Chicopee Memorial State Park
state park in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States
Chicopee Memorial State Park is a public recreation area covering 562 acres (227 ha) in the Burnett Road neighborhood of the city of Chicopee, Massachusetts. The state park is located directly southeast of Westover Air Reserve Base, which is visible from some parts of the park. It is managed by the Department of Conservation and Recreation.
History
Once known as the Cooley Brook Reservoir and Watershed, the park was originally the site of reservoirs built in 1896, 1912 and 1926 to provide water for the city of Chicopee. The Civilian Conservation Corps worked in the watershed from 1935 to 1937, adding riprap to the reservoir, planting trees, and creating roads, trails, and pedestrian bridges among other improvements. The state took charge of the site in the 1960s, adding recreational and administrative features.
Activities and amenities
The park has trails for walking, mountain biking, and cross-country skiing. The former 25-acre (10 ha) reservoir pond is used for swimming and restricted fishing. Other facilities include picnic areas, restrooms, and a bathhouse.
The city's high schools use park trails for cross-country meets.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Chicopee Memorial State Park” is state park in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Chicopee, Memorial and State, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “state park in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5096487. Authority coordinates are 42.180, -72.539. 1 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1896, 1912, 1926 and 1935.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Chicopee Memorial State Park”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Chicopee Memorial State Park primary sources, Chicopee Memorial State Park archive and Chicopee research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Chicopee Memorial State Park”?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Chicopee Memorial State Park” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.