Welcome to McKnight Web Site
About McKnight ................................................Where
it is and the History of it.
The McKnight Photo Tour
.................................A Photo Tour of Historic McKnight
McKnight
is a small neighborhood located in the heart of Springfield, MA.
What makes it special is the people and the homes that you find
there. McKnight is known as one of the "Largest Garden District"
in New England. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places,
McKnight is full of many beautiful Victorian homes that have undergone
restoration in the past years.
Originally known as "the Highlands" it was renamed after the brothers who built it into the largest intact, wood frame, Victorian residental area in New England. Construction of McKnigh started in the 1870s. In 1881 it became the first totally planned residential area of size in the region. The extention and electrification of trolley lines on State, Worthington Street, and Saint James Avenue in the 1890s, helped to spur construction along those roads. By the turn of the century more than 800 houses had been built by the McKnight Brothers and other developers.
McKnight went through troubled times during the depression, the large house were to large to maintain, and many people moved out. Many of the large houses of McKnight became boarding houses, and over the years converted and remodeled, into apartments or multi-family housing. In the mid1970s it was offically declared a Historic district. Since then it has undergone major restoration, and is now one of the nicest, safest, and most diverse neighborhood in Springfield.
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