Gazette Series about Leeds By Alice Manning, 1975

Continued from July newsletter –

Leeds named for settlers English homeland

Many of the workers who had come from England to work in the mills stayed on to make their homes and became an important part of the community’s everyday life. Among this group, there was an understanding man, Thomas Musgrove. He was president of the woolen mill and did much for the welfare of the villager and the improvement of the village. He realized that people were anxious to receive news from family and friends, and that traveling some four miles to the nearest post office was a real hardship. In 1849 he encouraged the citizens to petition the United States government for a local post office. To do this a proper name had to be given to the village.

Musgrove, who had come from Leeds, England, as had many other workers who came with him, was eager to have the village bear the name of the manufacturing town from which they came. The request for a post office to Leeds, Massachusetts was granted on May 27, 1850 . Thomas Musgrove was appointed the first postmaster. Benjamin North, who had left the factory to manage the general store, had a new building constructed in 1843 to replace the one that had been destroyed by fire. His store, being the newest building in the village was chosen as the seat of operation for the new postal facility.

The post office was discontinued for nearly five years from September 7, 1858 to March 3, 1863. An item appearing in the Hampshire Gazette September 21, 1858 tells, “the post office at Leeds has been discontinued. The postmaster having resigned, and there being a dearth of “furriners” just now, may possibly be the cause of discontinuance.” The Northampton Directory and Historical Register published by the Gazette Printing Company explains it this way: “In 1859, the Post Office was discontinued. The failure of the Woolen Manufacturing Co. and the consequent decline of business in the place rendered the Post Office unnecessary. It was, however, re-established in 1863.”

Since that time the Leeds Post Office continued to serve the village through the boom, the depression, two world wars, and the village has continued to honor Musgrove and the other skilled workers who came from England by using the name, Leeds.

-to be continued in next newsletter