Pittsfield, Massachusetts, United States

🇺🇸 Pittsfield is the largest city and the county seat of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the principal city of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Berkshire County. Although the population has declined in recent decades, Pittsfield remains the third largest municipality in Western Massachusetts, behind only Springfield and Chicopee.

In 2017, the Arts Vibrancy Index compiled by the National Center for Arts Research ranked Pittsfield and Berkshire County as the No. 1 medium-sized community in the nation for the arts.

The Mohicans, an Algonquian people, inhabited Pittsfield and the surrounding area until the early 1700s, when the population was greatly reduced by war and disease, and many migrated westward or lived quietly on the fringes of society.

In 1738, a wealthy Bostonian named Col. Jacob Wendell bought 24,000 acres (97 km²) of lands known originally as Pontoosuck, a Mohican word meaning "a field or haven for winter deer", as a speculative investment. He planned to subdivide and resell to others who would settle there. He formed a partnership with Philip Livingston, a wealthy kinsman from Albany, New York, and Col. John Stoddard of Northampton, who had claim to 1,000 acres (4.0 km²) here.

A group of young men came and began to clear the land in 1743, but the threat of Indian raids around the time of King George's War soon forced them to leave, and the land remained unoccupied by Englishmen for several more years.

Soon, many others arrived from Westfield, Massachusetts, and a village began to grow, which was incorporated as Pontoosuck Plantation in 1753 by Solomon Deming, Simeon Crofoot, Stephen Crofoot, Charles Goodrich, Jacob Ensign, Samuel Taylor, and Elias Woodward. Mrs. Deming was the first and the last of the original settlers, dying in March 1818 at the age of 92. Solomon Deming died in 1815 at the age of 96.

Pittsfield was incorporated in 1761. Royal Governor Sir Francis Bernard named Pittsfield after British nobleman and politician William Pitt. By 1761 there were 200 residents and the plantation became the Township of Pittsfield.

By the end of the Revolutionary War, Pittsfield had grown to nearly 2,000 residents, including Colonel John Brown, who in 1776 began accusing Benedict Arnold of being a traitor, several years before Arnold defected to the British. Brown wrote in his winter 1776-77 handbill, "Money is this man's God, and to get enough of it he would sacrifice his country".

Pittsfield was 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 centre of woolen manufacturing in the United States, an industry that would dominate the community's economy 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 Jr., 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, a subsidiary of the Riyadh-based Saudi Basic Industries Corporation) 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 General Electric's transformer and aerospace portions. On October 8, 2015, SABIC announced it would relocate its headquarters from Pittsfield to Houston, Texas.

General Dynamics occupies many of the old GE buildings and its workforce is expanding. Much of General Dynamics' local success is based on the awarding of government contracts related to its advanced information systems. In September 2018, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker, Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito, and other Baker administration officials attended the groundbreaking of a $13.7 million project to build a life sciences and advanced manufacturing centre in the city.

Pittsfield is at the crossroads of U.S. Route 7 and U.S. Route 20 which join together in the city. Massachusetts Route 8 passes through the north-east corner of town, with a portion of it combined with Route 9, the central east-west road through the western part of the state, whose western terminus is in the city at Route 20. Route 41 begins in the south-west corner of town, heading south from Route 20. The nearest interstate highway, Interstate 90 (the Massachusetts Turnpike) is about 10 miles (16 km) south in Lee.

Long-distance ground transportation in Pittsfield is based at the Joseph Scelsi Intermodal Transportation Center which serves as the station for Amtrak trains and Peter Pan buses. The Berkshire Regional Transit Authority (BRTA), the transit provider for Pittsfield and vicinity, is based at the Intermodal Center and also uses it as a hub for most of its lines. Rail freight transportation is provided by CSX Transportation and the Housatonic Railroad.

The FBO at Pittsfield Municipal Airport offers access to the region via private and chartered aircraft ranging from single-engine piston to multi-engine jet. They also offer scenic rides and flight training. The nearest airport with national service is Albany International Airport.

Transport Downtown Pittsfield serves as the crossroads of two US Highways: US 7 & US 20.

Pittsfield is served by Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited from Chicago to Boston from the Joseph Scelsi Intermodal Transportation Center.

Local transit is provided by the Berkshire Regional Transit Authority.

Business Pittsfield is home to several businesses, including: • SABIC-Innovative Plastics (formerly known as General Electric (Plastics/Advanced Materials Division) and now a subsidiary of the Riyadh-based Saudi Basic Industries Corporation) • General Dynamics Mission Systems (Pittsfield facility originally known as General Electric Ordnance) • Interprint Incorporated on the Pittsfield-Richmond line • The Moscow Ballet, national touring dance company and producer of the Great Russian Nutcracker • Pittsfield Generating Facility, natural gas fired generating station • The Berkshire Humane Society operates animal welfare services and pet adoption facilities in Pittsfield.

Media: Press • The Berkshire Eagle, the main daily newspaper for the Pittsfield area • The Advocate, a weekly newspaper devoted to the Berkshires and nearby Bennington County • Hill Country Observer, a monthly newspaper covering an eight-county region of western Massachusetts, southern Vermont and eastern New York • The Berkshire Record, a weekly newspaper • iBerkshires.com, an online newspaper • theberkshireedge.com, an online newspaper

Media: Television Pittsfield is in the Albany television market and is the community of license for two stations in that market, MyNetworkTV affiliate WNYA, and a low power TV station, W28DA, which rebroadcasts sister station and NBC affiliate WNYT on channel 13 from a location on South Mountain in the city. Springfield stations also serve the market with three stations (NBC affiliate WWLP, low-powered CBS affiliate WSHM-LD, and PBS member station WGBY-TV) on cable. WGGB-TV, Springfield's ABC affiliate, has never been carried on the cable system in Pittsfield, but is viewable over the air in some sections. Also carried on cable, but not necessarily serving Pittsfield, is Boston's WCVB (the ABC affiliate in that area).

Cable television subscribers of Charter Spectrum in Pittsfield receive public, educational, and government access (PEG) channels, provided by Pittsfield Community Television (PCTV), on channels 1301, 1302 and 1303: • Access Pittsfield, channel 1301, Public-access television • Pittsfield ETV, channel 1302, Education-access television • Citylink, channel 1303, Government-access television (GATV)

Pittsfield Community Television is a not-for-profit, 501 (c)(3) organization and a member of the Alliance for Community Media. Programming on PCTV is available 24 hours per day, year-long, and is available online.

Media: Radio Pittsfield is home to the following radio stations: • 1110 kHz WUPE (Oldies, simulcast of WUPE-FM) • 1340 kHz WBRK (Adult Standards) • 1420 kHz WBEC (Talk) • 89.7 MHz WTBR-FM (Rock) • 95.9 MHz WBEC-FM (Top 40, Tower on Bosquet Mountain) • 101.7 MHz WBRK-FM (AC) • 104.3 MHz WRRS-LP (Radio Reading Service) • 106.1 MHz W291CH (Simulcast of WFCR, Western Massachusetts NPR affiliate out of Amherst)

Signals from North Adams, Great Barrington, and Springfield, Massachusetts, as well as from Albany, New York, also reach Pittsfield. In some areas signals from cities well outside of Pittsfield, like Boston and Hartford, Connecticut, will be received, depending on the location.

One of Pittsfield's oldest radio stations, WBEC-FM 105.5, was sold and relocated to Mount Tom in Holyoke, where it became a Springfield area radio station (licensed to Easthampton).