Hawley dates to 1760, and 35% of its homes were built before 1940
1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 7 buildings. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1886 on, and the census since 1790.
Hawley was first settled in 1760 as Plantation Number 7, by a group from Hatfield. The town was called the "Hatfield Reserve" until it was officially incorporated in 1792. The town was named for Joseph Hawley of Northampton, a local leader in the American Revolution. Hawley's main industries were forestry and, eventually, recreation. The town originally included the land of its neighbor, Plainfield, which split off in the early nineteenth century.
Passages that mention Hawley, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of the town of Ashfield, Franklin County, Massachusetts from its settlement in 1742 to 19101910Read the page →
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opposition to this and it was finally "Voted to proceed to build the Meeting house and to leave it to a disinterested Committee of three persons to decide in what place to build the Meeting house. " These three men to be from Hawley, Conway and Plainfield. This Committee attended to their duty and the following is their report: We the Subscribers being a Committee chosen by the Inhabitants of the town of Ashfield to determine on a Place proper to
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History of the town of Ashfield, Franklin County, Massachusetts from its settlement in 1742 to 19101910 · page 114Read the page →
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at Springfield. At that date an office was established at Northampton. Several years later the office at Worthington was the one nearest to this town. A private weekly post, to carry papers between Northampton and Hawley, via Ashfield and Charlemont, was establi.shed in 1789. The names of the post-riders were: Andrew Wood of Hawley, from 1789 to 1791 and from 1792 to 1799; Stephen Taylor, 1791; Ethan A. Clary, 1799,
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Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Hawley, 1760 to 1938
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (10), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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