What is the history of Northampton, Massachusetts?

The area now known as Northampton was inhabited by Native Americans in the United StatesNative Americans, such as the Pocomtuc, Nonotuck Mohawk nationMohawk, and Mahican, for thousands of years before the European colonization of the Americasarrival of Europeans. They called it Norwottuck, or Nonotuck, meaning: "the midst of the river." Colonial Northampton was founded in 1654 by settlers from Springfield, Massachusetts. Initial cooperation between the settlers and the Natives gave way to conflict, evidence of which can today be seen most clearly in nearby Historic Deerfield. Northampton hosted its own Salem witch trialswitch trials in the 18th century, although no (accused) witches were executed. Members of the community were among the signatories of the United States Declaration of IndependenceDeclaration of Independence. (See the external link to Historic Northampton below for more.)

Northampton was linked to the sea by the Hampshire and Hampden Canal in 1835, but the canal enterprise foundered and after about a decade was replaced by a railroad running along the same route. A flood on the Mill River (Hampshire Co., Massachusetts)Mill River on May 16, 1874, killed 51 people in the Leeds, Massachusettsvillage of Leeds in the township of Northampton.

Northampton, which was incorporated as a city in 1883, developed into a thriving community and a local center for commerce, education, and the arts, even supporting a still-extant opera house, (though it now functions as an independent movie theatre) the Academy of Music. In 1851, opera singer Jenny Lind, the "SwedenSwedish Nightingale", declared it to be the "Paradise of America". The first game of women's basketball was played in 1892, at Smith College. ImmigrationImmigrant groups that settled here in large numbers included IrelandIrish, PolandPolish, and French-Canadian; in more recent years, Puerto Ricans, IndiaIndians, VietnamVietnamese and CambodiaCambodians have continued to add to the cultural mosaic. Segments of the 1966 film Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? were filmed in and around Northampton during the fall of 1965. When not filming, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton frequented Northampton's Academy of Music, where they sat in the balcony to watch movies. Other films filmed in Northampton include the Academy AwardsAcademy-Award-winning Cider House Rules, Malice (movie)Malice with Nicole Kidman and Alec Baldwin, In Dreams with Annette Bening and Robert Downey Jr., and Sylvia with Gwyneth Paltrow.

Northampton today is a popular destination for tourismtourists, who come to sample the city's shopping and restaurants. It remains a showplace for the arts, and was rated as the top "Small Arts Town" in the country by travel writer John Villani, author of "The 100 Best Small Art Towns in America" (3rd edition, published by John Muir Publications). It is an open and tolerant community, and is home to a sizeable lesbian community, earning it the nickname, "Lesbianville, USA." The town has ties to the controversial children's book, "Heather Has Two Mommies."

Author Tracy Kidder documented the many layers of Northampton society at the end of the 20th century in his nonfiction book Home Town.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northampton%2C_Massachusetts