— A Southwick Time Machine Original On Saturday morning, August 31, 1918, Franklin A. Latimer Jr. had just completed business at the Third National Bank in Springfield, Massachusetts, and was returning to the offices of the Bradstreet Company in the Whitney Building at 310 Main Street, where he served as the company’s representative for Western New England, a territory consisting of 250 cities and towns.   Crowds at the Third National Bank in downtown Springfield around Christmastime, 1912   Around 10:30 a.m., Franklin stepped into the building's small, crowded elevator cage and began the ride upward toward his office on the fifth floor. The elevator was crowded for nearly the entire trip. At one point, the passengers suddenly surged backward and forward inside the cage, jostling everyone aboard. Franklin thought little of the commotion. When the elevator stopped at either the first or second floor, three men stepped off before the car continued upward. Between th...

  — A Southwick Time Machine Original People had long gathered at Southwick Ponds to fish in its spring-fed waters, but in 1886, a directive from the selectmen to crack down on illegal fishing placed a local constable at the center of disputes involving fishermen, members of two well-known local families, a prominent steamboat captain, and a debate over what truly counted as fishing. Black Bass, Congamond Lake, Southwick, Masachusetts   On Sunday, September 26, 1886, two groups of fishermen were at Southwick Ponds pursuing pickerel. Approximately nine men were involved. They fished from rowboats, with one person rowing while another attended to lines trolling in the wake of the boat. The outing attracted the attention of Constable Addison H. Coe of Southwick.  Likely watching from his secret hiding place on shore, Constable Coe identified the men and had warrants sworn out, charging them with fishing with line and hook in Southwick Ponds on the Lord's Day. When the men ap...

  — A Southwick Time Machine Original   Around 6 o’clock on the evening of Saturday, August 19, 1922, Mrs. Joseph Bouchard of West Springfield, Massachusetts, received a telephone message she would never forget. The caller was Mrs. Cora Root of Southwick, a member of the well-known Root family, which operated a large tobacco farm in town. She informed Mrs. Bouchard that her daughter, Zelia, had married Mrs. Root's son, Carleton E. Bigelow, that afternoon in Westfield, and that the newlyweds had left on their honeymoon in Northampton. She then hung up the receiver. Despite the telephone call, Mrs. Bouchard refused to believe the marriage had actually taken place. The following day, Zelia's parents traveled to Southwick. They went to the Root farm with the local deputy sheriff and then brought their daughter back to West Springfield. The events quickly erupted into a public dispute between the two families over the bride's age, her home life, and even who had purchased her cl...

   — A Southwick Time Machine Original | Tribute Long before she became the legendary Ms. Newman of Southwick High School, Jean Margaret Trombla had already shown an extraordinary gift for words. She won national writing contests, studied journalism, published poetry, and even spent time working in Hollywood before finding her true calling in the classroom. This is the Southwick Time Machine's tribute to the late, great Ms. Newman. Jean Margaret Trombla’s story begins in Springfield, Massachusetts, where she was born on November 29, 1931, to Daniel C. Trombla and Margaret E. (Miller) Trombla. During this time, the Tromblas lived at 167 Massachusetts Avenue. Around 1932, they moved to 106 Amherst Street and eventually relocated to 194 School Street in Agawam. Jean grew up alongside her older brother, Alan J. Trombla. While living in Springfield, the family attended Hope Congregational Church.    Jean M. Trombla, circa 1944   In 1947, while a junior at Technical H...