A dissenting Connecticut congregation under the leadership of Rev. John Russell in 1659 founded Hadley as an agricultural community on the east bank of the Connecticut River. John Pynchon purchased the site of the new settlement, a fertile peninsular plain defined by a bend in the Connecticut River, from the Indians on behalf of the settlers. The first settlers laid out this area, formerly known as the Norwottuck Meadow, as the center of the new settlement before their arrival, with the Town Common, referred to as "the Broad Street," as the central feature. The common measured 20 rods wide and one mile long, with the Connecticut River defining both ends, and was reportedly based on the original plan of Wethersfield, Connecticut. Eight-acre home lots were ranged along both sides of the common, with farmlands behind.

In 1675-76, during King Philip's War, to guard against Indian attacks, a palisade that ran far enough behind the houses to include most of the barns and farm buildings enclosed the street and common.   One such attack occurred on June 12 of 1676.  Legend has it that the town was saved from destruction when, at a critical moment, one William Goffe showed up in the midst of the townspeople, warned them of the danger, and led the town in fending off the assault, disappearing shortly afterward.  Goffe, later known as "The Angel of Hadley," became the subject of many legends.  As one of the English judges who sentenced King Charles I to death, he had fled to hide in New England when the English monarchy was restored in 1660.

Though the years, the common remained the focus of town life. The meetinghouse occupied a prominent site animals were pastured on the open land, militia drill were held periodically, and Hadley's Liberty Pole was erected there during the Revolutionary War. Taverns at the north and south ends and at the center of the common served the needs of passengers on the ferry, stagecoach, and riverboat routes.

By the 1670s, the town rapidly developed northward. The North Hadley Mill Pond, a.k.a. Mill River, became the site of the Hopkins Corn Mill, and millers and farmers settled in Hopkins Meadow. The rent paid by mill workers to live here went to support the Hopkins School, which founded by Edward Hopkins of England, a former governor of Connecticut.

Hadley has long been the subject of much folklore, especially when it came to witchcraft. The most notable "witch" in the town of Hadley was Mary Webster, who, although acquitted of "familiarity with the devil" in a Boston Court in 1683, was nonetheless hung, unsuccessfully, by young Hadley men in 1685.

As the number of settlers south of Mount Holyoke grew, the desire for a local place of worship also grew. As an answer to the problems of settlers traveling many miles to church, the towns of Hatfield, Granby, South Hadley and Amherst formed from he sprawling town of Hadley. The town continued to grow as an agricultural town during the 1700s. While subsistence farming was most common during this time, the exporting of everything from produce to beef to furs grew. Most of the products were taken by flatboat down the Connecticut River and to the Boston area as well. It was around 1792 that broomcorn became the dominant crop in Hadley. So abundant was this crop that Hadley would come to be known as the nation's broomcorn and broom manufacturing capital. Broom and brush making became a thriving industry here, exporting all across New York and New England, and as far as Ohio.

Over time the soil that produced so much broomcorn, slowly depleted. By 1840, tobacco would take its place as the major crop as well as seed onions and other vegetables. The Massachusetts Central Railroad crossed the northern half of the common in 1887, providing a faster way for Hadley farmers to ship their produce to market. The Connecticut Valley Street Railway, laid out along Russell Street about 1900, made local travel to Northampton and Amherst easier.

It was during the late 1800s that, because of labor shortages and a drop in land values, Hadley experienced somewhat of a decline in farming. It was also about this time that a large number of Irish and, later, Polish immigrants that were recruited from Ellis Island for labor purposes settled in Hadley. It was the Polish immigrants that are credited with saving Hadley's farmland as they worked the fine Hadley soil back into fertility. By 1920, asparagus became the popular crop in Hadley, soon making the town the asparagus capital of the world up until the 1950s when disease wiped out much of the crop.

Today, in spite of commercial development along Route 9, Hadley remains largely agricultural and residential. It has the largest number of acres in agriculture in the Pioneer Valley, which includes crops of corn, potatoes, tobacco and scores of other vegetables. Malls and commercial businesses now lie along Russell Street on Route 9 to the east of the towns center.

Local history provided by Hadley Guide.

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