Page 9 - BusinessWest February 6, 2023

“I call this
the biggest small town in Massachusetts — 55,000 people that are all connected in some way, which is really something special. And I think that the people who live here recognize that.”
and how it continues to grow and diversify its business community.
Making More History
As noted earlier, Chicopee has been home to many large-scale businesses since the
19th century. The city was home to the first American producer of friction matches as well as a variety of other industries, including Ames Manufacturing Co., an early pioneer in machining lathes, building upon the work of Springfield’s Thomas Blanchard, and the larg- est producer of swords and cutlasses for the Union Army during the Civil War.
By the start of the 20th century, the city was home to a number of large manufactur- ers, including Fisk Tire Co., one of the largest tire makers of that time, and some of the ear- liest sporting-goods factories of A.G. Spalding.
Today, this tradition of manufacturing con- tinues, especially in the industrial parks run by Westover Metropolitan Development Corp. (WMDC), which are also home to a number of distribution facilities.
WMDC is a quasi-public development corporation formed in 1974 to convert military property in the vicinity of Westover Air Force base to productive civilian uses, and has developed more than 1,300 acres of land in the area and currently operates the Westover Civilian Airport and three industrial parks, commonly referred to as ‘airparks,’ located in Chicopee and Ludlow.
According to a UMass Donahue Institute report released in 2021, the more than 100 tenants in the three Westover parks — East, North, and West — provide the city and region with more than 4,000 jobs and support a total of $2.2 billion in economic output and roughly 8,500 jobs across Massachusetts annually.
Those numbers will move even higher with the addition of Uni- versal Forest Products, a lumber company originally based in Mich-
Michael Bolton said Chicopee’s airparks provide a lot of jobs for those in the region, especially Springfield.
igan that purchased the former Leoni Wire building and intends to move in later this year.
“I think we knew the impact was impressive, but didn’t really know until we quantified it last year or so ... we were pretty shocked that it’s $2.2 billion between the three industrial parks,” said Michael Bolton, WMDC president and CEO. “A lot of people from Springfield work here
in different businesses.
So it really benefited the
community.”
Chicopee
>>
Continued on page 11
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