About Connections: Love it or hate it, history is a map. Those who hate history think it irrelevant; many who love history think it escapism. In truth, history is the clearest map to how we got here: America in the twenty-first century.
There are decisions that shape the future: define what can happen and preclude everything else. Four such decisions went a long way to shaping Berkshire County. As a result of these decisions Lenox became a resort rather than a major business district; the engine of the county shifted from South to Central County; the way was paved for GE to enter Pittsfield, and Tanglewood became a real possibility.
Shire town
Lenox became Berkshire County seat (shire town) in 1787. The courthouse and jail were built where Lenox Library and town hall are today. Concomitantly, inns and taverns clustered around these “shire town” institutions. The Curtis Hotel and Roots tavern served the lawyers, circuit judges, and all those who had business with the court.
Lawyers established offices walking distance from the courthouse. So many people were drawn to the village on business that the “traffic circle” in front of the courthouse was called the “whirligig.” The village was bustling and clearly destined to be the major business hub in the county.
What followed was 81 years of squabbles between Lenox and Pittsfield. The message was always the same and quite simple: viewing Berkshire County north to south, Pittsfield was the center, not Lenox, so it should be the shire town.
There were petitions to the legislature, referenda, and editorials. The 1812 petition read: “It is an incontrovertible fact that this town [Pittsfield] is more central.”
Nonetheless, Lenox remained the Berkshire county seat.
In 1854 a referendum placed before all the Berkshire towns asked: shall the court and jail be in Lenox or Pittsfield? Lenox won.
In 1868 the decision was made that changed the future character of both Lenox and Pittsfield. The Hon. R. F. Plunkett met with legislators behind closed doors in the proverbial smoke-filled room. The deal was struck, the vote was taken, and the county seat was moved from Lenox to Pittsfield. With it moved the lawyers and law offices, the judges, plaintiffs, prisoners, the guards, clerks, stenographers, and the business offices, banks, inns and taverns that served them all.
At roughly the same time, the first serious wave of “cottagers” rode the train into Lenox. The direction of each town was set.
Rail Hub
The first train pulled into Berkshire County at “state line” – West Stockbridge — in 1838. It was immediately apparent that if a town was on the rail line, it grew; if not, that town shriveled and perhaps died.
Without hesitating, the businessmen of Pittsfield fought to bring the railroad hub out of South County into Pittsfield. South County mounted its own campaign.
South County asserted that the most direct route into the county from Hudson, Albany, and Connecticut was in South County. Pittsfield disagreed. Pittsfield sent a contingent of experts to Boston to argue the point. They claimed the most direct route was Albany to Pittsfield.
In fact, the difference in distance was 66/100 of a mile. The real difference was in the grade. On the southern route there were five summits; on the route to Pittsfield there were only four. That was a difference without much meaning, but there were two significant facts: the elevation of the average grade was lower on the northern route, and for a variety of reasons, the southern route was about $32,000 cheaper to build.
The engineers (“experts”) hired by Pittsfield supported the Pittsfield route. Supporters of the Southern route argued valiantly and even asked for a postponement hoping to find their own engineers. However, their request was denied and on June 15, 1839, Pittsfield won.
It was a decision that shaped Pittsfield and other Berkshire towns. Pittsfield grew by leaps and bounds; West Stockbridge remained a village. The Pittsfield Sun called for a salute to be fired in the town square. By 1840 the first train arrived in Pittsfield from Albany; an advertisement proudly exclaimed that the train, traveling an average 25 miles per hour, made the trip in less than two hours.
GE
The wars began after 1892. The battles between the electric companies were as strategic and destructive as any war. They were correctly called the “Patent Wars” — deadly to all but the largest companies. What happened can be reduced to this: as the number of consumers multiplied, the number of providers shrunk. The takeovers made modern day consolidations look like playpen squabbles.
To survive, J. P. Morgan convinced Edison to merge with Thompson-Houston, thus forming General Electric. It was long past the time when electricity was considered a magic trick. Experts marveled at the rapidity with which the use had grown. GE and Westinghouse filed more than 600 patent and copyright infringement lawsuits against each other and everyone else. Finally, Westinghouse and GE agreed that they were killing each other and signed a cross licensing agreement – giving each blanket permission to use the others’ patents. That left William Stanley standing alone. He stood isolated with the two largest providers GE and Westinghouse poised to destroy him.
Next week: The conclusion of GE and Tanglewood
