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"A Dangerous Practice"

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In this second of two articles from the Greenfield, Massachusetts, Gazette and Courier, the question of horses on the town's main street was once again addressed. The growth of Greenfield was dramatic in the last decades of the 19th and first decade of the 20th centuries. The town moved from being a minor market town to becoming a medium manufacturing center, the largest in Franklin County. Its proximity to rail lines, the Connecticut River, and central location led to remarkable growth. Main Street, the town's major commercial segment, grew from a row of frame houses interspersed with stores to becoming several city blocks of stone buildings, although none were taller than several stories. The commerce and traffic that this engendered filled the streets with traffic. The town chafed between its past - farmers and their goods - and its present as a commercial and manufacturing center.

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