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No information. Sam was invited to speak to the Wednesday Morning Club at the Academy of Music. Sam gave a reading or made remarks at the Wednesday Morning Club, Pittsfield, at the invitation of Rose Terry Cooke (see Jan. 26 from Cooke). Like most of the other engagements for this period, it was an event held for charity. (March 6, 1889)
The Mohicans, an Algonquian people, inhabited Pittsfield and the surrounding area until the early 18th century, when the population was greatly reduced by war and disease brought by white invaders. Many migrated westward or were subjugated to live on the fringes of their land.
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Pittsfield was primarily turned into an agricultural area because of the many brooks that flowed into the Housatonic River; the landscape was dotted with mills that produced lumber, grist, paper, and textiles. With the introduction of Merino sheep from Spain in 1807, the area became the center of woolen manufacturing in the United States, an industry that would dominate the community's economy for almost a century.
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The town was a bustling metropolis by the late 19th century. In 1891, the City of Pittsfield was incorporated and William Stanley Jr., who had recently relocated his Electric Manufacturing Company to Pittsfield from Great Barrington, produced the first electric transformer. Stanley's enterprise was the forerunner of the internationally known corporate giant, General Electric (GE).