Pittsfield, MA

Pittsfield is the largest city in the Berkshires with a population of 42,931 in 2007, which is nearly a 25% decrease since 1960, when Pittsfield’s population peaked at 57,879. Pittsfield is the county seat of Berkshire County, which is a non-governmental entity. It was incorporated in 1761 and named for British politician William Pitt, who 3 years earlier became the namesake of Pittsburgh, PA.

Pittsfield and environs was inhabited by the Mohicans until Europeans began arriving in the early 1700s. In 1738, Col. Jacob Wendell of Boston bought 24,000 acres, known as the Pontoosuck, a Mohican word translating as “field or haven for winter deer,” and formed a land-speculation partnerhip with Philip Livingston of Albany, NY and John Stoddard of Northampton.

Pittsfield entertaiment and cultural events

Additional performances of the world premiere Pool Boy, in the Musical Theatre Lab at Stage 2, have been added to the Barrington Stage Company schedule: Thursday, July 29 at 3:00pm and Thursday, August 5 at 3:00pm.

Pittsfield arts, venues and cultural organizations

For the past several years, in the wake of General Electric’s inglorious demise as the city’s driving force (95% employee decrease), Pittsfield has worked hard to re-position itself as the hub of the Berkshires cultural economy. A leader in that renaissance was the controversial restoration of the Colonial Theatre, which has hosted hundreds of popular and important events since re-opening in 2006. In 2009, the Dave Brubeck Quartet headlined the 5th Annual Pittsfield CityJazz Festival at the Colonial Theatre.

Also undergoing a revival, with imaginative programming and re-design, is the Berkshire Museum, founded in 1903 by Zenas Crane, scion of the Crane paper manufacturing family.

There is also a vibrant and growing community of artists calling Pittsfield home and sponsoring a plethora of activities and exhibitions, much of which takes advantage of the city’s Lichtenstein Center for the Arts, which houses the City of Pittsfield Office of Cultural Development, a.k.a. Cultural Pittsfield.

Another leader in Pittsfield’s emergence as a cultural destination is the Barrington Stage Company (founded 1995 in Gt. Barrington), which purchased and restored a once-abandoned vaudeville theatre, where it’s productions since 2007 have attracted sold-out audiences and significant national attention.

In 2010, the Beacon Cinema opened in the former Kresge department store building on North St., after a “planning stage” that lasted ten years.

Hotels, motels, bed and breakfasts in Pittsfield, MA

Planning a trip to Pittsfield? By following these links, you can compare rates, check on availability, and safely book your room reservations online.

• Comfort Inn Pittsfield
• Travelodge Pittsfield
• Berkshire Inn
• Ramada Limited Inn & Suites Pittsfield
• Crown Plaza Hotel Pittsfield Berkshires
• The Yankee Suites Extended Stay

Pittsfield economic history summary

“While primarily 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 employment opportunities for almost a century.

“The town was a bustling metropolis by the late 19th century. In 1891, the City of Pittsfield was incorporated, and William Stanley, 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). Thanks to the success of GE, Pittsfield’s population in 1930 had grown to more than 50,000. While GE Advanced Materials (now owned by SABIC-Innovative Plastics) continues to be one of the City’s largest employers, a workforce that once topped 13,000 was reduced to less than 700 with the demise and/or relocation of the transformer and aerospace portions of the General Electric empire.” Source – wikipedia.org

On September 29, 1998 General Electric agreed to a $200 million settlement in principle of environmental claims resulting from pollution of the Housatonic River and other areas by chemical releases from GE’s plant in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. (The settlement was with the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Justice .) The claims result from a long history of GE’s use and disposal of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB’s) and other hazardous substances at the plant, which GE no longer uses for manufacturing. (PCBs, which have been linked to cancer, were commonly used in electrical devices and lubricants from the 1930s through the 1970s, when they were banned.)

The City of Pittsfield will benefit, too, from the settlement. GE has agreed to a “brownfield” redevelopment project on a portion of the defunct plant, including a multi-million dollar investment in Pittsfield, in conjunction with the new Pittsfield Economic Development Authority (“PEDA”). PEDA will commit up to $4 million of anticipated revenues from the redevelopment to further enhancement of natural resources.

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