakespeare, to children's entertainment. The area surrounding Stearns Square has been Springfield' Club Quarter for over 120 years. As of 2011, Springfield's Club Quarter continues to expand, now featuring over 70 clubs, bars, restaurants, and even historic gathering places such as Smith's Billiards, The Student Prince , both extant since

1288-549: The Apremont Triangle Historic District . Notable examples include a former 4-star Sheraton hotel, ( The Kimball Towers ;) a famous, Victorian high school (Classical High School Condominiums;) an architecturally significant factory (The McIntosh;) and a renovated art deco apartment building, (Pearl Street Luxury Condos.) Rental properties include the adaptive re-use of the former Milton Bradley toy factory, now called Stockbridge Court, as well as

1344-465: The Basketball Hall of Fame also feature live music, Las Vegas-style shows and several sports bars. Even by urban New England standards, where downtowns are frequently walkable like those in Europe, Springfield's is exceptionally so. It is composed of mixed-use residential, commercial, and institutional organizations. A majority of its buildings were built in the late 1800s and early 1900s, giving it

1400-688: The Connecticut Colony as opposed to the Massachusetts Bay Colony , to which it would later belong. Within less than a decade after its founding in 1636, differences arose between the leaders of Agawam (Springfield) and Newtown (Hartford) over how to relate with the region's Native population. Springfield hoped to pursue peaceful relations with the Natives so as to better facilitate trade and communal farming, whereas Hartford – and many of Connecticut's early settlers – had fought

1456-535: The Fortune 100 MassMutual Financial, Peter Pan Bus , Hampden Bank , NuVo Bank, Merriam Webster , Liberty Mutual , Verizon , the American Hockey League , the Northeastern headquarters of TD Banknorth , Health New England , Peoples' United Bank, United Personnel staffing, numerous attorneys, architects, accountants, other professionals, and hundreds of businesses. As of May 2011, Metro Center also features

1512-929: The Richardsonian Romanesque style, the current Hispanic Baptist Church. Early each Fall, the neighborhood hosts a large arts festival, "The Mattoon Street Arts Festival." Metro Center features Springfield's and Western Massachusetts' most prominent civic institutions, including the Greek Revival Springfield City Hall, the Springfield School Board, the Hampden County Courthouse and Richardsonian Romanesque Juvenile Courthouse, designed by H.H. Richardson himself. Springfield's ornate, neo-classical Springfield Municipal Group , dedicated by U.S. President William Howard Taft , features

1568-568: The ocean ; and trout , smelt , striped bass and flounder in the estuaries and streams. Putting out to sea, they hunted whales , porpoises , walruses and seals . They gathered scallops , mussels , clams and crabs and, in southern New Jersey, harvested clams year-round. From April through October, natives hunted migratory birds and their eggs: Canada geese , brant , mourning doves and others. In July and August they gathered strawberries , raspberries , blueberries and nuts. In September, they split into small groups and moved up

1624-505: The $ 57 million, 2008 U.S. Federal Court Building; Gwathmey Siegel & Associates , who built the $ 47 million, 2004 Basketball Hall of Fame; and TRO Jung Brannen , who are building the $ 110 million, 2012 adaptive reuse of Springfield's original Technical High School – adapted to Springfield's human-scale to create monumental buildings rather than attempting to "achieve monumentalism through over-scaling," as has happened in other cities. In 2012, Springfield's 1926 Union Station will receive

1680-488: The 1980s and 1990s, when giant, above-grade highway parking lots were built underneath I-91, and later when earthen, grassy mounds and 20-foot limestone walls were constructed around large sections of it, blocking all but the tallest Metro Center buildings' views of the Connecticut River, and discouraging economic and social interaction between Metro Center and the Basketball Hall of Fame . Metro Center's housing stock was, for centuries, Springfield's most prized. As of 2011, it

1736-523: The Agawam Indians, but also used a variety of tactics - from debt to alcohol - to take more and more land until the Agawam were contained to a walled village atop Long Hill. This was a rapid cycle: Native people relied on trading seasonal goods such as furs, so they took out mortgages with land as collateral. The demand for furs led to overhunting, which forced Native people to default and allowed for

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1792-796: The Agawam Indians. The Agawam, as well as other groups, belong to the larger cultural category of Alongkian Indians. In 1634, a devastating plague, probably smallpox, reduced the Native American population of the Connecticut River Valley to a tiny percentage of its previous size. Governor Bradford of Massachusetts writes that in Windsor (notably the site of a trade post, where European diseases often spread to Native populations), "of 1,000 of [the Indians] 150 of them died." With so many dead, "rot[ting] above ground for want of burial," English colonists were emboldened to attempt significant settlement of

1848-922: The Algonquian peoples is not known. At the time of the European arrival, the hegemonic Iroquois Confederacy , based in present-day New York and Pennsylvania , was regularly at war with their Algonquian neighbors. The Algonquian peoples include and have included historical populations in: Colonists in the Massachusetts Bay area first encountered the Wampanoag , Massachusett , Nipmuc , Pennacook , Penobscot , Passamaquoddy , and Quinnipiac . The Mohegan , Pequot , Pocumtuc , Podunk , Tunxis , and Narragansett were based in southern New England. The Abenaki were located in northern New England: present-day Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont in what became

1904-527: The Connecticut River, just north of the River's first falls unnavigable by seagoing vessels, (the Enfield Falls .) Thus, in founding Springfield, the business-minded Pynchon assured that all northern river trade and travel ran through Springfield. In early colonial days, Springfield was the dominant trading post on the Connecticut River. Pynchon and his fellow colonists profited immensely from fur trade with

1960-768: The Illinois Country were the Shawnee , Illiniwek , Kickapoo , Menominee , Miami , Sauk and Meskwaki . The latter were also known as the Sac and Fox, and later known as the Meskwaki Indians, who lived throughout the present-day Midwest of the United States. During the nineteenth century, many Native Americans from east of the Mississippi River were displaced over great distances through

2016-624: The United States and eastern Quebec in what became Canada. They traded with French colonists who settled along the Atlantic coast and the Saint Lawrence River. The Mahican were located in western New England in the upper Hudson River Valley (around present-day Albany, New York). These groups cultivated crops, hunted, and fished. The Algonquians of New England such as the Piscataway (who spoke Eastern Algonquian ), practised

2072-641: The United States passage and enforcement of Indian removal legislation; they forced the people west of the Mississippi River to what they designated as Indian Territory . After the US extinguished Indian land claims, this area was admitted as the state of Oklahoma in the early 20th century. Ojibwe/Chippewa, Odawa , Potawatomi , and a variety of Cree groups lived in Upper Peninsula of Michigan , Western Ontario , Wisconsin , Minnesota , and

2128-539: The United States' first true "high-speed" train; and the $ 80 million, northbound Knowledge Corridor Intercity Commuter Rail, which will connect Springfield with its northern neighbors along the Connecticut River (e.g. Northampton, Massachusetts ) and terminate in Brattleboro, Vermont . Ultimately, this renovation of the old Montrealer line will take passengers to Montreal, Quebec , Canada. While billions of dollars are funding Springfield's north–south rail expansion,

2184-526: The adaptive re-use of the former YMCA building, 122 Chestnut Street. Major construction projects like the $ 101 million adaptive re-use of Springfield's original Technical High School for Massachusetts' Data Center; the $ 57 million Moshe Safdie -designed, architecturally award-winning Federal Courthouse; and Baystate Health 's $ 300 million "Hospital of the Future," have all contributed to Metro Center's resurgence. The Quadrangle-Mattoon Street Historic District

2240-458: The bloody Pequot War to claim their territory, and thus took a more militant view. This difference of opinion led to Agawam (Springfield) annexing itself to Massachusetts in 1640. At that time, William Pynchon was named magistrate of the settlement, and the town's name was changed to Springfield in Pynchon's honor. (Pynchon was from Springfield, Essex .) Metro Center Springfield was founded on

2296-514: The city, again, due to its location. Goods from New York, Boston, Chicago, and even as far west as San Francisco travelled through Springfield on their ways to coastal distribution centers. Springfield, rather than Hartford, or Northampton, or Greenfield, became Western New England's railroad hub, perhaps due to the presence of the Springfield Armory , but more likely due to the city's growing reputation for ingenuity, and that it served as

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2352-564: The colonists to acquire more Native land. Having lost their fields, the rapid overexploitation of the fur trade continued. In 1675, during King Philip's War , the colonists of Western Massachusetts resorted to extraordinary measures, including the taking of arms and hostages, to weaken and preclude a threat from Native people. However, the Agawams and others still attempted the Attack on Springfield , which burned over 75% of Springfield, which

2408-704: The early 20th century. For an example of the latter, the Duryea brothers built the first American gasoline-powered car at a still existent building on Taylor Street – one of the few buildings in the district at that time, which was not a bar or club. An 1893 model Duryea stands in a small park outside of what is today Alumni Club at 90 Worthington Street, mere feet from the historically important Duryea shop. Springfield's most popular bars and clubs are an eclectic mix, featuring many different "scenes" which co-mingle peaceably, including hip-hop, rock, LGBT, jazz, strip clubs for both men and women, and blues. The restaurants and clubs by

2464-470: The economic growth of Springfield's most valuable land – on the Riverfront and around the Basketball Hall of Fame – and essentially made the river inaccessible to people as a place for recreation and tourism. Recent city planning polls rate Springfield's I-91 among the worst urban planning decisions made by an American city. The highway's inhibiting effects on riverfront development were exacerbated during

2520-613: The first-ever American planetarium (built 1937,) Dinosaur Hall, and a live animal center. The Quadrangle's two regional museums are the Connecticut River Valley History Museum, the most extensive compilation of information on the historic valley and its people; and the new Wood Museum of Springfield History, which showcases Springfield as The City of Firsts in the context of American History. Springfield Symphony Hall at Court Square features famously "perfect acoustics," and frequent performances by

2576-417: The green in the middle of Metro Center was officially named Court Square . Court Square had been the center of public and social life since the times when Native Americans roamed freely through Springfield's streets (pre-King Philip's War,) and continued to be so until the building of Springfield's first train station in the 1830s. The arrival of the railroad to Springfield in the 1830s brought great wealth to

2632-410: The headquarters of Massachusetts' third largest company, Baystate Health . Metro Center features seven prominent parks: Court Square , the city's one constant topographical feature since its founding in 1636; Stearns Square , designed by the creative "dream-team" of Stanford White and August St. Gaudens , then as now in the heart of Springfield's Club Quarter ; Tower Square Park, a green park atop

2688-541: The innovative Springfield Symphony Orchestra . It also features traveling performances of Broadway shows. Also, close by, the Community Music School of Springfield, located at 127 State Street, features musical programs during the day and evenings. Across the street, the MassMutual Center features arena-scale rock concerts, conventions, and is home to Springfield's professional sports team,

2744-601: The more original looking city parks in the United States, arguably; and Connecticut River Walk Park , a walkway and bikeway that was devastated by the 2011 Greater Springfield tornado , and which previous to it, was rarely used due to Interstate 91 physically blocking Springfielders' access to it. Regardless, if one can make it there, it affords beautiful views of the river, valley, skyline, and mountains surrounding them all. 42°06′22″N 72°35′13″W  /  42.106°N 72.587°W  / 42.106; -72.587 Algonquian peoples The Algonquians are one of

2800-657: The most populous and widespread North American indigenous North American groups, consisting of the peoples who speak Algonquian languages . They historically were prominent along the Atlantic Coast and in the interior regions along Saint Lawrence River and around the Great Lakes . Before contact with Europeans, most Algonquian settlements lived by hunting and fishing, with many of them supplementing their diet by cultivating corn , beans and squash (the " Three Sisters" ). The Ojibwe cultivated wild rice . At

2856-539: The region. Metro Center, purchased from the Native people of Agawam in 1636 by William Pynchon and a group of pioneers, was originally called Agawam Plantation. Eighteen Agawam Indians signed on to the deed, which was witnessed and negotiated with the help of a translator from the East named Ahaughton. At the time of its founding, Agawam Plantation was the northernmost settlement on the Connecticut River, and belonged to

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2912-445: The streams to the forest. There, they hunted beaver , caribou , moose and white-tailed deer . In December, when the snows began, the people created larger winter camps in sheltered locations, where they built or reconstructed longhouses. February and March were lean times. The tribes in southern New England and other northern latitudes had to rely on cached food. Northerners developed a practice of going hungry for several days at

2968-588: The time of the first European settlements in North America , Algonquian peoples resided in present-day Canada east of the Rocky Mountains , New England , New Jersey , southeastern New York , Delaware , and down the Atlantic Coast to the Upper South , and around the Great Lakes in present-day Illinois , Indiana , Iowa , Michigan , Minnesota , and Wisconsin . The precise homeland of

3024-494: The title MetroCentre . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=MetroCentre&oldid=1258177612 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Metro Center, Springfield, Massachusetts Metro Center

3080-403: Was inhabited by several Algonkian-speaking Native American communities, culturally connected but distinguished by the place names they assigned to their respective communities: Agawam (low land), Woronco (in a circular way), Nonotuck (in the midst of the river), Pocumtuck (narrow, swift river), and Sokoki (separated from their neighbors). The modern-day Springfield metropolitan area was inhabited by

3136-499: Was only Metro Center, including the saw and grist mills. Following the war, thought was given to abandoning the settlement entirely. In 1777, noting Springfield's location on a major U.S. river, fertile farmland, and close proximity to Boston, Albany, New York City, and Montreal, George Washington and Henry Knox founded the U.S. National Arsenal at Springfield on a tall bluff overlooking Metro Center. Subsequently, Springfield developed neighborhoods other than Metro Center. In 1813,

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