with notes on the Mt. Holyoke Range and Mt. Tom

best viewed at 1024 x 768

The Mt. Holyoke Range is located in the Connecticut River valley of western Massachusetts. It is the home of the Prospect House, the original section of which was built in 1851 with several additions thereafter. Battered by the Great Depression and the Hurricane of 1938, the property was donated to the state. Today the renovated Summit House is the showpiece of Skinner State Park. I created the first version of this historical timeline when I was webmaster for the Friends Of the Mt. Holyoke Range. It is still a work in progress with much more material to add. Please send suggestions, corrections or material to Robb Strycharz.

Mt. Holyoke Timelines...

Mt. Holyoke 1800-1899

Mt. Holyoke 1900-1949

Mt. Holyoke 1950-1974

Mt. Holyoke 1975-2004

Direct Links To Select Articles

Edward Hitchcock on Mt. Holyoke (1841)

Edward Hitchcock (1862)

Intro To NPS Plan (1968)

Newspaper Articles on NPS Plan (1969)

Outline For Federal Recreation Area (1970)

Revised NPS Plan (1971)

Summit House Task Force Report (1977)

Story of 1944 B-24 Crash and Monument (1989)

Direct Links To Select Maps

Some maps are finely detailed and require large file sizes.

1942 Map of Hitchcock Volcanics from "Flow of Time in the Connecticut Valley" (366k)

1962 State Proposal to protect Range

Preliminary 1968 NPS Proposal

1971 Final NPS Proposal Map 1

1971 Final NPS Proposal Map 2

This section is dedicated to Charles and Francis (nee Francis Furtek) Drozdal. Charles worked at Skinner State Park beginning in 1941, and served as the Park Superintendent from 1946 until his retirement in 1975. This picture was taken at the Summit House in October 1972. He and his wife Francis lived at the Halfway House from 1948-1953 and Francis ran a small concession stand in the Summit House. The photo of Francis was taken in the early 1950's on the east porch of the Summit House. At her side their dog Pepper.