Abandoned factory buildings in the once thriving downtown Springfield, Massachusetts.
Photographer: Joe Buglewicz/BloombergBidenomics Leaves a Blue State Industrial Heartland Behind
The Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts, once a cradle of the American industrial revolution, is losing out to regions from upstate New York to red states in the south for federal funding.
President Joe Biden’s trio of legislative packages designed to revive US manufacturing prowess is already helping regions from upstate New York to West Virginia. To the frustration of its local development agency, one that’s getting left behind is a cradle of the American industrial revolution: the Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts.
Powered by the Connecticut River, the region was once peppered with mills, as in much of New England. Its largest city, Springfield, gave its name to one of the most famous of 19th century long guns and was birthplace in the early 1900s of the iconic Indian motorcycle company. Nearby Holyoke was once the paper capital of the world, pulling in migrants from places including Puerto Rico as of the 1960s.